Solo Safari: Hunting Africa on Your Own Without a Professional Hunter [Hardcover]

Terrance Cacek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 1997

Stories of modern adventurers who hunted Africa without a professional hunter. Includes a lengthy appendix with tips for do-it-yourself safaris.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Virtually all modern safari hunting is done under the guidance of professional hunters. However, it is still possible today to roam Africa as it was done one hundred years ago. Each year a few hardy souls venture into the wilds to tackle the game of the Dark Continent by themselves, with only the help of a native tracker. This is not for the fainthearted. Your first mistake may be your last as there is no professional hunter to back you up, and it is likely that you are the only one with a gun. Here is the story of Terry Cacek (pronounced "Sasek") who hunted elephant, buffalo, leopard, and plains game in Zimbabwe and Botswana on his own. In addition there are chapters by Jerry Weaver (Sudan), Charles Craver (Liberia), T. N. Alexakos (Benin), Charles Puff (Zimbabwe), and well-known Cameroon expert Reinald von Meurers. This is a unique book, nothing like it has been published in the last twenty years. Includes a lengthy appendix with tips for do-it-yourself safaris.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Safari Press; 1st edition (April 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571570586
• ISBN-13: 978-1571570581
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,295,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solo Safari--, December 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (bay area, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solo Safari: Hunting Africa on Your Own Without a Professional Hunter (Hardcover)

Excellent job by Mr. Cacek. The stories are interesting and informative. The section about poaching and the International ban on Ivory and it's negative effect on Elephant populations was especially enlightening.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read on Africa hunting., March 9, 2005

By 

Tom Prihoda (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solo Safari: Hunting Africa on Your Own Without a Professional Hunter (Hardcover)

This gives some info. not in the 4 other reviews, so here it is.

Its 27 chapters and 4 appendices of great reading on Africa hunting in 6 different countries. Part I is all Cacek stories about his self outfitted hunts, i.e. no prof.hunter backup, I think in the 80s. Cool stuff for sure. Shoot an elephant, start a stampede, run for your life. Then, go back and find 3 more elephants waiting by the dead one. How do you pack out an elephant?

That's the easy part, the hard part is the lions and leopards that like elephant meat too.

I always thought the prof. hunter safari's were kind of fancy when they ironed the cleaned clothes for hunters and put them out each day. Well, there's flys, to small to see, that get on clothes drying outside in some countries of Africa that put big old welps on your body if not killed. Ironing heat kills them. tsetse flys will kill the animals that carry the gear, if you run into a swarm of them more than a few days from getting meat back to camp, then what?

Ok, part I is 19 chapters of Cacek's stories. He has a sense of humor, ch.4, Harvest of Tranquility is the one where they run for their lives after shooting one elephant and starting a stampede. He always took trackers and skinners, they are the ones that knew how to live there and get around and pack an elephant out of there.

Part II has stories by 5 other authors who have outfitted their own safaris. One guy has some top animals too. They contributed 8 chapters and they are very good also.

Part III is the 4 appendices, A)planning, B)cartridges and bullets, C)big rifles, and D)cameras and binoculars. Cacek thought a 338 and 458 was a near perfect combination, but in jungles, even a shotgun is a very desireable gun.

What's the most dangerous game? He said, lion, there's a dead guy in 65% of the trajic encounters and a mauled guy in 35%, ref. Killers in Africa by Alexander Lake. Cape buffalo injure more, but so many of those are shot compared to lions, the percentage of hunters hurt is way lower than a lion. Leopards maul a lot, about 1 in 25 hunted. Buffalo, 1 in 1000 hunted. It all depends on the conditions at the moment too.

Like a lion out in an open field is not as dangerous as a moma elephant on your left when baby elephant is on your right going down a jungle trail.

Many of these people were able to accomplish the self outfitting because they had lived there or were living there. Its a great book on African hunting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting to the obsessive hunter, esp.if you've been to A, October 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Solo safari (Classics in African Hunting Series) (Hardcover)

Having hunted in South Africa one time myself, I found this book to be interesting and informative. I do not necessarily agree with "all" of his opinions but I do with most. Author is clearly a high-energy clear thinking sort of chap.