The Lion in South Africa

The latest authority on lions is Mr. F.C. Selous...being a modest man, he claims to have had only a trifling experience with lions as follows: 'I have only shot 25 lions...' - NY Times, April 8, 1894

Mr. Selous's single chapter on the lion in South Africa will command universal attention. His description...of the largest lion that it was his good fortune to bag is...thrilling. - London Daily Telegraph, March 17, 1894

In his chapter on 'The Lion in South Africa,' Mr. Selous discusses the question of whether the lion is really a bold or timid animal. - Newcastle Daily Journal, May 10, 1894

Why do many hunting authorities consider Frederick Courteney Selous to be the greatest big game hunter of all time?

In 1894, famous African big game hunter Frederick Courteney Selous contributed a single short 30-page chapter, The Lion in South Africa, to the book of collected big game narratives titled Big Game Hunting. It is this 30-page chapter that has been republished here for the interested reader.

In introducing his writing, Selous states:

I am often asked, 'Is the lion a dangerous beast, or is he a cur?' This is a difficult question to answer, for not only do lions differ much individually in character-one when encountered showing himself to be an animal of a very cowardly nature, whilst another may prove to be very bold and savage-but it would even seem that the disposition of lions, in general, varies in the different large areas of country over which they range.

About the author:

Frederick Courteney Selous 1851 - 1917 was a British explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in Southeast Africa. His real-life adventures inspired Sir H. Rider Haggard to create the fictional Allan Quartermain character. Selous was also a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, Cecil Rhodes and Frederick Russell Burnham. He was pre-eminent within a select group of big game hunters that included Abel Chapman and Arthur Henry Neumann. Going to South Africa when he was 19, he travelled from the Cape of Good Hope to Matabeleland, which he reached early in 1872, and where (according to his own account) he was granted permission by Lobengula, King of the Ndebele, to shoot game anywhere in his dominions. From then until 1890, with a few brief intervals spent in England, Selous hunted and explored over the then little-known regions north of the Transvaal and south of the Congo Basin, shooting elephants and collecting specimens of all kinds for museums and private collections. His travels added greatly to the knowledge of the country now known as Zimbabwe.

He made valuable ethnological investigations, and throughout his wanderings-often among people who had never previously seen a white man-he maintained cordial relations with the chiefs and tribes, winning their confidence and esteem, notably so in the case of Lobengula. In 1890, Selous entered the service of the British South Africa Company, at the request of magnate Cecil Rhodes, acting as guide to the pioneer expedition to Mashonaland.

Over 400 miles of road were constructed through a country of forest, mountain and swamp, and in two and a half months Selous took the column safely to its destination. He then went east to Manica, concluding arrangements which brought the country there under British control. Coming to England in December 1892, he was awarded the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in recognition of his extensive explorations and surveys.