IIO THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



catch you on the march or drive rain into your tent whilst you are out, and, 

 moreover, there are swollen rivers to cross and all manner of accidents to guard 

 against. Finally, when the films are safely packed away in the bottom of a box, 

 a porter will, perhaps, put the box down in a puddle while he is resting, turning it 

 upside down or on its side. Then, even if the films are not among the things which 

 actually get wet, the damp atmosphere which results inside the box for the next 

 few days is quite enough to ruin them. 



The difficulties of approaching game on the plains may be overcome to some 

 extent by the use of a telephoto lense. This, however, with its expensive and 

 cumbersome gear, is not within the scope of most travellers ; moreover, the results 

 they achieve in the field are generally remarkably poor. The photographs require 

 a steadiness of the apparatus which is practically unobtainable in most cases out 

 of doors, for the least tremor of the stand or movement of the animal spoils the 

 picture entirely. I have seen a few very good telephoto results, but the majority 

 of those taken are blurred and hazy and the animals are practically unrecognisable. 



For stalking, two important things are requisite, namely, an appreciation of 

 the lie of the country and a comprehension of the possibilities of cover. The 

 plains, seen from a hill, look as bare and fiat as a billiard table, but when 

 walked over one realises how one's first impressions of them were very deceptive, 

 for they are really a continuous stretch of folds, valleys, and bluffs, none very 

 deep or high, but which practically never give way to a flat stretch of country. 

 This being so, it is seldom that one is unable to take advantage of these folds 

 of the ground to approach reasonably close to a herd of game before one's stalk 

 begins. It is only a matter of time and patience, if one has enough of those 

 priceless commodities to spare. For when a herd is marked down at a distance 

 the chances are that the animals have also seen you. In such a case they must 

 be given time to settle once more and forget your presence. When you have 

 finished the preliminary approach, and are about to begin to stalk, it is certainly 

 no advantage to have every animal on the plain staring at the place at which you 

 are expected to make your appearance. A bush animal would never be content 

 to see a figure in the distance and then let it pass out of sight in a direction 

 which indicated a nearer approach to itself. It would either ascertain that the figure 

 had passed on, or it would itself move away from the vicinity. Not so an animal of 

 the plains ; it stares at a distant object until the thing goes out of sight, and then 

 continues to stare at the place where it was last seen, perhaps for half an hour. 

 If the thing does not reappear during that time the animal assumes that it has 

 gone on, and resumes grazing. 



