168 AFRICA SPEAKS 



stand the forests covering these hills contain many 

 thousands of monkeys and a large leopard population 

 in addition to famihes of the rarer antelopes. 



We arrived in Gilgil on schedule with both front 

 springs broken and several other truck parts missing. 

 Mike was not there to meet me as promised, nor did he 

 show up by the next afternoon. When repairs had been 

 made I decided to leave without him, because a storm 

 was gathering toward the Mau Escarpment and I did 

 not care to risk puUing up its steep sides when they 

 were shppery. An hour lost might mean the difference 

 between getting through and being stuck. When we 

 reached the Kedong Valley it resembled a lake; the 

 storm had preceded us after all. It did not seem 

 possible to get through, but I kept plowing onward, 

 expecting each hundred yards to be the last. My 

 warriors came in handy, pusliing the truck up hills and 

 out of mudholes. 



Just before reaching Narok, we drove through miles 

 and miles of flying ants which covered the truck and 

 everything in it inches deep. These insects are brought 

 out by the rain and issue forth from many thousands 

 of ant hills to try their wings. Things always run to 

 big quantities in this country, and tliis was certainly 

 an immense blanket of winged emmets. After passing 

 tlirough this insect cloud, we were kept busy digging 

 them out of our ears and shaking them out of our 

 clothes, finishing the task after arrival at Narok, for 

 in spite of mud and rain we succeeded in reaching 

 our destination. 



To the melancholy tune of the rain falling on the 

 hut roof and the fifteen Nandi chanting a weird war 

 song, I sat down to my dinner of herring, beans, bread, 



