CHAPTER SIX 

 VICTORIA NYANZA 



BECAUSE we were operating in Tanganyika, it 

 was necessary to obtain permission and hunting 

 licenses from an officer of the territory, so shortly 

 after estabUshing Camp Simba, Bud and I made a 

 trip in one of the trucks to Musoma on Lake Victoria. 

 It was the season of short rains and the terrain between 

 the camp and lake is notorious for its swampy nature. 

 There were, of course, no roads, although some wheel 

 tracks going to a remote mine guided us part of 

 the way. 



After fighting mud most of the time and losing sev- 

 eral miles on account of getting lost, our first day came 

 to an inglorious end on the edge of a swamp. Toward 

 dark we began looking for a camping spot, but finding 

 nothing suitable continued on. Suddenly the whole 

 front end of the truck sank down, giving us the sensa- 

 tion of tipping over a precipice, then came to a quick 

 stop. Investigation proved that the front half of the 

 truck was mired down in what seemed to be a bottom- 

 less mudhole, this mudhole extending as far ahead as 

 we could see in the semidarkness. We tried to reverse, 

 but the wheels simply spun around until the tires 

 began to smoke. Darkness brought an end to our 

 efforts. We were tired and hungry, so when a couple 

 of lonesome hyenas began to moan off in the bushes, 

 we decided to call it a day. 



110 



