THRILLS IN A DESERT

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1929, Page 6

THRILLS IN A DESERT

SANDBAGGED IN SAHARA EXPERIENCES OF MOTORIST. SEARCH FOR BIG GAME AREAS. Traffic in Piccadilly recently was held up while a weather-beaten and somewhat dilapidated-looking car crossed in front of the east and west-bound traffic and turned into Berkeley Street. Even more dilapidated than the ear was the hat worn by the driv who was muffled to the ears in a woolly scarf and wore a thick leather coat. Alongside him sat an ebony black African, even more stoutly. protected from the vagaries of the English climate. Except that it was travel-stained and mud-splashed, the car might have passed for an ordinary tradesman’s delivery van, with the sides removed. And yet there was something diferent. about it. From the uprights at the back of the car were slung two canvas water carriers. The identification plates also had a strange appearance, for in addition to the numerals were included characters in Arabic.

Such was the home-coming of Captain R. C*. M. Crofton after an adventurous journey of 5500 miles across Africa, including the sandy wastes of the Sahara. Ho should have been accompanied by Mr Owen Tweedy, but unfortunately, says the Daily Telegraph, Mr. Tweedy went down with an attack of ..malaria at the last moment and was unable to complete the triumphal home-coming. Following an inspection of the car, Major C. V. d’A. Stewart, a director of Messrs, Thos. Cook and Sons, explained to a small gathering of people that the trip had been undertaken by his firm to see if any new big-game shooting areas could be discovered. Ho made it plain at the outset that nobody deprecated more than his firm the practice of shooting big game from motor-cars. Their intention, he explained, was to show how near to a big-game area a car could take a party of hunters, and then to leave them to their own resources to follow the trail. “UNSPOILED” GAME. The trip across Africa, Major Stewart said, was made entirely without previous preparation, the object being to prove that it was possible for a motorcar to cross Africa with the same ease as it was possible to go for a long drive in England or across Europe, buying petrol and other necessaries on the way. The adventurous journey of 5500 miles, completed in 38 days, had been made possible first by the sterling qualities of the car, secondly by the excellence of the colonial administration on the part of Great Britain, France and Belgium, which enabled the journey to be carried out without interference, and thirdly by the energy, skill and determination of Captain Crofton, Mr. Owen Tweedy, and the coloured mechanic.

Captain Crofton, the toast of whose health was enthusiastically honoured, expressed regret at the reason for the absence of Mr. Owen Tweedy, ■who had helped him, he said, through much of tho real hard work. The journey from Rejaf, on tho Upper Nile, to Lake Chad, ho described as comparatively easy going-, along good roads, and with an abundance of supplies. At Lake Chad the party took a few days off for boating and hunting. Game of all sorts, except elephants, was found in abundance, most of it so unspoiled as to be unafraid of man or gun. TRAVELLING IN. WOSE SAND. In order that tho wheels might obtain a better grip on tho loose sand, said Captain Crofton, they had provided themselves with rabbit netting, but were induced to jettison this on tin? advice of a local “sportsman,” who assured them that the going was good right through to Algiers, with the result that tho car was badly “sandbogged,” and for several days averaged only some 25 miles in 24 hours. “It was a most interesting trip,"’ added Captain Crofton, “because it proved to us that the journey was absolutely feasible for anybody in any sort of car as far as Kano, in Northern Nigeria. But from there onward across the Sahara I would not tackle again unless in a car provided with condensers on the radiator and with large wheels.”