In Wildest Africa, Vol. 1Schillings, C. G. (Carl Georg)
History
In Wildest Africa, Vol. 1
Schillings, C. G. (Carl Georg)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Hunting -- Africa; Natural history -- Africa; Nature photography
“Pharu, bwana!” now whispers one of my men, and points cautiously with
his arm down to a certain point on the plain. His caution, however, is
not necessary, for it is at a distance of at least a thousand yards
that his sharp eyes have distinguished the outlines of two almost
invisible rhinoceroses that are moving slowly through a group of
acacias. What an effect that word “pharu” has upon me! For once more
there has come close to me one of those strange, mighty beings that
really belong to a time long passed, and which, like the elephant,
the giraffe, the zebra, the gnu, and a few other forms, lend to the
wilderness the charm of primeval days. Naturally still stronger is
the effect of the cry of “Tembo!” on the hunter and the watcher amid
such scenes. “Elephant!” This name electrifies even the weariest
traveller. But when the word is “Twigga!” (“Giraffe!”)--even here in
Europe the strange, slender-necked creature, moving in some acacia wood
all flooded with the sunlight, comes up bodily before me--bodily and
plainly to be seen, but alas, only in imagination!
After trying for a minute, I succeed in getting the massive creatures
sharply defined in the middle of the field of my glass. But the clear
view of them is something that comes and goes. Several times it
looks as if the velt had swallowed them up; then they suddenly come
into sight again, being specially visible to the eye when they show
themselves sideways. Seen from front or rear, particularly when at
rest, they are all but invisible. We are in luck; the rhinoceroses are
ambling towards us, and come nearer and nearer, slowly following the
line of some hollows in the ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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