Hunting in the Bush & Taking people into the bush.
small hand torch, but the battery was almost flat. In fact it was so flat that it would hardly have been much use to read with, but I thought if I could get really close it would be enough for me to see what was happening. I climbed out of the vanette and asked the boy for the rifle. He was absolutely petrified rigid, clutching the gun with a vacant stare in his eyes looking at the lion. Until this moment the boys had all been laughing and joking…..but now in contrast there was not a movement, not a murmur even. I took the rifle of him and as I pulled he let go, his eyes still transfixed on the lion. I switched off the headlights and walked towards the beasts with their eyes glowing in the torch bright red in the darkness and walked towards them. As I approached them they walked away into the bush one on either side of me. I shone the torch, but they had stopped looking at me. Even I did not like it now and started to get prickles on the back of my neck. I came back put the lights on and tried again, but to no effect and soon gave up and moved on. From the back of the vanette there was absolute silence, the boys had enough of it. They just did not wqant to know and were shocked and shattered to the very core of their being. I suppose being brought up in Africa with the innate knowledge of the size and ferocity of the beasts a close contact and their deep instincts, and above all their fears were uppermost.
Rhino.
One day I was returning following an elephant that had been wounded, probably by a Americans on safari about 50 miles from us. The spoor had blood in it and I thought , “Poor thing he must be in agaony and the kindest thing is to finish him off” I had with me a gentleman who had been put onto me to see big game at close hand. We had an exhausting day as we had followed this spoor for miles and miles and we had still not seen a sight of the animal, not even a glimpse. We were heading back to camp in single file and I had with me two Government game boys and we all had our rifles slung as we were dog tired. We were now marching through a glade of grass that was I suppose about 5ft to 6ft high. It was a bit higher than me. Suddenly there was shout from the front. We all stopped and could hear the the sound of a heavy animal rushing headlong towards us. The noise was now getting closer and closer and the front boys shouted “Chipenberi” (Rhino) and started to run back. I had my rifle over my shoulder on a sling, whilst the rather large man had his across his back. In the flurry I am not sure whether it was one of the boys or the large man as they passed by me hurriedly unslinging their rifles I got swiped hard across my face with the butt of a rifle which knocked me down just as the beast came charging past me about 4 foot away going from right to left. It had been a close shave but luckily I was quite OK if a bit shaken. Meanwhile the rest of the party including our visitor had all vanished the only one close by me was my faithful personal tracker Mchamcha, who stayed to see if he could help. It was quite a while before we could round up everyone again. It is no good pontificating in an armchair how one should react in such a situation. When faced with a direct unexpected charge ones behaviour resorts to its basic instinct to run. There is something primeval and most primitive about a rhino appearing suddenly that can be most frightening. Personally speaking they don’t frighten me in the least as I know their nature. They are not very common for a start, but there are more around than one realises as they are solitary. They have a poor brain and believe in the maxim that the best method of defence is to attack and that they do at the least provocation. They will just put their head down and charge, and being so heavy they will get away with it. They are the only animal in the bush that the elephant is scared of because it is the only animal capable of being easily killed by it. A rhino charging an elephant and bringing up his horn in side will rip out his stomach and
