THE FOREST. 185 



As to the different forest areas of the Protectorate, first in order come the 

 great strips along the sides of the escarpments that shut in the Rift Valley. 

 These areas in parts extend back from the tops of the escarpments and clothe 

 the hills and mountains beyond them. The lower parts of the escarpment 

 forests are more bushy in nature, and give shelter to rhino and buffalo coming up 

 from the valley below. On the top, at a level of about seven thousand or eight 

 thousand feet, the bongo and forest-hog make their home. At the southern end 

 of the forest on the Kikuyu escarpment elephants appear to be creatures of the 

 past, but they still linger north of the railway line and on the Mau escarpment. 

 Farther back in the dense Mau Forest they are said to be fairly numerous. 

 On both these escarpments, but more particularly on the Mau, a number of 

 Wandorobo roam. 



Above Naivasha, the escarpment on the eastern side goes up in two shelves, or 

 terraces, each with its escarpment, the greater and the lesser escarpment. These 

 are both forested, but appear to contain few animals except bushbuck. Elephants 

 pass occasionally, but only in travelling to or from the Nguzeru and Simbara ranges. 

 Farther north, however, elephants are found on these escarpments. The lower slopes 

 of the mountain range beyond are forested or clothed with bamboo from an altitude 

 of about eight thousand to ten thousand feet or more, both on the Naivasha and the 

 Nyeri sides. These large tracts of bamboo above and amongst the forests form 

 favourite feeding-grounds for elephants, but the animals have been so hunted by 

 white and black sportsmen that there are very few decent tusks left amongst them. 

 There are a few bongo and forest-hog found in the forests, and in the lower parts 

 rhino wander. Bushbuck are found round its edges ; a certain number of Wandorobo 

 also hunt these hills, and it is they who are the chief molesters of the elephants. 

 Southward of the range the tribe appears to be Kikuyu Wandorobo, but northward 

 the true Ogieg is met with. 



The whole way round Kenya there is a belt of forest about ten miles in thick- 

 ness, which contains a certain number of bongo and forest-hog, but nothing like 

 the quantity found on the escarpments. Elephants are numerous in parts, whilst 

 other parts scarcely ever seem to be visited by the herds. Meru, on the eastern 

 side, appears to be a noted place for them, but at present sportsmen are not 

 allowed to visit that side nor the Embu side either, where a good number of 

 elephant herds roam. 



Kikuyu fields cut into the Kenya and the Nguzeru forests in all directions. 

 Between these two great forest-clad mountains is the thickly populated Kikuyu 

 country almost barren of trees, except where little round hills dotted about are thickly 



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