The very last of the few - Wegenercom

The very last of the few
Tony is a remarkable man in other ways as well. He is a
scholar in several fi elds, he speaks six main languages in
addition to several native dialects, and he loves opera – a
passion that has been with him since his teenage years.
This also distinguished him from his contemporary
friends who, in those days, were more keen on jazz and
swing.
He is passionate about Italian operas – they appeal to
his romantic disposition. He knows most of them by
heart, and it must be a strange experience for a safari
client when Tony, on the march towards camp after a
successfu l day in the bush, in quite a respectable tenor
bursts into Cavaradossi’s great aria “E lucevan le stelle”
from Puccini’s opera, Tosca.
Stamps and books
The cultural side of the great man has another side.
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He is a dedicated stamp collector, and
through the years he has built
up quite a unique collection of
stamps from a number of former
and current African countries.
During the four months of the
year where he is normally home
in Spain, he is a frequent visitor
at the stamp dealers in the crooked
streets of old Valencia. If they get
their hands on something particularly
interesting, they keep it for Tony. He
willingly admits that if he sees a
rarity missing in his collection,
he becomes just as focussed on acquiring it as
when he follows the trail of a large old elephant
bull. Once in a while he gets so carried away
that he pays more for a particular rarity than he dares
admit to his wife.
During his entire adult life, Tony has had a weak heart
for blonde, Scandinavian type of girls. It was no great
surprise to his friends, therefore, when he found his
life’s companion in the young and beautiful Isabel
who, in spite of her blonde hair, is as Spanish as Tony
himself. For 42 years now, the two of them have lived
and worked together in an inseparable partnership. She
now knows Africa almost as well as he does, and her
heart beats as much for its people as it does for the land.
So much so that she recently launched an ambitious
benevolent project for the Masai people in the remote
rural Tanzania.
Tony’s love for the continent, its people and its varied
wildlife is amply demonstrated in the many books
he has authored. The books are telltales of a lifetime
of hunting in all regions of Africa. Almost inevitably
with elephant in the leading part. However, the books
are also testimony of his profound understanding and
appreciation of the complicated mechanisms, which
control the course of nature.
One of his books, “Ivory”, is generally regarded as the
ultimate book on the African elephant and elephant
hunting. The book has been published in several
update d and revised versions under different titles, but
evident in all versions is the feeling that they have been