THE ADVENTURES OF SHADREK: SOUTHERN AFRICA'S MOST INFAMOUS ELEPHANT POACHER. By Ron Thomson.

(2001) 2014 trade edition. 8vo (155 x 234mm). Ppviii,370. B/w photographs, b/w illustrations by Ilza Joubert. Yellow boards, spine titled in dark blue.

Ron Thomson, chief of Gonarezhou National Park, recounts his adventures in pursuit of Southern Rhodesia's most famous and elusive elephant poacher. "This is the story of a man called Shadrek, whose elephant-poaching exploits in Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou National Park are legend. In his day there was nobody to touch this poacher and hunter extraordinaire. During the 1960s and 1970s every resident in the towns or ranches of the Zimbabwean Lowveld knew about and spoke about Shadrek. Between 1965 and 1975 Shadrek ran rings around the game rangers and police who tried to catch him. When the local people were asked about Shadrek, they denied any knowledge of the Scarlet Pimpernel of the African bush, yet mention of his name brought enigmatic smiles to their faces. Strangely, the white community, too, despite their disapproval of his plundering of the game reserve's great elephant bulls, had a grudging admiration for Shadrek. For five-and-a-half years during the height of Shadrek's poaching career, the author was the game warden in charge of the Gonarezhou National Park. This is the fascinating account of how Thomson tried to apprehend the elusive character known as Shadrek, and what happened to this legend of the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border."