PRINCES IN BIG-GAME AFRICA

Evening Star, Issue 20059, 27 December 1928, Page 11

PRINCES IN BIG-GAME AFRICA

# QUARRY FOR GUN AND CAMERA The topography and scenery of > the .territories in which the Prince of Wales and his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, were hunting when news of the King’s illness reached them are peculiarly their own and utterly unlike the mighty and interminable toi;cgts and dense jungles which are the popular conception of all uncivilised Africa. Real forests in East Africa arc quite rare, and one speaks not of “jungle, but of “bush” never-more aptly described than by tho Cockney soldier during the war, who, on being decanter! from a train somewhere on the Uganda Railway, inquired plaintively: “Does this shrubbery extend all the way to the German border?” Kenya and Tanganyika possess notable scenery. Largely volcanic in origin, they can show many beautilul mountains besides tho two major eminences of Kilimanjaro and Kenya; highlands as ruggedly beautiful as those of Scotland and eminently suitable for white settlement, apart from which tho country is largely park-like in appearance. Much of it is vast plains, splashed with scanty bush and dotted with stunted trees, which seem to have been created specially for the convenience of the numerous giraffes winch browse comfortably upon their tops. Only a very short journey from the metropolis of Nairobi is necessary to bring the hunter to Africa just as it was a thousand years ago. This is one of thq great game reserves forbidden to native and white man alike, where animals roam iu almost incredible numbers. Throughout _ Tanganyika, however, are other regions, not reserves, but practically uninhabited, where the fauna is just as plentiful as it ever has becii. Such common species as the gnu or wildbecste —that quaint relative of the buffalo with the bond of a horse and antics which make it appear the fool it is not—zebra, hartcbceste, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle are to bo found in herds running into many thousands. Tho shooting of ordinary specimens of these demands little more than a reasonable amount of patience, combined with the ability to bold a rule straight, but the acquisition of really notable beads is a very different matter. ' . . ~ The Kilimanjaro region is a favourite resort of that largest of the antelope the eland, a beefy, goat-like creature weighing as much as 2,0001 b, and the smaller, though much more beautilul, fringe-eared oryx, which, with its long, scimitar-like horns, has been known successfully to give battle to a lion. These, with the graceful little impalla, are much loss numerous than tho species already mentioned, yet not to bo counted as really rare game, and tho Royal hunters will be indeed unlucky if they fail to bag examples of each. When it comes to the real prizes of big-game limiting it is very difficult to forecast what the hag will be. Even in districts where, such comparatively rare, animals as the greater kudu, roan, and sable antelope are known to be fairly plentiful the limiter may seek them for weeks in vain.

Buffalo run in great herds in a score of places in Tanganyika, and no shooting safari would properly have fulfilled its mission without bringing to grass one or more of these dangerous brutes. It is best to have a tree easy to climb close at baud when tackling “ buff,” for once the battle is joined their motto is “ kill or he killed.” They probably kill more white meg than do any other animals, and the recent death of Mr Charles Grey is only ono addition to a long list in Tanganyika. It is worthy of note, however, that the men who get killed are usually the exports rather than the novices. Trailing buffalo, elephant, or lion alone, they sooner or later meet tho hundredth chance, that occasion when a ride jams, a gun hearer loses his nerve, or some other trifling accident loaves them at the mercy of their quarry.

“We all get killed if wc keep on long enough,” said a famous hunter to a ‘ Daily mail ’ correspondent not _so very long ago.. He died violently himself not long after, and tho _ list of similar tragedies which have since occurred fully justifies his statement. Tho newcomer to the sport, who is never loft by himself, takes milch less risk.

Elephants arc fairly plentiful in Tanganyika in certain regions. One was shot a lew weeks hack with tusks weighing nearly 1001 b each —good ivory in these days.

Lions arc probably more numerous in this part of Africa than in any other. Shooting them by sitting over a bait at night is an easy matter and not much more exciting than shooting a sheep. There is one place, however, where such, an enterprise brings real pleasure and great profit to the community. This is Ncloia, the tiny station on the Rhodesian Railway, reached after a voyage on the Chambezi among the hippo and crocodile.