Whitehouse, B., 1902. To the Victoria Nyanza by the Uganda railway. Scottish Geographical Journal 17: 169-182
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| Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Kenya |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
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Black Rhino |
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There are a large number of rhinoceri in places along the line. As a rule they do not interfere with travellers that let them alone. In some cases, of course, they are dangerous, but it was easy to get close to many for photo- graphs. It is often said that a rhinoceros will charge the person that he gets the Avind of; such is not my experience. I Avalked close up to the first I saw by accident — a cow and its calf. They certainly got my wind at a distance of less than twenty yards, but after looking at me for a few seconds they both bolted. On another occasion, on the Athi Plains, one came up towards us, and, stopping less than two hundred yards away, watched the caravan go by, with the wind blowing straight from us to him. Probably he was used to seeing Masai and other natives, and rhinoceri in less frequented places might have been more dangerous. Two are allowed to be shot by licence. It is very poor sport shooting them, but, like the hippo- potamus, they are a cheap present to gain the natives' good-will in famine time. One shot at Kin was entirely eaten that day, and the next morning we found some poor starved creatures picking off" what flesh was left on the head, and eating it raw. The famine along the line in 1898-99 was very bad, and it is hardly surprising that the starving people should have tried on some few occasions to get at the flour stores of the permanent way gangs. It must be dreadful to see a line of camps with plenty of food stretching along a famine-stricken country, and not to be able to share any of it.
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To the Victoria Nyanza by the Uganda railway
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