Okavango Adventure by Wilmot, E. Cronje

(Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1971). 8vo; original red boards, lettered in black on spine; pictorial dustwrapper; endpaper map; pp. (viii) + 254; line drawings by C. T. Astley Maberly in text. Dustwrapper somewhat edgeworn and rubbed; foxing to reverse of dustwrapper, endpapers and edges, occasional fox spot elsewhere. Good condition. (Czech: Bibliography of African Big Game Hunting Books 1785-1999, p. 304 [First printing as 'Always Lightly Tread']) "This is no superficial record of a few, hastily conducted trips. It is the account of a man who has spent a lifetime in the area concerned: first as a stock farmer, and later as an official in the Tsetse Fly Control Department - to whose service he is still attached. In it, he gives us some insight into the various activities of the Tsetse Fly Control, takes us on tiger fishing and crocodile shooting expeditions into the mysterious Okavango swamps, relates numerous adventures with buffalo, lions, leopards, and other less well-known game of the swamplands - such as Lechwe and Sitatunga. One of the most interesting chapters is that devoted to some of the local snakes, including the justly respected Mamba! His account of his mauling by a lion is one of the most vivid I have read. In addition to his obvious experience as a hunter, the author is clearly a most keen and reliable observer: and as great a lover of trees and plants as he is of animal life. ... I hope that naturalists, botanists, hunters and anglers: as well as all those who enjoy the acrid smell of the camp fire, and love our beloved African veld for its own sake; will enjoy this book as much as I have done!" - From the Editor's Note, by C. T. Astley Maberly .