User Reviews

I loved the ''Hardy Boys mysteries'' in the 2016-2017 period (when a local TV channel used to air them in the afternoon) and personally I think that it was very well-made. While in the first season the Hardy Boys go investigating in places such as a haunted house or in movie studios, in the second season they travel in faraway places like Egypt, England, Transylvania, and here in Africa.

The Hardy Boys have to investigate on the case of a poaching ring in Africa, and one of the suspects is Trevor Masters (played by Stuart Whitman), a hunter who runs a safari where much of the killings are practiced, but Frank falls for the hunter's daughter and so tries to defend him. But when more evidence against Trevor is discovered, Frank gives up and arrests him with the help of his father Fenton.

It's not one of the greatest episodes in the series, but it's still well-made and worth watching just for Stuart Whitman and Anne Lockhart (June Lockhart's real-life daughter)'s performances.

While The Mystery of the African Safari is harmless enough fun, it includes many of the things that drive me crazy about a lot of the series. Start with the plot - Frank and Joe help their father get to the bottom of a poaching ring in Kenya. Yeah, right. I'm not buying it. The Season 2 decision to send the Hardy Boys to far flung locations like Egypt, Transylvania, and Kenya never sat well with me. Like I've said before, I much prefer the more homegrown episodes where the boys investigate something like a haunted lighthouse or buried pirate treasure - not traipsing around a poorly designed and executed stand-in for Africa. And, the Hardys would have never been much of a match for real poachers. The boys would have been in way over their heads. Real poachers would have shot these guys on sight. It doesn't work for me.

The Boys big break in the case comes from a photo they take that shows a dead elephant in the background. So a picture of a dead elephant is all you need for proof of poaching? Animals die all the time and it's not always the result of poaching.

Also, if Frank and Joe are supposed to be in the African bush, where do they get their shirts starched and pressed? They're too immaculately dressed for a couple of guys in the wilds of Kenya. And how much time and effort are they spending on their well quaffed hair? It's all so ridiculous.

I've seen this episode a couple of times and never realized that Anne Lockhart was June Lockhart's daughter. I'm not sure why I never made the connection - they look so much alike.