 First edition | |
| Author | Wilbur Smith |
|---|---|
| Country | South Africa |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Ballantyne Novels |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1984 |
| ISBN | 978-0385187374 |
| Preceded by | The Angels Weep |
| Followed by | The Triumph of the Sun |
The Leopard Hunts in Darkness is a novel by Wilbur Smith set in the early days of Zimbabwe's independence [1] and is the fourth in Wilbur Smith's series about the Ballantyne family of Rhodesia.
When it was released it was banned by the Zimbabwe government. [2]
With the help of his World Bank connections, celebrated author Craig Mellow returns to his beloved Africa as an agent of the bank, in exchange for reporting on the state of affairs in Zimbabwe. When he arrives, he visits the ranch that was a part of his family for generations and begins an obsession to rebuild it to its former glory.
When he seeks the help of his old friend Samson Kumalo from the tribe of the Matabele, who is now a cabinet minister in the constantly evolving government, Craig is met with a terse and unfriendly attitude coupled with an unmistakable invitation to leave the country for good. Stubbornly, Craig finds other avenues in his quest to restore Rholands Ranching Company to its former glory.
With the support of Peter Fungabera, a Mashona tribe member who is also a cabinet minister, Craig gets the financing he needs and begins the project of restoration on the three properties that make up his family's heritage. When poaching is discovered on the more remote property that Craig plans to turn into a tourist destination, he and wildlife federation photographer Sally-Anne Jay seek the culprit and all evidence points to Craig's old friend Samson, now known as Tungata Zebiwe. With Peter's help, and government forces, Tungata is arrested and sent to prison.
With mixed feelings, Craig continues to work and his relationship with Sally-Anne progresses to a proposal. Rholands main ranches, King and Queen's Lynn are restocked with prime cattle and the houses restored when tribal fighting breaks out again. Mashona and Matabele in their ongoing battle for supremacy, are armed and the killing reaches Rholand's. Craig and Sally-Anne are poised to flee when they recognize Peter and his army. Relieved, they wait but Peter is anything but friendly. Accused of being traitors to the country, Craig is forced to forfeit his land to save their lives. Peter isn't finished with his treachery. His order is to kill them before they reach the border.
In an unexpected twist, one of Peter's own men turns on him, and drives Craig and Sally-Anne to freedom. They soon discover that Samson was also a victim of Peter's dishonesty and Craig is appalled to realize they helped to jail an innocent man. In the struggle to free him, Peter and Sally-Anne risk their lives but manage to enlist the help of others to liberate the Matabele leader. In their run for freedom they are shot out of the sky, entombed in an underground series of caverns, and must fight their way through enemy Mashona forces, during which they uncover a plot involving the Russians to overthrow and enslave the population.
The novel's film rights were purchased in the 1980s by Sylvester Stallone to develop as a vehicle for himself but no film eventuated. [2] [3] [4] [5]
An adventure story of Masud Rana series named Andhokarey Chita was based on the Leopard Hunt in Darkness. [6]
In Africa, the Big Five game animals are the lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and African buffalo. They are examples of charismatic megafauna, featuring prominently in popular culture, and are among the most famous of Africa's large animals. The term was coined by big-game hunters, and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot but is now more widely used by game viewing tourists and safari tour operators.
Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as south Zambesia until annexed by Britain at the behest of Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company, for whom the colony was named. The bounding territories were Bechuanaland (Botswana), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Moçambique (Mozambique), and the Transvaal Republic.
Wilbur Addison Smith was a Northern Rhodesian-born British-South African novelist specialising in historical fiction about international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries.
Lobengula Khumalo was the second and last official king of the Northern Ndebele people. Both names in the Ndebele language mean "the men of the long shields", a reference to the Ndebele warriors' use of the Nguni shield.
MzilikaziMoselekatse, Khumalo was a Southern African king who founded the Ndebele Kingdom now called Matebeleland which is now part of Zimbabwe. His name means "the great river of blood". He was born the son of Mashobane kaMangethe near Mkuze, Zululand, and died at Ingama, Matabeleland. Many consider him to be the greatest Southern African military leader after the Zulu king, Shaka. In his autobiography, David Livingstone referred to Mzilikazi as the second most impressive leader he encountered on the African continent.
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Zimbabwe.
Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game", is typically a mature male specimen from a popular species of collectable interests, usually of large sizes, holding impressive horns/antlers or magnificent furs/manes. Most trophies consist of only select parts of the animal, which are prepared for display by a taxidermist. The parts most commonly kept vary by species, but often include head, skin/hide, tusks, horns, and/or antlers.
The Northern Ndebele are a Mbo ethnic group native to South Africa who are an offshoot of the Southern Ndebele and they are concentrated in the Limpopo and North West provinces of South Africa.
The Scout Association of Zimbabwe is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. Scouting in Zimbabwe shares history with Malaŵi and Zambia, with which it was linked for decades.
George Periolat was an American actor.
The First Matabele War was fought between 1893 and 1894 in modern-day Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele (Matabele) Kingdom. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, had tried to avoid outright war with the company's pioneers because he and his advisors were mindful of the destructive power of European-produced weapons on traditional Matabele impis attacking in massed ranks. Lobengula reportedly could muster 80,000 spearmen and 20,000 riflemen, armed with Martini-Henry rifles, which were modern arms at that time. However, poor training meant that these were not used effectively.
The Second Matabele War, also known as the Matabeleland Rebellion or part of what is now known in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, was fought between 1896 and 1897 in the region later known as Southern Rhodesia, now modern-day Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Matabele people, which led to conflict with the Shona people in the rest of Southern Rhodesia.
When the Lion Feeds (1964) is the debut novel of Rhodesian writer Wilbur Smith. It introduces the Courtney family, whose adventures Smith would tell in many subsequent novels. In 2012, Smith said the novel remained his favourite because it was his first to be published.
The Ballantyne Novels are a series of novels published between 1980 and 1984 by Wilbur Smith. They chronicle the lives of the Ballantyne family, from the 1860s to the 1980s against a background of the history of Rhodesia.
The Shangani Patrol was a 34-soldier unit of the British South Africa Company that in 1893 was ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors in pre-Southern Rhodesia, during the First Matabele War. Headed by Major Allan Wilson, the patrol was attacked just north of the Shangani River in Matabeleland, Rhodesia. Its dramatic last stand, sometimes called "Wilson's Last Stand", achieved a prominent place in the British public imagination and, subsequently, in Rhodesian history, similarly to events such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Battle of the Alamo in the United States.
The British South Africa Company's administration of what became Rhodesia was chartered in 1889 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and began with the Pioneer Column's march north-east to Mashonaland in 1890. Empowered by its charter to acquire, govern and develop the area north of the Transvaal in southern Africa, the Company, headed by Cecil Rhodes, raised its own armed forces and carved out a huge bloc of territory through treaties, concessions and occasional military action, most prominently overcoming the Matabele army in the First and Second Matabele Wars of the 1890s. By the turn of the century, Rhodes's Company held a vast, land-locked country, bisected by the Zambezi river. It officially named this land Rhodesia in 1895, and ran it until the early 1920s.
Richard Johns is a UK film and television producer. As well as producing many commercially successful and critically acclaimed films, he has helped discover and foster the next generation of directors and writers across the UK, Europe and the US.
The Sunbird is a 1972 novel by Wilbur Smith about an archeological dig.
Men of Men is a novel by Wilbur Smith, the second in the Ballantyne Novels series. It is set in the 1880s during the colonisation of Rhodesia and the First Matabele War and climaxes with the Shangani Patrol.
The Angels Weep is a 1982 novel, the third in Wilbur Smith's series about the Ballantyne family of Rhodesia. The first part of the book is set immediately before and during the Second Matabele War, then the second part jumps forward to the final days of the Rhodesian Bush War.
