The Last Ivory Hunter: The Saga of Wally Johnson

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 393 ratings

Price: 17.46

Last update: 12-23-2024


About this item

A chance meeting around a safari campfire on the banks of the Mupamadazi River leads to The Last Ivory Hunter: The Saga of Wally Johnson, a grand tale of African adventure by renowned hunting author Peter Hathaway Capstick. Wally Johnson spent half a century in Mozambique hunting white gold—ivory. Most men died at this hazardous trade. He’s the last one able to tell his story.

In hours of conversations by mopane fired in the African bush, Wally described his career—how he survived the massive bite of a Gaboon viper, buffalo gorings, floods, disease, and most dangerous of all, gold fever. He bluffed down 200 armed poachers almost single-handedly, and survived rocket attacks from communist revolutionaries during Mozambique’s plunge into chaos in 1975. In Botswana, at age 63, Wally continued his career. Though the great tuskers have largely gone and most of Wally’s colleagues are dead, Wally has survived. His words are rugged testimony to an Africa that is now a distant dream.


Top reviews from the United States

John Hahn
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2024
I really appreciate this great book. It was so much better than I expected. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of hunting in Africa.
DDS
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2024
I have several books on the history of hunting and Africa before all the unrest.
When herds of animals were countless in number and now how things have declined sadly.
This book is both a story of the good and the evil that has occurred in Africa
RLM
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book with sobering warnings
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2021
Good book for the safari enthusiast with a historical perspective on one of the most successful hunters of the 20th century. Not the best all around safari book but still fascinating.

The ending describing the seizure of Johnson's property and possessions by "freedom fighters" is a sobering reminder about the influence communist countries have had in causing massive suffering and murders in African countries the past 60 years thru civil wars in the names of "freedom" and "independence." The Marxists are continuing a slow entrenchment in the US Democratic Party with confessed Marxists such as Bernie Sanders and AOC who ultimately want the US to be a one party socialist state. Be careful US and don't let this happen!
Dan W
5.0 out of 5 stars A time forgotten
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2023
This was a great read. It reminded me of sitting around the camp fire at elk camp with my father and grandfather listening to stories of the past. Capstick did the world a favor by writing down these stories so we could hear them. So many stories from people like this just disappear never to be remembered. To them they are just another day on the job and most of the time they don’t think anyone would want to hear them.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in hunting, African history, adventure, or survival. It covers a wide variety of interests. It is amazing what men like this have done.
Ron G.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great hunting stories
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2024
Great hunting stories about an Africa that no longer exists.
Navy Guy
5.0 out of 5 stars Safari from the sofa
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2013
Takes you to an Africa that no longer exists -- when there were so many elephant, there were few restrictions on hunters. I won't rehash what has happened since as this book is about (what I see) the rise and peak of Wally's career as a PG. There's lasting bitterness at the Marxist revolt that caused him so much personal loss and the last chapter sadly ends on this downbeat note. (I feel it would not hurt story flow to read that chapter earlier if you want a more upbeat ending.)

However, the other chapters are illuminating, exciting and sometimes hysterical as he writes of anecdotes to life encamp. There's the boa who slithered in to a safari vehicle and nights spent smack in the middle of lions with nothing but the walls of the blind between them and the hunters. Collectively these stories pull you off the sofa and put you alongside them. I could not wait to finish my workday and read each chapter. I even rationed it towards the end, as the writing was so fluid I became immersed in his safaris without leaving home.
Mungo__Park
3.0 out of 5 stars Disjointed but mostly interesting
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2022
The titular character was a professional hunter in Mozambique and the author interviewed him about his life in order to write a book about it. This work is very disjointed, with frequent unnecessary interjections by Capstick about his personal opinions on this or that. The episodes with big game are the least interesting part of the book by far, though the work is redeemed somewhat by the non-hunting related chapters. Overall somewhat disappointing, as there are much better titles out there.
Joshuabigfoot
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2017
Excellent book filled with amazing tales of African adventures. This book contains one of my favorite stories of all time about when Wally Johnson was bitten by a Gaboon viper far out in the Bush and lived to tell the tale!

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