PROWLERS or THE PLAINS 63 



From our camp we could look across a wide sweep 

 of plain wliich ran into a low range of hills whose 

 tops peeked over the horizon. As we gazed over this 

 roUing veldt, which was hemmed in on the left by large 

 hills and on the right by trees which melted into the 

 sky Hne, we could always see many thousands of 

 animals. Here in our front yard the tommies, Grant's 

 gazelles, topi, kongoni, wildebeest, and zebra kicked 

 up their heels in play, or stampeded in fright from a 

 real or fancied danger. On the farther plains were 

 eland and giraffe, while the wooded hills sheltered 

 many mountain reedbuck, water buck, duiker, stine- 

 buck, dik-dik, and impalla. In the dongas lurked not 

 only the big cats, the Hon, leopard, and cheetahs, but 

 many lesser Carnivora. Scattered all over this tre- 

 mendous area were troops of ostrich, thousands upon 

 thousands of hyenas, jackals, bat-eared foxes, and wart 

 hogs. Once in a while a black rliino, a herd of buffaloes, 

 or a few roan antelope would pay our front yard a 

 visit. At no time, night or day, were we out of sight 

 or hearing of animals. 



*'Just got back from being lost," heads an entry in 

 my journal dated October twenty-fourth. Tliis is not 

 a pleasant experience in Africa, where sign posts and 

 traffic cops are very scarce. Bud and I, with three 

 boys, left camp early in the morning to fetch water 

 from the spring some twenty miles away. As we had 

 made the trip several times, we went without taldng 

 food or blankets, expecting to be back in time for 

 lunch. The cameras were carried, however, because I 

 made it a practice never to go anywhere without them, 

 for as sure as I did, something unusual Avould present 

 itself and I would not be able to film it. About half- 



