Peter Whitehead with Tony Park
I often get emails from people asking me to write, or help write their biography or the memoir of a relative or loved one. Inevitably, these people have had interesting lives, but it’s fair to say that when I received an email from Peter Whitehead outlining his life, I was amazed.
Peter’s life in Africa was, of course, a major drawcard for me. I was fascinated to learn how he had been in on the start of tourism in two of Zambia’s flagship national parks – Kafue and South Luangwa – and how he had worked on the sets of two of the best-known African movies, Born Free and Hatari!
Peter’s story is, as he told me himself, a book of his times as much as it is his own tale. Today’s readers should bear in mind that approaches and attitudes to things such as conservation, wildlife management and hunting have changed dramatically since the 1950s and 60s, when Peter was a game ranger and a hunter, and the two occupations were virtually indivisible.
Peter’s love of animals, especially horses, shines through in his many touching stories about the four-legged friends who have loomed large in his long life.