The Heart of the Hunter: Customs and Myths of the African Bushman

Feels like two books stuck together - one on his time in the desert, and the second on Bushman mythology. Both were interesting though. Some outdated and obviously biased language, but also an evident love for Southern Africa and respect for the people he encountered.

There is a certain authenticity in this book; the details of the authors travels in the Kalahari, the people he meets and the stories they relate. But for all of that there is also a remarkable inexpressiveness. The author talks about great feeling, and roams among Verlane, Blake and Wordsworth to find the words to express it, but it is - perhaps - too intellectual and too reflective without enough substance to sustain it. The story of his travels in the Kalahari, his meetings with the Bushmen is essentialy the author's story (and a very short story at that), his experience and nothing more. He occupies so much of the stage that there is very little room left for the story of the place and the peoples.

The second half of the book is show more essentially an extended collection of creation and wildlife myths, interesting enough, but again more curious than engaging. I read the book because I believed that it, and its predecessor (The Lost World of the Kalahari) were important milestones in the recognition of the displaced tribes of Africa. But you would get as much feeling for the world of the Kalahari from the works of Alexander McCall Smith in his Ladies Detective Agency novels (and I mean that genuinely) as you would from van der Post's efforts here. A book for those who are interested in Laurens van der Post, or the historiography of Africa, but look elsewhere for a good book on the Kalahari or the Bushmen. show less

This is a compassionate treatment of a beleaguered ethnic group in South Africa. There is not much place for Bushmen in the modern world; their values are so different from ours. They have been called the first race of men in Africa and their way of life has remained unchanged for centuries. They could rightly be called the ultimate environmentalists, and it's simply amazing how in tune they are with nature. It's too bad that they, and their values, are being squeezed out of the modern world.

If you have a desire to know the history and customs and lives of the bush people of Africa.