HUNTING THE OKAPI 265 



approached the stream and heard the noise of the okapi 

 rushing away. Soon there followed a loud thud, for the 

 animal, taking its usual course, had fallen into the pit, and 

 so was secured. , [^ 



The haunts of the okapi are streams running through 

 swampy ground, thickly overgrown with a clean-stemmed 

 plant, some 6 to 8 ft. high with large and shiny oval 

 leaves bunching at the top, the young shoots of which 

 are an essential food of the animal. In these localities it 

 roams about singly or in pairs, and, according to the native 

 hunters, three may occasionally be seen together. Gosling, 

 although he got to close quarters with it at three different 

 times, never saw it, so perfectly concealed was it among the 

 leaves. In one of his hunting trips, while making for a 

 likely haunt, he heard the noise of something moving among 

 the leaves in a swamp not more than thirty yards away 

 and then the plunge of some big animal into the water. He 

 and his guide both said " Hippo ! " but on going to the spot 

 they found by the spoor that the animal was an okapi. 



In his diary Gosling says: "During the night the 

 okapi will wander along in the mud and water in search of 

 the young shoots of his favourite plant. Here he may be 

 found as late as 8 a.m., after which he retires to the seclusion 

 of the forest, where he remains until dusk. In the glades and 

 clearings I found his spoor on ground frequented by buffalo 

 and waterbuck, but this is unusual, for his companions in the 

 forest are more often the elephant, the greater bushbuck, 

 and the yellow-backed duiker. On the hunting-grounds I 

 visited I estimated the number of okapi at five or six, and 

 twenty miles farther south in the forest on very likely ground. 



