Finn Aagaard - Aagaards African Adventures

Finn and Berit during their honeymoon in 1968.

AAGAARDS AFRICAN ADVENTURES

BY

FINN AND BERIT AAGAARD

Safari Press

Aagaards Africa 2008 by Finn and Berit Aagaard. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical reproduction, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

The trademark Safari Press is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

Aagaard, Finn and Berit

Second edition

Safari Press

2008, Long Beach, California

ePub ISBN 978-1-57157-360-5
Print ISBN 1-57157-284-8

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006927697

Readers wishing to receive the Safari Press catalog, featuring many fine books on big-game hunting, wingshooting, and sporting firearms, should write to Safari Press Inc., P.O. Box 3095, Long Beach, CA 90803, USA. Tel: (714) 894-9080 or visit our Web site at www.safaripress.com.

DEDICATION

To my children, in memory of their father,
and to Bill, my second love.

B.A.

Finn with Berit and daughter, Marit, 1996.

TO MY FATHER

I had a tale told to me
of times I do not know.
They fell from lips of dignity
as pure and white as snow.
They hovered round the candlelight
on softly moving wings.
They shone and sparkled in the night
and spoke of wondrous things.
And though my eyes would heavy grow,
Id fight away the sleep.
Id sink into the candle glow,
these stories mine to keep.
And they were spun from silken thread,
adventures, loves, and quests,
Woven through with streamers red
with strange, intriguing guests.
Trees and mountains rising tall,
fields of waving gold,
Seabreeze through the leaves in fall,
nights that dont grow cold,
Warriors proud and flowers fair,
colors painted strong,
Rainbow birds and through wild air
an echo of haunting song.
Jungle stories carved in stone,
views that set souls fee,
The best gifts I could ever own
must be these tales told to me.

By Marit Aagaard, age sixteen, 22 August 1991

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

LUDO WURFBAIN, publisher and fellow hunter who knows Africa, my profound thanks for his patient guidance through the intricacies of producing a book.

JIM LAND, Secretary of the National Rifle Association, for helping me acquire the copyright of Finns original book, and for his encouragement.

The late legendary JEFF COOPER, for his longstanding friendship and respect for Finn, so beautifully expressed here through his precise and skillful use of words.

JOHN WOOTTERS, veteran gun and outdoor writer and Texas whitetail expert extraordinaire, for his close and encouraging relationship with Finn over more than two decades, and for his faith in my own ability as a writer.

CRAIG BODDINGTON, for describing how Finns success as a writer and shooting personality was a result of his own merit.

The late GARY SITTON, master wordsmith and former editor of Petersens Hunting, for the way he captures some of Finns gentle character.

PHIL SHOEMAKER, well-known Alaskan guide and writer, for pointing out so eloquently that Finn inspired a high level of trust, both as a hunter and as a writer.

PAUL KIRCHNER, for his delightful cartoon that so brilliantly captures one of Finns most constant admonitions: the importance of bullet placement.

ERIK, for sharing how his father instructed him, not only in gun safety as a little boy but also by example in many important life skills such as trust, responsibility, and family values.

HARALD, for writing about the touching relationship between father and son, and how it influenced him as a young man.

MARIT, for her incredible insight, even at sixteen, of the importance of her fathers stories told by candlelight.

BILL, my second love, for his constant encouragement and advice; for his patience and support throughout this endeavor.

Finn and Berit

Finn Aagaard was born in 1932 of Norwegian parents who had moved to Kenya in 1927 to farm. Growing up in remote areas, he learned bushcraft and a love for the wild at an early age, when East Africa was still a land of exotic magic and allure. While attending agricultural college, he participated in the Home Guard and later served in the Kenya Regiment during the bloody Mau Mau uprising. He began keeping detailed diaries when he was twenty-four, and in them he described his numerous buffalo hunts, his close calls with rhino, and his pursuits of cattle-killing lion and leopard. He also included frequent notes on rifles, ballistics, and bullet placement.

In 1966, on a private hunting safari, he met Berit Rindal, daughter of the first Norwegian ambassador to Kenya; a year later they became engaged during an elephant hunt while Finn was working to become a full professional hunter. After eleven months of courtship via mail while Berit finished college in Norway, the two were married in Nairobi.

Finn and two partners formed Bateleur Safaris, and Finn quickly became a sought-after PH due to his skill and integrity. Berit conducted many photographic safaris and frequently accompanied Finn on hunts, often bringing their children. In 1977 all hunting was abruptly banned in Kenya, costing the jobs of thousands of Kenyans, black and white.

Finn, Berit, and their three young children immigrated to Texas and started a small hunting operation for exotics. Finn began writing, and he soon got an exclusive contract to write for the National Rifle Association publications, and later became a field editor for Wolfe Publishing. Every article was thoroughly researched and backed up with practical insight and experience. He also published Aagaards Africa and he developed an immense following as people quickly recognized his knowledge that was coupled with his humility and honesty.