Customer Reviews

Peter Capstick's Africa: A Return To The Long Grass

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Return to the Long Grass was probably the best book I have read in years.I could not stop reading it! I could feel the hot African heat and the chilly nights.I would recommend this book to anyone who dreams of going to Africa on a safari

This book is the definitive Capstick work. It is absolutely wonderful, and should be required reading for those who want to go to the Dark Continent and hunt the things that Bite and Trample. Capstick's wit is sparkling. Papa Bear Hemingway would be proud.

This is the second Capstick book I have read (the first being "Death in the Long Grass"), and again I was not dissapointed. In this book he takes the role of the safari client--having retired as professional hunter--, and gives us more of an insight on what it is like to be the client on a big game hunting safari in Africa. He vividly describes the sights, sounds, smells, and the very essence of the Dark Continent.

Wonderful book with great photographs. It's an excellent expression of hunter's adventures. Those woho loves haunting will enjoy this book. Merry christmas for everyone and happy new year.
Luciano

Great book, takes you back to where you want to be. Capstick lets you feel the heat,the hunt, the time. Doesn't get much better than that.

Another really good Capstick book about Africa written in a different mannor than his eairler works.

Capstick is definitely my favorite african writer. I enjoyed this book although it is not one of my favorites. However, I ripped through it in several days. Capstick really knew Africa and I certainly have enjoyed reading his experiences!

This book accounts for Peter Capstick's time during a rolling one month Safari on the open plains and inland delta's of south-central Africa. Well before this particular title went to print I was aware of Capstick's fondness to create length and dramatic effect, but I still found myself marveling at the ways he transformed this largely uneventful safari into a two hundred-page novel. The "Opus" of this particular adventure would have be the lion that nearly "had them all" and eventually took something like nine shots to kill. After reading this book I came away with very two distinct impressions. The first would be that Capstick did not come across as a veteran professional hunter who was out for the pure love of the sport. He might have been a seasoned pro with countless lion to his credit but descriptions given throughout this book left me wondering. Another clear impression I took away was that the primary reason he took this trip was so he could write the book. Most sportsmen, past and present, look down on this as it questions some essential reasons behind hunting. Even the legendary ivory hunter James Sutherland, took the time to mention his distaste for this practice in his classic The Adventures of an Elephant Hunter. I also came away sensing a fair amount of animosity between Capstick and his hired professional hunter. Peter was critical of his Professional Hunters(PH) field tactics and all but blamed him and his equipment for the troubles during the lion hunt. This "no holds barred" type of writing may come across as refreshing too many but it is truly rare to see one PH openly criticize another in this way. In the end, his PH would probably had a "take it with a dash of salt" opinion of Peter's written account of their times together. When aked about my own opinion, I would have to concede that the glossy color photos are really the only reason I have for keeping it on my shelf.