Both rhinos and hippos are hard to kill. Each has a skin about half an inch thick, and there are only a few places upon them where a ball will go through. Hippos can be hunted in boats on the lakes, but they swim rapidly and dive deep, remaining under the surface a long time. They move along through the water, showing only their ears and nose. They are so wary that it is difficult to get a shot at just the right place. One of the best points at which to aim is under the eye or back of the head between the ears. These animals are sometimes harpooned, but such hunting is dangerous, as they are liable to crush one’s boat.
The rhinos also have to be approached very carefully. They have a keen sense of smell, although they cannot see to any great distance and their hearing is not good. They are usually hunted on foot, and one must be careful to get on the windward side of them. A rhinoceros does not hesitate to charge an enemy. He uses the great horn on his nose, which is a terrible weapon, and enables him to kill a horse at one blow. Most of these beasts are black, but now and then a white one is found. I met a man the other day who claimed to have killed a white rhinoceros.
Since I have been in Africa I have received a number of letters from American sportsmen asking the cost of shooting big game in this part of the world. The question is hard to answer. It depends on the man and to some extent on the bargains he makes. There are business firms in Nairobi and in Mombasa which specialize in outfitting hunting parties, making all arrangements for guides, food, and porters somewhat as Cook does for tourists. The prices, in such cases, depend upon the length and character of the tour and the size of the party. There is a young American here now whose mother calls him “Dodo,” who paid five hundred dollars for a three days’ hunt after leopards, and this did not necessitate a permit, as they are on the free list. The young man tramped about with his porters through the tall grass, and was given a shot or so at two leopards, both of which he missed. Had he tried for big game it would have cost him at the least two hundred and fifty dollars more.
On a long hunt the expenses of all kinds can be considerably reduced, and I should think that forty dollars a day for each sportsman in the party would be a fair estimate. I am told that a man can be fitted out with porters, gunbearers and personal servants for two hundred and fifty dollars a month. One can get a good cook for from five to eight dollars a month, a gunbearer for about ten dollars, and a personal servant for from eight to ten dollars.
The question of provisions for the trip depends much upon the tastes of the individual sportsman. There are native villages almost everywhere at which some fresh food can be bought at cheap rates. Chickens are plentiful at eight cents a pound and meats cost the same. In the streams and lakes there are fish; the guns of the party ought to supply plenty of game; and one need never suffer for the want of antelope or zebra steak.
Other food should be packed up in boxes of sixty pounds each; and in case the outfit is prepared at Nairobi, each box will have sufficient for one man’s requirements for one week. Most of the stuff is in tins, and usually includes plenty of Chicago canned beef, Canadian bacon, and London biscuits, jams, and marmalades. Such boxes are labelled with numbers, No. 1 containing the first week’s supply, No. 2 the second week’s, and so on. Each box weighs just sixty pounds, as no more than that can be carried on the head of one porter.
I would advise the American sportsman who intends coming out here to shoot, to stop off on the way in England for most of his supplies. Several London firms make a specialty of outfitting for African travel and for hunting expeditions. One should have double-roofed tents, the square tents being the best. It will be well to bring a mackintosh or rubber blanket, one foot wider all around than the floor of the tent, for many of the camps may be soggy and marshy. One should also have a folding bedstead, a cork bed, and warm blankets. A folding chair and table will not be found amiss.
CHAPTER XXXIV
AMONG THE KIKUYUS AND THE NANDI
Shortly after leaving Nairobi by train for Lake Victoria I came into the land of the Kikuyus, where I stopped off for a while. Over a million of these native people live in the country about two thousand feet above Nairobi. We could see their farms and villages everywhere as we rode by on the railway. In clearing the land they first burn off the trees and other vegetation, then work the ground until it is barren. After that they clear more land, letting the first tracts lie fallow until Nature revives them. Some of the Kikuyu farms are no bigger than a bed quilt; others cover a quarter of an acre, and some twice as much. The fields are not fenced, and now and then a rhino or hippo gets in and wallows, while near the woodlands the monkeys pull up the crops. The chief thing raised is Indian corn.