BRITISH EAST AFRICA 187 



all over East Africa ; but the most noted is that 

 known as Kampi ya Nyama Yangu, situated on 

 the banks of the northern Guaso Nyiro, and close 

 to its junction with the Guaso Marra. I have 

 many vivid and exciting recollections of the camp, 

 with its sandy soil and great, kindly trees. Meru 

 and its hospitable District Commissioner, Mr. 

 E. B. Home, we had left six days before the 

 " safari " camped at Neumann's old Boma, and 

 no one was sorry to reach it after the hard tramp 

 over the jagged, lava-strewn desert that extends 

 almost from the Jombani range to the Guaso. 



On the march my keen-eyed Somali gun-bearer 

 sighted two rhino one morning. Not since I 

 had been hunting in the Chinicoatali valley of 

 North-Eastern Rhodesia had I seen these curious 

 animals, so I was rather elated at the prospect 

 of again having a little excitement with them. 

 They are extremely bad-tempered, aggressive 

 beasts, but very short-sighted, and as the wind 

 was right, Elmi and I walked up to within sixty 

 or seventy yards of this pair without any attempt 

 at concealment. We saw that their horns were 

 short, and I decided not to shoot them. I 

 elected, however, to have an essay at animal 

 photography, an attempt which nearly had an 

 unpleasant ending. The beasts were asleep, 

 so I crouched up to them, kodak in hand, until 

 within about forty yards of their slumbering 

 uglinesses. Elmi stood behind me with my "375 

 rifie, ready for emergencies. I took one photo 

 of the pair, and then Elmi gave a shrill whistle. 

 Instantly two hideous heads went up and two 

 pairs of sharp horns raised themselves in the air. 

 The rhino began to amble suspiciously from side 

 to side, and I managed to get another snapshot. 

 I then told Elmi to whistle again. He did ; and 



