I Had Not Time To
Explore It On This Particular Day, But I Made
A Mental Note To Do So On Some Future Occasion.
After a two hours' journey from the river we sat
panting on the summit after our scramble and
surveyed the valley of the Tsavo, which lay
spread out like a map about five hundred feet
below us.
Our home tents, the bridge, Tsavo
Station and other buildings were plainly visible,
and the railway itself, like a shining snake, could
be seen for many miles winding its way through
the parched wilderness. Having taken a few
photographs of the scene, we turned and struck
through the N'dungu Plateau. Here I found
the same kind of nyika as that round Tsavo, the
only difference being that there were more green
trees about. The country, moreover, was
somewhat more open, and was intersected by hundreds
of broad and well-beaten animal paths, along
which we could walk upright in comfort. I was
leading the way, followed closely by Mahina and
Mabruki, when suddenly we almost walked upon
a lion which was lying down at the side of
the path and which had probably been asleep.
It gave a fierce growl and at once bounded off
through the bush; but to Mabruki - who
doubtless recalled then the warning I had given him
in fun earlier in the day - the incident appeared
so alarming that he flung down his stick-load of
meat and fled for his life, much to the
amusement of the others, even the usually silent Wa
Kamba joining in the general laughter as they
scrambled for the discarded meat. We saw
nothing more of the lion, though a few steps
further on brought us to the remains of a zebra
which he had recently killed and feasted on;
but after this Mabruki kept carefully in the
rear. Curiously enough, only a short while later
we had an exactly similar adventure with a
rhino, as owing to the tortuous nature of the
path, we walked right into it before we were
aware. Like the lion, however, it was more
frightened than we, and charged away from us
through the jungle.
For about two hours we pursued our journey
into the plateau, and saw and heard a wonderful
variety of game, including giraffe, rhino,
bush-buck, the lesser kudu, zebra, wart-hog, baboons
and monkeys, and any number of paa, the last
being of a redder colour than those of the Tsavo
valley. Of natives or of human habitations,
however, we saw no signs, and indeed the whole
region was so dry and waterless as to be quite
uninhabitable. The animals that require water
have to make a nightly journey to and from the
Sabaki, which accounts for the thousands of
animal paths leading from the plateau to the
river.
By this time we were all beginning to feel
very tired, and the bhisti's stock of water was
running low. I therefore climbed the highest
tree I could find in order to have a good look
round, but absolutely nothing could I see in any
direction but the same flat thorny wilderness,
interspersed here and there with a few green
trees; not a landmark of any sort or kind
as far as the eye could reach; a most hopeless,
terrible place should one be lost in it, with certain
death either by thirst or by savage beasts staring
one in the face.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 57 of 130
Words from 29665 to 30237
of 68125
