I have now moved on to the (less well known?) sequel:
In The Grip Of The Nyika.
I’m about 3/4 of the way through and am enjoying it so far.
For those who haven’t come across it before (and, until recently, that was me), it briefly touches on a handful of additional stories about the Maneaters before they were killed and then covers two further safaris Patterson makes in to the interior of what is today Kenya.
His primary purpose is to survey game and map a new boundary for a reserve but he’s accompanied on each by a different couple of sportsmen so there is plenty of hunting action as well as descriptions of flora, fauna and the customs of native tribes encountered along the way.
The groups encounter a staggering amount and variety of game (they seem barely to be able to move for rhino for example), some of which they shoot as trophies and others they simply observe.
One of the parties also comes across Arthur Neumann’s (of
Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa fame) camp which, if you’re a fan of safari books from the golden age, is a nice link between two generations.
The first safari is pretty successful and everyone makes it back safely. The second? Well, not so much…I won’t spoil it for others who may wish to read it themselves but suffice to say it covers the events that led to a statement defending Patterson’s honour in the House of Lords, a threat to sue Winston Churchill and a scandal that occupied Edwardian society before the outbreak of the First World War.
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