STALKING IN THE NYIKA 



I approach it carefully ; its eyes are still open and blink- 

 ing. A shot in the ear makes assurance doubly sure ; a 

 second shot and life is extinct. I call my men and we 

 skin the head and loosen the horns of the dead animal. 

 It takes us over an hour to do so. Then we cut off 

 some choice pieces of flesh and return to the camp. 

 My pedometer indicates seventy-two thousand steps, 

 and we are entitled to a good night's rest. 



I was encamped near the " Ngare na lalla" in the 

 Masai district Matumbato. Early in the morning of a 

 fine October day I leave the camp with a number of 

 my carriers to climb the southern spur of Doenje-Erok 

 mountain range. After marching up-stream for some 

 distance we cross the 'high steppe which is broken by 

 numerous rifts, periodic river-beds, until we reach the 

 foot of the outlying hills. 



We came across many tracks of animals which, during 

 the night, had been drinking at the brook. Small, be- 

 lated herds of gazelles and antelopes cross our path and 

 gallop away into the steppe. The day promises to be- 

 come hot, for the sky is cloudless. The birds have not 

 yet gone to rest in the bushes and trees and thickets. 

 A couple of Caffer hornbills, large numbers of spurred 

 partridges {Fraucolini), and two large strings of guinea- 

 hens fly u|) in front of us. The metallic "rshrshek- 

 grrrr-ek-ek-ek-ek-ik-ik-ik-igh-igh-igh" of the hens 

 accompanies their flight. The cries of turtle - doves, 

 ^^ 353 



