One Hundred Years Ago Today - 11 January 1911 - on Safari in Deepest Africa

The Sydney Morning Herald on the 11^th January 1911 had what I think is a wonderful article that paints a vivid mental image of what it was like to go on safari in deepest Africa 100 years ago.

Life is so different now, with tourists from all over the world being able to easily fly to Africa, and with resorts and lodges in the major game reserves providing tours that take them on drives across the savannah to see the Big Five animals, before returning them to their luxury accommodations.

I spent three weeks in Kenya myself in the early 1990's and went on safari twice, camping on the game reserves rather than staying in a luxury resort, but this was still a far cry from this article from 100 years ago, which describes an African safari as if was back then, a long trip into the wilderness with a host of guides and bearers.

One hundred years ago of course, much of Africa was controlled by European nations, with Great Britain being prominent in both East Africa as well as South Africa.

When you think of safaris in those days, you think of scenes from movies like The African Queen (ok that took place mostly on a steam boat), or Tarzan.

The author of this article from the Australian Press is named just STRAY, and I know nothing more of him (or her), but based on the quality of this article I may have to do some research.

Anyhow, after a long introduction, I would like to introduce some excerpts from this article, which is entitled THE BEARERS.

From the balcony it was a blur of red and black amongst the green grass of the compound. And for over an hour there was scarce a stir.

Then a man in dazzling white linen and helmet crossed the road. The blur moved - became a swarm of black and red figures running to and fro across the white road, bearing burdens which at the distance were also blurs. Back and back again for endless bundles, which, thrown down, were lost to sight in the green grass.

The author paints a wonderful image don't you agree, of one hundred or more native bearers, their skin black as ink, all dressed in red, working to move the baggage for the safari into position, ready to begin the journey into the jungle.

Onward they came, moving slowly, balancing their loads on their heads and forming an uneven file, and onward towards the bridge that connects mainland and island - these Kavirondo bearers of the first safari of the season.

He continues to describe the need for a man on safari in deepest Africa to have so many possessions with him, both food and sleeping accommodation, but most likely also creature comforts such as a camp bed, writing desk, books etc, all of which would have to be carried for many miles by his hundred native bearers.

These mysterious burdens became sacks of food, cooking pots, tents, guns, baths, camp beds, clothes, and all the million things safari people take.

For in Africa the man on safari makes his odd hundred bearers into a huge snail, which carries his house on it's back. So he may bath and shave and part his hair before he kills his lion, and lie in his lounge and smoke and have a liqueur after dinner.

Certainly for me this takes me back to the old black and white movies of the 1950's or earlier, even if they were shot in California.

Onward they came, their bare feet raising a film like cloud of soft dust, their gay blankets lilting to their steps, their black skins gleaming. Past the balcony, down to the white road that runs coastwise, and whose sides are bordered with acacias, almonds, baobabs, and palms - into the shade of the mango trees, until they blurred again and then melted into the great mass of green into which the road slips and is lost to sight.

What a great sight that must have been for this journalist of a century ago, a sight that is not to be seen these days, and the experience of a lifetime.

I have to admit to being somewhat envious of the author's wonderful way with words, and ability to paint such a vivid picture, and all of this is just the beginning of the journey of course.

If you enjoyed this, click on the image at the top of the page to view the whole of the original article, or if this is unclear, click on the newspaper link below.

100 years still doesn't seem all that long ago, especially given that my Mom was born in 1918, but when you look back at the changes that have happened, such as two World Wars, tremendous technological developments, and with great relevance here the break up of much of the colonial empires that existed in what is now the third world. All of this has happened in such a short period of time, it is pretty amazing don't you think?

Sources:

Sydney Morning Herald

My Personal Experiences In Africa:

One Of The Scariest Moments In My Life

One Of The Scariest Moments In my Life Part II