Journey to the Jade Sea

Considered a classic by some, this book describes the authors journey in Kenya from Wamba north to The Jade Sea as Lake Rudolf is sometimes know. Lake Rudolf itself was renamed in 1975 to Lake Turkana after the predominant tribe who live nearby.

Hillaby was, at the commencement of his journey, quite a greenhorn, and his self disparaging writing is very British, and breaks up the achievements of his trip quite well. Primarily walking, with camels carrying the loads, and with native guides and a few tips from Wilfred Thesiger. These included taking no boots, but soft soled canvas tennis shoes - of which he took ten pairs.

The Jade Sea is in northern Kenya near the Ethiopian border. Arriving and departing from Nairobi, the actual travel begins in Wamba in the Samburu county, and is now a National Reserve. As Hillaby makes quite a point of his inadequacy at the beginning of his expedition he is quite reliant on good guidance from his local assistants. He spoke none of the language, was inexperienced with guns, terrible at navigation, knew nothing of camels and had practically no experience in the bush. Quite a remarkable undertaking, given the lack of grounding in practical skills, really.

Hillaby makes a point of stating for the record his poor marksmanship. Towards the end of his 1100 mile, 3 month journey he does improve, abut he also records some success he puts down to luck.

P56
During the early stages of the safari it was apparent I was deeply concerned about game and gunnery. There is much to be said about the ethics of killing; I am not concerned with them here. As I saw it the problem was that we were moving towards deserts where we could neither buy goats nor carry enough tins to last us through the journey. As gun was a necessity but I was not much good at ranges of two and three hundred yards. In an effort not to lose too much face I used to invent reasons for not shooting but I'm pretty sire that the met saw through them. They knew I didn't want to shoot and they were determined that I should.

P67
During the night, I managed to chase a hyena - not out of but into my tent. The only casualty was a canvas shoe. The animal bit off the toe cap as cleanly as if it has been sliced off with a pair of shears. I don't know whether my foot would have been treated the same way had it been inside; I remember only my annoyance at being wakened up at midnight and the ridiculous scamper around the tent.It had been erected in a gap between two large bushes. When the hyenas began to call with growing insistence I got up and saw two pairs of bright green eyes in the light of the torch. I threw a brick at them. When another animal began to yowl behind me I went around the back of the tent to investigate. The hyena stood there - ashen grey in the bright light. It seemed to unabashed that I chased it angrily. The animal swerved around the bush and disappeared. Walking around the bush to the front of the tent I saw it disappear through the back flap. It seems I had chased it in.

P193
...For those who are keeping the score of what i missed with the gun, I must say here that I missed again.

P195 - my square brackets
During the early part of the day Leland and I managed to get lost in rather ridiculous circumstances... How I managed to lose my way when I tried to rejoin him [Leland] is difficult to explain, but in an effort to cut off a corner I had strayed into a little canyon. I walked back angrily to where I imagined we had parted and heard hi call. The shout echoed and added to the confusion of direction. I called back and eventually fired a shot...The incident ended on the usual note of anticlimax. As I climbed up a hill to a patch of scrub intent on lighting a fire (I head read somewhere that this was the thing to do), Leland (who had been watching me) climbed swiftly around the other side.

At time a little slow, but an enjoyable read where Hillaby told much of his companions and his experiences. I also enjoyed the throwbacks to Thesiger's London-given advice before the trip.

4 stars