Vol. XCI 
JULY, 1921 
No. 7 
THE HAUNTS OF AFRICAN GAME 
THE HUNTER WHO PENETRATES INTO HUNTING GROUNDS SELDOM VISITED BY 
CIVILIZED MAN MUST BE PREPARED TO SUFFER THE DISADVANTAGES OF SUCH ISOLATION 
By MAJOR C. H. ST1GAND 
A S a hunting ground Africa excels 
all other continents, for it con- 
tains a greater wealth and variety 
of game than is found elsewhere and is 
prolific of that which gives the highest 
form of sport — dangerous game. The 
reason for this is that, naturally well 
stocked with animal life, it is the least 
civilized and least populated continent 
in the world and so, in the wilder and 
more central parts at any rate, the game 
still has wide areas 
over which it may 
roam and graze as yet 
little disturbed by the 
exterminating influ- 
ences of civilization. 
The hunter who pen- 
etrates to hunting 
grounds seldom visited 
by civilized man must 
be prepared to suffer 
the disadvantages of 
such isolation ; such 
are: lack of roads, 
primitive means of 
transport, heat, fever, 
dirty water, poorness 
of food, the necessity 
to force a way through 
cwamps and thick 
brush and the unwel- 
c o m e attentions of 
myriads of insects — - 
both noxious and mere- 
ly aggravating. The 
true nature-lover will 
think such discom- 
forts but a small 
price to pay for the 
privilege of wandering 
in the heart of primeval nature. 
T HE dangerous game of Africa con- 
sists of: — The Elephant which is 
still numerous in the central, 
thicker and less healthy parts of the 
continent. The Indian elephant is 
smaller !and less fierce than the Afri- 
can, it is strictly preserved and but sel- 
dom shot. The African elephant affords 
the finest and the hardest sport in the 
world and — taken all round — it is per- 
haps the most dangerous of all hunting. 
To take my own experience, in shooting 
between fifty and one hundred ele- 
phants, I have been once badly gored; 
once knocked over, several times charged 
— dropping the animal by a lucky shot 
at a few yards distant, and have been 
many times narrowly missed by them. 
The Lion is perhaps not quite so for- 
midable as the Indian tiger but it is 
certainly a more dangerous animal to 
shoot. The reason for this is that it is 
generally hunted on foot, instead of 
from a safe and elevated position on an 
elephant’s back, as is the general method 
in India. Hundreds of sportsmen 
have been mauled by lion — the doctor 
who attended me when I was chewed up 
by a lion told me that I was his thir- 
teenth case. 
The Rhinoceros . — There are two 
kinds of rhinoceros in Africa, the black 
and the white, of which the former is 
still common and the latter is plentiful 
in a circumscribed area. 
The Buffalo . — There are three kinds 
of buffalo of which two sort, the Cape 
and the Congo buffaloes, are common. 
The former is found over the greater 
part of south, central and of East Afri- 
ca, and possesses the 
finest head, the latter is 
met with in the Congo 
and on the west coast. 
The third variety — the 
Abyssinian buffalo — is 
local to parts of Abys- 
sinia and adjacent ter- 
ritories. 
Some twenty years 
ago rinderpest had con- 
siderably reduced its 
numbers but the buffa- 
lo has now increased 
and is nearly as numer- 
ous as it was before 
this scourge thinned its 
ranks. It is a formid- 
able beast when wound- 
ed, as it generally re- 
tires to thick country 
where it can hear, or 
smell, the hunter fol- 
lowing it up and 
charge him unexpected- 
ly from close quarters. 
It is very quick to scent 
man, has very good 
hearing and sees as 
well as, or better than, 
the majority of bush animals. 
Other dangerous game are the Leopard 
— which is found in most bush and for- 
est countries but lies so close during the 
daytime that it is seldom seen — and the 
less formidable Hippopotamus — only a 
danger to one travelling, or hunting, by 
canoe — the Cheetah and the Hunting 
Dog. 
I am not quite satisfied that the 
