CHAPTER XX 



HUNTING ON THE SIMBA RIVER 



" In valleys remote where the Oribi plays, 

 And the Gnu, the Gazelle and the Hartebeest graze, 

 And the shy Quagga's whistling neigh 

 Is heard by the fountain at break of day." 



Pringle. 



Amid sultry jungle we pitchecl camp by tlie banks of 

 the Simba River. This spot lies 200 miles eastward 

 from Nairobi, and being only 3,350 ft. above sea-level 

 (against 6,000 ft., the mean elevation of the Athi 

 Plains), is apt to be terribly warm. We had, in fact, 

 descended to a tropical zone, as was evidenced in every 

 detail of nature — in the changed trees and shrubs, with 

 their far denser foliage, in the changed bird- and insect- 

 life, and ... in the heat. This was mid-March. 



We had sought this inferno specially to hunt the 

 fringe-eared oryx of East Africa [Oryx callotis), which 

 is only found here and southwards therefrom. 



The other species. Oryx heisa, is confined to Baringo 

 and the Tana River and the regions northwards thence 

 (see Chap. VII.). There thus intervenes between these 

 two closely-allied species a broad belt of country, say 

 100 miles in width, devoid of oryx of either kind. A 

 secondary object (we always have " objects ") was the 

 lesser koodoo. 



Simba, at certain seasons, is a great game-country. 

 In the month of September we have seen its prairies 

 and forest-opens thronged with troop upon troop of 

 zebras and hartebeests, gazelles, ostrich and brindled 

 gnu. But not a single gnu remains in the district in 

 March, and only an insignificant proportion of the rest. 

 This is, moreover, a notable lion-country (the name 



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