If you can find it, "Mambas and Maneaters: A hunter's story " by C.J.P. Ionides is a terrific window on East Africa in the first half of the twentieth century. Iodine, as he was known locally, was a wonderfully eccentric Brit who started his career as a soldier in India, then became an ivory poacher in Africa. He went legit and became a professional hunter, and eventually was hired as warden of the Selous Game Reserve in then Tanganyika, still the largest reserve in Africa. The life of a warden back then was daily adventure, hence the Maneaters in the title. In those days, British officials in the colonies got long leaves of absence, as most went back to the UK and travel was by steamer. Instead, Iodine spent his leaves hunting in remote areas all over the continent, collecting specimens of everything on four legs, using mostly his .470 NE, of which I am now the proud owner. His descriptions of travel and hunting in remote areas are fascinating, but even then he witnessed the decimation of species which are now essentially extinct in the wild.
When he retired from the Game Department, he made his home in a part of the Selous which he reckoned had the highest density and diversity of poisonous snakes in Africa, hence Mambas. He was Africa's first herpetologist and collected specimens both for research collections and to supply venom for the production of antivenin. He was bitten many times by a variety of snakes, used no antivenin afterwards, and took detailed notes on the effects of the venom and his recovery. E. Africa in those days had plenty of wild characters but few matched Iodine.
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