AFTER BIG GAME

Shannon News, 4 January 1927, Page 1

AFTER BIG GAME

SPORT IN CENTRAL AFRICA. A FERTILE COUNTRY. WAIRARAPA SPORTSMEN'S TRIP To spend several months in a region "teeming with huge elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, buffaloes, lions und antelope has been the good fortune of two well-known Wairarapa sportsmen, Brigadier-General H. E. Hart and Mr. V. Donald, who have just returned by the s.s. Maunganul from a six-months' hunting tour in Africa. The sportsmen left New Zealand in June last, and proceeded through Northern Rhodesia as far as the railway extended. They then travelled a considerable distance by motor car, and eventually made tti'.ir way into the big-game country in the Luangwa Valley. They found tYis region a \o;-itable happy hunting ground, as it naii'b.f-n closed for ten years on acciiiii 01 sleeping sickness, and had v;ij-:y Vx-ii i< -opened to "hunters just prior to their arrival. * A •Dominion" -reporter, who interva.w.'d die returned hunttrs, foui-id both extremely modest cuieernihy ilieir exploits. "Was it as exciting as the Western front?" asked the pressman. "luu nave a lighting ohai-.e svltn big game," General Hart tnniiiig*y replied, "but where iron is being dumped down promiscuously you have to take, it as it conies. Anyhow, \v P can tell you that, we enjoyed excellent sport." ■' L TJiis can be imagined when it is ;j(a(,ed that their bag included a considerable number of buffaloes, six lions, five elephants, live hippopotlami, live rhinoceroses, and a large number of antelope. 'On account of the presence of the tsetse liy, all portering in the Luangwa Valley ha s to be done by natives," explained General Hart. "The whole of. our stores and ammunition Were ear,led by native porters, who were <j\o aiont -workers, being reliable ane alien:,o;i. i,al;,>iir is cheap in thai region, powers receiving 7/(j per niu-.th, which is the exact amount they have to pay each year hut tax. so they are glad of , the chance to earn this amount in a month." ' "And jolly good workers they are too," put in Mr. Donald. "They thought nothing of working sixteen hours a day. On one occasion our canoe got bogged "m"'a shallow river, and our porters cheerfully stood up to their shoulders in mud half the night pushing our craft through to deeper •water." Trophies of the Chase. The hunters brought back tangible trophies of the chase in the form or elephants' and hippo tusks,, lion skins rhino horns, and the horns of buffalo and antelope. Though both' sportsmen were reticent concerning their experiences, enough was gathered to know that they had had some thrilling moments. 0«e cannot go after big game for months without having to "skip lively" at tiinea. The hunters secured a large number of photographs of all manner of big game they had encountered, which will serve as interesting records of a uiiiute hunting trip. General Hart explained that they had made a circle of from 800 to 900 miles, in addition to the railway journey, through Northern Rhodeaia. The country is very flat, and most of the, shooting had to be done in scattered forest, which more resembled Australian than New Zealand bush. After leaving the railway line at Ndola, on the border of the Belgian Congo, the New Zealanders paddled for 300 miles in canoes up the river Luapaia, an upper tributary of the Congo, a journey which lasted IB days. "What is the country like?" inquired the pressman. "How many sheep to the acre will it carry?" "The fact that it carries such a huge quantity of big .game," replied Mr. Donald, "proves that it is a firstclass stock-raising region. There are miles of dead level plain just waiting for the plough. This fertile region will have to wait, however, until facilities are provided for getting produce to the world's markets." •" General Hart explained that a sportsman entering Rhodesia had to pay a tax of £3O, which entitled them to shoot one elephant, three hippo, three rhino, and any number of lions, antelope and buffialos. A tax of 2/6 per lb. was also imposed for all ivory taken out of the country. Mr. Donald declared that he had never met with such unbounded hospitality in his life as had been extended to them at every centre they touched at in Africa.