SHADOWS IN AN AFRICAN TWILIGHT
Shadows in an African Twilight
By Kevin Thom
(Reviewed by I J Larivers)
It would be an understatement to say that getting my hands on this book was an added plus during my trip to Sweden a few years ago to do a write-up on the Norma Ammunition plant.
Kevin Thomas has written numerous articles for a number of hunting and outdoor magazines in the past, and he combines a lifetime of experience with a dry sense of humour and a light and lively style of writing that is easy to read. When I first started leafing through Shadows in an African Twilight, I reflected that at over 700 pages covering over three decades of an adventurous life, it would be awhile before I got around to reading the book and writing a review. I was wrong. It was too intriguing to leave on the bookshelf for long.
The prolegomena read like a Who s Who of the legendary figures from the halcyon days of Rhodesia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management, southern African professional hunters' circles, and notables of the Rhodesian army – specifically the elite Selous Scouts, of which Kevin was a member - and these names all come to life vividly in the ensuing pages.
Born in l950, Kevin Thomas was privileged to have grown up in an African bush that was then as it should be - without fences or conflict, other than that which is a natural part of wilderness. At the age of 17, he was successfully interviewed for one of a handful of cadet game ranger positions with Rl1odesia's National Parks department. Kevin spent a number of adventurous years in National Parks, but having done his national service basic training, as the bush war intensified in the l 970's, he joined and passed the first proper selection course for the legendary Selous Scouts regiment - one of the finest special forces units that the world has ever seen.
During the course of the bush war he was involved in numerous operations against insurgent forces. His account of the end days of the war and the poaching scandal that irreparably tarnished the image of the Selous Scouts regiment is the most accurate and unbiased I have read.
Because of his National Parks background and his membership in the unit, he was to become personally involved in the investigations and also personally targeted in the ensuing attempted cover-up. This story alone is worth acquiring this book.
Following the war, Kevin embarked on a professional hunting career in South Africa, worked for a time in the South African homeland of Ciskei, and wound up working for the PMC Erinys on security escort duties in Iraq. Having myself done a stint in the homeland of Bophuthatswana and then, two decades later, with the PMC Global Risk Strategies in Iraq, I found these parts of Kevin's story of special interest for the parallels.
Those 700 pages flew by, but Shadows in an African Twilight is definitely earmarked as one of the special few that get re-read again and again. And on that note, I do have one bleat about this fine book. It is deserving of a hardcover edition, and the black and white photos that accompany the text do not always do the story justice.
Available from www.uthekwanepress. co.za, Shadows in an African Twilight wasn’t the last of Kevin Thomas's adventures to find its way into print but it is certainly one of the most worthwhile books I've read in a good number of years.
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