The Lions of Lake Edward 



some of them would approach near enough to the shore 

 for a successful picture. Sometimes they did and sometimes 

 they didn't, more often the latter, but at all times there was 

 a wealth of bird life to observe and so waiting was never 

 tedious. On one such occasion I had the good fortune to 

 secure a film of the big black-and-white fish-eagle, catching 

 and flying away with a big fish. Again, on a never-to-be- 

 forgotten day, when arriving at my hiding-place, I was not 

 a little astonished to find a solitary old bull buffalo taking 

 a bath in the shallows in front of my favourite seat, where 

 he lay at full length in the water quite oblivious to my near 

 presence. 



Such an opportunity only comes once in a lifetime and 

 I took full advantage of it. On making the discovery, I 

 slipped back to my camera " boy " and adjusting my seven- 

 inch lens for close work, I lifted camera and tripod on to 

 my shoulder, and returning, managed to " plant " my camera 

 in the very nick of time, just as the buffalo came through 

 the reeds and stood dripping with mud and water and licking 

 his chops not twenty paces from me. The wind being in 

 my direction, this fine old animal took a prolonged stare 

 at me, and mistaking what he saw for some harmless brother 

 mammal, walked leisurely across my front, picking, as he 

 went, at bits of herbage in his path. 



As I consider these splendid African animals finer creations 

 than the common ruck of humanity, nobler in many ways, 

 cleaner, more graceful and more pleasing to the eye, it is 

 with something akin to pity that I have to record the fact 

 that when this fine old buffalo passed into the reeds and so 

 out of the view of my clicking kine-camera, it was not for 

 the last time, and that we were to meet again close to this 



119 



