Africa’s Wildlife: Glory, Shame

“African Twilight: The Story of a Hunter,” by Robert F. Jones (Wilderness Adventure Press, Bozeman, Mont. (800-925-3339, $36).

This major evaluation of East Africa’s deplorable game conditions is delivered through compelling reflections from six safaris between 1964 and 1990 by Sports Illustrated’s specialist on hunting and nature.

Jones chronicles the majesty of African hunting within the framework of impeccable sportsmanship and wildlife conservation. But he also details the demise of that continent’s seemingly endless game populations in the post-colonial era through corrupt governments and inept game management. The decline of elephant, black rhino, buffalo and every other major species is a blot on humanity.

With heady descriptions of stalks and sightings in the forests and game plains, this grand book should thrill outdoors enthusiasts and the student of current events.

“I love the weight of a hard-hitting rifle, and the bite of its sling strap over my shoulder, swinging in rhythm with my stride, and the sting of the noonday sun,” Jones writes.

“I love the sound of Swahili as the safari boys chatter at their work, their sudden laughter, and the dying fall at the end of their sentences….

“I love the African night, and the night sounds - the distant cough of a lion, the screech of the hyraxes, baboons fretting and fearful as a leopard makes its nightly rounds, and the whoop of hyenas, the yipping of jackals….

“The only thing I hate about Africa is what’s happening to it.”

“A Different Angle: Fly Fishing Stories by Women” (Seal Press, Seattle, $22.95) is ex-Chicagoan Holly Morris’ second superb collection. Seventeen well-published authors treat the nuances of fishing, camping and - above all - outdoor relationships on a plane of expression that has been too-long absent in a field dominated by the male voice.

Morris chooses a sweep of locations from northern New Mexico trout streams to the muddiest, most remote backwaters of Maine.