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Hunters, Poachers and Gamekeepers: Towards A Social History of Hunting in Colonial Kenya*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

E. I. Steinhart
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Extract

This paper sets out to examine the interactions between African and white hunters in colonial Kenya in an effort to understand the nature of the confrontation between the competing cultural traditions of hunting under colonial conditions. It examines the major tradition of African hunting in eastern Kenya among African residents of Kwale, Kitui and Meru districts from oral and archival materials, arguing that the place of subsistence hunting in the economy of African farmers has been systematically denigrated in the colonial literature. Next, the various representatives of the European hunting tradition in Kenya are surveyed: sportsmen, travellers, settlers, and professionals. A preliminary assessment is made of their impact on game and the growing need for conservation. The history of the game and national park departments, which administered the hunting laws and were charged with the preservation of wildlife, is next described. The records of the colonial Game Department provide a key source for the reconstruction of the attempts to control African poaching and regulate European hunting in the interests of the preservation of game and the control of the colonial economy. At the end of the colonial era, with the emergence of a new sensibility to conservation, Kenya's gamekeepers engaged in a major, successful anti-poaching campaign in eastern Kenya's Tsavo Park. This was the climactic confrontation between the two cultures in their contest for control over Kenya's wildlife resources.

Type
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , July 1989 , pp. 247 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

1 Zwanenberg, R. van, ‘Dorobo hunting and gathering: a way of life or a mode of production?’, African Economic History, II (1976), 12–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Yet his An Economic History of Kenya and Uganda, with Ann King (Nairobi, 1975)Google Scholar, makes no reference to the role of hunting in the general economy of Kenya.

2 But see Dalleo, P. J., ‘The Somali role in organised ivory poaching in N.E. Kenya, c. 1909–1939’, Int. J. Afr. Hist. Studies., XXII (1979), 472–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stone, M. L., ‘Organised poaching in Kitui District: a failure in district authority, 1900–60’, Int. J. Afr. Hist. Studies., V (1972), 436–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Ofcansky, T. P., ‘A history of game preservation in British East Africa, 1895–1963’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1981).Google Scholar

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4 Lamphear, J., ‘The persistence of hunting and gathering in a “pastoral” world’, SUGIA, VII, ii (1986);Google ScholarGalaty, J. G., ‘East African hunters: so-calling “some historical myths’“, Conference paper, American Anthropological Association, 1977.Google Scholar

5 See Interviews in ‘A' series. Interviews with former hunters in each of the three districts were conducted between February and October, 1987 and organized into three series: A: Kwale; B: Kitui; C: Meru. Interviews with professional hunters and Game Department personnel are indicated by Series ‘D'. In the longer work I am projecting I will include a fuller description of historical hunting methods, weapons and purposes in each of the three districts studied.

6 Bernardi, B., The Mugwe (London, 1959)Google Scholar and Fadiman, J., Mountain Warriors (Athens, Ohio, 1976)Google Scholar can be consulted for the ethnographic and historical backgrounds to the Meru, although they tend to focus on the Imenti divisions near Mount Kenya and slight the Igembe and Tharaka sub-tribes: Middleton, J., The Kikuyu and Kamba of Kenya (London, 1953).Google Scholar

7 Interviews C/7, J. L. Mate, 11 Sept. 1987 and others in series C/1–16.

8 Krapf, J., Travels, Researches and Missionary Labours during an Eighteen Years’ Residence in Eastern Africa (London, 1968;Google Scholar frljuhhjg 1st edition, 1860); Hobley, C. W., Ethnology of A-kamba and other East African Tribes (Cambridge, 1910);Google ScholarLamphear, J., ‘The Kamba and the Northern Mrima Coast’, in Gray, R. and Birmingham, D. (eds.), Precolonial African Trade (London, 1970), 75–102Google Scholar; Jackson, K., ‘An ethno-historical study of the oral traditions of the Akamba of Kenya’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, UCLA, 1972).Google Scholar Contrast Mutiso, G. C. M., ‘Kitui ecosystem, integration and change’, Ogot, B. A. (ed.), Ecology and History in East Africa (Nairobi, 1979)Google Scholar and O, M. ‘Leary’, The Kitui Akamba (Nairobi, 1987)Google Scholar, who focus on ecological constraints with little reference to the cultural adaptations evidenced by Kamba hunting and ivory trade.

9 Jackson, K., ‘Ngotho the ivory armlet’, Kenya Historical Review, V (1977), 35–69.Google Scholar

10 See Interviews B/1–15 for information on both large and small game hunting, techniques of hunting and sale of ivory, regional variations, etc. Also Sheriff, A., Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar (London, 1987)Google Scholar for the international organization of the ivory trade in the nineteenth century. For the role of the Waata as a distinctive elephant hunting culture, see Holman, D., The Elephant People (London, 1967)Google Scholar and Parker, I. and Amin, M., Ivory Crisis (London, 1983)Google Scholar and Interview D/2, I. Parker.

11 See the files classified as DC/KWL; DC/KTI; DC/MRU and PC/COAST; PC/CENTRAL and PC/EASTERN in the Kenya National Archives, Nairobi (hereafter cited as KNA).

12 Interviews in A, B and C series, passim. Cf. Lindblom, G., The Akamba in British East Africa (Uppsala, 1920), 511.Google Scholar

13 For example, ‘Minutes of a Meeting held at Makindu on November 8th 1956…’, in KNA DC/KTI/3/10/2, pp. 4–6 and Appendix A: cf. DC/KTI/1–8, passim.

14 Interviews in A, B and C series.

15 Stigand, C. H., Hunting the Elephant in Africa (London, 1913), 209–11.Google Scholar

16 Interviews in A, B and C passim and D/2. Contrast Gassett, J. Ortega y, On Hunting (New York, 1972).Google Scholar Also, MacKenzie, J. M., ‘Chivalry, social Darwinism and ritualised killing: the hunting ethos in Central Africa up to 1914’, in Anderson, D. and Grove, R. (eds.), Conservation in Africa: people, policies and practice (Cambridge, 1987), 41–62.Google Scholar

17 Thomson, J., Masailand; MacDonald, J. R. L., Soldiering and Surveying in British East Africa, 1891–1894 (Folkestone and London, 1973: 1st edition 1897)Google Scholar; Lugard, F., The Diaries of Lord Lugard, 2 vols., ed. Perham, M. (Evanston, 1959)Google Scholar and his The Rise of our East African Empire (Edinburgh, 1893).Google Scholar

18 Watt, R., In the Heart of Savagedom (London, Edinburgh and New York, n.d. [1912?]), 87–92, 108, 150–51, 163–64, 292–96, and 336–361, 372, 380–81, 405–408Google Scholar; Lindblom, , Akamba, 120.Google Scholar

19 MacKenzie, J. M., ‘Hunting in Central Africa in the late nineteenth century, with special reference to Zimbabwe’, in Baker, W. and Mangan, J. A. (eds.), Imperialism and Sport (New York, 1987);Google Scholar and for the fuller development of this and other hunting themes, MacKenzie, J. M., The Empire of Nature: Hunting, Conservation and British Imperialism (Manchester and New York, 1988).Google Scholar

20 Jackson, F., Early Days in East Africa (London, 1969; 1st edition 1930)Google Scholar; Meinertzhagen, R., Kenya Diary, 1902–1906 (Edinburgh and London, 1957)Google Scholar and T. Roosevelt, Game Trails. Contrast Patterson, J. H., The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (New York, 1986; 1 st edition 1907).Google Scholar

21 Selous, F. C., A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa (London, 1890)Google Scholar and African Nature Notes and Reminiscences (London, 1908)Google Scholar; Stigand, C. H., Central African Game and its Spoor (London, 1906)Google Scholar, The Game of British East Africa, (2nd edition London, 1913) and Hunting the Elephant.

22 Arkell-Hardwick, A., An Ivory Trader in North Kenia (London, 1903)Google Scholar; Bell, W. D. M., The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter (London, 1923);Google ScholarChapman, A., On Safari (London, 1908)Google Scholar; Chanler, W. A., Through Jungle and Desert (New York, 1896)Google Scholar; and Neumann, A. H., Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa (London, 1898).Google Scholar

23 Taylor, J., Pondoro - Last of the Ivory Hunters (London, 1956).Google Scholar

24 See for example, Cranworth, Lord, Kenya Chronicle (London, 1939), 20–1.Google Scholar

25 ‘To all intents and purposes the plains game has completely disappeared from the Naro-Moru-Nanyuki area and from most of Laikipia. It has in fact gone very largely from practically the whole of the European settled area of the Colony. The whole truth of the matter is that the vast majority are not prepared to have any quantity of game on their farms’, A. T. A. Ritchie, Game Warden, to Brig. A. G. Arbuthnot, 27 Feb. 1948, KNA KW/1/73.

26 Monthly Reports and Misc. Correspondence, KNA KW/23/141–144; Also, Game and Vermin Control, KNA KW/15/4; Game Department Annual Reports, 1925–34 (Government printer, Nairobi). Cf. Huxley, E., White Man's Country (London, 1980: 1st edition 1930).Google Scholar

27 Bennet, E., Shots and Snapshots in British East Africa (London, 1914)Google Scholar, by an Indian civil servant on leave in East Africa, is illustrated with numerous pictures of animals shot first with his gun and then with his camera.

28 T. Roosevelt, Game Trails. Cf. Game Department Annual Report, 1925, for the Royal Safari of the Duke of York; Lovell, M., Straight on Till Morning (New York, 1987)Google Scholar for the visit of the Duke of Gloucester; and East African Standard, 14 March 1935, KNA KW/20/3 for a visit by the Duke of Norfolk. Also, Churchill, W. S., My African Journey (London, 1908)Google Scholar and Madiera, P. C., Hunting in British East Africa (Philadelphia, 1909)Google Scholar for two safaris by distinguished commoners.

29 Cf. Cranworth, , A Colony in the Making (London, 1912), 324–35.Google Scholar For an account of European hunting codes, see MacKenzie, , Empire of Nature, 302–4.Google Scholar

30 Blixen-Finecke, B., African Hunter (New York, 1938)Google Scholar; Aschan, U., The Man Who Women Loved (New York, 1987)Google Scholar; Trzebinski, E., Silence Will Speak (London, 1977).Google Scholar Nor should we ignore the famous and talented women who lent glamour and romance to the White Hunter myth: for example, Karen Blixen, Out of Africa (Harmondsworth, 1980); Thurman, J., Isak Dinesen (London, 1982)Google Scholar; Markham, Beryl, West With the Night (Boston, 1942)Google Scholar; and Lovell, Straight on Till Morning.

31 Examples of this romantic literature include: Hemingway, E., Green Hills of Africa (Harmondsworth, 1966Google Scholar; 1st edition 1935); The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Harmondsworth, 1963)Google Scholar; The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and other Short Stories (Harmondsworth, 1963).Google Scholar And cf. Courtney, R., Claws of Africa (London, 1934)Google Scholar; Scott, R. L., Between the Elephant's Eyes! (New York, 1954)Google Scholar; Mazet, H. S., Wild Ivory (London, 1971).Google Scholar For the self-image of the ‘Professional Hunters’, see KNA KW/5/48.

32 On camera safaris, see Johnson, M., Lion (New York, 1929)Google Scholar; Stoneham, C. T., Hunting Wild Beasts With Rifle and Camera (London, n.d. [1932?])Google Scholar; Stockley, C. H., African Camera Hunts (London, 1948)Google Scholar; and Sleeman, J. L., From Rifle to Camera (London, n.d. [1947?]).Google Scholar In the 1930s both the Game Wardens and the East African Professional Hunters Association began publishing tips for photographers: East Africa Professional Hunters Assn., ‘Photography’, 2p. (1934?), KNA KW/5/48; and A. T. A. Ritchie, ‘Game Photography in East Africa’, sp. typescript, KNA KW/18/17.

33 My special thanks to Kasila Musembi, Chief Archivist of the Kenya National Archives, and his staff who on short notice located, transferred and accessioned many hundreds of files from the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife in order to allow me to read them. The analysis of the purposes and policies of the Game Department which follows is based primarily on my reading of these files.

34 For instance, in 1923 there were only three full-time European game rangers, including the warden on the establishment, and two of these were on leave during the year. E. N. Buxton, Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire to Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, 19 April 1923, KNA KW/27/4.

35 Cf. the writings of Percival, A. Blayney, A Game Ranger's Notebook (London, 1924)Google Scholar and A Game Ranger on Safari (London, 1928)Google Scholar for the prototypical gamekeeper of the pioneer period.

36 No formal qualifications or job requirements have been located, nor does it appear from my interviews that any ever existed. Honorary Game Rangers were volunteers who assisted the Department as unpaid auxiliaries especially in its game control functions, and while including a scattering of Asians, Arabs and one Somali, they were clearly selected from among the prominent sporting gentlemen and professional hunters. This tended to emphasize the Department's image as ‘ an exclusive private club’ for gentlemen (cf. Game Department Annual Reports, 1925–35).

37 Game Department Annual Reports, 1925–35; KNA KW/27/4.

38 W. L. W. Dalton, ‘Notes on Kenya game preservation and hunting by a visitor’, 10 Oct. 1949, KNA KW/1/73; Parker, Ivory Crisis, 16–17.

39 KNA KW/18/12, 13 and 21 for the Game Schedules enacted in 1921, 1931 and 1951 which could be altered by the Game Warden as needed.

40 Cf. KNA KW/15/13–19, on Game and Disease.

41 In 1951, Chief Game Warden William Hale ordered his field men to assist Forest Officers in extinguishing forest fires as ‘ I do not want your work to be entirely control and shooting’: W. Hale to All Officers of the Game Department, 17 December 1951, KNA KW/15/16. Cf. Interviews D/2 Parker and D/3 Barrah; and J. A. Hunter, Hunter, vi-viii.

42 For example, R. B. Woosnam to Colonial Secretary, 20 March 1913, KNA KW/14/7; cf. Intelligence Reports (1923–25), KNA PC/Coast/1/17/13.

43 A. T. A. Ritchie to Ag. Colonial Secretary, 3 August 1933, KNA KW/8/28; ‘Appendix A‘ in Ritchie, ‘Memorandum‘ 2 April, 1927, KNA KW/14/3 No. 60; and Parker, Ivory Crisis.

44 Cf. Anderson, D., ‘Depression, dust bowl, demography and drought: the colonial state and soil conservation in East Africa’, African Affairs, 83, 332 (1986): 32–43.Google Scholar

45 Nash, R., Wilderness and the American Mind (3rd edition, New Haven, 1982), 358–61.Google Scholar Cf. ‘Preservation of big game’ (1930–35) files, passim. KNA KW/27/1. See also, Stevenson-Hamilton, J., The Kruger National Park (Pretoria, 1928)Google Scholar, and MacKenzie, , Empire of Nature, 227–231.Google Scholar

46 ‘Captain Ritchie on Hunting for Trophies’, East African Standard, 29 Jan. 1934, KNA KW/27/1.

47 For a fuller account of the growth of the National Parks movement in its colonial context, see MacKenzie, , Empire of Nature, 261–94.Google Scholar

48 M. Cowie, ‘History of the Royal National Parks of Kenya’, 30p. typescript, KNA KW/1/78; ‘Administrative policies, Kenya National Parks’, KNA KW/1/67; and Cowie, M., Fly Vulture (London, 1961).Google Scholar

49 Interview D/2, Parker.

50 There is some confusion in the terminology of ranks between the Game and Parks’ systems. In the Game Department there was only one Game Warden, later Chief Game Warden, under whom there were Assistant Game Wardens, Senior Game Rangers and Game Rangers, all of whom were white during the colonial era. Black subordinate staff in the Game Department were designated as Scouts. In contrast, The Kenya Royal National Parks was headed by a Director with a Warden and usually an Assistant Warden for each National Park. African subordinate staff were designated Game Rangers and no African was appointed as a warden until after Independence.

51 The total ban on hunting remains controversial both within and outside the Wildlife Conservation and Management Department. The older pro-hunting tradition now survives as ‘resource utilization’ and the total ban is seen as either a crass political manoeuvre or as an ill-advised capitulation to the international conservation lobby. Cf. Interviews D/2, Parker; D/3, Jack Barrah; D/4, J. T. Oriero and D/5, Dr Perez M. Olindo.

52 Interviews D/2, Parker and his Ivory Crisis; Holman, Elephant People; Adamson, G., Bwana Game (London, 1959)Google Scholar or My Pride and Joy (London, 1987).

53 Cf. G. Adamson's Monthly Warden's Reports, in KNA KW/23/148 and 175. Cf. Adamson, My Pride and Joy.

54 There is a remarkable similarity between the attitudes and rhetoric of many conservationists in the metropole with those of nineteenth century abolitionists and missionaries. Cf. Game Preservation files, KNA KW/27/1; and Parker, I., Oh, Quaggal (Nairobi, 1983), 9ff.Google Scholar

55 See Interview C/8, Kimwere.

56 Game Department Annual Report, 1950: 1–10; Hale Report, KNA/23/151; cf. Interview D/2, Parker.

57 Kenya Royal National Parks Annual Reports, KNA KW/1/73, 79, 82 and Warden's Monthly Reports, KNA KW/23/31 and 6/86. In addition, I have relied on Holman, Elephant People, which is based on interviews with Bill Woodley; see also Parker, Ivory Crisis and Interview D/2.

58 Interview B/12, Kikuli and D/2, Parker.

59 The files which originated with David Sheldrick are now the property of his widow, Daphne Sheldrick. My thanks to Ian Parker for allowing me to examine them while they were in his possession as he prepared a manuscript on the Waata hunters.

60 Attorney-General's Directive Nos. 1 and 22 for 1956, Governor's Circulars, KNA KW/3/8.

61 This technique of extracting confessions appears to have been effectively employed by Woodley and Sheldrick, although it was subject to abuse in the hands of some gamekeepers and police. Interview D/2, Parker; and Holman, , Elephant People, 143–65.Google Scholar

62 Efforts to re-constitute Waata society by training former poachers in the use of firearms and settling them in a game control community along the Galana River under Game Department supervision was short-lived. Cf. Parker, , Ivory Crisis, 52–6Google Scholar; and Interview D/2, Parker. My thanks to Mr Parker for sharing his experiences and insights into this little known experiment in cultural survival and social engineering.

63 Interview D/3, Barrah. Also, J. D. Irwin, ‘Poaching and Counter Measures’, 8 June 1961, KNA KW/17/12.