Okapi Hunting 



track led us across several boulder-strewn streams, beside the 

 last of which Amissi pointed his thin finger at some deep 

 spoors scattered over the heavy loam, using the words chut 

 (leopard) and kwapi frequently when speaking. Greatly 

 interested I examined these tracks very closely, also the 

 quantity of broken twigs and small branches that now strewed 

 the trail we followed, some of the latter having bits of hair 

 adhering to them. Having seen similar indications in the 

 bush where a lion or leopard has had a " kill," I at last 

 tumbled to the word chut. Of course, 7iow I knew — a leopard 

 had killed an okapi ! Shortly afterwards our Pygmy guide 

 led us to the dead animal itself, a large female, which judging 

 by the severe clawings and bites she had sustained must have 

 put up a plucky fight for her life. The Wambute who appear 

 to know everything that goes on in the forest, had got wind 

 of the " kill " and that morning had wounded the leopard 

 over its prey without however killing it. The stomach of the 

 okapi had been torn out and partly eaten, and the head 

 and neck were useless for mounting purposes, but here was 

 the animal I sought. I had therefore to be content with 

 what the leopard had left me and return to camp with the 

 skin. As I trudged home my imagination painted a most 

 wonderful picture of the struggles of this okapi to free itself 

 from its assailant, all the bright colours and tropical sur- 

 roundings were there : the golden, spotted leopard, the 

 chocolate-purple of the okapi with its black and white mark- 

 ings, the shaft of sunlight through the trees. What a picture 

 Africa can produce at times ! I gained our camp that 

 evening highly pleased, for with the okapi and gorilla trophies 

 I had obtained records of the two rarest animals in Africa. 



4c 4t 4c )«( « 



i6i M 



