REFITTING AT NAIROBI 



them, and when they had conquered their timidity I 

 had to repeat the performance for their benefit several 

 times ; but always, even to the end of the trip, it would 

 call forth frequent exclamations of " Allah ! " whenever 

 I did it. 



We spent some seven or eight days in this 

 neighbourhood, gaining considerable experience of safari 

 life and the difficulties to be faced and overcome, and 

 then returned to Nairobi to refit for a longer journey. 



Arriving at Nairobi, we stayed a couple of days with 

 Mr. Percival, then, acting on his advice, we prepared 

 to start at once for Naivasha. I must say here that 

 both to His Excellency the then Acting-Governor, 

 Mr. Jackson, and to Mr, Percival we were greatly 

 indebted for much kindness and useful advice, which 

 went a long way to making our trip an unqualified 

 success. 



After climbing up to a height of nearly eight 

 thousand feet the line takes a sudden drop into 

 what is really a part of the great Rift Valley, which 

 extends practically from the Zambesi to Palestine. 



Naivasha is about sixty miles west of Nairobi, at 

 the western foot of the Kikuyu escarpment. For a 

 great part of the time the railway wanders through 

 dense forests full of gigantic trees, cedars, olives and 

 so on, assets of tremendous value both for commercial 

 purposes and as sources of fuel. The latter is most 

 important. Coal being unknown, wood is the only fuel, 



5 65 



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