64 SAFARI 



imbarked and unbruised, showing that big " twigga**' 

 (giraffe) had lately grazed there. A hundred yards 

 on, he would call ''tembo'' where branches had been 

 pulled down, disjointed, and bark stripped by the 

 clumsy elephant who does not graze daintily as does 

 the giraffe but goes lumbering along, his tnink care- 

 lessly rifling the trees and leaving an unmistakeable 

 trail. 



I kept up with him in the field as often as I could, 

 for his lore to me was fascinating. When I asked 

 him more about tracks, he pointed out the different 

 prints — those of the buffalo, whose sharp hoofs cut in 

 where no elephant's hoof makes a mark and which 

 utterly kill the grass that the elephant only bruises ; 

 the leopard, whose pad differs from the doglike 

 cheetah (the former's claws being sheathed when he 

 walks) and also from the hyena, which leaves a mark 

 like a foiu'-leaved clover with the petals all on top 

 while the leopard's is shaped like a water lilly. 



As for Simba, King of Beasts, Boculy explained 

 he does not leave many marks. His prints, if you 

 ever find them, are round like the leopard's but much 

 larger ; and the easiest way to track him is to find his 

 kill. As he usually drags this into the bush for 

 uninterrupted enjoyment you will not find him far 

 away. His padded coiu-se leaves little disturbance of 

 the ground. And the only marks on vegetation are 

 the wisps of hair on the thorns which, I am stire, 



