Op de olifantenjacht in Oeganda De Aarde en haar Volken, 1910

In the opening pages the narrator heads for the remote jungles of Uganda, describing the tangled rivers, swamps and dense forest that separate the northern port of Gondokoro from the southern gateway of Entebbe. He assembles a varied caravan—local porters, a few British soldiers, an Egyptian cook and a young boy—ready to trek into the wilderness in search of ivory‑bearing elephants. The travelogue sketches the colonial steam‑boat routes along the Nile and the rugged overland tracks that lead deep into one of Africa’s wildest regions.

The first days in the bush blend routine with mounting anticipation. Each evening the party sets up camp, shares meals over a crackling fire while locals bring flour and stories, and the plaintive notes of a reed flute drift through the night. Guided by an experienced hunter, they begin tracking antelopes and eye the larger game, learning the rhythms of the forest and the tentative balance with the surrounding villages. This early stage offers a vivid sense of place and the quiet tension that precedes the hunt.