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African Safari-SD
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00:00:00The
00:01:00Africa is a land of vast plains like the Serengeti, and Africa is a land of delicate beauty with graceful creatures like the flamingos,
00:01:28and of magnificent mountains like Kirimanjaro in Tanzania, and colossal cataracts like Victoria Falls on the Zambezi.
00:01:38Victoria is twice as high as Niagara.
00:01:41Some of Africa's birds are so large you can feed a family of ten from a single ostrich egg.
00:01:51Africa has its share of weird and wonderful creatures like the chameleon, which has its eyes set in turrets.
00:02:08While one looks straight up, the other can look straight down, all at the same instant.
00:02:12That's what the boss should have in the office.
00:02:17One of the oddest creatures in Africa is the pangolin.
00:02:21Although it is a mammal, it has scales like a reptile.
00:02:27Termites are the wrecking crew of Africa.
00:02:30In one week, they can completely devour a thatched native hut, carrying the bits and pieces of grass into their underground fortress.
00:02:37Africa has its share of poisonous creatures like the boomslang, a deadly tree snake.
00:02:52And there is the puff adder, which literally walks on its ventral muscles.
00:02:56And there is the tsetse fly, which transmits the dreaded sleeping sickness.
00:03:04It feeds solely on blood, which it sucks from the skin of its victim.
00:03:07In this case, the arm of a Briton in Tanzania.
00:03:14After a full meal of blood, his abdomen is so distended he can hardly fly.
00:03:19Many of Africa's plants are equipped with defensive devices to help them survive.
00:03:26But some of Africa's creatures lose in the conflict for survival.
00:03:32Fish are constantly dying in the jaws of crocodiles.
00:03:36A turtle dove falls prey to a fast-flying falcon.
00:03:41Predators must prey on others, for without death, there would be no life.
00:03:46And here in Africa, life constantly regenerates itself.
00:03:56Young antelope are thrust into a strange and often cruel world.
00:04:03They are frequently the victims of crocodiles.
00:04:06They are also often the victims of lions.
00:04:26They are often the victims of lions.
00:04:31followed by their victims of lions.
00:04:54Boons, sir.
00:04:55Why not stroll in the world?
00:04:56But large animals, like the Cape Buffalo, are sometimes, though not always, successful
00:05:07in beating off an attack by the King of Beasts.
00:05:26The King of Beasts
00:05:56A lioness locked her jaws on the throat of this wildebeest in a vice-like grip from which
00:06:09it could not escape.
00:06:16Newborn crocodiles rarely survive beyond the first week, falling easy victim to servals,
00:06:21civets, birds of prey, and even their own parents.
00:06:24Jackals have much to fear from giant eagles.
00:06:40The Marshall Eagle is the largest and fiercest eagle on the continent of Africa.
00:06:44He has a wingspan of about seven feet and he eats monkeys, snakes, lizards, rabbits, and
00:06:49rodents.
00:06:50He is a very powerful, very spirited bird.
00:07:17Weapons have much to fear from other predators until they grow big and strong enough to
00:07:21defend themselves.
00:07:28And Africa has its share of large, dangerous animals like the rhinoceros.
00:07:33The natives of Africa are just as unusual as its wild creatures.
00:07:37For example, there is the Banya Rwanda tribe of the former Belgian Congo, which has the
00:07:42odd custom of chipping their teeth to points because, in their estimation, it enhances their
00:07:47beauty.
00:07:48And besides, they can make out better in a fight.
00:07:52When this fellow bites, he is going to make a good impression.
00:07:56They strike the top of a knife blade with a steel rod.
00:07:59And with each strike, they knock a chip off the tooth.
00:08:03It's a very painful process and this man will have great difficulty eating or drinking for
00:08:07about three weeks.
00:08:08And believe it or not, he actually pays to have this done.
00:08:11Now, let's see what progress he made with that lower tooth.
00:08:26A bit of an argument ensues because the patient, or should I say the victim, is willing to pay
00:08:31five francs, but the dentist wants ten francs.
00:08:36This woman is very excited about the whole thing.
00:08:46Some men earn their living by capturing Africa's wild creatures for sale to zoos.
00:08:51One of them is yours truly, capturing a python in Zambia.
00:08:55The technique is to stand just outside of striking range.
00:08:59You have to watch for his teeth, he has long, sharp teeth.
00:09:02And then at the right moment, you grab him by the head.
00:09:08I packed this python in a comfortable wooden crate and sent him by air to my tax collector
00:09:13as a Christmas present.
00:09:20This python is larger than the first.
00:09:22The larger they are, the easier they are to catch because the slower they strike.
00:09:26But of course, the longer their teeth, so you have to exercise a little more care.
00:09:38This snake weighed more than 100 pounds.
00:09:45I travel across the vast expanses of Africa in my pickup truck.
00:09:49And my objectives on this trip, in addition to capturing animals for zoos, are to bring
00:09:54back specimens of a new subspecies of Egyptian cobra for the American Museum of Natural History,
00:09:59and to assist Uganda government surveyors in mapping an unexplored section of the mountains
00:10:04of the moon, and to get a taste of high adventure in the years that lay ahead.
00:10:14I often travel off the road, and sometimes my only means of navigation is a compass.
00:10:24If I head for the ridge in the center, I'll be right on course.
00:10:30I pitched my camp here in Tanzania, and one day as I walked to my safari truck, I saw a
00:10:35startling sight.
00:10:37A full-grown cheetah.
00:10:39I ran for my rifle, because in this district, cheetah are classed as vermin, since they kill
00:10:44so many domestic animals, and the government encouraged me to collect any I found.
00:10:48But cheetah are the fastest four-legged animals in the world.
00:11:05Chances are, this fellow is half a mile away by now.
00:11:10In most countries and colonies of Africa, cheetah are classed as royal game.
00:11:15That is, you are not permitted to shoot them under any circumstances.
00:11:18But in this district, it's just the reverse.
00:11:20Oh, well, it's a nice sunny day, so I think I'll go for a walk to the felt and see what
00:11:25wildlife this district holds in store for me.
00:11:34This rhino is standing just about where I have to walk, because there is marshy ground
00:11:39to both left and right.
00:11:41I'm going to skirt as far to the left as I can, but I don't want to provoke him if I
00:11:45can help it, since I don't have a rhino on my game license.
00:11:52This rhino weighs about two tons, so game license or no game license, I'm going to slip a cartridge
00:11:56into the chamber just in case.
00:12:01But I'm not going to shoot if I can possibly help it.
00:12:12One step closer and he would have gotten a bullet.
00:12:20Nope.
00:12:21You just can't go for a walk nowadays.
00:12:27Rubies.
00:12:28Tanzania is rich in minerals, particularly in gemstones.
00:12:34And practically every rock on this outcropping had about eight or ten rubies in it.
00:12:43These are genuine rubies.
00:12:46But I didn't have a geologist's hammer or a pick, and I couldn't very well get them out
00:12:51with my fingernails or my teeth, so they're still there.
00:13:05I got out my pocket chart and made a notation of exactly where this place is in case I decide
00:13:15to come back someday and put a road through here.
00:13:22Here in Tanzania, flies are a scourge to man and beast alike.
00:13:28Looks like a couple of Thompson's gazelles squaring off for some sort of match.
00:13:33Don't look now, but I think there's going to be a fight.
00:13:43I knew it.
00:13:44I knew it.
00:13:48I fought like that once, and just look what happened to me.
00:13:58Why George looks like a fight.
00:14:08Lions.
00:14:09A pride of six.
00:14:11One hiding up in some rocks and five out in the open.
00:14:15The best thing to do in a case like this is to walk right on past and show no sign of fear.
00:14:20Because contrary to what most people think, lions do not normally eat people.
00:14:24If you run from a lion, he's bound to give chase.
00:14:27That is the worst possible thing you could do.
00:14:34But lions are like people.
00:14:35They all have different personalities.
00:14:37Where one will decamp, another will stand his ground.
00:14:48This third fellow seemed even less inclined to move than the first two.
00:14:55The next two didn't even look friendly.
00:14:58Notice the hair on the back of his neck.
00:15:04Nope.
00:15:06They're just putting on a performance.
00:15:08This is simply a demonstration to try to frighten me off.
00:15:11They don't really mean it.
00:15:16This last fellow was a downright coward.
00:15:32Guinea fowl are common here on the plains of central Africa.
00:15:35But they have many natural enemies.
00:15:37And they must be constantly on the alert because sometimes death stalks just around the corner.
00:15:47In the uppermost branches of a tree, high overhead, sits an African hawk eagle.
00:15:51And he scans these guinea fowl very intently because he is hungry.
00:16:06This is how he captures his prey.
00:16:15Like all birds of prey, he kills with his talons, not with his beak.
00:16:19Birds of prey use their beaks only for shredding meat into bite-sized pieces and do not attack
00:16:24or defend themselves with their beaks.
00:16:29Vultures.
00:16:31Hundreds of vultures.
00:16:46And as I look below, I see the cause of it.
00:16:50A hyena is dragging a wildebeest carcass through the water.
00:16:54He's got it there so the vultures and jackals can't get to it.
00:16:57He's been feeding on it for so long, he just can't take another bite.
00:17:00But he'll be darned if he'll let anybody else have any.
00:17:06Vultures wait patiently.
00:17:10Others soar overhead.
00:17:22And the jackals wait patiently.
00:17:36Well now it looks like he's had his fill and the vultures wade in.
00:17:44Vultures spend more time fighting with one another than they do in getting down to eating.
00:17:58They never do seem to get along with their own kind.
00:18:05I found a baby chimpanzee and at first she was trembling with fear.
00:18:09But in a few minutes she grabbed my jacket with her little fists as if she was looking
00:18:13for protection from the big bad world around her.
00:18:16I guess she thought I looked like a reasonable facsimile of her mother.
00:18:19I called her Trudy and she now lives in a zoo in America.
00:18:22At this point she had a tummy like a beach ball and a face like a dried up prune.
00:18:37She was a very clever little ape.
00:18:39Within three or four days I taught her to come to me when I called her by name.
00:18:43Which is pretty good going for a wild creature.
00:18:57Next day her relatives paid me a social call and stole some food from my truck.
00:19:08I loaded my truck with animals for the trip to the nearest airport.
00:19:30This is a cheetah cub.
00:19:39Next a large crate of colorful East African lovebirds also known as Fisher's parakeets.
00:19:50And then we loaded boxes of poisonous snakes.
00:19:57I extended the range of my truck from the normal three hundred miles to better than one thousand
00:20:01miles by carrying these spare jerry cans.
00:20:05Now watch how Trudy grabs my bush jacket with her little fists.
00:20:22When she gets hold of me like that you just can't get her off.
00:20:25If you try she will scream and cry like a little baby and it's tough to drive with her between
00:20:30you and the wheel but she's just got to sit right there.
00:20:37On the way I saw some Thompson's gazelles which are characterized by their windshield wipers
00:20:41in the rear.
00:20:47Their chief natural enemy is the wild dog which gangs up in packs and runs them down.
00:20:54Another one of their natural enemies is the lion.
00:20:57It's no secret this fellow just had a full meal.
00:21:00But their fleet footedness is the thing that saves them because they can generally outrun
00:21:04their predators.
00:21:09I saw many wildebeest which were having their young about this time of year.
00:21:23The men of the village don't do this and they think the women are absolutely mad.
00:21:30They paint their faces the same way but this pigment lasts only about three or four days.
00:21:34So they have to go through this whole process at least twice a week.
00:21:42Little boys played strange games that I never could quite figure out.
00:21:47A unique thing about pygmies is that without exception all the women have masculine faces.
00:22:02Then the chief showed me their favorite musical instrument which they call a lukambi.
00:22:07It is a hollow wooden sounding board on which they have mounted flattened steel nails and oddly
00:22:12enough it is exactly the same sort of instrument natives use in widely scattered parts of Africa.
00:22:20I asked the pygmies if they would like to go for a ride in my truck.
00:22:23They thought this would be a great and glorious adventure.
00:22:25The whole village turned out in single file.
00:22:42Sixty seconds after I drove up I had 39 pygmies on top of and inside of my truck.
00:22:49I bet the Ford Motor Company never knew they could carry this many people.
00:22:55This fellow said he had a spear he would like to trade with me.
00:23:06I just happened to have a piece of cloth I bought in Nairobi for this purpose.
00:23:11Aha!
00:23:13That really struck his fancy.
00:23:14Well, it's a trade.
00:23:15The spear is mine, the cloth is his.
00:23:18We each thought we got a bargain.
00:23:33This fellow that made the trade with me is a very bashful pygmy.
00:23:36He wants to go for a ride in the truck too but he doesn't want to brazenly climb aboard
00:23:41without first asking my permission.
00:23:43I never saw such a polite pygmy before.
00:23:48And now we're off for an exciting ride at all of two miles per hour.
00:23:53I was afraid that if I went any faster I'd lose those fellows on top.
00:23:57After living with these tiny people for a few weeks I visited a Bantu village at the edge
00:24:02of the forest.
00:24:12It was here that I saw how they operate their old-fashioned muzzle loaders.
00:24:17They pour some black powder down the barrel.
00:24:29They pour it in a paper seal, then drop in a piece of lead fashioned to the shape of a
00:24:41bullet.
00:24:42Whoops!
00:24:43Time out for snuff.
00:24:44He can't do his work properly without snuff.
00:24:46He puts as much powder up his nose as he puts down the barrel.
00:24:50Now he cocks the hammer and puts a percussion cap on the striker base.
00:25:02Then he slowly closes the hammer down on it.
00:25:04Now all he has to do in order to fire is simply cock the hammer.
00:25:09Now he's going to demonstrate his prowess with this noisy weapon.
00:25:16Missed by 15 feet.
00:25:26When I arrived in Uganda I made arrangements with a game ranger to use the launch which
00:25:30the government put at his disposal because I'm searching for monitor lizards and these
00:25:35four-foot lizards frequent the banks of rivers in Central Africa.
00:25:39I'm now on the Victoria Nile between Lake Victoria and Lake Albert and I'm going to scan both
00:25:43banks carefully for these giant monitors.
00:25:59On the way I saw many of the colorful birds which are so characteristic of this part of
00:26:03Africa.
00:26:04Marabou storks, pelicans, Egyptian geese, darters and cormorants.
00:26:13This hippo ran along an underwater plateau and then suddenly he stepped off the edge.
00:26:22A yellow-billed kite spotted a dead fish floating on the surface and he swooped down and snatched
00:26:36it up in his talons.
00:26:40I saw many crocodiles along the banks of this river.
00:26:50Then I saw some cattle egrets landing on a mud bank.
00:26:55Aha, it wasn't a mud bank at all.
00:27:00It was a herd of sleeping hippos and you get lots of surprises out here.
00:27:14Crocodiles often wander far from water at night but seldom more than eight or ten feet from
00:27:18it during daylight hours.
00:27:24They have the odd custom of sleeping with their mouths wide open.
00:27:28Notice all the flies in this fellow's mouth.
00:27:32Boy, I hope those flies don't drown.
00:27:41Then I saw some hippos kissing and a couple play fighting.
00:27:57Monitor lizards, just what I was looking for.
00:28:00They're digging in a hole in the sand bank for turtle eggs.
00:28:04Monitors like eggs of all kinds, birds eggs, crocodile eggs and turtle eggs.
00:28:08When they find one, they gulp it down voraciously.
00:28:23I disembarked at a landing that the game ranger had erected nearby and I instructed the crew
00:28:27to return before nightfall with my natives and my camping gear.
00:28:31Meanwhile, I'm going to survey this area for a campsite which will serve as a base for capturing
00:28:36these giant lizards.
00:28:46The next morning while my camp was under construction, I went out for a walk and on what was practically
00:28:51in my front lawn, there was a monitor.
00:29:15I made a rush for him, but he turned the tables on me and for a minute I was wondering who
00:29:19was trying to capture whom.
00:29:21He has very powerful jaws and sharp teeth and you must be very careful how you grab him
00:29:25not to lose a finger.
00:29:30Well, now it's all over but to grab him by the head, but this is easier said than done because
00:29:47he's not going to cooperate one bit.
00:29:52This is what is known as having a lizard by the tail.
00:30:08I packed him in a comfortable wooden crate and sent him off by air express to my animal
00:30:12agent in America.
00:30:20I packed my animals and my gear in my truck and I headed for the Serengeti plains of Tanzania.
00:30:30I went out for a walk.
00:30:40I went out for a walk.
00:30:48And about this
00:31:18time of the year, lionesses are having
00:31:20their young on the Serengeti plains.
00:31:23They usually have three or four cubs
00:31:24to a litter and stay with them for about
00:31:27two years to protect them from danger
00:31:28when they're tiny and to teach them
00:31:30the fine art of hunting.
00:31:32Lion cubs don't know all the fine points
00:31:34of stalking their prey by instinct.
00:31:37They have to learn these through long,
00:31:39hard hours of instruction from their mother.
00:31:41If they make a mistake, they get
00:31:42cuffed good and hard and they learn mighty fast.
00:31:48Lions show real affection
00:31:53for one another, pretty much as in the case
00:31:54of human beings. They have a very
00:31:56closely knit family life.
00:32:03But when a lioness has her
00:32:05young, she is usually in a very nasty
00:32:07protective disposition, and this
00:32:08is no time to disturb her or to get
00:32:10too close.
00:32:11But she is very patient and accommodating
00:32:17toward her cubs.
00:32:18She is literally a mobile milk bar out here
00:32:20in the hot, dusty plains of Tanzania.
00:32:25A unique thing about lionesses
00:32:27is that they will nurse cubs
00:32:28from another litter besides their own.
00:32:30They never cared less whose cubs they are.
00:32:32For example, here you'll see that
00:32:34one cub is much larger than the others,
00:32:36which shows that this lioness is
00:32:38babysitting for another lioness
00:32:40who's gone off hunting.
00:32:41Sort of a cooperative society.
00:32:46Yep, life is one big bowl of cherries
00:32:48when you're a lion cub.
00:32:50Ma and Pa do all the work
00:32:51and you have all the fun.
00:32:53These cubs will be full-grown lions
00:32:55in less than three years.
00:32:57Adult males weigh about 450 pounds,
00:32:59adult females about 350 pounds.
00:33:02animals can tell
00:33:32when lions are out to make a kill.
00:33:35And when they know that they're not,
00:33:36they will stand by
00:33:37and let one pass very closely.
00:33:39It's sort of a sixth sense
00:33:41that animals have
00:33:42that lets them know this.
00:33:43But these wildebeest and zebra
00:33:45know that this old boy
00:33:46is up to no good,
00:33:46so they give him a wide berth.
00:33:48Actually, he is frightening them
00:33:50to a point downwind
00:33:51where the lionesses are lying
00:33:53in wait with their cubs
00:33:54because it is the lionesses
00:33:55that usually do the killing
00:33:57for a pride, not the males.
00:33:59Males will condescend to help,
00:34:00but they leave the dirty work
00:34:02up to the ladies,
00:34:03pretty much as in the case
00:34:04of human beings.
00:34:08There is not a tree
00:34:09for miles around
00:34:10and it's 110 degrees
00:34:12in the shade.
00:34:12Boy, I wish that old man
00:34:28would hurry up
00:34:29and bring home the bacon.
00:34:31So he accommodates
00:34:32and shifts into second.
00:34:34Now he shifts into high
00:34:41and this ostrich decides
00:34:43this is no place for him.
00:34:46And these two hartebeasts say,
00:34:48boy, let's get out of here.
00:34:50This is no place for us.
00:34:53In less than an hour,
00:35:12there is nothing left
00:35:12but skin and bones.
00:35:14Lions know what it is
00:35:15to go hungry.
00:35:16Sometimes they do without meat
00:35:18for four or five days.
00:35:19So when they have a kill,
00:35:21they make the most of it
00:35:22while it's available.
00:35:22They literally gorge themselves,
00:35:25leaving nothing behind
00:35:26if they can possibly help it.
00:35:34Now I headed north
00:35:35and on the way,
00:35:36I crossed an improvised log bridge.
00:35:38The unsettling thing
00:35:39about these bridges
00:35:40is that you never know
00:35:41what load they're built
00:35:42to withstand
00:35:43until you get to the other side.
00:35:45Then it might be too late.
00:35:48On the way,
00:35:49I saw one of the most fabulous sights
00:35:51in all of Africa.
00:35:54Colombo Falls,
00:35:55the highest waterfall
00:35:56on the continent,
00:35:57twice as high as Victoria,
00:35:59a 720-foot drop.
00:36:01It's situated way down
00:36:02at the southern tip
00:36:03of Lake Tanzania
00:36:04on the Tanzania-Zambia border.
00:36:17This waterfall is so high,
00:36:19the entire river atomizes
00:36:21before it strikes bottom.
00:36:22So it's a perfectly silent waterfall.
00:36:25There's no thunder here whatsoever.
00:36:27Its name, Colombo,
00:36:28means greatest of the great
00:36:30in the local vernacular.
00:36:48Zebras have few pleasures in life,
00:36:50but this is one of them.
00:36:51On the way,
00:36:59I discovered
00:36:59that I had several broken spring blades
00:37:01and I took time out
00:37:02to apply homemade steel clamps.
00:37:04During the years
00:37:05that this safari lasted,
00:37:07I had 19 broken spring blades
00:37:08and 15 flat tires.
00:37:10I brought this truck
00:37:11to Africa on a freighter
00:37:12and sold it in Cape Town
00:37:14a few years later.
00:37:15It is now owned
00:37:16by a man in the suburbs
00:37:17who uses it
00:37:18for selling vegetables.
00:37:19These natives really
00:37:25were a great help.
00:37:26I don't know what
00:37:27I would have done
00:37:28without them.
00:37:49I made a base camp here
00:37:55and one day
00:37:56as I returned from a hunt,
00:37:57I heard a very strange sound.
00:38:04Two young leopards.
00:38:12I took a quick look around
00:38:13for mother leopard
00:38:14because she would be
00:38:15very displeased
00:38:16if she knew I was going
00:38:17to adopt her cubs.
00:38:19They were about three weeks old
00:38:20and weighed two pounds apiece.
00:38:21I called them Sputnik and Mutnik.
00:38:30As far as I know,
00:38:31mother leopard
00:38:32never did follow me back to camp.
00:38:34At least I never saw her.
00:38:36They were so tiny,
00:38:38they just didn't know
00:38:39what fear was.
00:38:40They are now full grown
00:38:41and they live in the zoo
00:38:42in Rochester, New York.
00:38:49I had some dehydrated milk
00:38:51already prepared
00:38:52for my baby antelope
00:38:53and of course
00:38:53I always carry baby bottles
00:38:55with me when I'm on safari.
00:38:57They're one of the most
00:38:57useful items of equipment.
00:38:59Oh, mother leopard
00:39:16must have been away
00:39:16a long, long time.
00:39:18I fed them up
00:39:19on calcium gluconate,
00:39:21cod liver oil,
00:39:21vitamins, milk, and meat
00:39:22and they doubled their weight
00:39:24in a month.
00:39:25Leopards are easy to raise
00:39:26and they make wonderful pets.
00:39:27One day as they were
00:39:37playing at my feet,
00:39:38one of my natives shouted.
00:39:42Buena, buena, mamba!
00:39:44And there he was,
00:39:46a black mamba,
00:39:47the fastest and deadliest
00:39:48snake in Africa.
00:39:51I ran for my snake stick
00:39:53because these snakes
00:39:54are highly sought after
00:39:55by zoos in America
00:39:56and I'm going to try
00:39:57to capture him alive.
00:39:59The poison of a mamba
00:40:00acts very much
00:40:01like the poison of a cobra,
00:40:02paralyzing the nerve
00:40:03centers of the body
00:40:04but it acts much more
00:40:06quickly than cobra venom.
00:40:09I had no serum
00:40:10for the bite of a mamba
00:40:11so I had to be very careful
00:40:13how I handled it.
00:40:21Mambas have the characteristic
00:40:22of traveling with their heads
00:40:24held high above the ground
00:40:25which makes it very difficult
00:40:26to pin them down.
00:40:36When a mamba is angry,
00:40:38he flattens his neck.
00:40:39There, now I have his head
00:40:50pinned down.
00:40:54And now it's all over
00:40:55but to pick him up
00:40:56and pop him into a sack
00:40:57and send him by air
00:40:58to America.
00:40:59He is perfectly uninjured
00:41:00and in excellent condition
00:41:02and he measured
00:41:03exactly eight feet long.
00:41:04Mambas are long,
00:41:08thin, graceful snakes
00:41:09and they have real poise.
00:41:18But life on safari
00:41:19has its more prosaic moments.
00:41:21For example,
00:41:22sometimes you have to
00:41:23hang up your pajamas.
00:41:26And there are camp pets
00:41:27that require attention
00:41:28from time to time.
00:41:30Natives come to me
00:41:31constantly looking
00:41:32for medical care
00:41:33like this Maasai tribesman
00:41:35who has a bad eye infection.
00:41:37These tribal natives
00:41:37look upon all Europeans
00:41:39camped in remote bush country
00:41:40as doctors.
00:41:43They believe we all
00:41:45have magical powers
00:41:46and every day
00:41:47I have at least
00:41:47three or four natives
00:41:48coming to me
00:41:49looking for medical care.
00:41:55I gave him
00:41:56some penicillin capsules
00:41:57and a cup of water
00:41:58but if you remember
00:41:59these Maasai
00:42:00drink about as much water
00:42:01is a Frenchman
00:42:02so I had a devil
00:42:03of a time
00:42:03getting him to swallow
00:42:04these capsules.
00:42:17Notice how reluctant
00:42:18he is about the whole thing.
00:42:22Nope, he doesn't think
00:42:23much of that drink.
00:42:24I asked this fine-looking
00:42:32tribesman to come back
00:42:33the next morning
00:42:34for some more penicillin.
00:42:35His trouble was cleared up
00:42:36in one week.
00:42:43There are lots of chores
00:42:44to take care of
00:42:45around camp.
00:42:46My baby Reedbutt
00:42:47needed her bottle
00:42:48every four or five hours.
00:42:49and Trudy
00:42:59whooped and hollered
00:43:00like a little girl
00:43:01looking for attention.
00:43:04And I had to take time
00:43:05out occasionally
00:43:06for a bath for myself
00:43:07and out here
00:43:08there was such a water shortage
00:43:09that I had to bathe
00:43:10in dishwater
00:43:11and save the water
00:43:12after the bath.
00:43:13Meanwhile,
00:43:17Sputnik and Mutnik
00:43:18fought over last night's
00:43:19kudu bone.
00:43:25Leopards grow very fast
00:43:27and in just seven months
00:43:28these leopards
00:43:29grew to be a real armful.
00:43:31But chimps
00:43:31don't grow nearly
00:43:32as fast as leopards
00:43:33and every time
00:43:34I took these beasts
00:43:34out of the compound
00:43:35Trudy ran for the truck.
00:43:43She wanted no part
00:43:44of these animals anymore.
00:43:48Old Sputnik loved
00:43:49to play roughhouse
00:43:50and you just couldn't
00:43:51be too rough with him.
00:43:52You could drop him
00:43:53and kick him
00:43:54and step on him
00:43:54right up to the point
00:43:55of breaking his ribs
00:43:56and he'd come back
00:43:57for more.
00:43:57He loved it.
00:43:59But the thing
00:43:59he loved the best
00:44:00was to be laid
00:44:01on his back
00:44:01and tickled.
00:44:13Sputnik had a passion
00:44:17for going
00:44:17for the back
00:44:18of my neck.
00:44:19After I'd played
00:44:20roughhouse with him
00:44:21the back of my neck
00:44:21was scratched and bleeding
00:44:22but of course
00:44:23it was all in fun.
00:44:38Sputnik weighed
00:44:38about 75 pounds
00:44:40at this point.
00:44:43Boy, I wish
00:44:47he'd leave
00:44:48the back
00:44:48of my neck alone.
00:45:03Sputnik's favorite
00:45:04playmate was Jackie
00:45:05a dog that belonged
00:45:06to a professional
00:45:07hunter in Livingston
00:45:08and although they were
00:45:09about the same size
00:45:10and weight
00:45:10you can see that
00:45:11nature intended them
00:45:13for entirely
00:45:13different functions
00:45:14by the difference
00:45:15in the size
00:45:16of their paws.
00:45:18These two fellas
00:45:18were fast friends.
00:45:20They really loved
00:45:20each other.
00:45:27These are two lions
00:45:28in the Springs
00:45:29game reserve
00:45:30in the Transvaal.
00:45:31I included these pictures
00:45:33to show the long side
00:45:34of Sputnik and Mutnik.
00:45:35These two fellas
00:45:36had absolutely
00:45:37no manners whatsoever.
00:45:38They are not my lions.
00:45:40I'm just visiting them.
00:45:41Each time I played
00:45:49with these beasts
00:45:50it cost me a shirt,
00:45:51a pair of pants,
00:45:52and a bit of hide.
00:46:08There's the beginning
00:46:09of the end
00:46:10of my shirt.
00:46:22One day, a little boy
00:46:25came running to my camp
00:46:27and told me that a native
00:46:28in the nearby village
00:46:29had been bitten by a cobra
00:46:30a few hours before.
00:46:31I grabbed my hypodermic syringe
00:46:38and serum
00:46:39and I followed him.
00:46:56But I was too late.
00:46:58I heard a native woman
00:47:10shout noha,
00:47:11which in the Selozi language
00:47:13means snake.
00:47:17It was an Egyptian cobra.
00:47:19I couldn't find a stick
00:47:20long enough
00:47:21to pin him down with
00:47:22so I'll use a twig
00:47:23and capture him
00:47:24by distracting his attention
00:47:26with the kerchief
00:47:26while I grabbed his jaws
00:47:28from behind
00:47:29with the other hand.
00:47:30He is a very deadly snake
00:47:31and I've got to be certain
00:47:32of my aim.
00:47:35This is my helper.
00:47:36The End
00:47:44The End
00:47:47The End
00:47:48THE END
00:48:18This is the snake the American Museum of Natural History was looking for.
00:48:22They believe that Egyptian cobras from this district are a new subspecies,
00:48:26so I sent him off to the museum by air express.
00:48:38A couple of months later, I pitched my camp in a village of Bushmen
00:48:42and recorded their strange language for a professor of anthropology in America.
00:48:46I asked this Bushman to tell me how he collected honey in the forest,
00:48:50and I took it down on my tape recorder.
00:48:58And then, I played it back to him.
00:49:00He refused to believe that that was his own voice.
00:49:12When it was all over, he told me that the little man in the black box said exactly the same thing the same way he did.
00:49:18After recording his voice for posterity, I gave him some stainless steel mirrors and inexpensive knives.
00:49:28Then I had a chat with the Induna, or local chief.
00:49:32He had a sad story to tell me.
00:49:36He said that a lion had killed their hunting dogs.
00:49:38This was a real catastrophe for them, because they depended upon their dogs to help them get fresh meat.
00:49:44He asked me if I would shoot the lion.
00:49:46I promised I would look for him the next day and shoot him if possible.
00:49:54I started out the next morning with my two best Bantu trackers from the carcass of one of the dogs,
00:50:00which showed lots of fresh lion tracks.
00:50:02Judging by the size of the tracks, he was a very large lion indeed,
00:50:05and judging by the freshness, he was very close.
00:50:08We knew we would come upon him in a matter of minutes.
00:50:32Must have wounded him badly.
00:50:38Must have wounded him badly.
00:50:40In Diobwana, Banduki Pigasimba, which in Swahili means yes, Bwana, the gun did strike the lion.
00:51:02This spans somePs actually taken into the night.
00:51:05You do not mine.
00:51:06Kill them and例えば solo it's not taught in the cellcass,
00:51:11rowleri, but whoorleri were encouraged.
00:51:18The light that I thought could h kneement knock at my own.
00:51:22This was to Radio have beenreiches to the sanctuary.
00:51:26And that was a classic of the Familiar,
00:51:28and because of the interior feature they felt Hunter wasстиened andab these pains.
00:51:31Oh, my God.
00:52:01After me, George.
00:52:18The third shot went through his spine, and he died just as he struck me.
00:52:22He was a full-grown male that weighed about 450 pounds.
00:52:26I asked my native to go to the nearest village and bring back a lot of others
00:52:29to help carry this beast back to the camp for skinning.
00:52:37That African who is waving his arms in the foreground
00:52:39was accidentally shot and killed the next day by another native
00:52:43with the same rifle that shot that lion.
00:52:45It is a good object lesson in the fact that you can never be too careful
00:52:49in the handling of firearms.
00:52:50Then I headed for
00:53:20Fort Portal, Uganda, where I had been invited by the government
00:53:24to witness the rare event of exploration in modern times.
00:53:29There is a huge marketplace here for natives.
00:53:32Fort Portal is the traditional jumping-off point
00:53:34for expeditions up the Mountains of the Moon,
00:53:37otherwise known as the Ruanzori Range.
00:53:39And it was here that I met with the chief mapper for Uganda.
00:53:42He explained that the government is sending an expedition
00:53:45to the top of the Mountains of the Moon
00:53:47to map the upper reaches of the Nyamagosani River,
00:53:50which has never been seen or mapped above the 7,000-foot level before.
00:53:54He explained that the river valley is constantly shrouded in clouds,
00:53:58and aerial photos have shown nothing of it
00:54:00because of the solid cloud coverage.
00:54:03According to the government,
00:54:05no one to their knowledge has ever set foot
00:54:07in that river valley above the 7,000-foot level before.
00:54:10Three weeks later, we started out at the north end of Lake Edward
00:54:15with 50 African porters.
00:54:17The first order of business was a negotiation over wages,
00:54:20and this consumed exactly two hours.
00:54:32After compromising on a wage,
00:54:34we got together the food for the porters.
00:54:36We had 150 pounds of dried hippo meat,
00:54:40600 pounds of peanuts,
00:54:411,200 pounds of cassava flour,
00:54:43and a live goat and sheep to provide fresh meat.
00:54:48We doled out blankets because where we're going,
00:54:51the altitude is high and the temperature is low.
00:54:54Ruanzori is higher than any of the Alps in Europe.
00:54:57The summit is at 16,800 feet above sea level,
00:55:00and there's ice at the top year-round.
00:55:03Headloads were weighed out at 50 pounds apiece.
00:55:05We have a 50-mile walk ahead of us
00:55:08because we're crossing the range in the long direction
00:55:10from south to north.
00:55:22Now starts a long, hard, three-week climb
00:55:26which cost us the life of one man before it was finished.
00:55:29Cheetah wandered in off the plains
00:55:35to the foothills of Ruanzori.
00:55:39And it was here that we saw
00:55:40more than a dozen different kinds of lizards.
00:55:43The streams were numbingly cold
00:55:45because they were the runoff from glaciers.
00:55:59We saw lots of game in the rainforest on the approach.
00:56:02Even a few pythons.
00:56:11Soon we left far below us the villages
00:56:14from which our Bakonjo tribesmen came.
00:56:17We picked these Bakonjo because they live in the foothills
00:56:20and are accustomed to carrying heavy loads up steep slopes.
00:56:24They are tough, wiry Africans.
00:56:26The chimps that we saw along the way
00:56:30were talking to each other in chimpanese.
00:56:36We chopped firewood at the end of the seventh day
00:56:38at an elevation of about 7,000 feet.
00:56:43Some of us camped in a clearing on the right
00:56:45and some on the left.
00:56:57One of our men caught a tree hyrax in a snare
00:57:00and they carved it up for supper that night.
00:57:02It was here that we saw
00:57:19the typical creeping, crawling creatures
00:57:21so characteristic of this part of Africa.
00:57:23Including the safari ant,
00:57:25the most insidious insect in all of Africa, bar none.
00:57:30At the end of the eighth day,
00:57:31our natives collected moss for mattresses.
00:57:36Then they broke out their cassava flower,
00:57:38which is made by grinding the roots of the manioc tree.
00:57:41This is their staple diet.
00:57:42They mix it with water, stir it over a fire,
00:57:45and roll it into little balls
00:57:46and pop it into their mouths.
00:57:49And it tastes...
00:57:50terrible.
00:58:01But they love it.
00:58:06They also had mutton for the evening meal.
00:58:12We didn't go much for the cassava flower,
00:58:15so we broke out some tin goods.
00:58:16The man on the left is the head of the Department of Lands and Surveys
00:58:25for the Uganda government.
00:58:26And this is a British mountain climber
00:58:39who was invited to guide us across the ice fields.
00:58:42He's had considerable experience
00:58:44climbing the Himalayas of Tibet.
00:58:45And this seedy-looking character is yours truly.
00:58:53After a satisfying meal,
00:58:55the boys fashioned pipes from long-stemmed jungle plants.
00:58:58And then the clouds rolled in.
00:59:12Ruan Zori is almost constantly shrouded in clouds.
00:59:20In a few minutes,
00:59:22the visibility dropped to a few yards
00:59:23and it was cold and clammy.
00:59:25This is typical Ruan Zori weather.
00:59:28Next morning, we got up early.
00:59:45We took sightings on the elevations of nearby peaks
00:59:48and found in many instances
00:59:49the latest government charts were in error.
00:59:55And now the temperature dropped
00:59:57close to the freezing point.
01:00:01There is the valley
01:00:02through which the government suspects
01:00:04the Nyamagosani River flows.
01:00:06They're not sure
01:00:07because it has never been seen
01:00:09above the 7,000-foot level before
01:00:10and we are much higher than that now.
01:00:13As usual, it is shrouded in heavy mist.
01:00:16And there is the source of that river
01:00:18at 13,500 feet above sea level.
01:00:21This is the first time it has ever been seen or filmed.
01:00:25The river had an eerie appearance
01:00:27because it was so heavily shrouded in mist.
01:00:29We wanted to map the upper reaches of this river
01:00:32but we were defeated by logistics
01:00:33because we had a seven-day march
01:00:35to a point where an advanced party
01:00:37had cashed away food for the porters
01:00:39at a forward base
01:00:39and had only a seven-day supply of porter food remaining
01:00:43which meant that we had to start out the very next day
01:00:46if we were to keep from running out of food.
01:00:48This happened because our porters were eating
01:00:50at a higher rate than we had calculated on.
01:00:58The river flowed through a forest
01:01:00which was festooned with hanging moss.
01:01:13We saw a placid pool at the 12,000-foot level.
01:01:16We checked our charts for the best approach
01:01:19to the rock divide
01:01:20which separates us from the snow peaks
01:01:22which is where the advanced party
01:01:24had cashed away the food
01:01:25and now starts the hardest, coldest part of the climb.
01:01:36It rained for 17 days out of the three weeks
01:01:39which made the rocks doubly slippery and treacherous.
01:01:42All of our gear was constantly soaking
01:01:49because of the incessant rain
01:01:51and because the sun never shone long enough
01:01:53for us to dry it out.
01:01:54When the temperature dropped below freezing
01:01:56we found we often had ice in the tent in the mornings.
01:02:00One of the men in the advanced party
01:02:01died of pneumonia four days
01:02:02after they crossed the tree line.
01:02:04He was a 31-year-old Briton.
01:02:06This is the first time in my life
01:02:19that I had ever climbed a really big mountain
01:02:21and it will probably be the last.
01:02:23We saw a lake
01:02:30which was discovered two years previously
01:02:32but which remained unnamed.
01:02:34It is the policy of the Uganda government
01:02:36to name new geographical features
01:02:38after local names.
01:02:39Our guide said he calls it Kachopi.
01:02:42Henceforth on all government charts
01:02:43this will be known as Lake Kachopi.
01:02:45This is the top of the rock divide
01:02:49which separates us from the snow peaks.
01:03:11And there at the foot of this glacier
01:03:13are two tiny huts.
01:03:14In one of these the advanced party
01:03:16cashed away food
01:03:17and left behind one of their men
01:03:19who's been awaiting our arrival for one week.
01:03:30Needless to say
01:03:31he was very pleased to see us.
01:03:34He is a young Oxford graduate
01:03:36who is now in the government service in Tanzania.
01:03:41He said that he had taken sightings
01:03:43on the elevation
01:03:44and azimuths of nearby peaks
01:03:46and found many errors
01:03:47in the latest government charts
01:03:48just as we had.
01:03:50It's not hard to realize
01:03:51when you consider that Ruan Zori
01:03:52was discovered less than 100 years ago
01:03:55and a good deal of the upper reaches
01:03:57still remain incompletely met.
01:03:59After a warm meal in his hut
01:04:06we started out across the ice fields
01:04:08which believe it or not
01:04:09are right on the equator.
01:04:11There is ice up here all year round.
01:04:14We are at the top of Stanley Mountain
01:04:15at the very summit of the mountains of the moon
01:04:17with Uganda on our left
01:04:19and the Congo on our right.
01:04:20These glaciers are actually rivers of ice.
01:04:40Our progress here dropped to less than one half mile per day
01:04:44not only because of the rarefied air
01:04:46but because of the steepness
01:04:48of some of the glaciers
01:04:49that we had to cross.
01:04:51There were huge crevasses
01:04:52which were about 200 feet deep
01:04:54covered by a thin crust of ice
01:04:56and we had to be very careful
01:04:58how we walked across these areas
01:04:59not to fall through.
01:05:01These are the very first drops
01:05:03of the White Nile
01:05:04from a glacier melting
01:05:05at the top of Ruan Zori.
01:05:06These drops join together
01:05:08with the drops from other glaciers
01:05:09to form tiny rivulets
01:05:11which race down the rocky faces.
01:05:13These rivulets join together
01:05:14to form little streams
01:05:15that run through the vegetation
01:05:17a few thousand feet below
01:05:18and the streams combine
01:05:20to form a real river
01:05:21which ultimately becomes
01:05:23the mighty Nile of Egypt.
01:05:29At this point
01:05:30the entire volume of the Nile
01:05:32surges through a narrow cleft of rock
01:05:34only 19 feet wide
01:05:35as it races toward Lake Albert.
01:05:38There is tremendous thunder and power
01:05:41in this tiny little chasm.
01:05:44So it is here
01:05:48on the roof of Africa
01:05:49that the Nile is born
01:05:51nearly 4,000 miles
01:05:53from its mouth
01:05:53in the Mediterranean.
01:05:56From rivers of ice
01:05:58to mountains of fire.
01:06:00Less than 100 miles
01:06:02from Ruan Zori
01:06:02a volcano was in full eruption.
01:06:05I asked the owner
01:06:06of a light plane
01:06:06if he would fly me over it.
01:06:08He said he would be pleased to
01:06:09as he'd seen the smoke
01:06:10from the eruption
01:06:11a few days before
01:06:12and was just as curious
01:06:13to see it at close range
01:06:14as I was.
01:06:16This volcano was born
01:06:17from a perfectly flat forest
01:06:19when a fissure
01:06:20suddenly opened up
01:06:20in the ground
01:06:21and molten lava
01:06:22flew skyward.
01:06:23It was one of the rare instances
01:06:25in recorded times
01:06:26that a volcano was born
01:06:27from a perfectly flat surface.
01:06:29We saw great destruction
01:06:45to the forest below us
01:06:47as a result
01:06:47of the lava flows.
01:06:49A river of molten lava
01:06:51flowed for 16 miles
01:06:53through the forest
01:06:53causing the destruction
01:06:55of thousands of acres
01:06:56of woodland.
01:06:57Those patches of white
01:06:58are steam resulting
01:06:59from the rain
01:07:00that's falling now
01:07:01vaporizing when it
01:07:02strikes the hot lava.
01:07:28We felt intense heat
01:07:34inside the cockpit
01:07:35on the side
01:07:36facing the eruption.
01:07:37We felt intense heat
01:07:38on the side facing the eruption.
01:07:52This is how the sun looked
01:08:02through the column of steam
01:08:03coming out of the crater.
01:08:05Back down on the ground
01:08:07I hired four Congolese
01:08:08to carry my photo
01:08:09and camping gear
01:08:10and we went on a foot safari
01:08:12to get a closer look.
01:08:13The acid fallout
01:08:14from the crater
01:08:15killed all the vegetation
01:08:16for a radius of 20 miles.
01:08:19The trees are completely
01:08:20denuded of their leaves
01:08:21from the acid fallout.
01:08:25The lava fields
01:08:26were very, very hot
01:08:27and we had to step lively.
01:08:42It was raining
01:08:43and when the rain
01:08:43struck the hot lava
01:08:44it vaporized instantly
01:08:46cutting our visibility
01:08:47down to a few yards.
01:08:48At times we didn't know
01:08:50whether we were walking
01:08:51toward the volcano
01:08:52or away from it.
01:08:53The only way we could tell
01:08:54was by homing in
01:08:55on the tremendous roar
01:08:56and sometimes
01:08:57this was very deceptive.
01:09:03We had to call
01:09:04to each other constantly
01:09:05to keep from being separated
01:09:06and in spite of that
01:09:07one of my natives
01:09:08was lost for more than an hour.
01:09:14When the rain stopped
01:09:15the visibility cleared
01:09:16and we found this kingfisher
01:09:18which apparently died
01:09:19from the intense gases
01:09:20coming out of the crater.
01:09:22Now we were walking
01:09:23across scoriaceous lava
01:09:24that is huge blocks
01:09:26of very jagged lava
01:09:27which is sharp as glass
01:09:29and you must be very careful
01:09:30how you walk across it
01:09:31not to let the calves
01:09:33of your legs rub against it
01:09:34or it would cut them
01:09:35to ribbons.
01:09:35when we were within
01:09:47half a mile
01:09:47of the eruption
01:09:48we were walking
01:09:49on about 14 inches
01:09:50of porous black ash
01:09:51which crunched audibly
01:09:53as we stepped across it.
01:09:54Some of this light black ash
01:09:56was being carried
01:09:57more than 20 miles away
01:09:58by the winds aloft.
01:09:59molten lava flowed
01:10:03around tree trunks
01:10:04and the intense heat
01:10:05consumed the lower part
01:10:06of the trunk
01:10:07leaving gaping holes
01:10:08and you had to be
01:10:09very careful
01:10:10not to step in one of these.
01:10:15The temperature
01:10:16of molten lava
01:10:17is about 2,500 degrees
01:10:19Fahrenheit
01:10:19or about the same
01:10:20as molten steel.
01:10:21I threw a rock
01:10:29in this river
01:10:30of molten lava
01:10:30and it bounced
01:10:31and floated
01:10:32because it was
01:10:33the same density
01:10:33as the river itself.
01:10:45There were huge boulders
01:10:46floating in the river
01:10:47boulders as large
01:10:48as automobiles.
01:10:51This lava is coming
01:11:14from about 30 miles
01:11:15below the earth's surface.
01:11:16This river is 100 feet wide
01:11:26and it is flowing
01:11:27through the west branch
01:11:28of the Great Rift Valley
01:11:30in the eastern part
01:11:30of the Congo
01:11:31in Kivu province.
01:11:34My natives were deathly afraid
01:11:36of this volcano
01:11:36not only for obvious reasons
01:11:38but because they were
01:11:39so steeped in superstition
01:11:40they thought this was
01:11:42their fire god
01:11:42and they thought
01:11:43that if they got too close
01:11:45he would recognize
01:11:45their faces
01:11:46so I had to pay them
01:11:48a bonus
01:11:49to get them up
01:11:50this close.
01:11:50In spite of the bonus
01:12:09they moaned
01:12:10and groaned
01:12:11and groused
01:12:11like a bunch of G.I.s
01:12:12the whole trip.
01:12:13You never heard
01:12:14so many tales of woe
01:12:15from so few men
01:12:16before in your life.
01:12:17In spots
01:12:20hydrogen gas
01:12:21seeped to the surface
01:12:22and burned
01:12:23and when hydrogen burns
01:12:24it forms water vapor
01:12:25and this is one
01:12:26of the rare examples
01:12:27of newborn water
01:12:28on the face
01:12:29of the earth.
01:12:29and this is one
01:12:30of the dead
01:12:34and this is the
01:12:35sea
01:12:40as i have
01:12:42as i have
01:12:43to see
01:12:44yourcher
01:12:45with the
01:12:46and in places
01:12:46and if you
01:12:47have time
01:12:48to go
01:12:48and že
01:12:48to bring
01:12:49and see
01:12:50his
01:12:50mask
01:12:51and see
01:12:51air
01:12:52and work
01:12:53and haveESS
01:12:53a clip
01:12:53and see
01:12:54that
01:12:55there inner
01:12:55and Viv
01:12:56I don't know.
01:13:26This volcano erupted continuously for five months, and then after causing destruction
01:13:39to thousands of acres of woodland, the eruption slackened.
01:13:48And then I could look right down into the throat and see the boiling, seething lake of molten
01:13:52lava at the very bottom.
01:13:55I came to Africa in a quest for high adventure, and now I was leaving it with the feeling
01:14:00that I had found it indeed, and more than a fair share for one man.
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