In 1933, Hemingway and his second wife Pauline sailed to Kenya for an African hunting safari (a gift from her wealthy Uncle Gus). The writer contracted such a bad case of amoebic dysentery that he landed in the hospital. But after recovering, he managed to bag a lion and other large game — along with material for his 1933 short stories “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and his 1935 novel “The Green Hills of Africa.”
In 1954, Hemingway and his fourth wife Mary toured the Belgian Congo, Kenya, and Rwanda. While flying over Uganda, their plane clipped a telegraph wire and plunged onto the crocodile-infested shores of the Nile. As the Hemingways camped out near the wreckage, false reports of their deaths made world headlines. They rationed their beer and whisky, but were soon rescued by a boat that was well stocked with ale. The couple then climbed into a second airplane – only to have it crash on the airstrip.
Though Hemingway spent only ten months in Africa, it left him with countless animal horns and rich material for his work. It also left him with a concussion, first-degree burns, crushed vertebrae, and a ruptured kidney, liver and spleen – injuries that probably contributed to his ill health later in life.
~Taken from Michael Palins’ Hemingway Adventure
There are few who inspire me more than Ernest Hemingway. His tales of safari are epic–and every time I see African wildlife, without exception, I think of Papa.
A Cheetah hunts in the early morning hours
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