Elephant Adventure - Willard Price

Elephant Adventure is probably the weirdest book in the series due to its setting in the surreal Mountains of the Moon. When I was a child I believed the mysterious realm with gigantic flora and fauna, including three foot earthworms, was fictitious, or else grossly exaggerated for the readers. Price quotes an old issue of Nat Geo to back up his wild claims, but unfortunately the issue is difficult to track down today. Other sources confirm that the mountains are in fact the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda. It makes for a fantastical location for the boys to hunt elephants, which in themselves are described as being bigger than anywhere else in the world. The mission does not start off well; Hal and Roger promptly lose their first elephant and are told by a Watussi chief that their efforts are futile, for mysterious forces are working against them. With this doom laden prophecy lingering over them, the fun from the previous African Adventure is left far behind.

The racial depictions here are the worst yet, with the Watussi giants being contrasted with the 'midget' pygmies, who are likened to chimpanzees. Arabs are referred to as 'desert rats', and all the Africans are scorned for their superstitions. There are some incredibly cruel and bleak scenes, such as a mother elephant suffocating in a bog to protect her calf, and a baby elephant having its trunk sawn off by slavers. Elephants are hobbled by having their hind tendons cut, and then their bellies sliced open to spill the guts. Violence aside, the chill, misty menace of the nightmarish landscape seeming to work against the boys makes for a suspenseful and dramatic adventure, and I particularly enjoyed their journey crawling through the moss tunnels. There is also an albino elephant, described as the rarest animal treasure in the world fetching up to $50,000. Albinos are amusingly referred to as gentle and mild variants; the elephant literally allows itself to be captured by following them back to camp.

Rating 4/5