CHAPTER XV 



UGANDA : THE DEVIL IN GOD's GARDEN 



On my first journey to East Africa I stayed in 

 Nairobi but a few days and then took train to 

 Molo. That view from the Kikuyu escarpment, 

 with the Great Rift Valley stretching out before 

 me to the far-away Mau, will be for ever impressed 

 on my memory. 



Here, where the Ukamba and Naivasha 

 Provinces meet, all in this great cleft and in the 

 distant range of mountains away to the west 

 has an indistinct and blue appearance. But, as 

 the traveller speeds on through rich forests and 

 across the viaducts which bridge the beautiful 

 glades of the escarpments, there come out of 

 the haze mountains and lakes, peaceful farms, 

 and broad cattle ranches. After the purple 

 dome of Longonot, there appear the waters of 

 Lake Naivasha, basking in the afternoon sun, 

 land-locked by purple hills. Through this great 

 rift the Equator runs, but it is hard to abolish 

 ideas of the lochs of Scotland and the lakes of 

 Switzerland from the mind. But here are the true 

 inhabitants of Africa to remind one that the 

 blue waters are those of Naivasha, and not of 

 Loch Katrine or of Lucerne. Further to the 

 west lies the great ridge of the Mau escarpment, 

 where in 1908 I spent some happy weeks hunting 

 topi and Jackson's hartebeeste. 



In these escarpments there are to be found 



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