Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

SAFARI IN KENYA
EXCITING LURE OF THE HUNT
ONE HAD EVERY REASON TO SUPPOSE THAT THE DISTRACTIONS OF A WORLD WAR, IN
which wilful human killing on a calamitous scale was legalised, would have given the lions, leopards,
cheetahs, elephants, rhinoceri, gazelles and other animals of Africa a chance to multiply. But, sadly,
this was not the case. - By d.j.b.
Big game hunting, pursued
just for the lust of killing, has
always seemed to me to be a
crime on a par with war. It
therefore came as something
of a shock to learn from the
famous Danish hunter and
naturalist, Count Ahlefeldt-
Bille, that tragic, senseless
killing was a favorite pastime
of troops in Africa during the
war.
Weapons used ranged from pistols
and rifles to machine guns, tanks and
aeroplanes. ,
Antelope
The revelation Is made by the Dane,
who, by the way, Is Chief Game War
den of Denmark, in his latest book,
"Tandalla" (Routledge and Kegan
Paul, London). Tandalla is the native
name for the Greater Kudu, an ante
lope whose horns are treasured above
all else by many hunters.
Count Ahlefeldt-Bille studied wild
came in Africa before World War II.
In 1947 he led an expedition to Kenya
and Tanganyika to gather specimens
and information for the University of
Copenhagen and museums. His book
describing that venture has now been
published in English.
He discovered that killing for fun
in the war years had been carried, out
"to a horrifying ana almost unbe
lievable" extent. He blames South
African troops in particular, mainly
Boers.
We learn that on occasions exercises
were held, out on the plains with
tanks and machine guns, with zebras.
wlldebeeste and gazelles playing the
part of the "enemy." The wounded
were left to the hyenas and the vul
tures. Herds of giraffe and elephants
were machine-gunned from the air.
The Count remarks— "Comment is
superfluous. One can only state the
facts with a painful feeling of shame
for one's own race."
In a chapter Man: . The Animals'
Friend or. Foe Count Ahlefeldt-Bille
makes a plea for the kings and the
lesser souls of plateau and forest that
all should heed.
On safari in Kenya he met a hunter
with an unmistakable German accent.
Over a cup of tea this man, arms and
legs gesticulating, discussed how he
had - killed- large animals "right and
left."
He; unfortunately, is only one of
many men flocking to Africa for
safari. But the author gives this
chastening warning: "In East Africa
people are far too accustomed to game
being available In enormous quanti
ties. If they do not look out they will
A .mother and her family, with primitive "dwelling" 111 background. Help
A .mother and her family, with primitive "dwelling" 111 background.
wake up one fine morning to discover
that some species at any rate no
longer exist."
He recommends immediate cessation
of the kind of professional hunting
which involves selling the spoils for
what they will fetch in order to reap
a profit.
In recent years, the African
authorities' have applied a brake but
the author considers much more
should be done. He recommends, for
example, that a hunter should be
limited to a single, full grown lion in
a lifetime.
Wild Life
Count Ahlefeldt-Bille's crusade on
behalf of those who cannot legislate
for themselves — who cannot even put
up a decent fight for themselves
against modern weapons— is only part
of a very fine book on wild life— from
elephants to ants.
Some of his descriptions are superb.
On the edge of -a lake in Kenya, the
party watched flamingos - - "They
were standing in the shallows
Through the glasses they looked like
pink foam in the heat-haze." Nearer
wiey reminded tne author of a "flock
of pink little girls."
Close acquaintance with lions pro
vides the author with some exhilarat
ing material. He has almost a rever
ence for these. Deasts, so much so
that while on his prewar trip he held
a licence, to shoot four, he bagged only
one. This was a full-grown, old male
with a beautiful mane, the 25th of
the 30 they saw on that safari.
"A living lion is so majestic and
splendid that a , dead lion seems all
the more wretched a thing, whether
he lies on his native plains or his
skin hangs on the wall, lies on the
floor before the fire or is thrown over
the back of a sofa."
—Early one morning, the party ran
into a green mea'doW surrounded by
close thorn-bush and great trees. Jt
was an hour "when the dew hung on
the grass so that the , spiders' webs
looked like scattered splinters of glass
Part of a herd of giraffes. Help
Part of a herd of giraffes.
in the sun." Imagine, then, the sur
prise of the white men when a native
guide touched the author's shoulder
and whispered "simba" (lion).
Only 100 yards away lay on old fe
male with two full-grown young
males. "She sat up, looking at us
with eyes narrowed against the sun
while one male crouched beside her
and the other walked away."
Count Ahlefeldt-Bille was anxious
for color and half-tone Alms of the
lion family and a topi-antelope (dead)
was sacrificed for the purpose. It
was tied to the back-of the truck. The
tow rope was eight yards long.
Presently, the presence of fresh
antelope overcame the suspicion of
the mother and her two sons. They
sauntered almost to the truck and" fed.
They were so close that their whiskers
could be counted.
The cameras whirred and clicked. .
Tandalla
The Tandalla must be a noble and
rarely beautiful animal. The highlight
of the whole safari occurred when the
author stalked two cows and a young
bull. The bull had one twist in each
of his smooth, black horns with their
distinctive high edge.
"The three animals walked 'silently
forward with the most graceful move
ments, tall and slender, with brilliant
white stripes and their enormous ears
in Incessant movement. They glided
forward like ghosts, stiffened now and
then and listened, and plucked a leaf
here and there. Their grey, silky skin
when viewed from certain angles had
a faint rosy tinge, like ' that of the
sunrise."
The National Museum of Denmark
had asked the author for a full grown
bull, If nosslble. The young gentle
man fell to the hunter's bullet.
Count Ahlefeldt-Bille says he felt
only , regret and disappointment, al
though for days he had the finest and
most exciting hunt of his life after
one of the most beautiful and shy
animals to be found anywhere.
In order to obtain .the rarest speci
mens, the expedition penetrated to
dreaded tsetse-fly country. Sleeping
sickness Is carried from man to man
by the bite of this fly but the author
mentions that, provided a victim is
treated within a few hours of infec
tion, there is now every chance of re
covery.- - <t- ' "
In the Mara . River territory of
Kenya, members . of the party were
stung by these pests. The power of
the sting is so great that It pehetrated
Ohcstnut-brown topi antelopes with grey-blue flanks Help
Ohcstnut-brown topi antelopes with grey-blue flanks
stout khaki shirts. But all escaped
the sickness.
For three months, the author and
his assistants hunted and studied.
They collected 2700 items for the mu-
seums — mammals, birds and ethno
graphical material.
The safari was a success.
It must be mentioned that although
this review has confined Itself to
hunting and huntsmen, Count Ahle
feldt-Bille has 'many comments to
make about everyday life in Kenya.
His admiration for British officials
is unstinted— the men who lead lone
ly lives to maintain a standard in
places away from the beaten tracks;
in places where the unscrupulous are
only too willing to lower it, even de-
stroy it.
) Out of it all comes the thought
i that If - mankind generally could
i achieve the nobility and the courage
i of the lion, all might be well.
$