80 THE SOCIETY FOE THE PRESERVATION OP 



EAST AFRICAN PROTECTORATE. 



Game. 



' 186. A notable feature of the year has been the satisfactory 

 increase in the number of some of the rarer species of game, 

 notably buffalo and eland. It may be remembered that buffalo 

 suffered very severely from the great plague of rinderpest which 

 devastated this country some years ago. Since that time they are 

 no longer to be found on the open plains, but have retired to thick 

 bush country — a change of habitat which makes very largely for 

 their preservation. Eland appear not only to have increased in 

 number, but also to be returning more to the open plains. They 

 are especially numerous round Baringo and Voi, and fairly so on 

 the Athi Plains, in the Kitui District, and along the edges of the 

 Taru Desert. Eland are in no danger of dying out in this country 

 provided that the South African practice of riding down game is 

 not resorted to. Even then the best eland country between Voi 

 and Makindu would not be affected, owing to the presence of tsetse 

 fly, which would be fatal to horses. 



' 187. The Athi Plains, formerly the favourite hunting-ground, 

 have not been visited so much by sportsmen during the year under 

 review, and consequently there has been a satisfactory increase in 

 the number of some of the species which frequent them, notably 

 Grant's gazelle. Since the completion of the Uganda Railway and 

 the consequent withdrawal of large gangs of workmen, game has 

 become tamer in the vicinity of the railway and, if possible, more 

 numerous, and the traveller can still enjoy a spectacle which is 

 absolutely unique. 



' 188. There has been a considerable decrease in the number of 

 lions killed during the year under review, due partly to the with- 

 drawal of a reward offered by the railway authorities for lions 

 killed in the mile zone, and partly to the breaking up of construc- 

 tion camps. Lions are very numerous, especially on the Athi Plains 

 and in the Nakuru districts, but as there have been no signs of late 

 of any acquiring a taste for human flesh or for livestock there is 

 no reason to regret their number. Of what may he termed vermin, 

 jackals are very numerous and destructive, not only to the young 

 of game and of livestock, but, strangely enough, to young fruit- 

 trees. Another very destructive animal, the wild hunting dog, is 

 luckily not found i n large numbers. 



' 189. On the whole the working of the Game Reserves seems to 

 be satisfactory, and no particular species of game can be said to 

 be in danger of extirpation. Some districts are becoming more 

 denuded of game than others ; the diminution in the Rift Valley 

 in particular within the last few years is most marked, and if it is 

 eventually cut up into farms game will probably still further 



