| I don't know about orange suits and white-tailed | | | | excitement of the kill and bravos at the noisy |
| deer and freezing my tootsies by the lake at | | | | Long Bar of the Norfolk Hotel. But no gratitude |
| dawn. I do know about waiting in a blind for the | | | | for the noble prize that sacrificed its life to hang |
| big cat to be lured by the stench of the dead | | | | over a rich man's fireplace. |
| zebra hanging in the Baobab tree. Back then | | | | The Romance of the Professional Hunter |
| hunters respected animals more than humans, and | | | | You've seen the movies, read the |
| they never killed more animals than the law | | | | books-actresses falling in love with the |
| allowed. Fact is they killed more poachers than | | | | professional hunter. Edgar de Bono, one of the |
| animals. | | | | finest professional hunters in Kenya and my |
| Once Upon a Time in East Africa | | | | friend, was the epitome of that image and he left |
| When you had to have a license for anything you | | | | a trail of broken hearts. |
| intended to kill. When those licenses were limited | | | | I had my own heartthrob; so big, macho Edgar |
| and you were monitored. No one dared slaughter | | | | with the Northern Italian blue eyes was my |
| animals the way poachers do today. In those | | | | teacher, not my lover. He taught me the fine line |
| days the British ran Kenya and flat out killed the | | | | between the sport of a hunting trip, and the sport |
| hapless poachers they caught. The Africans had | | | | of an ego-trip. He taught me about different |
| the greatest respect for animals and only killed to | | | | types of ammunition and rifles and scopes used in |
| eat. The Masai didn't hunt animals because they | | | | African game hunting. There's so much to know |
| never ate meat. Their livestock was their only | | | | and I've forgotten most of it because I am not a |
| wealth. They lived on the blood from the large | | | | hunter. In addition to single versus double trigger |
| vein in the neck of the animal, mixed with milk | | | | and double rifles there are different calibers and |
| from the cow. Only the white man had to have | | | | sizes of rifles like the big 450 magnum whose |
| his trophies. | | | | sheer weight will kill you. It's meant for the |
| Long after Karen Blixen wrote "Out of Africa," | | | | so-called big five: elephant, rhino, hippo, buffalo, |
| long after Hemingway's safaris, and Joy | | | | and lion. Edgar fitted me early on with an old |
| Adamson's Elsa the lion made headlines in "Born | | | | light-weight medium bore 375-not too light, not |
| Free," civil servants like me came along to work in | | | | too heavy and a recoil that didn't leave me |
| what was still the clean, Jacaranda flowering town | | | | needing massage therapy. Acutely aware there's |
| of Nairobi, a very quiet livable place. Today you | | | | nothing worse than an amateur hunter who |
| don't go out alone at night. Today the | | | | wounds an animal, I never shot even a hyena |
| government has herded the once proud nomadic | | | | pup, and I don't like hyenas. |
| Masai into shacks where they have lost their | | | | The Good Old Shotgun |
| dignity and are forced into subsistence farming. | | | | I did, however, use a 12-gauge shotgun for fowl. |
| Can a leopard change its spots? | | | | One day I pointed my gun at three guinea hens |
| The Kenya That Once Knew Me | | | | that kept popping their heads up and down in a |
| That time and place have vanished forever like a | | | | thicket. Tricky critters and fast, they were so |
| dream. In my dream my friends are native | | | | close together I figured I'd hit at least one of |
| Kikuyu Africans, and the privileged second and | | | | them, which I did. The bird was one of many |
| third generation white Kenyans who come from | | | | dishes served in the dining tent that night, |
| Britain and other European countries. If you're like | | | | expertly prepared by our African cooks who |
| me, you learn Swahili. A white Kenya boy of | | | | knew what to do with the Grand Marnier. |
| fifteen learns from his Kikuyu pals how to spot | | | | Some of My Favorite Things |
| the triangular tip of a lion's ear deep in the tall | | | | Camping at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, before |
| blond grass where the big cats lazy around. When | | | | global warming when there was snow on top. |
| the boy grows up he inherits his parent's coffee | | | | Climbing it. Sunrises and sunsets that spoil you for |
| and tea plantations in the highlands, and the lower | | | | life. Cold nights under African stars big as |
| drier areas of sisal plantations. He has a stable of | | | | diamonds. Campfire gabfests about the herds we |
| horses for racing at the Nairobi track, and he | | | | raced alongside that day aboard Edgar's Land |
| learns how to hunt. Some of my close friends are | | | | Rover across miles of savanna. Lion in the night |
| professional hunters who take wealthy tourists on | | | | as I stumbled to the loo (British for toilet) in the |
| safari. On vacation days I go along as their guest. | | | | dark. First words I learned in Swahili: Jambo |
| This is the beginning of my African safari | | | | Memsaab/Bwana. Memories of an Africa that |
| education, when hunting in the wilds means having | | | | once knew me. |
| your own comfortable tent with a hot bath at the | | | | You can still go on an African safari, shoot with a |
| end of the day, brought to you in a large | | | | camera, be in the bush and have the experience |
| steaming tub of water. | | | | of a lifetime. Go now before all of it is just a |
| Unlike the obsessed character played by Clint | | | | dream. |
| Eastwood in "White Hunter, Black Heart," | | | | Here's Where |
| professional hunters hold to the strictest etiquette | | | | Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana, Southern |
| and humane approach to big game hunting. That | | | | Africa. |
| means knowing the species better than he knows | | | | Rattray's Mala Mala Game Reserve, bordering on |
| himself: his habits, what time of day he hunts, | | | | Kruger National Park in South Africa. The same |
| how long he can wait before he eats again, | | | | company owns both. They offer very |
| whether a lioness is pregnant or an elephant is a | | | | comfortable camp facilities, or more luxurious |
| dangerous rogue. By far the most important thing | | | | main facilities. Remember, prices include |
| I learn is to love and respect the spirit of these | | | | accommodations, great meals and seeing the |
| magnificent animals. I don't know of a professional | | | | animals up close and personal. Even if you can't |
| hunter who doesn't mourn the death of every | | | | afford it, look up these places on the Web and |
| single species. Most tourists come for the | | | | Dream of Africa. I still do. |