ON SAFARI

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19793, 17 March 1927, Page 6

ON SAFARI

HUNTING IN AFRICA TRAVEL IN THE TROPICS. JUNGLE TRACKS AND WATERWAYS. Strage experiences befall the traveller in Africa. In that land of wide spaces and contradictions he may sit in motor-car or a train and hear lions jroaring out on the plains. Ample excitement comes the way of the man with tastes for hunting, and many thrills were enjoyed by Mr I. Muir, a young Australian who is visiting relatives in Wanganui after a trip to Africa and England. To bag a lion is the fond ambition of every big game hunter, but Air Muir was unable to fulfil his aspirations in that direction. It so happened that, instead of his getting the lion, the lion nearly got him. A cartridge back-fired when he shot at a lion at almost point blank range, and cordite-blindncss almost robbed him of his sight. In the twilight of impaired vision he scrambled up a tree, and there remained until his vanished ‘boys” returned, to Inform him that the lion had now left the vicinity. - Tusks And Trophies. Giving vivid impressions of his experiences in Africa, JVI r Muir produced some fine trophies collected on a 700 mile “safari,” or hunting trip. He showed a pair of hippopotamus tusks, solid and symmetrical, forming, when placed together, a circle 18 inches across. In spite of this heavy armament, said Mr Muir, the hippo was not a dangerous customer, unless the hunter was careless. Much more unpleasant, in the rivers of the Dark Continent, were the crocodiles which infested all streams. Knowing the presence of these monsters, the hunter was wary about stepping out of his boat to push it off a sand bar, and as a precaution the stranger was at first inclined to place, all jound him a ring of splashing natives. Even crocodiles, however, lost their terrors when the traveller became inured to African conditions.

Elephant tusk, skins, and handsome heads are among the prizes Mr Muir brought back. A cheetah skin he exhibited is a magnificent object, richly marked, and some of his other trophies are equally striking. He corrected the popular impression that the big game hunter in Africa operates in the jungle. Most of the hunting is done on the bush-veldt, open, rolling country, generally at an elevation of two or three thousand feet, and dotted with trees and clumps of vegetation. In this country a light car was often a useful accessory, provided such disabilities as broken springs and punctured tyres were cheerfully ignored. Professional Hunters. The growing popularity of big game hunting had made professional hunting a profitable occupation. Those engaged were experienced men who took in hand all arrangements for the expeditions of visitors. They were a tough class of men, courageous and skilful, and often had to “spoon feed” some of the raw novices—often wealthy men reared in luxury—who took advantage of their services. Mr Muir said he knew of instances in which professional hunters had kept a lion in security, not letting others go near its haunts, so that they could lead their novice to it, and allow him to gratify a lifelong desire by shooting a lion.

“In such cases,” he added, “the lions are often old and infirm. Their hides are torn and scratched by thorns, and they have lost their activity and vigour. But any sort of skin does for some of the ragtime hunters who go out to Africa from England and America. They want to get all the pleasures of hunting with none of its discomforts and risks, and some of them will not go on safari unless they are sure of luxurious camps, complete with baths and a capable chef.” Questions had been asked about the gradual extinction of African game. “That day,” said Mr Muir, “is still a long way distant. Some of the vast inland tracts, far from road and railway, are still teeming with game. The beasts in those places can be counted not in scores, hundreds, or thousands, birt in millions. It is an inspiring and unforgettable sight when one looks across remote plains where big herds are feeding. ’ ’ Through the Unknown. Though he visited British East Africa, where Nairobi is the jumpingoff place for numerous hunting expeditions, and where the game of the Athi plains and the man-eating lions of Tsavo were formerly famous, Mr Muir did most of his hunting in Rhodesia and the country immediately to the north. He saw something of African farm life on a ranch 70 miles from the town of Salisbury. This was high country, famous for its maize, and its altitude gave it a delightful climate, in spite of the heat of the blazing sun. In the mountains to the north ran the Zambesi River, which the young Australian crossed in the course of his 700 miles hunting trip. This expedition he undertook alone, except for the company of native bearers and gun-boys. The country he traversed was largely unexplored, and no white man had previously set foot in it. For many miles Mr Muir drifted down the . Zambesi, and he eventually finished up at the Portuguese town of Beira.

From Beira he continued his trip from Australia to England. Travelling up the East African coast in small coastwise steamers, he touched at Mozambique, Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, the Mombosa. At Mozambique the famous fortress, massively built by the early Portuguese from stone brought all the way from Portugal, caught his attention, and at Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of German East Africa, he saw the remains of the cruiser Pegasus, which was beached and shelled to pieces by the Germans early in the war.