BREATH OF AFRICA: BEYOND THE HUNT - CHRONICLES OF A BIG-GAME HUNTER.

(2003) 2010 2nd English edition. Large 8vo (155 x 235mm). Pxx,202. Colour photographs and illustrations throughout, colour map end-papers. Blue cloth, spine titled in gilt.

This is the English translation of Decoster's original Le Vent des Pistes, published in 2003. Edouard-Piere Decoster is the son of a French industrialist, brough up in Northern France, and only introduced to Africa as an adult through national service in the interior of Algeria. This book "relates Decoster's memories of forty years of travelling and hunting in Africa for lion, buffalo, leopard, waterbuck, kudu, eland, antelope, elephant, and just about every other creature legal to hunt. Unlike many big-game hunting books, Decoster's tales of his safaris and expeditions are tinged with romanticism and nostalgia." Chapters include: The gates to Atlantis; The lion and the warthog at the Faleme River; Akagera Game Reserve; The accident; A lion in Sologne; Eland at the ends of the earth; In Hemingway's footsteps; Dinner in the bush; On the banks of the Faro River; Embo's revenge; An invaluable network; Friends; Hunting the baboon; How to hunt a warthog; Eland of the bad moon; The kudu of Mount Gorogoza; Paka Doume - the Well-Named; The lion of the Doukoua; Mister Mrosso, a good man in Africa; The eagle, the buffalo, and the monitor lizard; The price of things; Return to Yabassi; Diamond eyes; Hatari!; Broken horn; The buffalo of Lake Cabora Bassa; Surprise in Koti Manga; Hunting with the Baka.