A fascinating and touching tale about a man and his lions.

Bwana Game is George Adamson's memoir of his early life with Elsa and Joy Adamson. Could have been better edited. His second book, My Pride and Joy, is quite repetitive of incidents in Bwana Game, but better written. He is quite gentlemanly regarding the collapse of his marriage to Joy Adams.

George Adamson might have taken a back seat to the famous, Woman-Who-Lives-With-Lions, Joy Adamson. It's mostly all about George.

The good: Well-illustrated, incl sections of color plates. Lots of interesting passages about different animals in Kenya: rhinos, hippos, leopards, cheetahs.

Tough realism. He doesn't slip into romanticism or sentimentality. Excellent on the rough sides of living in Africa.

The bad: The story is more or less over after the filming of "Born Free," but there's still half a book to go; goes lion-after-lion, none of which really adds to or improves upon the original Elsa story.


I didn't much like the might-makes-right trigger fingered author who decides to shoot too easily. Kills one lion in anger who was just doing what lions in the wild do. (My bias is against keeping wild animals as pets.)

Here's how he is: "If she really wanted a divorce I would not contest it but that I was prepared to pay neither her lawyer's costs nor alimony."

Her charge, he brushes off, is cruelty.

Loved it! Tells of his life as well as the stories of Born Free (as it happened as well as the making of the movie) and Christian the lion. Also some great safari tales.

I actually preferred this significantly over the three books by Joy Adamson which I've read, Born Free, Living Free and Forever Free. George takes a more expansive view of the situation and explains a lot of the things that are left without explanation in Joy's books.

After all three of Joy's books I felt that I hadn't really connected with her as a writer or person at all. I found this frustrating as there was clearly a good story there and an amazing experience, but it all seemed so childishly written, very "We did this. Then we did this. Then Elsa did that. Then we looked for Elsa. We couldn't find her. We were worried. Then we found her. Then we couldn't find her." Etc.

So it was nice to find George's book. He comes across as a much more rounded and thoughtful person and one gets a much more interesting look at conservation work in its early stages in Kenya.

I skimmed through much of this ...too many stories of killings, but what did I expect? Lions are carnivores...,interesting life that he and his wife had,,,

George Adamson, his brother Terrence, and Tony Fitzjohn were all heroes of mine. They were passionate about saving Africas vanishing wildlife and risked their lives in doing so. This is an incredible book by an incredible man. George and Tony may have ultimately lost their battle to save Kora but they won a much larger struggle to bring global attention to conservation. Thanks to George and Hoy, Meru is once again a thriving national park. This is a must read for all who love Africa.

I'm glad I've read this at last. It helps add to the picture in Joy Adamson's own books, and explains things which perhaps don't come across so clearly there, such as why they needed to persist in feeding the free lions. George explains more about the behaviour of lions and the psychology of them. It all helps to reveal the bigger picture of what he and Joy were striving to do. And we learn a lot more about Joy's character too. It is a moving book in places, in particular with regard to the death of Joy.

A Great book by a great man

I absolutely love George Adamson and have read all his books and watched the documentaries. His story made a life changing decision for me....to become a wildlife Vet and conservationist. His work is admired and inspiring. I can't recommend this book enough...all of them by him. It's a shame how he dies, but he did so a happily-accomplished man that took pride in his work, which still lives on. I know for sure he impacted my heart and my life. I love the dedication he gave, all the way to the very end! Lions are my favorite animal, and he helped me come to realization of that, years ago, and to learn the ins and outs about them. <3

One of my goals this year is to re-read a favorite each month. This was my first re-read of the year. I had forgotten how much I loved the book, loved their story and wanted to grab my passport and leave for Africa. Imagine living your life on your terms and doing exactly what you felt pulled to do.

Covering 80 years of George Adamson's life - his 2nd autobiography. Well worth the read!!