THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



In 1906 I saw an enormous herd of these animals in 

 the upper part of the Rift Valley. We were encamped at 

 a little stream coming down from the Aberdare Moun- 

 tains, when my attention was called to the animals walking 

 along in a northerly direction, and only a few hundred 

 yards from our camp. Not wanting to shoot any of the 

 animals, I watched them for fully half an hour with my 

 field glasses, while they were feeding and playing, as they 

 slowly moved along, until something must have startled 

 the herd in the rear. As near as I could make it out, there 

 must have been upward of four thousand together, and 

 when they were disturbed they galloped off briskly, soon 

 enveloping themselves in a thick cloud of dust, as they 

 swept through the half-dry grass. 



In localities where the zebras are not much molested 

 they are not very shy, and are easily approached to within 

 a hundred yards, and sometimes even less ; but where they 

 have been much hunted, they soon learn to look out for the 

 sportsmen and are then, at least in the open, quite hard 

 to stalk. A herd of zebras will act almost in the same way 

 as the kongoni. They are very inquisitive, and will some- 

 times come up fairly close to a caravan, to " investigate," 

 as it were, and then gallop off, only to make a half circle 

 and come back again to look at the intruders. For this 

 reason they are often very much of a nuisance to the 

 hunter, just in the same way as the hateful kongoni; and 

 they have often spoiled the day for me by disturbing the 

 game with their cavorting and queer antics. 



The zebras seem to be very fond of the company of 

 other animals, such as the hartebeest, gnu, and the larger 

 gazelles. Once I saw them freely and peacefully mingling 



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