THE CARAVAN OR "SAFARI" 



cover the day's march of some fifteen to twenty-five miles 

 before the heat of the noon hours. In such a case, as soon 

 as camp is made, and firewood and water brought in, 

 most of the men have the whole afternoon for rest and 

 play, if they are so bent, and the hunter a fine chance to 

 bring some additional game to bag, after the greatest heat 

 of the day is over. To gain this point, I have often started 

 the safari as early as 3.30 and 4 a.m., particularly if we 

 had moonlight, or else a few minutes after five, when the 

 eastern sky begins to show signs of the morning light. 

 If one can use a well-defined path, the early morning march 

 is very pleasant, but it may otherwise be dangerous, and 

 particularly so in dense bush country, where a lion or rhino 

 may be lurking around, and suddenly take exception to 

 having his own territory invaded. 



I remember one early morning on the beautiful Laikipia 

 plateau, when we had left camp before 4 a.m., and the 

 whole caravan of some hundred and fifteen men was slowly 

 moving along the northern banks of the beautiful Guaso 

 Narok River, going downstream through rather thick 

 bush, how suddenly one of the men right behind me half 

 whispering said: 



"Bwana, naona vifaru viwili mbele karibu," or, in Eng- 

 lish, " Sir, I see two rhinos near by in front." 



As I tried to peer through the bush in the half dark, 

 the bright moon having disappeared for a moment behind 

 some rather thick clouds, I saw one large and one half- 

 grown rhino, only some twenty yards off, standing in a 

 little open space, at the edge of which our path wound 

 its way. They were evidently a mother with her young, 

 and therefore very " unsafe " indeed. Having already had 



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