File:Our holiday in Africa (1912) (14773094062).jpg

Identifier: ourholidayinafri01whee (find matches)
Title: Our holiday in Africa
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Wheeler, W. W. (William Webb), b. 1854
Subjects: Wheeler, W. W. (William Webb), b. 1854
Publisher: (St. Joseph, MO : Press of Combe Printing)
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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ningexpenses, and a fair profit on the investment. The transportation to Victoria Nyanza from the coast wasalmost impossible before the railway was built. Everythingwas carried six hundred miles by the natives and the actualcost was one thousand dollars per ton. On leaving Mombasa for the interior by rail, the first fewmiles of the country have l)een improved by the planters andlooked very well, but after that the soil is poor and rough withonly the thornv acacia shrub and sharp spiked aloes. Thenwe come to the plains with the long grass where w^hite peoplecan live and farm. This section, on both sides of the track,is set apart by the government as a game reservation, and hereis to be seen more game than in any other part of the world.These animals very soon learn that they are not molested andbecome quite tanie. Many of them grazing near the track donot run awav when the train approaches, while others run afew yards and stop with heads up. In a half a day we saw OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
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UGANDA RAILWAY at least a thousand head of game, most of which were of theantelope family. There were beautiful little Thomson ga-zells, and still more beautiful Grants gazells, with a broadblack strip along each side. The big wielde beast, called gnuin the old geographies, looks much like the wild buffalo, andsome of them weigh seven hundred pounds or more. We alsosaw many zebra, eland and great numbers of ostriches, im-mense birds, almost as large as horses, all grazing peacefullytogether. We were disappointed that we did not see giraffe;they had not come down from the high pastures. We did notsee any lions or leopards, as they usually skulk along in ra-vines and high grass. There are many lions through thisgame reservation, and recently a passenger saw nine in onebunch from a car window. We were detained four hours by awash-out near Athi River Station, and only last week a hunterfound three lions not more than three hundred yards fromthis station. He followed them and killed two. W

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