“The great white hunter”...
I don't know about you, but for me, the phrase conjures up these romantic images of dashing young men that mostly look like Robert Redford or *_________ (*insert the name of your own fantasy hero), dressed in moleskin jodphurs, leather riding boots, khaki shirts, perhaps a colourful scarf around his neck (as a signiature accessory), a battered leather hat on his head, a rifle over his shoulder, certainly a large sheathed knife attached to his belt, tanned and rugged, knowing eyes that are softened by wrinkles from gazing towards the distant horizon shimmering in the African sun...
Ah! How Hollywood has spoiled us all for reality.
The phrase "great white hunter" probably has its origins in these popular depictions of safari adventures. They were, in effect, the adrenalin-junkies of the first few decades of the last century; often young (titled) men coming, from Europe or the States, to look for an escape -- perhaps from gambling debts or scandal involving married women, perhaps from the shame of bankruptcy, perhaps because they were the second or third in line for inheritance, perhaps simply because they loved to hunt, loved the danger, the opportunity to prove or test or find their bravery and their courage -- and finding the excitement and thrills they seek in hunting the Big Five: elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhino (so called because they were the most challenging trophies for any hunter). It was not a term employed or embraced by the hunters themselves. Unfortunately, like many labels - and in particular from the colonial era, the term is now mostly shaded with parody or derision: it came to symbolize a perceived arrogance of western colonial powers toward the less developed parts of the world they controlled before their dismantling by the cry of Uhuru! in the sixties.
White men from Western countries had been hunting big game in Africa throughout the 19th century, particularly in the more settled southern portion of the continent. But the region most associated with the term "white hunters" is East Africa. By the turn of the century, as part of the "scramble for Africa," Great Britain and Germany had taken colonial possession of territories on the eastern half of the continent — territories now recognized as the nations of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
There were many factors that led to the spread of big-game hunting in East Africa, but two were foremost among them: first, a romantic European conception of hunting that combined aristocratic privilege and sportsmanship, and second, the desire by the colonizing powers to create new agricultural economies, to which unchecked animal populations posed a serious threat.
(Although, like any origin of any phrase, the origins of this phrase – The great white hunger – cannot be confirmed, the first European to go by the title of "white hunter" is generally considered to have been Alan Black. Black was hired in the 1890s by Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere. Delamere employed both Alan Black and a native Somali hunter to lead safaris in Somaliland. As the story goes, in order to avoid confusion, the Somali was referred to as the "black hunter," and Black was called the "white hunter.")
Typically, the hunter was hired or booked by an outfitting company (the first and most famous of these was Newland, Tarlton & Co. in Nairobi); the outfitter would make the local arrangements, gathering and packing supplies and hiring the many African workers without
whom a safari was impossible. Porters, tent attendants, armed guards (known as askaris), horse-trainers, and gun-bearers, all worked under the supervision of a "headman." Before the mass importation of motor vehicles, most safaris traveled on foot and horseback and could employ anywhere from 50 to several hundred African workers.
The British colonial government also turned big-game hunting into a source of revenue, charging the tourists and hunters licensing fees for permission to kill the game animals. In 1909, a £50 hunting license in the East Africa Protectorate entitled its purchaser to kill 2 buffaloes, 2 hippos, 1 eland, 22 zebras, 6 oryxes, 4 waterbucks, 1 Greater Kudu, 4 Lesser Kudus, 10 topis, 26 hartebeests, 229 other antelope, 84 colobus monkeys, and unlimited lions and leopards (lions and leopards killed livestock and were classified as vermin).
Although the business of the great white hunters was killing, and they flourished in a colonial environment now understood as politically and economically oppressive, they followed what they saw as a strict ethical code of sportsmanship, and they openly deplored the excesses of their more callow clients. Most importantly, they were among the first to launch efforts to conserve and protect Africa's wildlife against overhunting and extinction.
Knowing all this, then no wonder that we have the romanticized image of these young men that we do. The exploits of the great white hunters were subjects first for novels and later for film.
Perhaps the first fictional Victorian adventure hero was Allan Quatermain, a white hunter who appeared in books by H. Rider Haggard, starting with King Solomon's Mines. Alex Raymond created the Jungle Jim comic strip in 1934 that later lead to a comic book, film serial, film series, and television show, and the list goes on.
Not surprisingly, actual white hunters were often involved in the filming of the exploits of their fictional counterparts: Bunny Allen led many film companies on safari to enable location filming for King Solomon's Mines, Mogambo, and Nor the Moon By Night. The white hunter on safari in his khakis and pith helmet became an instantly recognizable stock character.
Hemingway's safari story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," richly addresses the questions of courage, cowardice, racism and power on safari. The story was made into a film titled "The Great White Hunter."
Among the better-known white hunters of the time were Frederick Russell Burnham, Chief of Scouts in the Second Boer War to (Lord Roberts and known as "England's American Scout"; John A. Hunter; and Philip Percival and Frank M. "Bunny" Allen, whose safaris with Ernest Hemingway led the author to write Green Hills of Africa, True at First Light, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, and The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
But probably the mist famous great white hunters who epitomise very well the calibre of man who earned this title in the last century, were of course the likes of Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke and Finch-Hatton, two characters we all got to know in the film “Out of Africa”. Von Blixen-Finecke was a Swedish baron, writer, and African big-game hunter.According to Beryl Markham, "Bror was the toughest, most durable white hunter ever to snicker at the fanfare of safari or to shoot a charging buffalo between the eyes while debating whether his sundown drink would be gin or whiskey . . . . The mould has been broken."
Finch Hatton (aka Robert Redford in the film “Out of Africa”)was the second son and third child of Henry Finch-Hatton, 13th Earl of Winchilsea, by his wife, the former Anne "Nan" Codrington, daughter of Sir Henry Codrington, an Admiral of the British Fleet. He was educated at Eton, and Brasenose College, Oxford. At Eton, he was Captain of the cricket Eleven, Keeper of the Field and the Wall (two major sports played at Eton), President of the Prefects Society called Pop, and Secretary of the Music Society.
But then what happened when this generation of great white hunter disappeared?
Well, they are still there... But – romanticized or not, they are not 'quite' in the calibre of Blixen or Finch-Hatton...
And then, just when you sigh at yet another romantic notion that has bitten the red dust of Africa, you get the most pleasant surprise!
Kibby -- or Andy Kibby. A New Zealander that has been working in Africa for the last 20 years. Started his career as a modern-day “Great white hunter” – i.e. tour guide and raconteur, safari-guide.
Kibby runs his own company – The SafariCompany http://www.safari.net.nz/ http://www.safari.net.nz and has been running tours through Africa since 1990. He started working as a tour guide on the dark continent driving old German army trucks in the days when top speed was 60 kph downhill, bridges had to be built to cross rivers and officials at borders often went on strike.
Andy's reputation as an expedition leader and driver secured him employment with three well known overland companies. He led and drove six month long Trans Africa Expeditions from London to Nairobi with up to 20 passengers from all over the world as well as shorter safaris in Central, East and Southern Africa.
In 1998 Andy travelled to South America, setting up and leading tours for one and a half years for an overland company starting its initial expeditions. On returning to Africa he continued to lead safaris and in 2005 he set up "The Safari Company". The business is based in New Zealand where he spends part of the year when he's not leading tours in Africa.
Andy's vast knowledge of the continent and the people guarantee an unforgettable safari. His ability to get things done and find special spots which are off the beaten track makes him the market leader of overland safaris.
For Andy, Africa is unlike any other place in the world. For him, it is a truly awe inspiring continent and he wishes to share his unique experience and knowledge with a few fortunate individuals who will see the very best of Africa with a man whose passion for the continent ensures that it will be in your blood forever.
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