"African Game Trails" is a two-volume memoir written by Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, documenting his adventures and experiences during a hunting expedition in East Africa from 1909 to 1910. The books provide a vivid account of Roosevelt's exploration of the African wilderness, his encounters with local tribes, and his pursuit of big game.

Volume I of "African Game Trails" chronicles Roosevelt's journey from New York to Africa and his arrival in Mombasa, Kenya. From there, he embarks on an epic safari through the plains and forests of East Africa, accompanied by a team of skilled guides and porters. The narrative takes readers along as Roosevelt tracks and hunts various species, including lions, elephants, rhinos, buffalo, and many others. His descriptions of the African landscape, wildlife, and the thrill of the chase captivate readers and convey his passion for hunting and conservation.

In Volume II, Roosevelt continues his safari adventures, delving deeper into the African wilderness. He recounts encounters with dangerous animals, dramatic hunts, and the challenges faced by the hunting party. Throughout his journey, Roosevelt also devotes attention to the local people and their cultures, providing insights into the customs, traditions, and daily lives of the African tribes he encounters. He reflects on the significance of the African continent, its rich biodiversity, and the urgent need for wildlife conservation.

Both volumes of "African Game Trails" offer a compelling blend of adventure, natural history, and cultural exploration. Roosevelt's writing style is energetic and vivid, capturing the excitement of the hunt while conveying his deep respect for the African wildlife and his commitment to preserving its future.

These memoirs not only showcase Roosevelt's adventurous spirit but also shed light on his broader interests in nature, conservation, and the exploration of the world. "African Game Trails" stands as a testament to Roosevelt's passion for the outdoors, his love for Africa, and his lasting contributions to conservation efforts. ( )

African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt.

Review by Africansky1

This book was first published by John Murray in 1910 following Theodore Roosevelt’s second term of office as the 26th President of the United States. Teddy Roosevelt took up the office of President in 1901 following the assassination of President McKinley ( Roosevelt having been the Vice President) ; he was the then youngest president of the USA at 43. He was elected as President, on the Republican ticket in 1904.

African Game Trails is considered to be a classic in the hunting genre of collectable books. My copy is not a first edition , but is a facsimile of the 1910 edition and was published by Galago Publishing, Alberton, South Africa in 1986. I own several of these reprints of great game books and as classics these fit well into an Africana library.

Roosevelt today is remembered as a relative of Franklin Roosevelt, or the man who gave his name to the Teddy bear or the man made a bad judgment call in politics and split the Republican party in 1912 and allowed the Democrats under Woodrow Wilson to take the White House.

This book recalls another Roosevelt. It is not political at all. This is Roosevelt the romantic; the man with a passion for hunting and for the African continent. His foreword opens with the words, “I speak of Africa and golden joys.”

The book is a record of a long safari holiday that Roosevelt and his substantial party embarked on in 1909 as soon as his presidential term ended. It was the hunting trip of a life time when the African veld teemed with huge herds game of every species and yet by the end of the first decade of the 20th century Africa had become accessible by ship, rail and road. He was accompanied by his son Kermit and by three American naturalists. Their destination was the great plains of British East Africa and their route ran from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to the Nyanza Lakes, via Nairobi, Uganda, the white Nile and on to the Nile . The adventure terminated at Khartoum in March 1910.

Roosevelt was there for the largest bag possible. Hunting was a man’s game and a sport of kings and presidents. The size of the kill was enormous and in little under a year of heroic pleasure the Kermit and Theodore together shot with rifles over 500 animals including birds of prey, snakes, and crocodiles. Today safaris to the great protected game parks of Africa such as the Gorangozo or the Kruger are normally photographic adventures to see and snap the big five. Yes, you can embark on a hunting trip to shoot game but it would normally be to a private game farm and all too often the hunting is of the canned variety. Ironically today because of the continued popularity of hunting by the privileged few , hunting has become a profitable economic activity which has actually resulted in game preservation and there are now more wild game in South Africa than at any time since 1880 . The story of the shift from hunting in the wild to game ranching and conservation has been a long saga of changes in attitudes and values.

Roosevelt and his son Kermit were men of their own time. They were deadly keen to hunt the “ big five” and more , and so record the killing of 17 lions, 9 elephant, 20 rhino and 8 hippo. The great game reserves, through which the Uganda Railway ran were in the process of being created as protectorates and the entire expanse of East African country was filled with game. They were unashamedly after trophies, but his concluding paragraph makes the claim that their objective, beyond the dozen personal trophies was to nab museum specimens or to hunt for the pot. So even at that age there is the creeping thought that hunting for the sheer pleasure of killing a wild and cornered animal was not acceptable. Roosevelt claimed that he was a conservationist and I guess that such an assertion could be sustained if you were the ex-president of the USA not merely indulging in the sport of hunting but meticulously writing about the adventure and taking along some scientists to document and list the fauna of East Africa. The scientific notes of the expedition are accommodated in a mere 40 pages of appendices. Game photography had not yet come of age, and while the 33 illustrations are in black and white and though of a poor quality have a fascination as a documentary record of being in hunter’s paradise. The collection of birds and mammals made by the Roosevelts and their expedition (over 1000 specimens) were presented to the American Museums of natural history of New York and Washington and was regarded at the time as the finest ever made on a single trip into Africa. There were no questions asked about imports and exports of game, taxidermy practices or transmission of disease.

Today a century later, the King of Spain is lambasted and forced to resign from the presidency of the World Wild Life Fund when he met with an accident of breaking a hip in a fall while on a secret elephant game hunt in Botswana. Today, the President of the USA, Barack Obama makes a few day whistle stop tour of Africa ( despite his African ancestry) not to hunt game but to drop development largesse and to light up the “dark” continent. Today, when you pass through OR Tambo customs is likely to pounce and ask if you have cheese , honey or food in your luggage. Oh… the irony of changing times and mores .

In his time and era, Roosevelt’s pastime and hunting jaunt did not raise an eyebrow. He wrote a rip roaring hunting book in the grand tradition of the great white game hunter. It was a boy’s own adventure, or in the case a father and son-bonding experience. Roosevelt was a man of action and a man of letters and his African Game Trails is still sought after and is highly collectable. His writing style is light, the text is readable, and the stories are entertaining. The Roosevelt’s travelled in a fair amount of comfort with scores of Swahili porters , gun bearers and well organized camping arrangements. The book captures the romance of Africa and the exhilaration of the wild , before the First World War when the dream of a British African colonial empire was feasible. The world was there for the great powers of Europe, Britain, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France and the Americas to claim their overseas outposts and paint the world in their national colours. This is a book that enables you to smell the scent of the hunt , the red ochre earth, and the tall grass after the rains have come.

Roosevelt , although it was his intention, never visited Africa again and died at the relatively early age of 61 in 1919. His son Kermit fought in both the first and the second world war and died in 1943. ( )

Not much into hunting stories but love TR. ( )