A DAY ON THE N'DUNGU ESCARPMENT
Immediately after breakfast camp was struck, and accompanied by a few
of the Wa Kamba, we started off for the N'dungu Escarpment--a frowning
ridge which runs for a great distance parallel to the Sabaki, some
three or four miles from its northern bank. We had not gone very far
before I caught sight of a fine waterbuck and successfully bowled him
over--a good omen for the day, which put us all in excellent spirits.
Mabruki cut off several strips of the tough meat and impaled them on a
sharp stick to dry in the sun as he went along. I warned him that he
had better be careful that a lion did not scent the meat, as if it did
it would be sure to follow up and kill him. Of course I did not mean
this seriously; but Mabruki was a great glutton, and by no means
courageous, so I wanted to frighten him.
As we trudged along towards the hill, I heard a peculiar noise behind a
small rising on our right, and on looking over the crest, I was
delighted to see two beautiful giraffe feeding peacefully a little
distance away and straining their long necks to get at the tops of some
mimosa-like trees, while a young one was lying down in the grass quite
close to me. For some time I remained concealed, watching the
full-grown pair with great interest: they had evidently just come up
from the river, and were slowly making their way back to their home on
the escarpment. They seemed on the most affectionate terms,
occasionally entwining their great long necks and gently biting each
other on the shoulders. Much as I should have liked to have added a
giraffe to my collection of trophies, I left them undisturbed, as I
think it a pity to shoot these rather rare and very harmless creatures,
unless one is required for a special purpose.
We pushed on, accordingly, towards the escarpment, for I was very
impatient to get to the top and explore a place where I felt convinced
no other white man had ever set foot. From the river the ground rose
gently upwards to the foot of the ridge, and was covered more or less
densely with stunted trees and bushes, and of course the inevitable
"wait-a-bit" thorns. I was fortunate enough, however, to find a rhino
path which afforded a fairly comfortable and open road, on which we
could walk upright the greater part of the way. The climb up the
escarpment itself was a stiff one, and had to be negotiated principally
on all-fours, but on the way up I discovered that there was an enormous
cleft some miles to the right which would probably have afforded an
easier ascent. I had not time to explore it on this particular day, but
I made a mental note to do so on some future occasion.
After a two hours' journey from the river we sat panting on the summit
after our scramble and surveyed the valley of the Tsavo, which lay
spread out like a map about five hundred feet below us. Our home tents,
the bridge, Tsavo Station and other buildings were plainly visible, and
the railway itself, like a shining snake, could be seen for many miles
winding its way through the parched wilderness. Having taken a few
photographs of the scene, we turned and struck through the N'dungu
Plateau. Here I found the same kind of nyika as that round Tsavo, the
only difference being that there were more green trees about. The
country, moreover, was somewhat more open, and was intersected by
hundreds of broad and well-beaten animal paths, along which we could
walk upright in comfort. I was leading the way, followed closely by
Mahina and Mabruki, when suddenly we almost walked upon a lion which
was lying down at the side of the path and which had probably been
asleep. It gave a fierce growl and at once bounded off through the
bush; but to Mabruki--who doubtless recalled then the warning I had
given him in fun earlier in the day--the incident appeared so alarming
that he flung down his stick-load of meat and fled for his life, much
to the amusement of the others, even the usually silent Wa Kamba
joining in the general laughter as they scrambled for the discarded
meat. We saw nothing more of the lion, though a few steps further on
brought us to the remains of a zebra which he had recently killed and
feasted on; but after this Mabruki kept carefully in the rear.
Curiously enough, only a short while later we had an exactly similar
adventure with a rhino, as owing to the tortuous nature of the path, we
walked right into it before we were aware. Like the lion, however, it
was more frightened than we, and charged away from us through the
jungle.
For about two hours we pursued our journey into the plateau, and saw
and heard a wonderful variety of game, including giraffe, rhino,
bush-buck, the lesser kudu, zebra, wart-hog, baboons and monkeys, and
any number of paa, the last being of a redder colour than those of the
Tsavo valley. Of natives or of human habitations, however, we saw no
signs, and indeed the whole region was so dry and waterless as to be
quite uninhabitable. The animals that require water have to make a
nightly journey to and from the Sabaki, which accounts for the
thousands of animal paths leading from the plateau to the river.
By this time we were all beginning to feel very tired, and the bhisti's
stock of water was running low. I therefore climbed the highest tree I
could find in order to have a good look round, but absolutely nothing
could I see in any direction but the same flat thorny wilderness,
interspersed here and there with a few green trees; not a landmark of
any sort or kind as far as the eye could reach; a most hopeless,
terrible place should one be lost in it, with certain death either by
thirst or by savage beasts staring one in the face. Clearly, then, the
only thing to do was to return to the river; and in order to accomplish
this before dark it was necessary that no time should be lost. But we
had been winding in and out so much through the animal paths that it
was no easy matter to say in which direction the Sabaki lay. First I
consulted my Wa Kamba followers as to the route back, they simply shook
their heads. Then I asked Mahina, who pointed out a direction exactly
opposite to that which I felt confident was the right one. Mabruki, of
course, knew nothing, but volunteered the helpful and cheering
information that we were lost and would all be killed by lions. In
these circumstances, I confirmed my own idea as to our way by comparing
my watch and the sun, and gave the order to start at once. For two
solid hours, however, we trudged along in the fearful heat without
striking a single familiar object or landmark. Mabruki murmured loudly;
even Mahina expressed grave doubts as to whether the "Sahib" had taken
the right direction; only the Wa Kamba stalked along in reassuring
silence. For some time we had been following a broad white rhino path,
and the great footmarks, of one of these beasts were fresh and plainly
visible in the dust. He had been travelling in the opposite direction
to us, and I felt sure that he must have been returning from drinking
in the river. I accordingly insisted on our keeping to this path, and
very soon, to my great relief, we found that we were at the edge of the
escarpment, a couple of miles away from the place where we had made the
ascent. Here a halt was called; a sheet was spread over some of the
stunted trees, and under its shade we rested for half an hour, had some
food, and drank the last of our water. After this we pushed on with
renewed vigour, and arrived at the Sabaki in good time before sundown,
having bagged a couple of guinea-fowl and a paa on the way to serve for
dinner. After the long and fatiguing day my bathe in a clear shady pool
was a real delight, but I might not have enjoyed it quite so much if I
had known then of the terrible fate which awaited one of my followers
in the same river the next day. By the time I got back to camp supper
was ready and fully appreciated. The tireless Mahina had also collected
some dry grass for my bed, and I turned in at once, with my rifle
handy, and slept the sleep of the just, regardless of all the wild
beasts in Africa.
At dawn Mabruki roused me with a cup of steaming hot coffee and some
biscuits, and a start was at once made on our return journey to Tsavo.
The place where we had struck the Sabaki the previous evening was some
miles further down the stream than I had ever been before, so I decided
to take advantage of the Masai trail along its bank until the Tsavo
River was reached. I did not think we should meet with any further
adventure on our way home, but in the wilds the unexpected is always
happening. Shortly after we started one of the Wa Kamba went down to
the river's edge to fill his calabash with water, when a crocodile
suddenly rose up out of the stream, seized the poor fellow and in a
moment had dragged him in. I was on ahead at the time and so did not
witness the occurrence, but on hearing the cries of the others I ran
back as quickly as possible--too late, however, to see any sign of
either crocodile or native. Mahina philosophically remarked that after
all it was only a washenzi (savage), whose loss did not much matter;
and the other three Wa Kamba certainly did not appear to be affected by
the incident, but calmly possessed themselves of their dead companion's
bow and quiver of poisoned arrows, and of the stock of meat which he
had left on the bank.
I have since learned that accidents of this kind are of fairly frequent
occurrence along the banks of these rivers. On one occasion while I was
in the country a British officer had a very lucky escape. He was
filling his water bottle at the river, when one of these brutes caught
him by the hand and attempted to draw him in. Fortunately one of his
servants rushed to his assistance and managed to pull him out of the
crocodile's clutches with the loss only of two of his fingers.
As we made our way up the Sabaki, we discovered a beautiful waterfall
about a hundred and fifty feet high--not a sheer drop, but a series of
cascades. At this time the river was in low water, and the falls
consequently did not look their best; but in flood time they form a
fine sight, and the thunder of the falling water can then be plainly
heard at Tsavo, over seven miles away, when the wind is in the right
direction. We crossed the river on the rocks at the head of these
falls, and after some hours' hard marching reached camp without further
incident.