'CAMERA SHOOTING'

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 224, 21 September 1934, Page 9

'CAMERA SHOOTING'

AFRICAN BIG GAME.

35,000-MILE AIR TRIP.

THRILLS IN THE JUNGLE. (By a Special Correspondent.) LONDON, August 1. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson, the American explorers and film, photographers, arrived in London yesterday after nearly 20 months' flying over African jungle, during which they covered over 35,000 miles. They reached Croydon aerodrome with two 'planes; one strijicd like a giraffe, and the other painted in spots to resemble the skin of a leopard. The first machine is called "Osa's Ark," and was originally built to carry ten passengers. The interior was altered so as to make room for a bed for Mrs. Johnson and for baggage. The spotted machine is called the "Spirit of Africa." When I saw Mr. Johnson and his wife at their hotel to-day they looked anything but the type of traditional explorers. He is a quiet, softly-spoken man, and was wearing an unobtrusive tweed suit, while Mrs. Johnson, looking radiantly happy, was trying on frocks she had bought before luncheon in Bond Street. Anything more .dissimilar to the small figure iii slacks which had stepped out of the aeroplane at Croydon yesterday could not be imagined. In a black and silver evening gown and a frilly evening coat which matched the dress, she looked as if she had never moved out of London for months past. Quartering Africa. "We have covered the whole of Africa from south to north, and to a large extent from east to west," Mr. Johnson said. "From Capetown we flew to Nairobi and explored Kenya, parts of the Belgian Congo, and the Tanganyika Territory. Then we went north, skirted Abyssinia and entered the Sudan. From there it was all plain Hying. We visited Khartoum and travelled down the Nile into Egypt end Cairo. We then worked east to Tripoli and Tunis, and flew across the Mediterranean to Cannes, where we came down because we were short of fuel. We met with headwinds crossing the Mediterranean, and that was the reason why we were out of our reckoning in our petrol supply. As a matter of* fact under normal conditions we should have got to Paris without having to refill our tanks. "In all the thousands of miles that we flew, we never had a hitch or a mishap. Perhaps I should not say this because it ie supposed to be unlucky, but the fact remains. All our take-offs and our landings, both on dry ground and on water, were perfect of their kind, and here I should like to say a word about Bein Carstens, our pilot, who for twenty months had done remarkable work in flying and landing on rivers, lakes, swamps and plains, in out of the way wild country of Central and Eastern Africa. We think no better pilot lives than Bern. But now all ho is thinking about is to rejoin his pretty little red-headed wife at Chanute, Kansas. They had only been married a year when we left America two years ago. "Our second 'plane, the Spirit of Africa, was piloted by Mr. Mostert, an Englishman, who is going to buy a new aeroplane in London and fly back to Nairobi. Meanwhile both our 'planes are being packed for shipment on board the Manhattan to New York to-morrow. Baiting a Lion With Flour. "We hare had a marvellous time and have taken sound pictures never before recorded of jungle life. My wife and I have epent J4 years in Africa, but this time we decided to use an aeroplane in our work because we wanted to reach places which were otherwise inaccessible. "Last week when we were over the Sudan we came across a body of about 400 elephants and before that we took a picture of a group of ten lions. Once in the middle of the jungle we came down among a bunch of lions, splendid animals with dark manes. One of them rushed' up almost before our propellers had stopped ticking over and clawed at our aeroplane. Mrs. Johnson threw a bag "of flour in its face while I shot it with a sound camera. The animal roared and snarled as the flour hit it square between the eyes. "We paid particular attention to new so-called 'game-pockets,' and we came across regions which have never before been seen, crowded with rhinoseros, lion, leopard, giraffe, hippopotamus and every kind of African game, large and small. Care Free Pygmies. "On a email island in the middle of Lake Rudolf in the Belgian Congo, we found a tribe I have called the "Knockkneed people." They had never seen white folk before. There are only 70 of them now and they are being slowly driven out of existence by the limitations of their palate. Fish is their only diet, and thousands of years of fish-eat-ing have weakened their bones, distorted their elbows and crooked their knees. "In the Belgian Congo also we came across a number of pygmies who were both frightened and intensely interested in our aeroplanes. You may call pygmies savages, but they are the most delightful people nevertheless. They sin«°and dance all day and old pygmies of 70 behave like children of 10. We took one little pygmy girl up in our aeroplane and when we came back her parents threw their arms round her neck and wept bitterly as though they thought she had left- them for ever and then°had unexpectedly returned. "We are now hurrying back to America to get our newest and best feature film-on the market before Christmas."— (N.A.N.A.)