CHAPTER V 



INTO THE HEART OF THE BIG GAME COUNTRY WITH 

 A RETINUE OF MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED NA- 

 TIVES. A SAFARI AND WHAT IT IS 



WHEN I first expressed my intention of going to 

 East Africa to shoot big game some of my friends 

 remarked, in surprise: "Why, I didn't know that 

 you were so bloodthirsty!" They seemed to think 

 that the primary object of such an expedition was 

 to slay animals, none of which had done anything 

 to me, and that to wish to embark in any such 

 project was an evidence of bloodthirstiness. I tried 

 to explain that I had no particular grudge against 

 any of the African fauna, and that the thing I 

 chiefly desired to do was to get out in the open, far 

 from the picture post-card, and enjoy experiences 

 which could not help being wonderful and strange 

 and perhaps exciting. 



The shooting of animals merely for the sake 

 of killing them is, of course, not an elevating 

 sport, but the by-products of big game hunting in 

 Africa are among the most delightful and inspir- 

 ing of all experiences. For weeks or months you 

 live a nomadic tent life amid surroundings so dif- 

 ferent from what you are accustomed to that one is 

 both mentally and physically rejuvenated. You are 



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