26 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



of the coast the desert scrub gives way to a humid tropical 

 vegetation of palms and forest trees. The great herds of 

 game are the characteristic feature of the grassy upland 

 steppes. They occur less numerously in the desert scrub 

 and are quite rare in the forest. Many more species are 

 peculiar to the coast-drainage area than to the Nile water- 

 shed. To this region are confined the two gazelles, gerenuk, 

 impalla, sable, oryx, lesser koodoo, rock reedbuck, dikdik, 

 wildebeest, the reticulated and Masailand giraffes, the 

 common waterbuck, Coke hartebeest, Hunter antelope, 

 steinbok, and Haggard oribi. Within this area the most 

 important physical barrier is the Tana River. This stream 

 is broad and deep enough to act as a barrier across the 

 desert portion of the coast slope from Mount Kenia east- 

 ward to the sea. The aversion which most antelopes have 

 for crossing rivers is due no doubt chiefly to the fear of 

 attack by the crocodiles which haunt the streams. The 

 ungulates which range as far south as the Tana River but 

 do not cross to the south bank are Grevy zebra, reticu- 

 lated giraffe. Hunter antelope, beisa oryx, Rainey gazelle, 

 Giinther dikdik, and Somali wart-hog. We find a less 

 number of species reaching their northern limit on the 

 south bank. The best marked of these are Peters gazelle, 

 Masailand giraffe, Coke hartebeest, fringe-eared oryx, stein- 

 bok, and Masailand wart-hog. 



The southern limits of the Tana or British East African 

 fauna are marked on the east by Kilimanjaro and the 

 ranges of Usambara and Pare which link it with the coast. 

 Westward the fauna is continued on down into German 

 East Africa by way of the Rift Valley as far as Ugogo, where 

 the lesser koodoo and fringe-eared oryx reach their southern 



