ock. We asked
for permission to shoot on the farm and were told that we were quite
welcome to shoot as much as we wished.

Five minutes later, less than an hour's drive from Nairobi, we drove
past a herd of nearly sixty impalla. They watched us gravely from a
distance of two hundred yards. At this point we left the well-traveled
road and drove into the short prairie grass that carpeted, the Athi
Plains. The carriage bumped pleasantly along, and as we reached a little
rise a few hundred feet away, the great stretch of the plains lay spread
out before us.

Mount Kenia, eighty or ninety miles north, was clear and bright with its
snow-capped peaks sparkling in the early sunlight. Off to its left rose
the Aberdare Range, with the dominating peak of Kinangop; to its right
rose the lone bald uplift of Donyo Sabuk, and to the east were the blue
Lukenia Hills. The house-tops of Nairobi waved miragically in the
valley, with a low range of blue hills beyond. Across the plains ran the
row of telegraph poles that marked the course of the railway and a
traveling column of smoke indicated the busy course of a railway train.
This was the setting within which lay the broad stretches of the Athi
Plains, billowing in waves like a grass-covered sea.

[Photograph: A Nest of Ostrich Eggs]

[Photograph: A Herd of Ostriches]

[Photograph: By courtesy of W.D. Boyce We Bumped Merrily Along]

As we drove along big herds of zebras paused in their grazing to regard
the carriage as it merrily bumped across the hills. As long as we
remained in the vehicle they showed no alarm, for they had seen many
carriages along the neighboring roads. It was only when the carriage
stopped that they showed an apprehensive interest. Great numbers of
Coke's hartebeest watched us with humorous interest. An eland grazed
peacefully upon a distant hill, and a wart-hog trotted away as we
approached. Immense numbers of Thompson's gazelle skipped away merrily
and then turned to regard us with widespread ears and alert eyes. Two
Grant's gazelles were seen, while far off upon a grassy hillside were
many wildebeest--the animal that we were seeking. It was impossible to
get close enough to shoot effectively, and after a time we gave up our
attempts in that direction.

The wildebeest, although living so near Nairobi, are most wild, and with
miles of plains stretching out upon all sides it is easy for them to
keep several hundred yards of space between themselves and dang