Big Game Shooting on The Equator
By Captain F. A. Dickinson, F.R.G.S.
CAPTAIN DICKINSON has asked me to write an introduction to his notes on Sport in East Africa, and I have much pleasure in complying with his request, although I am not a sportsman myself and have no qualification for speaking about sport in our Equatorial African possessions.
But I know the country well and can bear witness to the extraordinary and almost incredible quantity of big game which it contains.
Tropical Africa is remarkable for the number and variety of large Ungulata contained in its fauna, and all the conditions are favorable to the sportsman and even to the mere sightseer.
The country is open, and hence whatever game there is can be seen without difficulty, whereas in neighboring countries, such as Uganda, it is hidden by forests and high grass; also legislation has intervened in time to stop the havoc wrought by the unrestrained energy of private sportsmen, and reserves of considerable extent have been established within whose precincts no animal may be killed.
The Uganda Railway passes through the best known of these reserves, and for almost one hundred miles the traveler may view from the windows of his railway carriage the surprising spectacle of large and beautiful animals which are rarely seen outside zoological gardens feeding freely and without fear close to the railway track.
The two most abundant animals are the Zebra, which may be seen in herds which sometimes literally contain thousands, and the Hartebeest or Kongoni, a strongly built antelope of somewhat bovine appearance, with a sloping back. Mingled with this latter is sometimes found the Wildebeest or Gnu, a curious-looking creature which attracts attention not only by its bushy mane but by its strange leaps and capers.
Neither Hartebeest nor Wildebeest are remarkable for grace of build or movement, but this is supplied by the beautiful Gazelles, known as Gazella Thomsoni and G. Granti, which are sometimes so plentiful that they cover large tracts of the plain.
A pretty sight may occasionally be seen near Naivasha, where the wild gazelles become surrounded by the flocks of native sheep and go on grazing without fear.
These antelopes and the zebra, together with ostriches, may nearly always be found on the Athi plains. Rarer, but still sometimes to be seen by those who fortune favors, are lions, giraffes, and rhinoceros. It is better to see the latter animal from a train than to meet it when marching, for though Captain Dickinson endeavors to whitewash its-character, there is no doubt that either from shortness of sight or shortness of temper it has a way of charging caravans, which is not only inconvenient but dangerous.
The elephant alone of the larger mammals is rarely visible and, in the East Africa Protectorate at any rate, keeps to the shelter of forests or bushy country; but wherever there is a large sheet of water, and even in some quite small rivers, the nose and ears of the hippopotamus may be seen protruding from the surface.
This profusion of animal life can of course be preserved only by the rigid enforcement of the game laws within the area of the reserves, where no animals of any kind may be killed. Outside these reserves sportsmen are allowed to kill a limited amount of game, which is, however, sufficient to provide specimens of all the heads which anyone is likely to desire.
Besides the species mentioned above the sportsman will see Impalah, Oribi, Oryx, Roan, Waterbuck, Waller’s Gazelle, and many others. The two most beautiful antelopes, the Greater Kudu and the Sable, are both somewhat rare, but the former is found near Baringo and the latter on the coast near Gazi.
Travellers, however, are likely to be attracted by the excellent climate and beautiful scenery of the open-country districts, rather than by the tropical jungles of the coast.
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