In Africa: Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country

In Short

This vivid travelogue chronicles a four-and-a-half-month big game hunting expedition through British East Africa, tracking lions, elephants, rhinos, and plain game across equatorial wildernesses. Armed with rifles, sketchbooks, and cameras, a small group of American travelers and their extensive native retinue march from the sun-baked Athi Plains to the rim of Mount Elgon. It has endured as a classic of early twentieth-century travel writing because of its unpretentious charm, blending self-deprecating humor, sharp visual observations, and practical advice to capture the untamed atmosphere of an African safari just as modern settlement began to transform the region.

The Story

The journey begins with eager preparations and a long ocean voyage aboard a German steamer, where national rivalries brew quietly between English and German passengers taking to deck sports to pass the sweltering days. Upon landing in Mombasa and proceeding inland to Nairobi, the expedition organizes its outfit, assembling more than one hundred native porters, gunbearers, and saises to carry tons of supplies in eighty compact burdens. Moving out onto the game-rich Athi Plains, the safari steps directly into a landscape teeming with wildebeest, impala, and zebra, framed by the distant, cloud-veiled peak of Mount Kenya.

From the plains, the party strikes out for the Tana River country, a prime habitat for rhinoceros and buffalo. The days follow a steady rhythm: cool early morning marches, high noon heat softened by passing clouds, and afternoons spent tracking game or establishing camp. Thrilling encounters quickly follow. The hunters face heart-pounding lion drives across scorched hills, film charging rhinos at close range, and navigate tense stalks through dense river bush where invisible herds of angry elephants crash through the underbrush.

As the safari presses further into remote regions toward Mount Elgon and Trans-Tanaland, the territory grows wilder and human outposts disappear entirely. The party endures freezing high-altitude winds, climbs to the crater rim of Mount Elgon at over fourteen thousand feet, and camps beside boiling sulphur springs. Between dangerous hunts, camp life brings quiet humor: a lost rooster crowing under a cot at dawn, ceremonial visits from a friendly camp dog, and elaborate attempts to hunt grouse for a Thanksgiving dinner using a massive battery of heavy rifles.

The long journey culminates in successful elephant hunts for museum specimens before the party breaks camp and makes the long return march toward the railway line. Retracing their steps to the coast, the travelers leave the equatorial interior behind, sailing onward across the Indian Ocean toward Asia, rich with memories of an extraordinary wilderness experience.

How It Unfolds

Setting sail for Africa The voyage begins aboard the steamer Woermann, where passengers endure stifling tropical heat while navigating national tensions between English and German travelers. To break the monotony, passengers organize competitive deck sports, including grueling cockfights with hobbled limbs.

Assembling the safari in Nairobi Arriving in East Africa, the party gathers equipment, food boxes, and tents at bustling warehouses. Over a hundred native porters are organized into a single-file caravan to carry the massive load into the interior.

Face to face with the plains game The expedition marches across the vast Athi Plains, surrounded by thousands of wild animals moving peacefully in the distance. The early morning marches are cool and bright, but the equatorial sun soon brings shimmering heat waves and distant mirages.

Tracking lions and rhinos on the Tana The hunters enter Trans-Tanaland to pursue dangerous game along the riverbanks. They encounter magnificent male lions posing atop rocky ridges and face sudden, heart-stopping charges from rhinos hiding in the thick brush.

Tense moments in the elephant bush Navigating narrow forest trails, the hunters find themselves surrounded by invisible, squealing elephants. Crouched near tree trunks with rifles ready, they endure long hours of extreme nervous strain during unpredictable stalks.

Scaling Mount Elgon's crater The caravan undertakes a grueling ascent up Mount Elgon, driving pack animals over the high crater rim into a freezing, wind-swept bowl. At twelve thousand feet, they camp near boiling sulphur springs and explore desolate mountain peaks.

Homeward bound across the sea After completing their hunts and packing up hides and trophies, the travelers return to the coast. They board a vessel bound for Manila, looking back on their months in the bush with quiet satisfaction as the African shore recedes.

The People

• John T. McCutcheon: The narrator and an amateur hunter who approaches the safari with self-deprecating humor and keen artistic curiosity. He wants to experience the classic story-book atmosphere of the African wilderness without taking himself too seriously, and he ends up with a lifetime of vivid memories, sketches, and photographs.
• Abdi: The Somali head-man of the safari who manages camp discipline, porter loads, and daily operations. Handsome, good-tempered, and deeply experienced in white men's ways, he wants his men treated with kindness and respects his employers, maintaining harmony across the large expedition while sharing dramatic tales of his homeland.
• Hassan: A devout Somali gunbearer whose physical courage in the field is matched by his quiet personal conviction. He wants to perform his duties faithfully while honoring his faith, earning the quiet respect of the entire camp as he kneels for his daily prayers in the middle of the wilderness.
• Carl Akeley: A dedicated professional collector and museum field partner who leads stalks after massive museum specimens. He wants to secure pristine animal hides and skeletons for public preservation, operating with steady calm even when surrounded by aggressive elephant herds in dense cover.

In Its Own Voice

"The early morning hours are bright and cool, but along about nine o'clock the equatorial sun begins to beat down upon our heavy sun helmets and our red-lined and padded spine protectors."

Describing the daily rhythm of marching with the caravan across the open African landscape.

"Lions also journeyed to the feast, and between the two they mumbled the bones of the slain with many a howl and snarl."

Observing the wild night sounds surrounding an elephant carcass left out on the plains.

"He never burst into a place like a cyclone of happiness, but rather, he sort of oozed in and oozed out, his mild brown eyes brimming with gentleness..."

Recounting the quiet, endearing visits of the camp's adopted dog between the tents.

What It's Really About

Beneath its sequence of hunting encounters, the book explores the romantic allure of untouched spaces and the urge to step off the beaten path before modern civilization erases it. McCutcheon captures a transitional historical moment when the African interior was still vast and wild, yet rapidly being mapped, settled, and crisscrossed by game laws and rail lines. The narrative examines the contrast between the quiet discipline of native camp life and the intrusive arrival of Western technology, from moving-picture cameras to observation balloons. Ultimately, it reflects on human smallness against an immense landscape, weighing the thrill of personal risk against a deep, lingering appreciation for the dignity of wild creatures in their natural habitat.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy classic travel literature, historical natural history, and outdoor adventure will find this book a warm and engaging companion. McCutcheon writes with the observant eye of a professional cartoonist, filling his prose with sharp visual detail, unpretentious humor, and lighthearted charm that makes the long-vanished world of 1910 feel immediately present. The narrative moves briskly, balanced by genuine affection for the landscape and the people who shared his trail.

Prospective readers should be prepared for period attitudes and the central focus on big game hunting, which involves the tracking and shooting of wildlife that is now heavily protected. The text includes historical terms and early twentieth-century colonial perspectives, but it lacks mean-spiritedness or boastful hype. What stays with you is the sheer sense of open space: the cool morning starts, the shadow of Mount Kenya on the horizon, the crackle of evening campfires, and the quiet camaraderie of a long march across the primitive African plateau.