Giant Pith Helmet Thread of Doom

DavidJones · Jul 8, 2012

Have to say I do like that image of the Elephants charging into the camp. Thanks for posting.

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 8, 2012

Thank you Mr Jones, he has some fine artwork that captures the mood of adventure (and pith helmets

I think.

This painting was produced for the cover of the book Karamojo Safari by W.D.M. Bell, which is a first edition by Safari Press of Bell’s 1949 book covering his hunting trips into a then little known area of East Africa.

This painting will also appear in Volume II of Seerey-Lester’s book Legends of the Hunt – Campfire Tales, scheduled for publication in 2012, featuring, amongst others, the exciting adventures of “Karamojo Bell”.

Water Hazard
This painting depicts one of the many challenges experienced by early safaris in East Africa.
In the early 1900s many well known big game hunters of the time, such as Blixen, Judd, Foran and even Roosevelt, ventured into the little known and unruly area known as the Lado Enclave (Belgian Congo).
It was a hazardous exercise to move a safari safely through the bush and ford the many rivers and other bodies of water.
In this painting a rogue bull elephant has suddenly emerged from the dense growth at the river’s edge and challenged the safari.

Read more about this and other similar incidents in Volume II of Seerey-Lester’s book Legends of the Hunt - Campfire Tales, due out in 2012.

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 8, 2012

Doh, how could I forget Norman Parkinson's Art of Travel!. My copy is in the loft with broken frame along with one of my pith helmets.

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 8, 2012

Theodore Roosevelt - Safari group

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 8, 2012

Is that Paddy?

Oldsarge · Jul 9, 2012

Mr. Godfrey said:

Oh, Godfrey, Godfrey, you're making me Africa-sick again. After my last safari I swore off the place because getting there was so miserable. Cooped up in economy class for twenty-four hours from the Left Coast to J'burg is Hell, just Hell. But every time I see a picture like that the memories start to flow back and my heart aches for Africa.

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 9, 2012

Oldsarge said:
Oh, Godfrey, Godfrey, you're making me Africa-sick again. After my last safari I swore off the place because getting there was so miserable. Cooped up in economy class for twenty-four hours from the Left Coast to J'burg is Hell, just Hell. But every time I see a picture like that the memories start to flow back and my heart aches for Africa.

Sorry old chap, but I guess like Allan Quatermain, the red soil of Africa runs through your veins....but I'm pleased you have such happy memories and dreams. :eusa_clap

``...the lonely existence in wild places, often with only the sun and the stars for companions; the continual adventures; the strange tribes with whom I came in contact; in short, the change, the danger, the hope always of finding something great and new, that attracted and still attracts me, even now when I have found the great and the new.''
—Allan Quatermain, Child of Storm

"When you leave Africa, as the plane lifts, you feel that more than leaving a continent you're leaving a state of mind. Whatever awaits you at the other end of your journey will be of a different order of existence"
~ Fransesca Marciano, "Rules of the Wild"

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 9, 2012

Oldsarge said:
OMG! The Spirit of Khaki! My son had a tee-shirt like that that a friend at his boarding school brought home from Indonesia and gave to him. I've wanted a poster of that for twenty years and here it is, slightly reworded. Damn, now all I have to do is find an oversized printer to run me out a poster size print that I can frame and hang in my trophy room. FedEx won't touch it for fear of copyright infringement. I wonder if I just changed the wording via photo shop . . .

What ho Old Sarge, how did you get on with the poster?

I had a go but I want to try and use mine as a print for a T. With that t-shirt print computer transfer you can buy. I touched out the movie camera's too from the Gunga Din part.

Oldsarge · Jul 10, 2012

Actually, I hadn't started anything what with trying to build some new storage and getting ready to leave for Canada tomorrow. But by heaven you've done a lovely job with that. Mind if I save it? I want to do the same thing. I recommend the Longtails from Duluthtrading.com. It's a solid, well constructed tee-shirt that will give you years of wear complete with that gorgeous decal.

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 10, 2012

Feel free to use it. Thanks for the recomendation for a t-shirt. - Just need to find the time.

Canada? - Fishing trip or hunting?

Edward_Lindey · Jul 11, 2012

That would be an awsome T-shirt.

Edward

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 11, 2012

Edward_Lindey said:
That would be an awsome T-shirt.

Edward

Glad you agree too

Oldsarge · Jul 24, 2012

Mr. Godfrey said:
Feel free to use it. Thanks for the recomendation for a t-shirt. - Just need to find the time.

Canada? - Fishing trip or hunting?

Fishing. We went to Ulchi Lake Lodge, a place I highly recommend but probably won't revisit. I'm not much of a walleye fisherman. I find them tasteless and pretty boring to catch. There are pike in the lake and if you were to go there on a dedicated pike hunt, you could probably have a ball. However, it was unseasonably hot (94F) and the fishing was slow. The lodge is comfy, the people are sweet and the food was good. Probably the best thing there was that they hold a communal 'shore lunch' where everyone brings in a fish the night before and for lunch they fry them up with potatoes and onions and heat up some canned beans. No need for a guide, just bring in a fish. It's just . . . 2500 miles is a damned long ways to drive and I'm not sure it's worth it. Those of you who live in the mid-West can take better advantage.

Mr. Godfrey · Jul 28, 2012

Sounds like fun. 2500 miles, That's a long safari - Kings Solomans mines!!! and did you have pith helmet on? or tweed hat, sporting favourite dry flies!!!

Oldsarge · Jul 28, 2012

I almost wish I'd taken my pith helmet. Being able to soak it down in the lake and wear it to cool off would have been nice.

Tommy Gun Jack · Aug 3, 2012

Hey, I posted this in the "Favorite Uniforms" thread, already, but I thought some of you may like it as well. It's a facebook page I stumbled upon about a week ago. Some guy listed all his British Empire uniforms (dating from the late 30s and early 40s), with pictures and detailed descriptions of each piece of equipment, and clothing. He's got a few vintage pith helmets in there, that I think look amazing. Anyway, if you feel so inclined, you might go check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.365555770121676.97176.365555366788383&type=3

Oldsarge · Aug 4, 2012

Those are nice. I'd rather collect the earlier versions, if I were going to collect anything, but those are nice.

Mr. Godfrey · Aug 4, 2012

I watched 'The history of safari' on TV the other day and the Happy Valley set were mentioned.

From left to right: Raymond de Trafford, Frédéric de Janzé, Alice de Janzé and Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere in Delamere's estate, Loresho, Kenya, 1926.

Taken from Errol Trzebinski's book The Life and Death of Lord Erroll: The Truth Behind the Happy Valley Murder (2000), p. xii. The credits in this page read "courtesy of Sir Dermot de Trafford".

Oldsarge · Aug 4, 2012

An interesting and titillating story, I'm sure. Has anyone ever done an entire book on the riotous shenanigans that went on there then? I've heard a few . . .

WH1 · Aug 5, 2012

I recommend "The Bolter" by Francis Osbourne about her great grandmother Idina Sackeville who was a key member of the Happy Valley set. Most interesting study.

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