First Catch Your Eland

by Laurens van der Post

The author encompasses the whole history of the African continent and its present predicaments in a fascinating blend of personal reminiscence, adventure and historical insight; along with details of the entire range of African food.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 1977

About the author

Sir Laurens Jan van der Post was a 20th Century South African Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and conservationist.

Reviews

[Barbara T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful memoir of Africa by a member of the elite Boer class. Lots about food. He knew Haile Selassie, lived in Java for five years, travelled everywhere, spoke multiple languages. Fascinating story about an Africa that no longer exists

[Jason Prodoehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire the writing, as usual, and the sentiments. Still, this was overly food-specific, and somewhat boring to me.