Le cimetière des éléphants

by Henry de Monfreid

En 1942, Henry de Monfreid est au Kenya quand il part à la recherche de mystérieux mammifères qu'on dirait échappés des troupes d'Hannibal. Un « western africain » où rebondissements et émotions fortes se succèdent au rythme d'un tam-tam endiablé.

Paperback

First published October 26, 1994

About the author

Henry de Monfreid (14 November 1879 in Leucate – 13 December 1974) was a French adventurer and author. Born in Leucate, Aude, France, he was the son of artist painter Georges-Daniel de Monfreid and knew Paul Gauguin as a child.

Monfreid was famous for his travels in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa coast from Tanzania to Aden, Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula and Suez, that he sailed in his various expeditions as adventurer, smuggler and gunrunner (during which he said he more than once escaped the Royal Navy coast-guards cutters).

Monfreid is probably best known in the English-speaking world for the following two books:

Hashish: A Smuggler's Tale and
Secrets of the Red Sea, a book about gunrunning.

His books include

Les secrets de la mer Rouge (1931)
Aventures de mer (Grasset, 1932)
La croisière du hachich (Grasset, 1933)
Vers les terres hostiles de l'Éthiopie (Grasset, 1933)
La poursuite du Kaïpan (Grasset, 1934)
Le naufrage de la Marietta (Grasset, 1934)
Le drame éthiopien (Grasset, 1935)
Le lépreux (Grasset, 1935)
Les derniers jours de l'Arabie Heureuse (N.R.F, 1935)
Les guerriers de l'Ogaden (N.R.F, 1936)
Le masque d'or (Grasset, 1936)
L'avion noir (Grasset, 1936)
Le Roi des abeilles (Gallimard)
Le Trésor du pélerin (Gallimard, 1938)
Charras (Editions du Pavois, 1947)
Du Harrar au Kenya (Grasset, 1949)
L'homme sorti de la mer (Grasset, 1951)
Ménélik tel qu’il fut (Grasset, 1954)
Sous le masque Mau-Mau (Grasset, 1956)
Mon aventure à l'île des Forbans (Grasset, 1958)
Le Radeau de la Méduse : comment fut sauvé Djibouti, (Grasset, 1958)
Les Lionnes d'or d'Ethiopie (Laffont, 1964)
Le Feu de Saint-Elme (Laffont, 1973)
Journal de bord (Arthaud, 1984)
Lettres d'Abyssinie (Flammarion, 1999)
Lettres de la mer Rouge (Flammarion, 2000)

by Monfreid's daughter, Gisèle
Mes secrets de la Mer rouge, 1982, Editions France-Empire

Reviews

[Roberto]

Pur non essendo così avventuroso come altri libri di Monfreid, offre un approfondimento molto specifico sulla sua vita durante la permanenza in Kenya, sotto varie forme, durante e poco dopo la seconda guerra mondiale. Personaggi secondari, ma protagonisti, anche, qua e là, prigionieri italiani…

[Giuseppe Galbiati]

Sì legge volentieri questo bel libro che gli appassionati del genere apprezzeranno. Libro autobiografico in cui sono descritti avvenimenti storici e personali, dei quali, probabilmente solo alcuni riguardano proprio l’autore . La descrizione dei luoghi ,della fauna e delle persone estremamente intrigante. Solo un piccolo problema: non so se questo libro, visto i contenuti è stato tradotto in inglese…