CITY OF WILD ANIMALS

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 23

CITY OF WILD ANIMALS

An untouched Eden in the mouth of a burned-out volcano in the heart of Africa, providing a refuge for thousands of animals, many of them extinct in every other part of the world, has been purchased outright by Sir Charles Ross, of Balnagowan, ihe inventor of the Ross rifle, and is to be explored bv scientists. It is the giant crater of Ngoro Ngoro, largest volcano that ever existed on this planet— ten miles across, and a paradise for wild things. The Germans knew of it before the war, and kept its very existence a secret. Nobody knows what discoveries a thorough exploration of the crater may bring. Prehistoric animals believed to have perished from the earth thousands of years ago may inhabit its caves. Scientists hope to find alive strange creatures of which only the skeletons havejaeen found in other parts of the world. Sir Charles Ross went to Tanganyika in January, 1921, on a shooting expedition, accompanied by the explorer photographer, Mr T. A. Barnes, and Mrs Frederick I)alziel ,of New York. They had good sport, and they discovered the crater. Sir CTiarles Ross was “walked up* by five liong within the basin, and the wonders he saw there made him resolve that no more shooting parties should be allowed. There was no need for “No shooting” signs. The crater is 100 miles from a railway, in the midst of wild country. Lions and tigers are the watchdogs of ihe forests and surround it. The number of animals in- the crater is estimated at 75,000. The crater is. in fact, a city of animals, who have lived there for centuries safe from attack. Its steep sides made it a citadel of the forest, and while in all other parts of the world the work of tion went on, no hunter dared to penetrate this fastness. Thus it is highly probable that animals which have perished elsewhere have survived at Ngoro Ngoro. Other volcanoes are grouped about the central crater of Ngoro Ngoro. Mere than one of tl em is larger than Mount Etna. The whole region, ages ago. was the scene of a terrific volcanic upheaval.