Big Game in India

[John 39]

I have just finished reading what I think is one of the best books on shooting in India that I have ever read.

It is called "The Lonely Tiger" and was originally published by Faber and Faber in 1960. It was written by Hugh Allen, an ex-army man and experienced big game shot, who bought a farm (estate) called Mandikhera. I'm not sure if the location was in north India, a few hundred miles from New Delhi, or in central India in Madhya Pradesh near Pipariya, it was almost certainly the latter.

Hugh Allen and his sister farmed there for many years from about 1947 defending its crops, inhabitants and farm animals from tigers, leopards, pigs and bears.

This is not the usual book about the hey-days of irresponsible big game hunting, it is about two people simply trying to make a living out of farmland surrounded by jungle, and about what happened to the fauna of India after independence.

The book is available from Amazon at £9.99 (www.amazon.co.uk/lonely-tiger-Hugh-Allen). I cannot recommend it more highly.

[Tim Wilkes 43]

Thanks John, sounds an interesting read.

Tim

[John 39]

As I have very little to do and no real purpose in life, I bought three books to read but have abandoned them in favour of re-reading "The Lonely Tiger" less than a week later! I can tell you it is as exciting on the second read as it was on the first!

I don't know the exact location of the estate but it is close to Pipariya and just north of the Satpura mountains and the Satpura National Park and not far from Anjandana.