I 
FIRST EXPEDITION FROM MOMBASA 
21 
giraffe. Among the flocks of vultures that congregated 
around were a few marabou storks, reminding me forcibly of 
the old days when I used to shoot on the Sabi and Crocodile 
rivers in South-Eastern Africa, while game yet teemed there, 
where there were always two or three of these quaint birds about 
whenever anything was killed (“ elephant openers,” as the native 
name for them in that country may be freely translated). One 
I shot here had the exquisite little white fluffy feathers under 
the tail in perfect order. 
The day we moved our camp on to the stream—the pool 
being nearly dried up—I did not want to shoot anything except 
a Grant’s gazelle, to provide some fresh meat for myself, as the 
men were busy carrying down the bundles of still heavy rhino 
biltong ; but I went out into a great open plain that extended 
for a considerable distance in the direction of Laiju to look out 
for messengers I had sent back to the boma, lest they should 
not find our new camp. I sat down here under a tree and 
amused myself by looking through my glasses in all directions 
at the game visible. I could see large herds of zebra in many 
parts, also numbers of Grant’s gazelle ; a couple of giraffes were 
visible one way, and in the distance some ostriches. By and 
by, while we were skinning a gazelle I had shot, a family party 
of three rhinoceroses came into view not far off. 
On our way back to camp, as they were in the direction 
we wanted to go, I went straight towards them out of curiosity, 
to see what they would do. My experience of these creatures 
has not been that they often charge viciously, though when a long 
caravan is passing and they wish to get through they can hardly 
avoid going for some one, but of course they do undoubtedly 
sometimes attack their enemies. I have always believed a cow 
with a calf to be more dangerous than any other—as is, of course, 
the case with other animals (it was one such, I believe, that hurt 
Lieutenant Von Hohnel)—and I was anxious to see how this one 
would behave, though as I had no wish to shoot any that day it 
was perhaps a foolish thing to do. The cow was leading, followed 
