Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett (1875-1955) was born of English ancestry in Kumaon, in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Jim Corbett was famed for his big-game hunting skills, though later he resolved never to shoot an animal except through the camera. He was revered by the local population for hunting down almost a dozen man-eaters which had killed around 1500 people in all. He became a staunch wild life conservationist and established India’s first national park in the Kumaon hills (posthumously renamed in his honour).

He took to recounting his tales of man-eater stalking and hunting long after he had retired from such activities. The stories are told modestly, but the courage of the man is obvious to the reader. Of his books, The Man-Eaters of Kumaon was the most popular, while Jungle Lore is considered his autobiography.

After India’s independence, he retired to Kenya, where he died a few years later.

Works

• The Man-Eaters of Kumaon
• The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag
• My India
• Jungle Lore
• Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon
• Tree Tops