Big-game hunter, adventurer, soldier, explorer ā Frederick Courteney Selous was a man of many parts. He was also an ardent colonialist and a friend of Cecil Rhodes, so itās best not to judge his life by modern standards, but to appreciate him for what he was: a great Victorian hero who could ride hard and shoot straight.
He was also a man of considerable charm, with an ability to make friends with men of all sorts, from the bushmen of the Kalahari to the warlike Matabele, whose king, Lo Bengula, granted him his first hunting concessions.
Selous was born in 1851 into a wealthy, educated family ā his father was chairman of the London Stock Exchange. Educated at Rugby, from an early age his ambition was to become a big-gameā¦
