At The Time, Being New
To The Country, I Did Not Realise The Risks I Ran; But
Later On - After My Poor Wa Kamba Follower Had
Been Seized And Dragged Under, As I Have Already
Described - I Learned To Be Much More Cautious.
The shortest way of reaching the Athi river
from Tsavo was to strike through the jungle in
a north-westerly direction, and here there was
luckily a particularly well-defined rhino path
which I always made use of.
I discovered it
quite by accident on one occasion when I had
asked some guests, who were staying with me
at Tsavo, to spend a night on the banks of the
river. As we were making our way slowly and
painfully through the dense jungle, I came across
this well-trodden path, which appeared to lead
in the direction in which I wished to go, and as
I felt convinced that at any rate it would bring
us to the river somewhere, I followed it with
confidence. Our progress was now easy, and
the track led through fairly open glades where
traces of bush-buck and water-buck were numerous;
indeed once or twice we caught glimpses of these
animals as they bounded away to the shelter of
the thicket, warned by the sound of our approach.
In the end, as I anticipated, the old rhino path
proved a true guide, for it struck the Athi at an
ideal spot for a camping ground, where some lofty
trees close to the bank of the river gave a most
grateful and refreshing shade.
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