Bound for Khartoum Once More 



charge of the province was away on tour at the 

 time of my arrival, so I passed a very pleasant 

 evening at the house of an old Somaliland friend, 

 Captain George Lane, r.a.m.c, where chat 

 waxed fast and furious till long past midnight. 

 Here I changed my plans, and instead of boarding 

 the launch at Butiaba as was my first intention, 

 made up my mind to trek northwards round the 

 edge of Lake Albert and pick her up at Bugungu, 

 spending the time in between in trying for 

 elephant in that district. This would involve 

 passing through the Budonga Forest Game 

 Reserve, however, where of course shooting is 

 barred, but at the same time the route was little 

 known, and lay practically along the lake shore, 

 whilst I could cross the Reserve in a day with 

 luck. Moreover, I should not be in the forest 

 at all, and I was led to believe that the going was 

 good and the grass short, added to which I had 

 great hopes of being able to secure one of the big 

 waterbuck that I had seen in these low-lying parts. 

 We pitched our camp in the old spot half-way 

 down the escarpment, some five miles from 

 Butiaba, where a message was sent to the officer 

 in charge informing him of my intentions, and 

 asking for the launch and boats to put into 

 Bugungu. There are large numbers of bush- 

 buck on the escarpment itself, and on the flat 

 grass lands at its foot. I managed to bag, besides 

 a hartebeest for the men's food, a very nice speci- 

 Q 225 



