THE SEFARI 35 



a solid advantage rests with the latter. You can never 

 tell where you want to go in East Africa. Plan your trip 

 never so carefully, a hundred things may arise which will 

 deflect, if they do not alter, your route. You set out for 

 a six weeks' journey. You do not return for four or five 

 months. Freedom of movement is an essential in this 

 land where the unexpected is forever happening. Now, 

 donkeys pin you down in two ways: They cannot make 

 more than ten or at most, twelve miles a day, even where 

 the trails are good; and when there are none, or when there 

 is much swamp, cannot be got along at all. Donkeys 

 are excellent to keep your base of supplies full. It is often 

 necessary to have a number of them regularly travelling 

 with potio, between the railroad and some selected spot 

 near the country to be explored or hunted. In this way, 

 you can keep the field for as long as you please, for it is 

 easy to send ten or twenty porters from your hunting 

 camp to this supply base, while, if you had to send the 

 men a hundred miles or more for potio, ten or twenty 

 could not carry any sufficient quantity, and would consume 

 a large part of their loads on the way; and to send more 

 than a small number of men is to cripple your travelling 

 machine, and to force you to remain camped till they 

 return. Never so denude yourself of men that you cannot 

 march. This is a rule every sefari leader should remember. 



Let me go back, then, to the phalanx of the safari - 

 the porter. He may be a Kikuyu or Wakamba, a Swahili 

 or a Kavorondo, a few of these tribes you will probably 

 find on your official list, but Wanyamwazi make far and 

 away the best. They are particular about their food, and 

 demand rice if it can be got for them; but they are willing, 

 good tempered, and very strong. They seldom steal, 

 seldom fight among themselves, and practically never 

 desert. (Kikuyus are always apt to do so, and you can 

 seldom find out the reason why.) They carry their loads 



