THE CARAVAN OR "SAFARI" 



As soon as the hunter arrives at Nairobi he will at once 

 set about getting his safari ready, unless he has made his 

 arrangements beforehand through some of the Nairobi 

 agents or, as they call themselves, " safari outfitters." 

 This is, of course, the most convenient way, saving quite 

 a little personal work, trouble, and a few days of time, but 

 costing considerably more than when the sportsman fits 

 out his caravan himself. One of the largest safari out- 

 fitters in Nairobi advertises that people in employing 

 them " save trouble and expense." Once I tried this firm, 

 being in a great hurry to get ofif to the jungle, but found 

 that, although I saved some " trouble," the " expense " 

 was much larger than if I had arranged for everything 

 myself. 



Of course, the hunter going into the country for the 

 first time without some knowledge of the Ki-Swahili lan- 

 guage, and with little time at his disposal, but plenty of 

 " cash on hand," does best in letting some firm fit him out 

 with everything, making the agreement that the firm in 

 question shall supply everything at the lowest local retail 

 cost, and then charge five per cent commission on the total 

 expenditure. Another, but more expensive, way of doing 

 the same thing is to agree on a certain fixed sum per month 

 for so many men, horses, or mules, as the case may be, in- 

 cluding all expenses, but the reader may be absolutely sure 

 that the " certain fixed sum " in this case is so ** fixed " 

 that the safari outfitters, at all events, profit largely 

 thereby. 



To give the intending sportsman an idea of what an 

 ordinary, average safari in British East Africa may cost 

 him per month, I shall here give a few extracts from my 



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