Philip Hope Percival was a renowned white hunter and early safari

Safari

A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...

 guide in colonial Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. During his career he guided Teddy Roosevelt, Baron Rothschild

Baron Rothschild

Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first person of the Jewish faith to be raised to the peerage...

, and Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

 on African hunts. In fact, Hemingway modeled the fictional hunter Robert Wilson, in his story "“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Set in Africa, it was published in the September 1936 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine concurrently with "The Snows of Kilimanjaro"...

" after Percival. Percival also worked with well known white hunters like Bror von Blixen-Finecke

Bror von Blixen-Finecke

Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke was a Swedish baron, writer, and African big-game hunter.Born to an aristocratic Swedish family, he married his Danish second-cousin Karen Blixen in 1913...

 and mentored Sydney Downey

Sydney Downey

Sydney Downey was a British-Kenyan white hunter and safari pioneer. He learned the trade of guiding safari hunts from an older generation of white hunters, including his early mentor Philip Percival...

 and Harry Selby

Harry Selby (hunter)

Harry Selby is a South African white hunter who made a name for himself in Kenya and then in Bechuanaland. Selby honed his hunting skills early in life while working for the Safariland safari company and under the tutelage of legendary hunter Philip Percival...

, and was known in African hunting circles as the "Dean of Hunters."

Early Life

Philip was born in England, in the tail end of the 19th Century. When Philip was still quite young his older brother Blaney went off to East Africa, and proceeded to send Philip several exciting accounts of his life as a game warden there. When Philip turned 21 he inherited a small sum of money and struck out to join his brother in Africa, sailing to Mombasa

Mombasa

Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....

. Percival settled in Limuru

Limuru

Limuru is a town in central Kenya. It is also the name of a parliamentary constituency and an administrative division. Current 2004 population is about 4800....

 where he grew coffee and wheat and bred ostriches, cattle and horses.

Hunting Life

Upon reaching Africa, Percival was quick to pick up hunting with his brother, and Harold and Clifford Hill who were also ostrich farmers. The ostriches they raised were used as bait to lure lion and other big game. At first Percival mainly hunted lion with the Hills, but in time he started to lead hunting trips of his own. Initially he charged clients a fee of ten pounds per week and an additional twenty five pounds per lion and in those days guides like Percival only provided the wagon, pack animals and a couple of assistants, leaving the clients to provide their own food, drink, tents and bedding.

Teddy Roosevelt Safari

In 1909 Philip's brother Blaney had been instrumental in bringing then Colonel Teddy Roosevelt to East Africa for a safari and Philip was given the opportunity to work as an assistant hunter on the trip. Roosevelt remembered Percival well, writing about him:

"At Bondoni was Percival, a tall, sinewy man, a fine rider and shot—like so many other men whom I met, he wore merely a helmet, a flannel shirt, short breeches or trunks, and puttees and boots. I shall not forget seeing him one day as he walked beside his twelve-ox team, cracking his long whip, while in the big wagon sat pretty Mrs. Percival with a puppy, and little cheetah cub, which we had found and presented to her and which she was taming."

After the Roosevelt safari Percival decided to become a full-time white hunter and one of is first solo clients was Baron Rothschild

Baron Rothschild

Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first person of the Jewish faith to be raised to the peerage...

, but he also conducted safaris for other royals like the Duke and Duchess of Connaught.

Company man

As he became more ingrained into the hunting life, Percival joined the safari company, Newland and Tarlton, along with other hunters like Alan Black

Alan Black

Alan Black is a former basketball player and basketball coach in the Australian National Basketball League. Black's last coaching appointment was the head coach of the Cairns Taipans....

.
When Newland and Tarlton dissolved in 1919, and Safariland

Safariland

Safariland, LLC is a division of BAE Systems, Inc. a subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based defense and aerospace company BAE Systems PLC. It is a major designer and manufacturer of equipment for sporting, military, law enforcement, investigation and public safety personnel.-History:The company was...

 was created out of its ashes he stayed on with that outfit as well. During this time he mentored a new generation of hunters like Sydney Downey and Harry Selby. Percival also went onto to become the first president of the East African Professional Hunter’s Association

East African Professional Hunter’s Association

The East African Professional Hunter's Association was an organization of East African white hunters founded in Nairobi, Kenya in 1934. Well known members included Philip Percival, Harry Selby, Sydney Downey and Donald Ker...

, a position he served in for 15 years. In 1930, before his tenure as EAPHA president Percival left Safariland to team up with Bror von Blixen-Finecke

Bror von Blixen-Finecke

Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke was a Swedish baron, writer, and African big-game hunter.Born to an aristocratic Swedish family, he married his Danish second-cousin Karen Blixen in 1913...

 in the joint venture, Tanganyika Guides Ltd., of which he was the Kenya director, with Bror heading up the Tanganyika

Tanganyika

Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...

 operation.

Ernest Hemingway

During his partnership with von Blixen, Percival guided Ernest Hemingway on both of Hemingway's African safaris, the first coming in 1934. Hemingway struck up a friendship with Percival, effectionately calling him "Pop," a name they used for each other, and also one of the monikers Hemingway gave to Jackson Philips in The Green Hills of Africa, a character modeled on Percival. Hemingway also considered the Percival a great teacher, and most notably molded the Percival he knew into the character of Robert Wilson, in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Yet Percival was not the only model for Wilson, and indeed critics have identified Bror von Blixen as another influence, especially in terms of Wilson's "cynicism and womanizing."

Legacy

The legacy of Philip Percival, the "Dean of Hunters," runs deeper than his influence on Hemingway. Percival also mentored a new generation of African Hunters, including Sydney Downey, who called him "the greatest white hunter of all time," and Harry Selby, who himself went on to captivate a new generation of foreigners through the travel writings of Robert Ruark

Robert Ruark

Robert Ruark was an American author and syndicated columnist.- Early life :...

.