I saw these Wakamba on the Athi plains and in and about Nairobi. They are tall and fine looking, with woolly hair, rather thick lips, and almost straight noses.
CHAPTER XXXV
THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY AND THE MASAI
In the heart of the East African highlands, as far south of the Mediterranean Sea as New York is distant from Denver, and as far west of the Indian Ocean as Pittsburgh is west of the Atlantic, I am writing this chapter. Lake Naivasha, which is spread out before me, is in the Great Rift Valley, a mighty trough that runs almost north and south through this part of the continent. This great rift begins, it is now believed, south of the Zambezi and embraces Lake Rudolf on the north. Traces of it are to be found even in Palestine. It is supposed to have been formed by the earth’s folding up after a stupendous volcanic eruption, which left the craters of Kilimanjaro, Kenya, and Elgon touching the clouds at altitudes of from fourteen thousand to nearly twenty thousand feet.
The valley was named by Professor J. W. Gregory, the famous British geologist, who came out to East Africa in order to explore its system of valleys and to discover their origin. For many months he disappeared. There were rumours that he had been killed and cut to pieces by the Masai. But one day he turned up, looking ill and worn but triumphant. The results of his trip were published in a book now historical, “The Great Rift Valley,” from which this huge trough got its name. To-day one sees everywhere in this part of the country notices of “Rift Valley” farms or “Rift Valley” hotels. It is still an objective of scientific explorations and the subject of scientific discussions.
This mighty valley narrows and widens, it rises and falls, and it has many big lakes. Broadly speaking, all the great lakes of East Africa are in it or in its spurs. North of here are Lakes Baringo and Rudolf, and still farther north in Abyssinia is Lake Tsana, the source of the Blue Nile. As I write I am looking out on Lake Naivasha, a beautiful sheet of blue water over which white cranes are flying. I can see zebras and buck feeding not far from the water, and with my glass can watch the ugly black heads of three hippopotami bobbing up and down like giant fishing corks upon the surface. The swampy shores are lined with masses of reeds. Just back of them the ground rises into rich pastures which are protected from sportsmen by the reservations allotted to the Uganda Railway and which fairly swarm with big game.
The weather here is delightful. We are so near the Equator that we can almost straddle it, but the altitude is such that blankets are needed at night and it is never excessively hot during the day. Naivasha is a little higher up in the air than the top of Mt. Washington. Indeed, the climate of the whole Rift Valley is said to be suited to white men. This matter is being tested by settlers, for large tracts of land have been taken up in different places not far from the railroad, and there are many Englishmen who are going into stock raising. Near the lake, at Morendat, the government of Kenya Colony has started an experiment farm and there are big ranches in the immediate vicinity. There are no tsetse flies here, for even in the tropics the tsetse is seldom found at an altitude over four thousand feet. The zebras, which one sees by the hundreds in almost any ride over the valley, are evidences that horses will thrive. There are also many ostriches, and in time we may have ostrich farming here as in South Africa. The average elevation of the lake valley is something like six thousand feet, and the grass is said to be luxuriant everywhere.
Mr. Carpenter, who is five feet eight inches tall, cannot reach more than half way up the tall stalk of the elephant grass. It has been introduced from Africa into some of our Southern States and makes a coarse forage crop.
