SafariStyle [antikvár]

I I 'Ii I \ ' iI ! ' I' I I I, jOn SafariMore than a century after the first safari expedition brought Europeans into direct contact with the wilds of Africa, out of pleasure rather than necessity, the lure of the experience endures. Moreover, the imagery associated with the safari has in itself come to be symbolic of something more: The flickering of a hurricane lamp casting shadows against the canvas walls of a tent; soft swathes of fine mosquito netting shrouding a camp bed; a folding table set with white linen and silverware in the shade of a solitary flame tree; vast stretches of savanna turning gold in the evening sun; the pattern of zebra moving together on the horizon; and the warm glow of a campfire, beyond which the bush resonates with the language of wildlife. The travelers who captured these images, through their snapshots and writings, evoked a life of both pleasure and adventure, of elemental living in an extraordinary place.It was the British colonists of East Africa who made the safari their own, spurred by a love of both sport and adventure. Out of the hardship of travel across difficult terrain in pursuit of their goal, they created an experience of great luxury and sensuality. This ability to imbue any environment, no matter how alien, with the comfortable elements of English living had already been well-established in India. There, in the course of building their empire, the British created a highly romantic way of life. They used native materials to reproduce the furnishings of home. They avidly collected the new and beautiful objects they found in Indian markets, whether of ivory, brass, or cashmere. And they perpetuated the customs of homethe institution of four o'clock tea, the formal dinner using fine porcelain and silverware, and the pretty decorative devices of Victorian England. As early as the 1800s, the British in India had'OSITE & ABOVEEarly safaris were organized purely for allowing Europeans the thrills and pleasures of hunting, with local guides undertaking the tracking and hauling of baggage. The 1930s heralded a new type of safariusing motorcars, and for tiK purpose oftaliing photographs.