HUNTING IN AFRICA

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1930, Page 6

HUNTING IN AFRICA

FRENCH COUNT’S ADVENTURES. “The first lion I saw, I tLo ight was a donkey eating grass,” remarked the Count G. de Reinach-Cessac, a Frenchman, at present visiting. Auckland, who has done his share of seeing the world. He was speaking of his experiences in big game shooting in Africa, in the days before the war. “The beast was a fair distance away,” lie added, “and I could not tell the difference.”

In 1911, he, with two or three companions, disembarked in Africa at a port in the Red Sea, went by rail across to Khartoum. From that town they took a river boat up the' Nile to a small lake, and from there they went the remainder of the way to Lake Victoria Nyanza on foot. One liad to he careful in big game shooting, remarked the count in liis careful, precise English. He recalled one incident to prove that. From their craft in the river they had seen some guinea-fowl on the shore, close to the bank. Thinking they would he tasty for lunch, the party left the boat and started after the birds. u By. the time they got to the bank, however, there was, no trace 'of the fowl, and 1 the shooting party went inland';,a little to see if they could find them, “Almost as soon as we got to the .sli'o’re,”/ he said, “we were in, the midst of high; -rank grass and we couldn’t see a.yard. We had brought . onlyour / fowlingpieces with us. " /’■ ' // FOUR UNEXPECTED LIONS.

“We pushed our way through and without warning stumbled across' an open space. In the middle of that open space, with their backs to us, about 20 yards away on the other side of the glade were four lions, making a contented meal off an antelope they had killed. It was useless to run. We stood and looked at them, and they, with tails moving simultaneously, slowly side to side, looked at us. One of them began to roar, and the others followed suit. They created .pandemonium for. about a minute, and they were gone. The thick. ; grass simply swallowed them up. But. ibe space of time seemed, hours to us.'”, t

Another lion hunter ', was /.riding a; donkey along a narrow track', yyvhen he sighted a lion just Tar away for a sh.ot. The beast fell and then made off into thej : UndergroWlffi fringing- the triiek.,//, ,T|i^hufiter' Was' riding ahead of r Lis comp anions,...‘about 100 yards, and when he abreast of the spot where the loin had disappeared, the beast sprang knocked him off his donkey, and stood over him. His friends came., within striking distance, but' did niMfenow 3sh# to do. They could noti“Jire for rear of infuriating the lion, and if they did not fire the lion might at any moment kill their friend. Eventually ..they. did fire,, and they killed the. Hon,. Their friend was still, alive, and lie; told, A,hem the blow of the. beast wfiS/just like a tremendous irresistible hammer... The bones of his chest, where lie had been struck, were crushed and broken. He died several hours later. •• fir: — tf:.~

“BUFFALO TO BE FEARED MOST”

“But of all the darigerouTTmihals;' ,r ' he said, “the buffalo is to he/feared the most. He is a huge beast, amazingly fast in his lumbering way, vengeful, and entirely without fear. Where a mail is practically helpless in I he tangled long grass, a buffalo makes nothing of the obstacle, and he goes direct for his hunter. Or ' erli ins, what is still more difficult to contend with, he will make away in the opposite direction and then work ioumL When he has come across Hie hunter’s probable track, he will wait. 11 the would-be killer ; happens to cross the path, beware! The buffalo won’t.” After tlie buffalo, he;; named in order ■the .rbhiocMvis, and wounded elephant, ami tlie lion/ Latham, one of •ne first Frenchman to fiy/ was killed by a buffalo •' :!

/ The. .general method of hunting the lion, lie .said, was to kill some beast, an antelope or a zebra, drag it to a chosen‘ spot wh ere the party could ride, 'and then, wait for the lion to come. The wait, from the time it got dark until sometimes 11 o’clock or midnight, was most trying. Then there would he a sound in the darkness, and the party would think the lion had come, and would make ready; but the native would shake his head. No, that was merely the hyena. The lion was not far off. Later, with no accompanying sound, there would be a crunching of hones, and hv the noise tlie animal made, the native could tell whether it was a lion or not. He would not assent, one of the party Ivould switch on a flashlight, and the rest was easy. Talking about man-casters-, lie remembered the. caution lie had received when he was travelling hv rail from Mombasa, up the steep grade from the coast. “Shut the window of your •sleeper,” ho was advised, and when he asked why, he was told how, in the previous year, a traveller had wanted to leave his window open. In the hot night when the train was crawling upward through a cutting, a lion leapt through the window into the carriage. Tt ignored a sleeper in the lower bunk, hut put one paw on the bottom berth, and reaching up, took the man in the top berth. With him in its mouth, it leapt, again through the window out on to the top of the cutting. People from all four corners of the earth seemed to go to Africa. When he was going up the Nile lie met the King of Prussia, and shortly aft.ei* that Mr Roosevelt, the erstwhle' President of the United States,’/, went down into Uganda, with his son, biggame shooting.