MEMORIES OF AFRICA
Hunting in Zambia and Sudan
by Werner Brach
2004 Long Beach, 285pp, photos, 8.5x11, hardcover
Volume 51 in the Safari Press's Classics in African Hunting Series.
1st edn, ltd to 1000 signed, numbered, & slipcased copies.
After WWII, Werner Brach left a devastated Germany and sought adventure in far-away places. After wandering for a bit, he settled in Zambia and soon was on a career of becoming a professional hunter. Rather than a monologue of "I went here and did this-and-that," he gives us vignettes of some of his most exciting and noteworthy safaris. In Barotseland (Zambia) he happened on a village devastated by a pride of ten man-eating lions, and only after much work and endless tracking did he manage to kill one of the culprits! Lacking sufficient water, he and his crew on another safari almost lost their lives in pursuit of a wounded elephant. Then there was the time a client named Jack arrived and announced he wanted to shoot a big leopard, a well-maned lion, and a 100-pound elephant. A most miraculous safari followed that makes one rethink superstitions and supernatural events. A hairsbreadth escape from angry hippos while in a small inflatable boat is another of the many interesting adventures that Brach had in his decades as a PH. In all this time he operated in but two countries-Sudan and Zambia-but where he hunted he knew how to get exceptional trophies. Among his most remarkable feats is the bagging of the world-record sable antelope from Zambia-over 54 inches-the photos of which will astonish you! In addition Brach's clients shot multiple sable antelope over 50 inches. Written with an interesting flair and a true graphic perspective of the animals, people, and the hunt, this is a realistic portrayal, not Hollywood-style swaggering and gun-slinging, of hunting the magnificent wildlife of Zambia and Sudan over the last three decades.
