Episode 1

0:00:04 > 0:00:08This is safari in its heyday...

0:00:08 > 0:00:10dangerous and bloody...

0:00:14 > 0:00:17Yet romantic and luxurious.

0:00:17 > 0:00:22The history of safari in Africa is a story that is far from simple.

0:00:22 > 0:00:26It's entangled with the controversial story of white settlers,

0:00:26 > 0:00:29colonial life and the spread of the British Empire.

0:00:33 > 0:00:35As a white man born in Swaziland,

0:00:35 > 0:00:38I've been on a journey through safari to try to understand

0:00:38 > 0:00:41its complicated past and contentious present.

0:00:44 > 0:00:48I've visited the most incredible landscapes and experienced

0:00:48 > 0:00:52the thrills and seduction of wild animals first hand.

0:00:52 > 0:00:54Jumbo, jumbo Kenya!...

0:00:54 > 0:00:56Spectacular!

0:00:58 > 0:01:00Look! There's a leopard, there's a leopard!

0:01:00 > 0:01:03I've discovered that the story of safari is teeming

0:01:03 > 0:01:08with extraordinary characters, wayward lifestyles and huge sex appeal.

0:01:08 > 0:01:12So beds and hunting and safari were all shared in a very fluid way.

0:01:12 > 0:01:14Absolutely...and no jealousy.

0:01:14 > 0:01:16And I've tried to understand

0:01:16 > 0:01:21why the excitement of hunting still draws passionate supporters.

0:01:21 > 0:01:22There he is.

0:01:26 > 0:01:28That was a lovely bull!

0:01:28 > 0:01:31My journey has shown me that, ultimately,

0:01:31 > 0:01:34safari is about exhilaration and freedom.

0:01:38 > 0:01:40It's been the adventure of a lifetime.

0:01:51 > 0:01:54In 1896, the British East African government

0:01:54 > 0:01:59started building a railway line from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast,

0:01:59 > 0:02:01through Kenya, to Uganda.

0:02:01 > 0:02:03As the Empire expanded,

0:02:03 > 0:02:08a trade route to the heart of Africa was deemed vital.

0:02:08 > 0:02:13Nicknamed "The Lunatic Express", the line opened in 1903

0:02:13 > 0:02:16and was soon transporting wealthy British adventurers

0:02:16 > 0:02:18in search safari and big game hunting.

0:02:21 > 0:02:24Nairobi became the main station.

0:02:30 > 0:02:33It's here I begin my own safari.

0:02:55 > 0:02:57Nairobi began in 1899.

0:02:57 > 0:03:02It was as a simple railway depot on the Lunatic Railway Express.

0:03:02 > 0:03:07Back then, zebra, lions, wildebeest, giraffes

0:03:07 > 0:03:10roamed the dust track that pass the main street.

0:03:10 > 0:03:13What initially began as a few huts and basic infrastructure,

0:03:13 > 0:03:17then developed into a city that was never planned.

0:03:17 > 0:03:24By 1907, it was declared the official capital of British East Africa.

0:03:33 > 0:03:38Nairobi has grown into a noisy, chaotic city of over 2 million people.

0:03:38 > 0:03:41But just minutes from the busy city centre

0:03:41 > 0:03:44is a peaceful glimmer of a British colonial past.

0:03:49 > 0:03:51This is the legendary Norfolk Hotel.

0:03:51 > 0:03:55I've come to Kenya to find out about the history of safari

0:03:55 > 0:03:59and how it is entwined with the controversy of a colonial past.

0:03:59 > 0:04:02And The Norfolk is the perfect place to start.

0:04:02 > 0:04:06Welcome to The Norfolk, I'm Richard Kinyemi, the manager.

0:04:06 > 0:04:07Thank you, I'm Richard, too.

0:04:09 > 0:04:14This mock Tudor edifice opened for business on Christmas Day in 1904

0:04:14 > 0:04:18and was the place for wealthy Brits to begin their safari.

0:04:18 > 0:04:23The Norfolk offered elegance and luxury in the wilds of Africa.

0:04:23 > 0:04:26It represents how the British were keen to transfer

0:04:26 > 0:04:29their entire lifestyle into the African bush.

0:04:29 > 0:04:34The exotic opulence was a huge draw to the British colonists,

0:04:34 > 0:04:37some of whom became notorious for their errant ways.

0:04:39 > 0:04:43So, this was the epicentre of colonial life?

0:04:43 > 0:04:46Colonial life, because here we used to have cottages

0:04:46 > 0:04:50where they use to play billiards and wife swapping and all that,

0:04:50 > 0:04:53according to the history.

0:04:53 > 0:04:54And that doesn't happen now?

0:04:54 > 0:04:57- There's no wife swapping now in Nairobi.- Not any more!

0:05:01 > 0:05:04Welcome. This is your suite.

0:05:04 > 0:05:06Thank you very much.

0:05:06 > 0:05:08Oh, wow!

0:05:08 > 0:05:12- So welcome. Here... - Oh, high luxury thank you, Richard.

0:05:12 > 0:05:15- Your bedroom is over here. - An oasis in the middle of Nairobi.

0:05:15 > 0:05:18Thank you very much, I wish you a very good stay with us.

0:05:18 > 0:05:21Overlooking the hotel, the main court here.

0:05:21 > 0:05:23The grandeur and pomp of the Norfolk

0:05:23 > 0:05:27is timelessly British and reminds me of my own history.

0:05:32 > 0:05:35What I'm always struck by is how extraordinary

0:05:35 > 0:05:39the contrast is between coming in on that train from Mombasa,

0:05:39 > 0:05:43crowded with people, and the chaos of Nairobi traffic

0:05:43 > 0:05:46where people don't stop for red lights or pedestrian crossings.

0:05:46 > 0:05:50It's sort of higgledy-piggledy organised chaos.

0:05:54 > 0:05:58And then you come through the Norfolk Hotel,

0:05:58 > 0:06:00a bastion of colonialism.

0:06:00 > 0:06:02And I suppose my upbringing in Swaziland

0:06:02 > 0:06:06in the lasts gasps of empire.

0:06:06 > 0:06:10I suppose, to my shame, I grew up in a household where we had servants

0:06:10 > 0:06:14a cook, a housekeeper, two gardeners.

0:06:14 > 0:06:18I couldn't even boil an egg when I went to university, burnt toast.

0:06:20 > 0:06:24So to come back here as a white boy coming back to Africa

0:06:24 > 0:06:30and the history of safari, it's a complete circle journey to go through.

0:06:30 > 0:06:34I don't know how much you can, cat of nine tails

0:06:34 > 0:06:37and lash yourself for colonial guilt.

0:06:40 > 0:06:43Growing up in Swaziland meant living in a society

0:06:43 > 0:06:45that was British in the extreme.

0:06:45 > 0:06:49My father was head of education for the colonial administration.

0:06:52 > 0:06:56Throughout my childhood, we regularly went on photo safaris,

0:06:56 > 0:06:59as well as hunting trips with my father for venison,

0:06:59 > 0:07:02though I never shot an animal myself.

0:07:05 > 0:07:07The idea of hunting for pleasure never appealed,

0:07:07 > 0:07:11but I want to know why it was so important to the early settlers

0:07:11 > 0:07:15and what involvement the indigenous African people had.

0:07:15 > 0:07:20To find out, I need to go back to the very beginnings of safari.

0:07:29 > 0:07:32Safari derives from the Swahili word meaning "journey"

0:07:32 > 0:07:35and was originally used to describe the trade routes

0:07:35 > 0:07:39used by coastal Arabs and Swahilis who transported ivory,

0:07:39 > 0:07:43rhino horn and slaves from the African interior to the Asian market.

0:07:45 > 0:07:48The trade routes were extremely lucrative

0:07:48 > 0:07:51and attracted the attentions of powerful European countries,

0:07:51 > 0:07:53eager to get their hands on them.

0:07:53 > 0:07:58This resulted in what became known as the "Scramble for Africa"

0:07:58 > 0:08:00and, in 1885, at the Berlin Conference,

0:08:00 > 0:08:05European leaders met to divide up Africa into independent spheres

0:08:05 > 0:08:08of influence under European rule.

0:08:08 > 0:08:12Britain bagged Uganda and Kenya which all came under British protectorate rule

0:08:12 > 0:08:15and were christened British East Africa.

0:08:17 > 0:08:20The newly acquired lands were vast with an abundance

0:08:20 > 0:08:23of wildlife that the British government had big plans for.

0:08:23 > 0:08:27They began advertising back home for the British aristocracy

0:08:27 > 0:08:32to begin a pioneering new way of life and money-making enterprise.

0:08:33 > 0:08:36In the early 1900s, British East Africa

0:08:36 > 0:08:40proved an irresistible draw to the aristocracy back home.

0:08:40 > 0:08:43They could come out here and buy hundreds of acres of land cheaply,

0:08:43 > 0:08:46build homes at little cost, employ local people to work for them

0:08:46 > 0:08:51whilst enjoying an idyllic year round temperate climate.

0:08:52 > 0:08:55One of the first and most controversial British settlers

0:08:55 > 0:08:59to take up the challenge was Hugh Cholomondeley,

0:08:59 > 0:09:00the third Baron Delamere.

0:09:00 > 0:09:04Lord Delamere acquired 100,000 acres of land

0:09:04 > 0:09:08close to the equator in 1901.

0:09:09 > 0:09:11He arrived by train and disembarked

0:09:11 > 0:09:14at this level crossing and declared that the open plains

0:09:14 > 0:09:17stretching around him would be where he would build his first home

0:09:17 > 0:09:22and business venture, Equator Ranch.

0:09:22 > 0:09:25I'd arranged to meet Professor David Anderson of Oxford University

0:09:25 > 0:09:30to find out how Lord Delamere became one of the leading lights of early settler life.

0:09:30 > 0:09:33David, was this the original house?

0:09:33 > 0:09:36This is a more modern construction, but this is where the farm was.

0:09:36 > 0:09:38You're right in the centre of it here.

0:09:38 > 0:09:42How brave or bold or foolhardy was it, in your opinion,

0:09:42 > 0:09:46to come here and take over a thousand of acres of unoccupied land?

0:09:46 > 0:09:49That's a great question because you look at it now

0:09:49 > 0:09:53and think, "How in heaven's name did they do this?"

0:09:53 > 0:09:56He arrived here with almost nothing

0:09:56 > 0:09:59and he lived like a pauper for a couple of years.

0:09:59 > 0:10:04So this is not a rich British aristocrat coming to play around in Africa,

0:10:04 > 0:10:08this is someone who is down on his luck, having hard times,

0:10:08 > 0:10:12coming to make a fresh start, and by God did he work at it.

0:10:12 > 0:10:14So how did he plan to make money?

0:10:14 > 0:10:15What did he try to farm?

0:10:15 > 0:10:19Well, he brought out, initially he tried sheep on the farm

0:10:19 > 0:10:22and that was quite a shrewd notion, this was not a bad area for sheep.

0:10:22 > 0:10:25But he tried to bring in exotic stock from New Zealand

0:10:25 > 0:10:29and they did OK at first, but then they all died

0:10:29 > 0:10:31cos they contracted fevers and other diseases.

0:10:31 > 0:10:34Then he bought in Herefordshire Bulls from the UK,

0:10:34 > 0:10:36had them imported at huge expense.

0:10:36 > 0:10:40He sent his stockmen off to New Zealand to buy some other stock.

0:10:40 > 0:10:44He thought merino sheep would be better, he brought those in at vast expense.

0:10:44 > 0:10:48Shipping stock half way around the world to come here in the middle of nowhere.

0:10:48 > 0:10:51It's an astonishing adventure,

0:10:51 > 0:10:54you might say misadventure because none of it worked.

0:10:56 > 0:10:57But as well as being an entrepreneur,

0:10:57 > 0:11:01Lord Delamere was also an enthusiastic hunter.

0:11:01 > 0:11:04He had grown up in the British aristocratic tradition

0:11:04 > 0:11:08and had also spent many years hunting elephants for ivory across the African continent,

0:11:08 > 0:11:11before settling in British East Africa.

0:11:13 > 0:11:17But when it came to clearing his newly acquired farmland of wildlife,

0:11:17 > 0:11:22Lord Delamere seemed to take the sport of hunting into questionable territory.

0:11:25 > 0:11:27So how notorious was he?

0:11:27 > 0:11:30He was ambitious and energetic and it's an interesting story,

0:11:30 > 0:11:33he got involved in a spat with Sir Harry Johnstone

0:11:33 > 0:11:37who was the Governor of Uganda and he wrote a nasty letter to the Royal Geographical Society

0:11:37 > 0:11:41accusing Delamere of hunting with a Gatling gun,

0:11:41 > 0:11:44which is an early machine gun mounted on a ridge top

0:11:44 > 0:11:48in North Baringo and sort of creaming out the elephants.

0:11:48 > 0:11:51Now Delamere always denied this and said he hadn't done it,

0:11:51 > 0:11:54but Johnstone really made a fuss about it

0:11:54 > 0:11:57and some of the mud certainly stuck to Delamere's reputation early on.

0:11:57 > 0:12:00- Was it true?- It could have been because there were

0:12:00 > 0:12:03a lot of hunters in those early days who were exploitative.

0:12:03 > 0:12:07Mostly looking for adventure, looking for a quick buck.

0:12:07 > 0:12:10They were a dangerous crew because they were keen to do well

0:12:10 > 0:12:14and they were prepared to exploit in order to do well

0:12:14 > 0:12:16and, by God, in Kenya they did that.

0:12:21 > 0:12:26Lord Delamere undoubtedly set the tone for settler behaviour

0:12:26 > 0:12:30by refusing to allow wildlife to get in the way of British enterprise.

0:12:30 > 0:12:33To make the African lands suitable for farming,

0:12:33 > 0:12:35the mass slaughter of big game animals began.

0:12:37 > 0:12:41This was made an enjoyable and sportsmanlike experience

0:12:41 > 0:12:44by introducing the custom of the hunt, with some early settlers

0:12:44 > 0:12:47even importing packs of hunting hounds from England

0:12:47 > 0:12:51and riding out on the African plains kitted in traditional pinks or scarlet jackets.

0:12:54 > 0:12:56A contemporary of Delamere's in the early days

0:12:56 > 0:12:59was fellow hunter and sportsman Lord Cranworth.

0:12:59 > 0:13:02Cranworth was pivotal in encouraging more aristocrats

0:13:02 > 0:13:04to join the settlement drive.

0:13:06 > 0:13:08He believed that the hunting sportsman had a vital role

0:13:08 > 0:13:11in making British East Africa a success

0:13:11 > 0:13:15and wrote an extensive essay entitled A Colony In The Making

0:13:15 > 0:13:19Or Sport and Profit In British East Africa.

0:13:20 > 0:13:23In his essay, Lord Cranworth did all he could to encourage

0:13:23 > 0:13:27fellow aristocrats to head out to British East Africa. He wrote...

0:13:29 > 0:13:32"British East Africa forms, in some respects,

0:13:32 > 0:13:34"the most peculiar of his Majesty's Dominions,

0:13:34 > 0:13:37"in that within so comparatively small an area

0:13:37 > 0:13:41"it embraces so much variety and possibilities for British enterprise."

0:13:41 > 0:13:44He then went on to offer tips for new arrivals.

0:13:44 > 0:13:46"Do yourself well on the food line.

0:13:46 > 0:13:51"Take plenty of wine after sun fall, more especially burgundy and port.

0:13:51 > 0:13:55"They enrich the blood and are agreeable to the palate.

0:13:55 > 0:13:57"Bear in mind and act on the old maxim -

0:13:57 > 0:14:00"keep the spirits up, the bowels open,

0:14:00 > 0:14:02"and wear flannels next the skin."

0:14:02 > 0:14:05Later on in the essay, Lord Cranworth's wife,

0:14:05 > 0:14:10Lady Cranworth offered her, Hints For A Woman In British East Africa.

0:14:10 > 0:14:12"Having arrived up country,

0:14:12 > 0:14:16"about the first operation will be to collect one's staff of servants.

0:14:16 > 0:14:19"When one becomes accustomed to the sight of black faces,

0:14:19 > 0:14:22"native servants will be found very fairly good.

0:14:22 > 0:14:27"They are quite intelligent and soon assimilate any knowledge

0:14:27 > 0:14:30"that one is in a position to impart".

0:14:30 > 0:14:35Lord Cranworth concluded with a rousing appeal to British big game hunters...

0:14:35 > 0:14:37"Present is the day of the sportsman,

0:14:37 > 0:14:39"of the man of riches, of the white hunter."

0:14:46 > 0:14:50Gung ho and spirited, the early pioneering settlers may have been,

0:14:50 > 0:14:52but they also felt completely assured

0:14:52 > 0:14:56of their natural right to rule and to exhaustively exploit

0:14:56 > 0:14:59every resource and the native peoples of British East Africa.

0:15:02 > 0:15:07In 1907, Ewart Grogan, a well known figure in the early settler years,

0:15:07 > 0:15:10publicly flogged three of his staff on the steps

0:15:10 > 0:15:13of the Nairobi Courthouse, for frightening his niece

0:15:13 > 0:15:15by driving his rickshaw too erratically.

0:15:17 > 0:15:20Lord Cranworth wrote that he knowingly exploited

0:15:20 > 0:15:23the Masai and Kikuyu tribes by trading cheap trinkets

0:15:23 > 0:15:26and opera glasses in exchange for valuable ivory.

0:15:28 > 0:15:30This is the image of colonialism

0:15:30 > 0:15:34that makes me feel uncomfortable about my own past.

0:15:34 > 0:15:37But to get a better understanding of the early settlers,

0:15:37 > 0:15:38who were generations before my time,

0:15:38 > 0:15:42I want to meet their descendants whom I hope can tell me more.

0:16:04 > 0:16:09First up, is Tony Seth Smith, at his home on the shores of Lake Naivasha.

0:16:13 > 0:16:16So Tony, correct me if I'm wrong,

0:16:16 > 0:16:22your pa arrived here 106 years ago, which would make it 1904?

0:16:22 > 0:16:241904.

0:16:24 > 0:16:27And his elder brother Martin had come out the year before.

0:16:27 > 0:16:29Why did he come here in the first place?

0:16:29 > 0:16:32I think for adventure and it was, I suppose,

0:16:32 > 0:16:35one of the last frontiers, you know Canada had been opened up

0:16:35 > 0:16:39and the west of the United States and Australia and so on...

0:16:39 > 0:16:43so they were in on virgin ground as they saw it.

0:16:43 > 0:16:46Do you feel that they had a sense of entitlement

0:16:46 > 0:16:50in the spread of empire and that it wasn't questioned in any way?

0:16:50 > 0:16:54I think to a degree, in as much as the country was untamed,

0:16:54 > 0:17:00undeveloped and they were bringing development

0:17:00 > 0:17:04and civilization as they saw it.

0:17:04 > 0:17:08And so they had a moral edge on the people who were already here.

0:17:08 > 0:17:12But I don't think they felt that they were taking it away from them.

0:17:12 > 0:17:14I was born and brought up in Swaziland

0:17:14 > 0:17:18and my father always said to me, "Even though you are born here,

0:17:18 > 0:17:22"essentially as a white person, you are a guest in this country."

0:17:22 > 0:17:28So, I always had, I suppose, a wobble in my mind about

0:17:28 > 0:17:31whether owning land or not... Whether I had a right to do that.

0:17:31 > 0:17:34- Has this ever crossed your mind at all?- No.

0:17:34 > 0:17:37Kenya was a colony and Swaziland was never a colony.

0:17:37 > 0:17:39No, it was a protectorate.

0:17:39 > 0:17:41We came and colonised this country,

0:17:41 > 0:17:45the British plus a few Scandinavians and things.

0:17:45 > 0:17:50And we were issued land, we paid for the land, they didn't take it,

0:17:50 > 0:17:54but I think people like my father also had a degree of,

0:17:54 > 0:17:57"I wonder if this is fair to the African?"

0:17:57 > 0:18:02I often heard him say, "The poor African, he's getting the thin end of the wedge."

0:18:02 > 0:18:04But, of course, as I say you've got to remember

0:18:04 > 0:18:08that there were only 1.5 million of them at that time.

0:18:08 > 0:18:10And now there are 40 million,

0:18:10 > 0:18:15so people who want to be critical see the country as it is today and say,

0:18:15 > 0:18:18"How could you come and take land when it is so congested

0:18:18 > 0:18:20"and everyone is looking for a patch of land?"

0:18:20 > 0:18:22Well, it wasn't like that then.

0:18:22 > 0:18:27You've got to take things as they were at the time.

0:18:29 > 0:18:32For Tony's father's generation of early 20th century settlers,

0:18:32 > 0:18:35the extraordinary wildlife was little more than

0:18:35 > 0:18:37a pest that stood in their way.

0:18:38 > 0:18:39Getting rid of them

0:18:39 > 0:18:42would give Tony his first exhilarating experience of hunting.

0:18:45 > 0:18:47It was like having weeds in your field of whatever,

0:18:47 > 0:18:49it stymied your endeavours,

0:18:49 > 0:18:52whether you were growing wheat or cattle.

0:18:52 > 0:18:54Lions would eat the cattle, the leopards would kill the sheep,

0:18:54 > 0:18:59zebra and reedbuck and so on would be in the crop flattening it.

0:18:59 > 0:19:03And so game was considered vermin in those days and so on the whole,

0:19:03 > 0:19:06on the white settlers' land, game was decimated.

0:19:10 > 0:19:12It was a way of life, you know, one was brought up

0:19:12 > 0:19:15with a rifle in your hand protecting your crops.

0:19:17 > 0:19:20Do you remember when you first shot a big animal?

0:19:20 > 0:19:23Yes, the first big thing was a Buffalo in our wheat

0:19:23 > 0:19:26and I was really quite nervous about it.

0:19:26 > 0:19:30And I was only about 13 or 14, I suppose.

0:19:30 > 0:19:34And one's little heart was pumping away with excitement

0:19:34 > 0:19:36as I got near this terrifying beast.

0:19:36 > 0:19:39Anyway, to my delight and surprise, I got it.

0:19:39 > 0:19:42What was the feeling after you'd just shot it?

0:19:42 > 0:19:46It was a mixture of fear and exhilaration I suppose.

0:19:46 > 0:19:49That's the whole point in hunting.

0:19:49 > 0:19:54You've got to be... Of the dangerous wildlife,

0:19:54 > 0:19:56you've got to have a certain amount of respect,

0:19:56 > 0:19:58even if it's not actually fear,

0:19:58 > 0:20:01you've got to have a lot of respect for it.

0:20:01 > 0:20:05One gets a lot of criticism for having done a lot of hunting

0:20:05 > 0:20:08and being a hunter and being passionate about hunting,

0:20:08 > 0:20:12but you have to have done it to understand it.

0:20:17 > 0:20:21Hunting big game became a central part of the lifestyle of the early white settlers.

0:20:21 > 0:20:25It was a sport they loved,

0:20:25 > 0:20:28but out here on the African Plains they could take it

0:20:28 > 0:20:31on to a much bigger and more exciting scale.

0:20:31 > 0:20:34Fox and grouse were chicken feed compared to this.

0:20:34 > 0:20:37Hunting in British East Africa was a man's game.

0:20:37 > 0:20:42Rituals were established that glorified the triumphant hunter.

0:20:42 > 0:20:44He would be photographed with his trophy kill.

0:20:44 > 0:20:47Heads and skins were removed and preserved

0:20:47 > 0:20:50for him to take home and adorn his walls.

0:20:50 > 0:20:55If I'm going to try and understand the appeal and thrill of hunting,

0:20:55 > 0:20:57I need to get first-hand experience.

0:20:57 > 0:21:00I'm heading north, out of Nairobi towards Lake Naivasha

0:21:00 > 0:21:03in the heart of the Great Rift Valley

0:21:03 > 0:21:06and it's my first chance to see the magnificent wildlife.

0:21:06 > 0:21:09This is absolutely incredible. Look at this.

0:21:09 > 0:21:13I'm on my way to meet Gordie Church

0:21:13 > 0:21:15who is a modern day professional hunter.

0:21:18 > 0:21:20Gordie, I'm Richard.

0:21:20 > 0:21:23Lovely to meet you. Welcome to Africa.

0:21:23 > 0:21:26Hunting has been banned in Kenya since 1977,

0:21:26 > 0:21:30so Gordie spends most of his time working in neighbouring Tanzania,

0:21:30 > 0:21:32where he takes paying clients on hunting safaris

0:21:32 > 0:21:35tailored to what they want to shoot.

0:21:37 > 0:21:40I meet him on his father's 80,000-acre-estate

0:21:40 > 0:21:43which operates horseback safaris.

0:21:43 > 0:21:46Gordie, assume that I know nothing about what your job is.

0:21:46 > 0:21:51What is it that you actually do as a professional hunter?

0:21:51 > 0:21:54I guess from the outset when you are selling that hunt,

0:21:54 > 0:21:58it's being able to make sure that you select the right trophy.

0:21:58 > 0:22:00Making the approach,

0:22:00 > 0:22:02that's all the tracking, and getting the wind right,

0:22:02 > 0:22:07and making sure that your guest is comfortably in the best position,

0:22:07 > 0:22:10and to guide him through the whole process

0:22:10 > 0:22:13up to the point that he squeezes the trigger.

0:22:13 > 0:22:15So, for people who've never hunted

0:22:15 > 0:22:18or find the idea of shooting an animal as a trophy

0:22:18 > 0:22:23a bizarre concept, what's the kick of doing it?

0:22:23 > 0:22:26I think as a client who's never hunted before,

0:22:26 > 0:22:31it's the thrill of being out in the wilderness,

0:22:31 > 0:22:36not in a car in the safety of a car, but you're really out on foot

0:22:36 > 0:22:40experiencing everything that Africa has to offer

0:22:40 > 0:22:42in terms of its wildlife areas.

0:22:42 > 0:22:46And there's a certain amount of adrenalin involved

0:22:46 > 0:22:49in the actual hunt and in the stalk.

0:22:49 > 0:22:51But its sort of more than that,

0:22:51 > 0:22:53it's the adventure that comes with it.

0:23:08 > 0:23:11Gordie offers to take me riding to see some

0:23:11 > 0:23:14of his father's land and game.

0:23:14 > 0:23:18Being out in the vast wilderness, I begin to understand the enormous

0:23:18 > 0:23:21sense of freedom that the world of safari offers.

0:23:30 > 0:23:32To experience the thrill of the hunt,

0:23:32 > 0:23:36but without the kill, Gordie invites me to go tracking,

0:23:36 > 0:23:39to see if we can get close enough to some game,

0:23:39 > 0:23:41within shooting distance.

0:24:10 > 0:24:15- We've got a herd of Thompson's gazelle down the bottom there.- OK.

0:24:15 > 0:24:18They're feeding quite nicely out in the open.

0:24:18 > 0:24:21And the wind's in our favour.

0:24:21 > 0:24:24So we'll just quietly creep our way down here.

0:24:24 > 0:24:27Once we get within range raise the rifle

0:24:27 > 0:24:30- and squeeze that shot off. - OK.

0:24:30 > 0:24:32We need to be quiet because they're quite crafty,

0:24:32 > 0:24:34little creatures

0:24:34 > 0:24:38so if they get our wind or if they see any kind of movement they will take off.

0:24:45 > 0:24:46When we're close enough,

0:24:46 > 0:24:50Gordie hands me the gun which he reassures me is unloaded.

0:24:52 > 0:24:55OK, bolts open.

0:24:55 > 0:24:57No ammo.

0:24:57 > 0:24:59So what you want to do is, you want to pull that

0:24:59 > 0:25:02tight into your cheek.

0:25:02 > 0:25:06Grip that nicely and lean slightly forward into the shot.

0:25:06 > 0:25:08Keep those legs spread.

0:25:08 > 0:25:12Now, put that bead so that it's right in the bottom of that feed.

0:25:14 > 0:25:19Holding the rifle and looking down the sights sets your pulse racing,

0:25:19 > 0:25:23the sense of power is thrilling and electric.

0:25:24 > 0:25:26I still don't think I could do it.

0:25:29 > 0:25:31Maybe. I don't know.

0:25:35 > 0:25:38Have you ever had people who have lost their nerve?

0:25:38 > 0:25:40Yeah.

0:25:40 > 0:25:42I've had...

0:25:42 > 0:25:44It's a common thing called buck fever

0:25:44 > 0:25:48when someone gets so excited that they start to shake.

0:25:48 > 0:25:51But it's just a question of getting them to calm down

0:25:51 > 0:25:52and think about it,

0:25:52 > 0:25:55and the thing is you don't have to take the shot.

0:25:55 > 0:25:57That's not the point.

0:25:57 > 0:26:01The point is exploring this beautiful area and coming to this point.

0:26:01 > 0:26:04We have many clients who get to that point

0:26:04 > 0:26:07and think, "Yeah, it's too beautiful, I'm not going to take the shot."

0:26:07 > 0:26:09You never have to take the shot.

0:26:14 > 0:26:16Just even doing that, there's no question

0:26:16 > 0:26:19that it's like being in The Secret Seven or The Famous Five.

0:26:19 > 0:26:23The adrenalin rush that you feel that...

0:26:23 > 0:26:25I don't know. Your...

0:26:25 > 0:26:29Your DNA of hunting from God knows when kicks in,

0:26:29 > 0:26:34but it's... If I could shoot and know that I'm not killing the animal

0:26:34 > 0:26:37and could hold it up and then trot it off an hour later.

0:26:37 > 0:26:39I'd do it like a shot!

0:26:39 > 0:26:42It's very exciting!

0:26:47 > 0:26:50Stalking and tracking with Gordie

0:26:50 > 0:26:52has catapulted me back to my childhood.

0:26:54 > 0:26:57I was just hit by an incredible nostalgia

0:26:57 > 0:27:00because last time I did this I was hunting with my father

0:27:00 > 0:27:07when I was a boy in Swaziland when he would shoot impala.

0:27:07 > 0:27:11There was always this overwhelming regret that I felt

0:27:11 > 0:27:14that you would be sitting on the back of a pick up truck

0:27:14 > 0:27:17with the dead animal that was still warm

0:27:17 > 0:27:21and wishing that it could come back to life.

0:27:24 > 0:27:28Even without bullets, there's no doubt tracking and hunting game

0:27:28 > 0:27:29has a buzz that's unique

0:27:29 > 0:27:32and difficult to understand unless you try it.

0:27:36 > 0:27:39Gordie had converted me into a hunter

0:27:39 > 0:27:42albeit of the non-killing variety.

0:27:49 > 0:27:55By the early 1900s, the settlers had realised they were onto a good thing

0:27:55 > 0:27:59and that perhaps they could sell the experience and adventure

0:27:59 > 0:28:02of big game hunting worldwide to paying clients.

0:28:02 > 0:28:05An infrastructure for commercial hunting took shape in British East Africa

0:28:05 > 0:28:09as wealthy tourists started to flock there.

0:28:12 > 0:28:17To cater for the growing demand special safari outfitting companies

0:28:17 > 0:28:20began to spring up in the rapidly growing town of Nairobi.

0:28:20 > 0:28:23I headed to the National Archives where catalogues

0:28:23 > 0:28:26of old newspapers are kept from the early settler days.

0:28:26 > 0:28:30I wanted to look for adverts from the original outfitting firms

0:28:30 > 0:28:33and met up with Professor Anderson again, who agreed to help me.

0:28:33 > 0:28:35This is the East African Standard,

0:28:35 > 0:28:38one of the first newspapers in the colony.

0:28:38 > 0:28:41And here we have on the Standard for 1906

0:28:41 > 0:28:45typical adverts that relate to the safari trade,

0:28:45 > 0:28:48hunting and all the things that go with it.

0:28:48 > 0:28:51And these are companies that outfit safaris.

0:28:51 > 0:28:52So I could go and get kitted out here?

0:28:52 > 0:28:55You could go and buy a safari chair and a tent

0:28:55 > 0:28:58and camping equipment from Smith Mackenzie and Co.

0:28:58 > 0:29:00- Excellent.- There's another one describing themselves as

0:29:00 > 0:29:05Colonial Stores Mombasa and Nairobi selling wholesale and retail.

0:29:05 > 0:29:08Including Callum's Perfection Whiskey,

0:29:08 > 0:29:12Ferguson's paints and oils, wines and spirits, green rot proof tents.

0:29:12 > 0:29:17They're all huge, grand tents from 1903 with verandas with porches.

0:29:17 > 0:29:22These are statements of status, class, importance

0:29:22 > 0:29:26and, my goodness, no African sets foot in those tents.

0:29:26 > 0:29:31So, embedded in the safari story, in its very material culture

0:29:31 > 0:29:34is a history of separation and difference and distance.

0:29:34 > 0:29:35Entitlement, luxury.

0:29:35 > 0:29:40So, it would be the equivalent of the Times of London

0:29:40 > 0:29:43having a huge advert for Harrods saying...

0:29:43 > 0:29:47- Come here, we'll fix you.- It's pretty sophisticated for 1906 and a tent.

0:29:47 > 0:29:49It's a one stop shop.

0:29:49 > 0:29:51So, this was an enormous business.

0:29:51 > 0:29:54Huge business and these companies would put you in touch

0:29:54 > 0:29:57with labour recruiters, who would also arrange for your porters

0:29:57 > 0:30:03and transportation, food supplies, everything you needed.

0:30:03 > 0:30:05They would sell you your equipment,

0:30:05 > 0:30:07but they would also fix your trip for you.

0:30:11 > 0:30:15As these companies grew, there would be one major client who would take the idea

0:30:15 > 0:30:19of big game hunting, combined with extraordinary luxury

0:30:19 > 0:30:22and transform it into a pursuit renowned the world over.

0:30:22 > 0:30:25The recently retired President of the Untied States,

0:30:25 > 0:30:27Theodore Roosevelt.

0:30:29 > 0:30:31The President arrived in East Africa

0:30:31 > 0:30:36at the end of his second term in office and he trailblazed into town,

0:30:36 > 0:30:41accompanied by his 19-year-old-son Kermit and a vast entourage.

0:30:46 > 0:30:51Roosevelt chose the hunting outfitters Newland & Tarlton to kit out his safari.

0:30:52 > 0:30:55The company also provided him with the first generation

0:30:55 > 0:30:57of newly founded professional hunting guides,

0:30:57 > 0:31:01R J Cunninghame and Philip Percival.

0:31:01 > 0:31:05These men were experienced hunters who would lead the elder statesmen

0:31:05 > 0:31:10through the dangerous bush in search of his trophies.

0:31:10 > 0:31:13The former president's arrival was a huge coup

0:31:13 > 0:31:15for the burgeoning British ex pat community

0:31:15 > 0:31:19and they were keen to play host to him while he hunted.

0:31:21 > 0:31:25Roosevelt began his safari on land owned by Lord and Lady Pease

0:31:25 > 0:31:28who were still building their home when the party arrived.

0:31:31 > 0:31:34In the pastures close to the Pease family home on the Kapiti Plains,

0:31:34 > 0:31:40I met Don Young, the current owner of the Newland & Tarlton safari farm.

0:31:40 > 0:31:42What are you recreating here today?

0:31:42 > 0:31:45We've taken a photograph from Roosevelt's safari

0:31:45 > 0:31:49of Roosevelt's personal sleeping tent that he had set up when he arrived.

0:31:49 > 0:31:52So we're going to put up the Roosevelt tent

0:31:52 > 0:31:55and kit it out the way Roosevelt had it done back in 1909.

0:31:55 > 0:31:58And on what scale was this safari undertaken?

0:31:58 > 0:32:00- How many people did it involve? - It was huge.

0:32:00 > 0:32:05When he arrived at the Kapiti Station

0:32:05 > 0:32:07there were 250 people waiting for him

0:32:07 > 0:32:10with 20 armed soldiers to escort him.

0:32:10 > 0:32:13And they all shouted out, "Greetings to the king Of America!

0:32:13 > 0:32:16"Greetings to the king of America",

0:32:16 > 0:32:19and they were all in their perfect Newland & Tarlton uniforms

0:32:19 > 0:32:22and it was a small army, actually.

0:32:22 > 0:32:26So, out of those 250 people that were lined up at the station

0:32:26 > 0:32:28what was the division of what they each did?

0:32:28 > 0:32:30Roosevelt himself had six assistants

0:32:30 > 0:32:33and they stayed with him throughout the trip

0:32:33 > 0:32:36until they got to the Sudan where they switched all the porters over.

0:32:36 > 0:32:39By then there were 500 porters.

0:32:39 > 0:32:45By modern US dollars standards, this was a one million dollar safari.

0:32:45 > 0:32:48This was the biggest thing that ever happened to Kenya

0:32:48 > 0:32:50and it literally put Kenya in the consciousness

0:32:50 > 0:32:52of millions and millions of people

0:32:52 > 0:32:55that would otherwise think of Africa only as the dark continent.

0:32:55 > 0:32:59If you want to help the guys, let's both grab a line

0:32:59 > 0:33:02and we'll stretch these out and hammer in the steaks.

0:33:02 > 0:33:05OK. I'll get a mallet.

0:33:11 > 0:33:13Despite being out in the African bush,

0:33:13 > 0:33:15Roosevelt refused to lower his living standards

0:33:15 > 0:33:18and set the style for luxury on safari.

0:33:18 > 0:33:21His tent was fitted out just like home,

0:33:21 > 0:33:24he even bought his own writing bureau

0:33:24 > 0:33:26and leather bound book collection.

0:33:26 > 0:33:29So, this was done every night.

0:33:29 > 0:33:31How long did this safari go on for?

0:33:31 > 0:33:33It went on for a year.

0:33:33 > 0:33:37Roosevelt, of course, dined extremely well on safari,

0:33:37 > 0:33:41eating the fresh game meat that was killed daily and cooked on an open fire.

0:33:43 > 0:33:45How do you like your lamb, Richard?

0:33:45 > 0:33:48- Charred.- Charred. We can do charred.

0:33:51 > 0:33:54He encouraged his entourage to dress up for dinner

0:33:54 > 0:33:57and to enjoy fine wines and malt whiskies.

0:33:57 > 0:34:01Richard, we've set a table as if this was Teddy Roosevelt on safari

0:34:01 > 0:34:05at dinner, so you've done a great job baking some bread

0:34:05 > 0:34:08and you've grilled some meat which we'll have in a minute.

0:34:08 > 0:34:10I've also set things out like Roosevelt wrote...

0:34:10 > 0:34:13Binoculars were invented during Roosevelt's lifetime

0:34:13 > 0:34:16so these would have been quite new technology.

0:34:16 > 0:34:18He went round and was given a pair

0:34:18 > 0:34:21- so this is the Roosevelt-era pair of binoculars.- Oh, right.

0:34:21 > 0:34:25And really exciting, we have a lovely photograph of Roosevelt standing

0:34:25 > 0:34:28with the latest Eastman Kodak Camera and we actually

0:34:28 > 0:34:31managed to find in Nairobi the exact edition that

0:34:31 > 0:34:34Roosevelt was carrying with him on safari

0:34:34 > 0:34:38- and this is just to give you an idea how...- This is a Kodak?

0:34:38 > 0:34:42This is an Eastman Kodak, all the pictures of Roosevelt on safari

0:34:42 > 0:34:44were taken on cameras like this.

0:34:44 > 0:34:48You could actually adjust this for depth of field and frame your picture

0:34:48 > 0:34:50by moving the bellows back and forth.

0:34:50 > 0:34:52By which time you could be gored by a rhinoceros.

0:34:52 > 0:34:55By which time you would be run over by a rhino.

0:35:02 > 0:35:04Although it sounds contradictory,

0:35:04 > 0:35:09Teddy Roosevelt was both an avid hunter and devoted conservationist.

0:35:10 > 0:35:13He brought with him a vast team of scientists

0:35:13 > 0:35:17and justified his year-long-hunt by proclaiming he was shooting

0:35:17 > 0:35:20as many animals as possible in the name of natural history

0:35:20 > 0:35:23and transporting his trophies back as specimens

0:35:23 > 0:35:25to adorn the museums of New York.

0:35:28 > 0:35:31Among his team of scientists was Carl Akeley,

0:35:31 > 0:35:35a hunter, inventor and sculptor who revolutionised taxidermy

0:35:35 > 0:35:39by creating giant dioramas, reconstructed scenes

0:35:39 > 0:35:43from the African bush with plants and real stuffed animals.

0:35:45 > 0:35:48Akeley and Roosevelt's scientific endeavours,

0:35:48 > 0:35:51attracted worldwide interest and expectation.

0:35:52 > 0:35:55Don't forgot, there was our big safari,

0:35:55 > 0:35:59the Newland & Tarlton safari, 250 porters,

0:35:59 > 0:36:02following them like a little shadow universe, parallel universe,

0:36:02 > 0:36:04were reporters from all over the world.

0:36:04 > 0:36:08There was an entire safari that followed him around

0:36:08 > 0:36:12and every time he allowed them, they came in and took his pictures,

0:36:12 > 0:36:14he had his own private photographer called Heller

0:36:14 > 0:36:17so most of the images we have were shot by him.

0:36:17 > 0:36:19But this is a media circus.

0:36:19 > 0:36:24If they were moving this great phalanx of an army through the bush,

0:36:24 > 0:36:28how did they not frighten every bit of game off?

0:36:28 > 0:36:31There's your point, they had to put the camp aside

0:36:31 > 0:36:34and then they would ride out for an hour or two into the game country.

0:36:34 > 0:36:37This is virtually what's called a naive wildlife population,

0:36:37 > 0:36:41they'd hardly seen other humans or hardly been hunted,

0:36:41 > 0:36:42so the game was so thick.

0:36:42 > 0:36:44And if you read Roosevelt,

0:36:44 > 0:36:47the biggest problem with the hunt was Roosevelt himself.

0:36:47 > 0:36:50He was blind in one eye, typical Roosevelt,

0:36:50 > 0:36:52he'd been boxing in the White House.

0:36:52 > 0:36:54He'd been punched in the eye by one of his mates

0:36:54 > 0:36:58and haemorrhaged and he went blind. But he wouldn't let anyone know this.

0:36:58 > 0:37:00- So how good a shot was he?- Lousy.

0:37:00 > 0:37:03- Lousy shot.- So it was a case of he took a big old blast

0:37:03 > 0:37:05and somebody else had to go and...

0:37:05 > 0:37:07Lesley Tarlton. As hunters do today,

0:37:07 > 0:37:11the professional hunters today stand right off the shoulder.

0:37:11 > 0:37:13- So it's like an actor with a stuntman.- Absolutely.

0:37:16 > 0:37:19While Teddy Roosevelt may have been a poor shot,

0:37:19 > 0:37:23during his year-long-safari he personally bagged 216 animals

0:37:23 > 0:37:28and the sum total killed or trapped by his party

0:37:28 > 0:37:34totalled a staggering 11,788 animals, all in the name of science.

0:37:38 > 0:37:41By the time Roosevelt's epic safari was over

0:37:41 > 0:37:43newspapers and newsreels around the world

0:37:43 > 0:37:46had championed his landmark achievements.

0:37:51 > 0:37:54When he returned to the US, Roosevelt wrote his seminal book

0:37:54 > 0:37:57African Game Trails, which glorified his safari

0:37:57 > 0:38:01and set an impossible precedent inspiring many other American's

0:38:01 > 0:38:04to emulate his frontier adventures.

0:38:04 > 0:38:07Wannabe cowboys like Buffalo Jones turned up

0:38:07 > 0:38:11in British East Africa and attempted to tame the wild game

0:38:11 > 0:38:15using wild west methods on the African Plains.

0:38:16 > 0:38:21The frontier spirit was in the American blood and they loved it.

0:38:30 > 0:38:33Within a few years of its beginnings as a simple rail depot,

0:38:33 > 0:38:37Nairobi had been transformed into a westernised town,

0:38:37 > 0:38:39the hub of a burgeoning safari industry

0:38:39 > 0:38:42and home to an expanding community of British ex pats

0:38:42 > 0:38:45who were growing rich on its profits.

0:38:49 > 0:38:51Society developed a British way of life.

0:38:54 > 0:38:57The newly founded Turf Club held weekly race meetings

0:38:57 > 0:39:00and polo matches and families entertained with luncheons,

0:39:00 > 0:39:03picnics and garden parties.

0:39:05 > 0:39:09Emerging from the First World War, the British government set about

0:39:09 > 0:39:11encouraging more gentry to emigrate

0:39:11 > 0:39:13to support the push for colonisation.

0:39:15 > 0:39:18Their masterstroke of recruitment took place here

0:39:18 > 0:39:21at the then Theatre Royal, in the heart of Nairobi

0:39:21 > 0:39:25where they advertised plots of land up for grabs.

0:39:25 > 0:39:28The protectorate was offering a new way of life

0:39:28 > 0:39:30that safari encapsulated,

0:39:30 > 0:39:33freedom, luxury, power, danger and excitement.

0:39:33 > 0:39:37A land free from the restrictions of life back home.

0:39:44 > 0:39:47At the end of the First World War, 1918,

0:39:47 > 0:39:51the British East African government renewed their attempts

0:39:51 > 0:39:56to lure more wealthy Brits to come and settle permanently in Kenya.

0:39:56 > 0:39:59So in a piece of spectacular showmanship

0:39:59 > 0:40:03they invited everyone to a national lottery draw,

0:40:03 > 0:40:07parcels of land were handed out at knock down prices.

0:40:07 > 0:40:11They anticipated a few hundred people at best,

0:40:11 > 0:40:15but they were swamped by over 2,000.

0:40:15 > 0:40:17It was absolute mayhem in here.

0:40:17 > 0:40:21Chaotic! It was like a tombola roll up, roll up!

0:40:21 > 0:40:23£200 for this piece over here!

0:40:23 > 0:40:25£100 pounds over there.

0:40:25 > 0:40:26Blah, blah, blah.

0:40:26 > 0:40:31HE JABBERS

0:40:31 > 0:40:33It was absolutely jammed right here

0:40:33 > 0:40:37in what was formally the Theatre Royal Nairobi

0:40:37 > 0:40:39and which today, ironically, is divided up

0:40:39 > 0:40:44into a church service down below and the Cameo Cinema up here,

0:40:44 > 0:40:47which until very recently showed films

0:40:47 > 0:40:51of a rather, shall we say, vibrant nature!

0:40:52 > 0:40:55It's an extraordinary thing that you could have the presumption

0:40:55 > 0:40:59that you could come from another country

0:40:59 > 0:41:04in the northern hemisphere and arrive here, open plains,

0:41:04 > 0:41:07open land and think, "Well, there's nobody living on it that we can see.

0:41:07 > 0:41:12"We'll have it and we'll build a theatre here and call it the Theatre Royal, Nairobi."

0:41:14 > 0:41:15Bonkers!

0:41:20 > 0:41:23The marketing campaign paid off.

0:41:23 > 0:41:29In 1920, British East Africa became a fully-fledged colony and was renamed Kenya.

0:41:29 > 0:41:34Safari was entering its boom years, as hoards of wealthy tourists

0:41:34 > 0:41:38flocked to the freedom and thrills that Africa offered.

0:41:40 > 0:41:45To get a taste of the luxury that 1920s safari now offered,

0:41:45 > 0:41:48I headed south-west from Nairobi and into the Masai Mara.

0:41:51 > 0:41:53The Mara is breathtaking.

0:41:53 > 0:42:00Acacia trees are scattered across the vast plains and big game animals roam freely.

0:42:00 > 0:42:02Driving though it is awe-inspiring.

0:42:02 > 0:42:05TRUMPETING

0:42:19 > 0:42:21(There's a baby.)

0:42:24 > 0:42:27(Spectacular. Jambo, jambo, Kenya.)

0:42:40 > 0:42:44What's so jaw-dropping about this landscape is that

0:42:44 > 0:42:49the Kruger National Park in South Africa feels almost suburban

0:42:49 > 0:42:54in comparison in the sheer scale of what there is all around you here.

0:42:54 > 0:42:57That's the thing I was completely unprepared for.

0:42:58 > 0:43:02I'm en route to find the Cottar's 1920s Safari Camp.

0:43:04 > 0:43:11'American-born Charles Cottar was the first in the family line to head out to Kenya to settle in 1910.

0:43:11 > 0:43:17'Cottar soon earned a reputation as a fearless hunter and brought danger and excitement to safari.

0:43:17 > 0:43:20'He also tapped into the growing American market

0:43:20 > 0:43:24'as safari became an elitist pastime for the super rich.

0:43:26 > 0:43:31'Cottar's Safari Service first opened for business in 1919

0:43:31 > 0:43:36'and the latest in the family to take over the helm is Calvin Cottar, Charles' great-grandson.'

0:43:36 > 0:43:37Thanks, James. Asante.

0:43:40 > 0:43:42- Hi, Calvin.- Richard, how are you?

0:43:42 > 0:43:44- Welcome to camp.- Ah, thank you.

0:43:44 > 0:43:48CALVIN MAKES THE INTRODUCTIONS

0:43:54 > 0:43:58- So you're fourth generation? - I am fourth generation.

0:44:01 > 0:44:03- Welcome to camp.- Thank you.

0:44:03 > 0:44:08- So this is an Edwardian drawing room, under canvas in the middle of the Mara.- Yes.

0:44:08 > 0:44:14And this created that elegance that you see in films and the whole mystique about safari,

0:44:14 > 0:44:20it comes from that period of time, especially in the '20s when it was very much a luxury item to do.

0:44:20 > 0:44:28And they played on that, my family and people in that business made their camps as unique as possible.

0:44:28 > 0:44:32I'll show you some family heirlooms.

0:44:32 > 0:44:36Here's my grandfather's hat, his original hat,

0:44:36 > 0:44:40and a lot of original books from that era.

0:44:42 > 0:44:48This gun was used for shooting a very big buffalo in, I think, '56.

0:44:48 > 0:44:51- Is that why it's got this buffalo on here?- Exactly.

0:44:51 > 0:44:54- Does it still work? - Oh, very much so. Oh, yeah.

0:44:56 > 0:45:00It looks to me like walking into Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in Out of Africa.

0:45:00 > 0:45:05- Is that what people say when they arrive here?- Yes. That's what we want them to feel.

0:45:06 > 0:45:12Who were the hunting and safari clients who were attracted to come here then?

0:45:12 > 0:45:16It was mostly American commercial families or railroad families.

0:45:16 > 0:45:22- They were the ones that had the big money.- Money enough.- Yeah. Big money.

0:45:28 > 0:45:32Cottar's safari boomed in the 1920s and '30s.

0:45:32 > 0:45:37Charles had three sons - Bud, Mike and Ted - who were all big game hunters.

0:45:39 > 0:45:44But as with Roosevelt's original safari, the Cottar safari wasn't just about killing.

0:45:47 > 0:45:53Together the brothers pioneered the genre of natural history film-making at considerable risk to themselves

0:45:53 > 0:45:58by skilfully luring wild animals close up to the cameras.

0:45:58 > 0:46:03And it was Charles' thirst for danger that would prove fatal.

0:46:03 > 0:46:08In 1940, he was gored by a charging rhinoceros and died aged 67.

0:46:08 > 0:46:12His sons vowed to carry on the family's safari tradition.

0:46:12 > 0:46:14RUMBLE OF THUNDER

0:46:14 > 0:46:18Do you feel the spirit of all these men in you and here?

0:46:18 > 0:46:23Right here, yeah, because, OK, my great-grandfather was killed by a rhino

0:46:23 > 0:46:24five kilometres over there.

0:46:24 > 0:46:28My father was hit by buffalo and very nearly killed

0:46:28 > 0:46:31three kilometres over there and my formative years was all here.

0:46:31 > 0:46:33My first hunting experience was here.

0:46:33 > 0:46:38It's a magical place and I've come back to my roots which is here.

0:46:39 > 0:46:41THUNDER CRASHES

0:46:41 > 0:46:44- The gods are talking to us.- They are.

0:46:49 > 0:46:52Full-on rain!

0:47:02 > 0:47:04Pure organic water.

0:47:04 > 0:47:06Oh, it's beautiful!

0:47:16 > 0:47:22The Cottars were also innovators in the use of early motorised vehicles for safari.

0:47:22 > 0:47:27Charles ordered four American Ford chassis and parts to be shipped to Mombasa.

0:47:29 > 0:47:32The vehicles were assembled by his three sons and within a year,

0:47:32 > 0:47:36they'd replaced the traditional use of porters, ox carts and donkeys.

0:47:39 > 0:47:44To keep this tradition alive, Calvin has maintained a '20s style vehicle

0:47:44 > 0:47:48and he took me out into the Mara to get a flavour of that bygone era.

0:47:48 > 0:47:53Let's see if we can cross this stream up here.

0:47:54 > 0:47:56What happens if we get stuck?

0:47:56 > 0:47:59Well, I've got you to push.

0:48:00 > 0:48:04This is it. This is it, Calvin!

0:48:10 > 0:48:11Buffalo!

0:48:11 > 0:48:14Oh, there's herds of them.

0:48:16 > 0:48:19- They're all around us.- Yeah, yeah.

0:48:19 > 0:48:25Oh, Calvin, they're everywhere, they're everywhere, everywhere.

0:48:26 > 0:48:28There must be 600 of them or more.

0:48:30 > 0:48:36'It's awe-inspiring to be surrounded by these dangerous and unpredictable wild animals.'

0:48:36 > 0:48:39Calvin's taking us in.

0:48:39 > 0:48:40Might be Custer's last stand!

0:48:42 > 0:48:44How aggressive are they?

0:48:44 > 0:48:46They can be quite aggressive.

0:48:46 > 0:48:50As long as they're on your side of the car, I'm not worried.

0:48:52 > 0:48:55- Extraordinary.- That's a big buffalo. See that buffalo there?- Yeah.

0:48:57 > 0:49:02If you were on the third last day of a buffalo hunt and you hadn't succeeded in getting a big one,

0:49:02 > 0:49:04he would be very, very huntable, this one.

0:49:04 > 0:49:08You know, the the Holy Grail is 50 inches between the curves,

0:49:08 > 0:49:14one outer end of the horn to the other outer end of the curve is probably about 44-45 inches.

0:49:14 > 0:49:16STARTS ENGINE

0:49:18 > 0:49:19Look at all of them run.

0:49:19 > 0:49:22HOOVES POUND

0:49:22 > 0:49:26God, the sound of it!

0:49:44 > 0:49:50Seeing such impressive big game close up was the perfect end to the day at Cottar's Camp.

0:49:50 > 0:49:55And although we weren't hunting as they would have done back in the 1920s,

0:49:55 > 0:49:59I was beginning to get seduced by the heady luxury of it all.

0:49:59 > 0:50:05- Good afternoon.- Oh, jambo, Francis. - Jambo.- Cheers.

0:50:07 > 0:50:09ICE CLINKS

0:50:10 > 0:50:16It's incredible to imagine that in the 1920s people would have come on safari

0:50:16 > 0:50:19and trekked into the middle of nowhere in the Masai Mara

0:50:19 > 0:50:23with all this luxury tenting and equipment and baths available,

0:50:23 > 0:50:29but I tell you, I can imagine that after a day of hunting and safari,

0:50:29 > 0:50:30this is the way to go.

0:50:30 > 0:50:32Chin chin!

0:50:36 > 0:50:38Oh, this is the life.

0:50:52 > 0:50:57Colonial settlers became giddy with the freedom of their African lifestyle -

0:50:57 > 0:51:00safari being the natural extension of this.

0:51:00 > 0:51:05But the burgeoning colony would soon gain the reputation as a wayward society.

0:51:09 > 0:51:16Free from the strictures of British rules and regulations, a minority became uncontrollable.

0:51:16 > 0:51:21Boozy romps and sexual shenanigans were rife, and the infamous Muthaiga Club was the hub,

0:51:21 > 0:51:25so much so that no cameras have ever been allowed inside

0:51:25 > 0:51:29and filming is not permitted in the grounds to this day.

0:51:29 > 0:51:35Colonial stalwarts declared that a small minority were tarnishing the colony's reputation,

0:51:35 > 0:51:40but the clique, nicknamed the Happy Valley set, carried on regardless.

0:51:42 > 0:51:46And this free and easy loosening of morals became an integral part of safari.

0:51:46 > 0:51:50The macho sport had undoubted sex appeal

0:51:50 > 0:51:56which lured women and a new breed of seducer hunters emerged, promising romance in the wilds of Africa.

0:51:58 > 0:52:01One of the most famous was Baron Bror von Blixen.

0:52:01 > 0:52:05Blixen was a Swedish aristocrat brought up in the hunting tradition

0:52:05 > 0:52:08and was portrayed in the Hollywood epic Out of Africa, in 1985,

0:52:08 > 0:52:12as the adulterous husband of Karen Blixen.

0:52:12 > 0:52:16Throughout the '20s and '30s, Bror had a string of wealthy clients

0:52:16 > 0:52:23queuing up to pay for his services and his reputation as a prolific lover became legend.

0:52:25 > 0:52:29But what was it that Bror had that made him so adored?

0:52:29 > 0:52:32'I met his godson, Ulf Ashcan, to find out.'

0:52:32 > 0:52:37- Ulf, can you show me a photograph of Bror?- I can indeed.

0:52:37 > 0:52:41This is not typical of Bror at all

0:52:41 > 0:52:48because very seldom did you see him dressed up in a suit and a tie.

0:52:48 > 0:52:54But this is a more typical picture and he wasn't one of these guys who had bullet belts.

0:52:54 > 0:53:01- No macho posturing?- Nothing! He just carried a gun and a few bullets in his pocket and that was it.

0:53:01 > 0:53:05So considering that he wasn't conventionally handsome,

0:53:05 > 0:53:08- he was a legendary ladies man. - Yes! That's right!

0:53:08 > 0:53:14And one of the secrets was that if he met a lady,

0:53:14 > 0:53:18his concentration was so total

0:53:18 > 0:53:25that that woman or girl thought that she was the only woman on earth.

0:53:26 > 0:53:34He never wavered, I mean, he never took his eyes off the particular person that he was speaking to.

0:53:34 > 0:53:37He just looked them in the eye and talked to them, and he listened.

0:53:37 > 0:53:39He was a very good listener.

0:53:39 > 0:53:41That was his secret.

0:53:41 > 0:53:46For the women lucky enough to be on a Bror Blixen safari, nothing was too much trouble.

0:53:46 > 0:53:49He would cater to their every whim.

0:53:49 > 0:53:55If we go back to this particular safari, which they had two aircrafts on standby

0:53:55 > 0:54:03because once a week the matriarch demanded to be flown to Nairobi once a week to have her hair done.

0:54:07 > 0:54:09Hair done for the hunt? I love that!

0:54:09 > 0:54:17And not only that, the plane then came back fully laden with Evian water for her bathtub.

0:54:18 > 0:54:23- Beryl Markham said that when he died, he broke the mould.- Yes.

0:54:23 > 0:54:25I think she was right.

0:54:25 > 0:54:27And they were lovers as well, were they?

0:54:27 > 0:54:30I think definitely yes... in a friendly way.

0:54:30 > 0:54:40- So beds and hunting and safari were all shared in a very fluid, open way?- Absolutely, yeah.

0:54:40 > 0:54:46- And no jealously, which was the best of all.- Are you like that?

0:54:46 > 0:54:49Er, I probably was.

0:54:51 > 0:54:53- Now no more?- No.

0:54:55 > 0:55:00Bror Blixen became the highest-paid professional hunter of his generation.

0:55:00 > 0:55:04He formed a professional partnership with fellow hunter Denys Finch Hatton,

0:55:04 > 0:55:08another legendary womaniser famous for his love affair with Karen Blixen.

0:55:11 > 0:55:17Blixen and Finch Hatton combined to become safari's first generation of heart-throb hunters.

0:55:20 > 0:55:24The thing that comes across most about Bror Blixen for me

0:55:24 > 0:55:29is that he was a man's man that people wanted to befriend and to emulate

0:55:29 > 0:55:32and was also irresistible to women.

0:55:32 > 0:55:35So the best of both worlds.

0:55:35 > 0:55:36Lucky bastard.

0:55:42 > 0:55:47By the late 1930s, safari was attracting hordes of wealthy European and American clients,

0:55:47 > 0:55:54but the promise of passion and romance under the African stars couldn't last forever.

0:55:55 > 0:55:59Back in Nairobi, affairs became widespread.

0:55:59 > 0:56:04In fact, one story revealed that jealousies could boil over with fatal consequences.

0:56:06 > 0:56:13In 1941, a high society murder scandalised the colony and became national news back home in Britain.

0:56:13 > 0:56:19Lord Joss Hay, the Earl of Erroll, was murdered on the outskirts of Nairobi,

0:56:19 > 0:56:23in a torrid story that would inspire the feature film White Mischief.

0:56:27 > 0:56:31Now we're going to go on a sort of murder mystery tour here

0:56:31 > 0:56:35of where these events took place. What happened was this...

0:56:35 > 0:56:41Sir Jock Delves Brougton, who was about 55, married a great beauty called Diana Caldwell

0:56:41 > 0:56:46and they had been married for only two months, barely off the boat from Mombasa

0:56:46 > 0:56:52and the Casanova of Kenya, also known as Lord Joss Hay, the Earl of Erroll,

0:56:52 > 0:56:57who had bonked and bedded and cuckolded most of the husbands around here

0:56:57 > 0:56:59fell madly in love with Diana.

0:56:59 > 0:57:02And this is where it really gets going.

0:57:03 > 0:57:07Lord Erroll had a flagrant affair with Diana

0:57:07 > 0:57:10and it soon became hot gossip on the terraces of the Muthaiga Club.

0:57:12 > 0:57:14But six weeks after the affair began,

0:57:14 > 0:57:20Erroll was found dead in his car in the early hours of the morning on the 25th January 1941.

0:57:20 > 0:57:23He had been shot at point blank range.

0:57:25 > 0:57:31Jock Broughton was arrested on suspicion of murder but was found "not guilty".

0:57:31 > 0:57:35However, unable to reconcile with Diana, he returned to England,

0:57:35 > 0:57:38where two years later he committed suicide by overdose.

0:57:47 > 0:57:50It remains an unsolved mystery

0:57:50 > 0:57:55and it was this murder in the middle of the Second World War

0:57:55 > 0:58:01that brought notoriety and infamy to a very tiny minority

0:58:01 > 0:58:04of the aristocratic white settlers here in Kenya.

0:58:14 > 0:58:19The horrors of the Second World War erased all prospects of going on safari,

0:58:19 > 0:58:23and the once lucrative trade from Europe and America evaporated.

0:58:26 > 0:58:28Once the Allies were victorious,

0:58:28 > 0:58:31the colonists set about rebuilding their most famous industry

0:58:31 > 0:58:35and the catalyst once again came from America,

0:58:35 > 0:58:40this time from the pen of the famous writer Ernest Hemingway.

0:58:40 > 0:58:46Hemingway went on safari in Kenya in 1934 and again in 1953.

0:58:46 > 0:58:51In a series of novels, he described safari with manly mastery,

0:58:51 > 0:58:55transforming the great white hunter into the role of hero.

0:58:55 > 0:58:59He described a world of glamour, danger and sex

0:58:59 > 0:59:03that was inevitably snapped up by Hollywood and it was show time!

0:59:08 > 0:59:12A stream of romantic movies followed, glamorising safari,

0:59:12 > 0:59:17like Mogambo starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly

0:59:17 > 0:59:22and King Solomon's Mines starring Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr.

0:59:22 > 0:59:28Hollywood portrayed white hunters as protectors, killers and womanisers, yet at one with nature.

0:59:28 > 0:59:32The women in the movies trembled at the hunter's machismo

0:59:32 > 0:59:36and were drawn irresistibly into their beds.

0:59:36 > 0:59:40The movies had huge appeal to audiences worldwide

0:59:40 > 0:59:44prompting a tourist boom in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.

1:00:12 > 1:00:17Hollywood undoubtedly reignited the allure of safari in the early '50s -

1:00:17 > 1:00:19tourists flocked to Kenya,

1:00:19 > 1:00:25still known as British East Africa, in search of romance and adventure and trying to bag the Big five.

1:00:25 > 1:00:31As the demand for hunting grew rapidly, so did the demand for a new generation of professional hunters

1:00:31 > 1:00:35to guide and protect people going through the dangerous bush.

1:00:37 > 1:00:40I'm now heading north to the foothills of Mount Kenya

1:00:40 > 1:00:45to meet one of the last professional hunters from that era still alive to tell us his tale.

1:00:46 > 1:00:51Great white hunters are unusually guarded about recounting their hunting days,

1:00:51 > 1:00:57but we contacted Mike Prettejohn, a hunter from my father's generation who agreed to meet.

1:00:59 > 1:01:03'Mike was considered one of the most fearless hunters of his era,

1:01:03 > 1:01:07'but unbeknownst to anyone, his generation would be the last.'

1:01:07 > 1:01:10Mike, Richard.

1:01:10 > 1:01:12Nice to meet you. Come along in.

1:01:12 > 1:01:15Thank you very much.

1:01:16 > 1:01:19Mike, when did you become a professional hunter?

1:01:19 > 1:01:24I became actually a professional hunter in 1957.

1:01:24 > 1:01:29And I was brought up amongst wildlife

1:01:29 > 1:01:33and so I hunted ever since I was a boy of six, basically.

1:01:34 > 1:01:37And how close to death did you ever come?

1:01:37 > 1:01:41What adventures did you come up against?

1:01:41 > 1:01:43I was thrown by a rhino once.

1:01:43 > 1:01:48I was knocked down by a buffalo and had...the bullet shot through the buffalo,

1:01:48 > 1:01:51it went right the way through the buffalo out of its neck,

1:01:51 > 1:01:57I had my feet around its neck and it knelt down and was pushing me along the ground.

1:01:57 > 1:02:01My gun bearer actually shot it through the backside,

1:02:01 > 1:02:05it went all the way through out by the neck into the back of my leg.

1:02:05 > 1:02:10And I never realised I had so many holes,

1:02:10 > 1:02:13I had a lot of problems with this leg because the bullet moved up

1:02:13 > 1:02:16and a year later a doctor took it out from up top here.

1:02:16 > 1:02:21- You had a bullet in your bum and you didn't know it was there? - I didn't know it was there.

1:02:21 > 1:02:26I've heard of tough, but that's really tough! God!

1:02:27 > 1:02:31But one close call with death made Mike a legend in the hunting community,

1:02:31 > 1:02:36when he was asked to help shoot a rogue lion that was killing local cattle.

1:02:37 > 1:02:40One of our pet bulls had been taken out

1:02:40 > 1:02:44and so I went and I didn't have my own rifle with me

1:02:44 > 1:02:49and I borrowed a rifle and it was old ammunition

1:02:49 > 1:02:54and although it hit the lion pretty severely, it didn't kill it straightaway.

1:02:54 > 1:03:00It was just lying under a bush and I could see its stomach was just going up and down,

1:03:00 > 1:03:02so I realised it was alive.

1:03:02 > 1:03:07And so I walked around to try and get a shot of its side,

1:03:07 > 1:03:12but it obviously heard me coming and it suddenly just whipped out

1:03:12 > 1:03:20and I remember it coming towards me with its tail driving it like the propeller of an aeroplane.

1:03:20 > 1:03:23And I put out my hand to stop it

1:03:23 > 1:03:26and I fell over, it came down on top of me

1:03:26 > 1:03:30and I put my leg up and it grabbed my leg in its jaws.

1:03:32 > 1:03:36As Mike wrestled with the lion, his unarmed companion took a photograph,

1:03:36 > 1:03:38hoping that the flash would scare it away.

1:03:38 > 1:03:42He hadn't got a gun or anything so the best defence

1:03:42 > 1:03:45was to take another picture and the flash...

1:03:45 > 1:03:50obviously I think the lion thought another bullet was coming so he jumped off.

1:03:51 > 1:03:54So flash photography saved your life?

1:03:54 > 1:03:57I would say the flash photography saved my life, yes.

1:03:57 > 1:04:00When you describe it, it sounds as though it's so vivid,

1:04:00 > 1:04:05it sounds as though it could have happened yesterday, and how old are you now?

1:04:05 > 1:04:07- 77.- How old do you feel?

1:04:07 > 1:04:0845.

1:04:08 > 1:04:12So when you talk about this, does it seem as though it was very recent?

1:04:12 > 1:04:14Yes, it does, it seems like yesterday really.

1:04:19 > 1:04:24What I find personally extraordinary is that many of these...

1:04:24 > 1:04:28elder statesman of safari and hunting that I've met here

1:04:28 > 1:04:31are the age that my father, if he'd have lived, would have been,

1:04:31 > 1:04:35because he was dead at 52 so there's, um...

1:04:38 > 1:04:44..a great, I suppose, feeling of nostalgia for me of what I could have had,

1:04:44 > 1:04:50so...it's a bit embarrassing, but I feel that loss in speaking to them.

1:04:50 > 1:04:57So it's almost like finding, er... proxy fathers along the journey.

1:05:01 > 1:05:06You get a sense that somebody who has lived in another era

1:05:06 > 1:05:11although you're still in the present but what they're talking about

1:05:11 > 1:05:18and their sensibility and their code of honour, if you like,

1:05:18 > 1:05:21is absolutely present in who they are now.

1:05:23 > 1:05:25So very nostalgic for me.

1:05:27 > 1:05:30You got me there, bloody hell.

1:05:38 > 1:05:42The '50s and '60s, while full of adventure for professional hunters,

1:05:42 > 1:05:45marked the beginning of the end for hunting in Kenya.

1:05:47 > 1:05:51By now, the landscape had radically changed.

1:05:51 > 1:05:56The once open lands, teeming with wildlife that early settlers had been tempted by,

1:05:56 > 1:05:59were depleted and parcelled up for development.

1:05:59 > 1:06:03The population was rapidly expanding,

1:06:03 > 1:06:08there were greater demands for farmland and hunting was spiralling out of control.

1:06:08 > 1:06:13The growing African population who had little option for buying land for farming

1:06:13 > 1:06:17were forced to turn to poaching from private land and National Parks,

1:06:17 > 1:06:20either for food or for ivory to sell.

1:06:20 > 1:06:25As a result, they killed vast numbers of animals indiscriminately.

1:06:25 > 1:06:30Meanwhile, conflicts over land rights resulted in the Mau Mau uprising,

1:06:30 > 1:06:33as the colonialists and Kenyans were locked in fierce battles,

1:06:33 > 1:06:38resulting in 100 settlers and 10,000 Africans being killed.

1:06:38 > 1:06:46The war culminated in the end of British rule and on 1st June 1963, Kenya was declared independent.

1:06:46 > 1:06:49This is one of the happiest days of my life.

1:06:55 > 1:07:01'But the new African government failed to get a grip on poaching and the situation escalated.

1:07:05 > 1:07:08'Peter Mwangi was a poacher in that era.

1:07:08 > 1:07:15'Decades later he is a gamekeeper and patrols the Aberdare Forest to conserve the animal population.'

1:07:15 > 1:07:20Peter, this is enormous, what animal is this for?

1:07:20 > 1:07:22This is for trapping buffalo.

1:07:22 > 1:07:29If the animal comes across to put inside like that, it is caught like that.

1:07:29 > 1:07:33- So this is guaranteed to kill the animal.- Yeah. Argh!

1:07:36 > 1:07:39Peter, can you explain what this monster is?

1:07:39 > 1:07:43Those are bad elephant traps.

1:07:43 > 1:07:50They are put down and covered by soil so the elephant cannot see it.

1:07:50 > 1:07:52When it is starting to move there,

1:07:52 > 1:07:59- it is...inside their legs.- So it's injured...- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:07:59 > 1:08:07Inside here. After moving, maybe two to three days, it's defeated how to move.

1:08:07 > 1:08:10Start lying, no food and it is dead.

1:08:10 > 1:08:13So then poachers can come and get it?

1:08:13 > 1:08:15- Tusks.- Tusks.- Yeah.

1:08:15 > 1:08:19Peter, when you were a poacher, what weapons did you use?

1:08:19 > 1:08:25Well, when I was a poacher I was using spears and spear it.

1:08:25 > 1:08:26And would it die instantly?

1:08:26 > 1:08:29- There and there. - What, through the neck?

1:08:29 > 1:08:31No, no, through the heart.

1:08:34 > 1:08:36I did very bad work and knowingly.

1:08:36 > 1:08:40So when did that change, when you became a conservationist?

1:08:40 > 1:08:48Um...it came, that time there were professional people, professional hunters.

1:08:48 > 1:08:53They came to my place, they asked if there was someone who could show them the bush to hunt

1:08:53 > 1:09:00so I was appointed to take them out by somebody.

1:09:00 > 1:09:05When I took them out into the forest, I was given five shillings per day,

1:09:05 > 1:09:11five shillings for one day and we killed one bongo on licence,

1:09:11 > 1:09:19professional licensing, I realised those animals can give you money.

1:09:19 > 1:09:24I started to live slowly by slowly to stop that work of poaching.

1:09:28 > 1:09:33While Peter Mwengi and Mike Prettejohn were once hunters in the same era

1:09:33 > 1:09:36but from separate cultures, today they work together

1:09:36 > 1:09:40for the conservation of the Aberdare Forests.

1:09:40 > 1:09:45But their relationship is a minority in the history of safari.

1:09:46 > 1:09:52By the late 1960s, poaching had continued to rise and National Parks like Tsavo

1:09:52 > 1:09:57lost 35,000 elephants and 5,000 rhinoceros.

1:10:00 > 1:10:03As the wildlife population continued to plummet across Kenya,

1:10:03 > 1:10:08a growing conservation movement was making any form of hunting ever more unacceptable.

1:10:08 > 1:10:15Finally the Kenyan Government decided to impose a ban on all forms of hunting in 1977,

1:10:15 > 1:10:19in an attempt to conserve the wildlife that remained.

1:10:21 > 1:10:25Despite the ban, safari continued to expand, reinventing itself along the way.

1:10:25 > 1:10:31Cheap air travel meant ever more tourists could fly into Nairobi for the safari experience,

1:10:31 > 1:10:33with the gun being replaced by the camera.

1:10:34 > 1:10:38By the '70s and '80s, photo safaris became a mass market.

1:10:40 > 1:10:45But the history of safari proves that there are always people willing to pay to shoot wild animals.

1:10:45 > 1:10:50And safari hunters spread to Tanzania, Somalia, Uganda,

1:10:50 > 1:10:53Botswana and South Africa where it is still legal.

1:10:55 > 1:10:57Morning.

1:10:57 > 1:11:02'North of Johannesburg in South Africa, is the Melorani Ranch owned by Stewart Dorrington.

1:11:02 > 1:11:08'Stewart's hunting operation allows him to plough the profits he makes from clients

1:11:08 > 1:11:10'back into breeding new stock.

1:11:10 > 1:11:14'He agreed to let me follow a hunt with his friend Peter Flack.

1:11:17 > 1:11:21'Stewart and Peter are hoping to find an older animal,

1:11:21 > 1:11:26'past breeding age that would either die of natural causes soon or be culled.'

1:11:26 > 1:11:30We're looking for an impala or a wildebeest so then we just want to make sure

1:11:30 > 1:11:35that it's not a young animal, it's still going to be breeding, that it's an older bull

1:11:35 > 1:11:39and it's still a nice animal if you want to put him on the wall.

1:11:42 > 1:11:46Sometimes you will see exactly what you are looking for

1:11:46 > 1:11:52and then you'll drive past, out of ear shot and out of sight and then put in a stalk.

1:12:05 > 1:12:06Shall I walk in single file?

1:12:06 > 1:12:11- (Yes, if you can walk behind Peter.) - Behind Peter, OK.

1:12:11 > 1:12:13(I'll just walk in front here.)

1:12:13 > 1:12:17(The breeze is good, it's straight into us.)

1:12:21 > 1:12:26'After only ten minutes of tracking, Stewart thinks he has spotted the perfect animal.'

1:12:28 > 1:12:29(There's a wildebeest here.)

1:12:56 > 1:12:58That was quick.

1:12:58 > 1:13:00That was a lovely bull.

1:13:00 > 1:13:01Yeah, that was a nice bull.

1:13:03 > 1:13:06- I just went behind his leg.- I could see the blood, the lung blood,

1:13:06 > 1:13:12so he obviously hit... it went right through the vitals.

1:13:12 > 1:13:14And we can still hear him going around?

1:13:14 > 1:13:17He's down and it's just the nerves kicking.

1:13:17 > 1:13:19There he is.

1:13:36 > 1:13:39- So what is that movement now, nerves or...- Just nerves.- Pure nerves.

1:13:39 > 1:13:44That's what I thought was going on down there. Sometimes with their last...

1:13:44 > 1:13:49That's amazed me that he was still going. They are tough things these wildebeest.

1:13:49 > 1:13:55It's the toughest animal pound for pound, I think, on the African continent.

1:13:55 > 1:13:59If they were as big as buffalos, people would hunt them in armoured cars.

1:14:02 > 1:14:05'Peter's adrenalin was clearly pumping

1:14:05 > 1:14:09'and it reminds of tracking with Gordie Church and how emotionally charged I felt back then.'

1:14:11 > 1:14:16Taking him off has no impact on the population really because he's not a breeding bull.

1:14:16 > 1:14:21- What happens next? - Well, we normally clean him up

1:14:21 > 1:14:24and take a couple of photos.

1:14:29 > 1:14:33'Stewart prices the animals he offers for hunting according to their breed.

1:14:33 > 1:14:37'Shooting the wildebeest cost 825 US dollars,

1:14:37 > 1:14:42'while the most expensive animal he offers is the sable antelope

1:14:42 > 1:14:47'costing 9,750 US dollars.

1:14:47 > 1:14:53'Safari hunting in South Africa is booming, with clients like Peter ready to pay for the privilege.

1:14:55 > 1:14:58'Although it sounds like a huge contradiction,

1:14:58 > 1:15:04'Stewart is convinced that paid hunting can play a vital role in helping the animal population grow

1:15:04 > 1:15:08'and there's no doubt he loves both his land and the wildlife that roams it.'

1:15:11 > 1:15:15Can I ask you about this farm here or ranch?

1:15:15 > 1:15:20It's where your mother and her father lived and it's now been converted

1:15:20 > 1:15:28- from a traditional farm back to the land as it would have been before anybody farmed here.- That's right.

1:15:28 > 1:15:34And that's because the value of game supersedes livestock.

1:15:34 > 1:15:40Yah, exactly, the economics basically dictates the land use at the end of the day

1:15:40 > 1:15:44and I have no problem with that with game because I love wildlife

1:15:44 > 1:15:50and it's always been my dream to turn this into a reserve and a domain for wild animals.

1:15:50 > 1:15:54From the hunting we managed to invest the proceeds into rare species,

1:15:54 > 1:15:58so not only have we brought back the species that used to be fairly common here,

1:15:58 > 1:16:01we've brought back species like the white rhino

1:16:01 > 1:16:05and the sable antelope, and it's causing this huge population explosion.

1:16:05 > 1:16:09So Stewart are you saying that - it sounds like a contradiction in terms -

1:16:09 > 1:16:13that you have hunting but because it's controlled and licensed

1:16:13 > 1:16:16that increases the amount of game that there is.

1:16:16 > 1:16:20Absolutely. It's totally true that way

1:16:20 > 1:16:24and it incentivises when you are then looking after your own game.

1:16:24 > 1:16:29You're not going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, you want to have another goose

1:16:29 > 1:16:34so you look after your game better than probably many of the National Parks are being looked after

1:16:34 > 1:16:38because you want them to be fruitful and multiply.

1:16:39 > 1:16:42When Stewart took over Melorani, 26 years ago,

1:16:42 > 1:16:47the wildlife on his land consisted of only a handful of kudu and warthog,

1:16:47 > 1:16:53but today he has over 2,500 head of game.

1:16:53 > 1:16:56Even though hunting safaris are in a minority in Africa,

1:16:56 > 1:16:59Stewart's operation has shown me

1:16:59 > 1:17:03that hunting might still have an important role to play in conservation.

1:17:12 > 1:17:14But what about Kenya -

1:17:14 > 1:17:17the historical home of safari,

1:17:17 > 1:17:19where the hunting ban still remains?

1:17:41 > 1:17:46Oh, last night we had a four-hour higgledy-piggledy drive down a track

1:17:46 > 1:17:49like I've never been in anything like in my life,

1:17:49 > 1:17:54from the foothills of Mount Kenya to this camp Il N'gwesi.

1:17:54 > 1:17:58And I've just woken up now like Lazarus.

1:17:58 > 1:18:01This is the Garden of Eden.

1:18:03 > 1:18:06Spectacular!

1:18:12 > 1:18:19Hunting or not, safari has always been about the sheer power and glory of the African landscape.

1:18:19 > 1:18:26This is Il N'gwesi and I hope that lodges like this signal the future of safari in Africa.

1:18:26 > 1:18:30Il N'gwesi is run by the local Masai community.

1:18:30 > 1:18:36The idea for the lodge came from local white settlers who helped generate the funding to build it,

1:18:36 > 1:18:38but the Masai have been involved from the start

1:18:38 > 1:18:42and were responsible for the lodge's unique eco-friendly construction.

1:18:44 > 1:18:49'The current Lodge Manager is Ochene Sakita Mayiani.'

1:18:49 > 1:18:53So this is the first Masai run and owned safari in Kenya?

1:18:53 > 1:18:59Yes, indeed. This is the first Masai owned and managed safari in Kenya.

1:18:59 > 1:19:02And when the first guests arrived here,

1:19:02 > 1:19:04was that a shock when people actually arrived?

1:19:04 > 1:19:09Oh, oh, I can tell you it was a shock because we did not understand how to handle,

1:19:09 > 1:19:11until the first time we'd seen tourists.

1:19:11 > 1:19:15So for us at that time it was difficult, because these were different people,

1:19:15 > 1:19:20the colour, the pink colour, it was difficult for us even to shake hands.

1:19:20 > 1:19:22I tell you, we wanted them to keep their distance.

1:19:22 > 1:19:28So you're saying that when you first met the pink people, you had to keep them at a distance.

1:19:28 > 1:19:36How long did it take to learn or adopt a Western style of business to run the safari camp?

1:19:36 > 1:19:42It took us quite some time, more than one year to slowly understand.

1:19:42 > 1:19:46- And are you making money? - Yeah. We are making money now, yeah.

1:19:46 > 1:19:50- And what happens to it?- The revenue that we generate from this one

1:19:50 > 1:19:53is again ploughed back in the community

1:19:53 > 1:19:57to support the various produce and programmes we have in the community.

1:19:57 > 1:20:03These are water, education, that is schools and bursaries for the school children,

1:20:03 > 1:20:08it goes to assist in conserving the eco system, yeah.

1:20:10 > 1:20:15Il N'gwesi has been the inspiration behind ten other African-run safari lodges

1:20:15 > 1:20:19that have been set up across Kenya over the past decade.

1:20:19 > 1:20:24Whilst still in the minority, Il N'gwesi feels like the way forward

1:20:24 > 1:20:30to experience a truly integrated African safari, free of any colonial echoes.

1:20:42 > 1:20:45It's 6.30am here on the Mara and we're about to go up in a balloon ride.

1:20:45 > 1:20:48I have no idea which direction we're going in,

1:20:48 > 1:20:51what the wind will be like or where we are going to land.

1:20:54 > 1:21:00My journey through safari was coming to an end and it would finish in a truly magical way.

1:21:00 > 1:21:04For all the bloodshed and colonial exploitation,

1:21:04 > 1:21:08I have discovered the emotional heart of Africa still beats on.

1:21:12 > 1:21:17I'm back in the Masai Mara, this time with guide Toby Fenwick Wilson.

1:21:17 > 1:21:20Toby represents the new breed of British settlers

1:21:20 > 1:21:24who cater for the super wealthy on safari in Kenya once again...

1:21:25 > 1:21:29..and he's taking me on the trip of a lifetime.

1:21:29 > 1:21:33For me this is the elemental Africa,

1:21:33 > 1:21:36wildlife below us and unspoilt wilderness.

1:21:38 > 1:21:41This is the perfect, perfect time

1:21:41 > 1:21:45because the night shift is essentially changing with the day shift.

1:21:48 > 1:21:51So these are the first grumbles of activity.

1:21:52 > 1:21:58Anything that I say, any words are going to be chicken pellets compared to what you see here, you can't...

1:21:58 > 1:22:01no word can take in what this is.

1:22:01 > 1:22:04Look! There's a leopard!

1:22:04 > 1:22:06There's a leopard!

1:22:06 > 1:22:09There's a leopard going through!

1:22:09 > 1:22:10Wow! That's wonderful.

1:22:16 > 1:22:19Good, I've never seen that... that's...

1:22:28 > 1:22:30Hippos down there.

1:22:30 > 1:22:35They've literally just come back, they'll have been out grazing, they'll have just pottered back in.

1:22:40 > 1:22:42We're going right over it.

1:22:47 > 1:22:50That instant adrenalin sort of pow!

1:22:50 > 1:22:54that you get, like being a five-year-old.

1:22:56 > 1:23:02This is the closest I'll ever get to feeling like a bird or Sinbad on a magic carpet ride.

1:23:02 > 1:23:06- A wild dog, no, a hyena.- A hyena. - A hyena!

1:23:06 > 1:23:11Floating over the Mara conjures up the hypnotic spirit of freedom

1:23:11 > 1:23:14those early settlers must have experienced over a century ago.

1:23:17 > 1:23:23Leopard, elephant, giraffe, baby giraffe, baby hippo...

1:23:23 > 1:23:25gobsmacked human!

1:23:33 > 1:23:35- Jambo.- Jambo.

1:23:37 > 1:23:39'After recovering from a breathtaking flight,

1:23:39 > 1:23:42'Toby treats me to a champagne breakfast in the bush.'

1:23:42 > 1:23:45POP! There we go. Whoops!

1:23:45 > 1:23:48'Toby's clients are the top end of safari today.'

1:23:48 > 1:23:51The biggest kick for me was seeing that leopard.

1:23:51 > 1:23:56'They come from all around the world and include film stars, IT moguls, and bigwigs from Wall St,

1:23:58 > 1:24:00'who all crave the freedom of safari.'

1:24:02 > 1:24:05A lot of these people are cash rich, time poor.

1:24:07 > 1:24:10And they're coming out here to actually have a bit of space,

1:24:10 > 1:24:15slough off that chaos of the busy lives they're leading.

1:24:15 > 1:24:21I mean, you get these great mandarins that are coming in from Wall St or wherever it is...

1:24:21 > 1:24:25They are out of their comfort zone and in the hands of some lunatic guide,

1:24:25 > 1:24:29already they are slightly on the back foot, that would be slightly nerve-racking.

1:24:29 > 1:24:34But you can see them, they're slightly twitching, "Where's my telephone?" and all that stuff.

1:24:34 > 1:24:39And by day two or three the nervousness has gone, the twitching's gone,

1:24:39 > 1:24:44the Blackberries are out, the face is relaxed, ten years younger.

1:24:44 > 1:24:51And my whole ambition in a safari is to get someone in this context

1:24:51 > 1:24:55and have the ability to think, repolarise,

1:24:56 > 1:24:59enjoy the animals.

1:24:59 > 1:25:05You're trying to allow them into your head and give them an opportunity

1:25:05 > 1:25:12to see why you're so passionate about this lifestyle and that is what I am trying to tune people in to.

1:25:12 > 1:25:15You understand it, it's in your blood, it's in my blood,

1:25:15 > 1:25:18but if I can in some way

1:25:18 > 1:25:24instil even a percentage of that unknown inner feeling,

1:25:24 > 1:25:26then I've done a good job and I'm happy.

1:25:31 > 1:25:36'After a journey through the history of safari, I wasn't ready to leave Kenya yet.

1:25:38 > 1:25:42'I still had one last animal I wanted too see.

1:25:42 > 1:25:47'Lion are the royalty of the African plains and Toby heard on the bush telegraph

1:25:47 > 1:25:51'that a pride had been spotted on a nearby hillside.

1:25:51 > 1:25:57'Seeing them close up would complete my own personal Big Five.'

1:25:57 > 1:26:03- Yeah, yeah, there they are, directly ahead do you see sitting on the...?- Yep.

1:26:05 > 1:26:10It looks like three of them but I may be completely wrong.

1:26:10 > 1:26:12They are there, aren't they?

1:26:12 > 1:26:16Old Swazi boy eyes.

1:26:20 > 1:26:24Oh, my God! One, two, three, four, five, six...

1:26:28 > 1:26:30..seven. There are seven here.

1:26:30 > 1:26:33Oh, a youngster, look.

1:26:39 > 1:26:42I was just thinking, Richard, it's one thing seeing lions

1:26:42 > 1:26:48but in this geographic context it just couldn't be more perfect, could it?

1:26:48 > 1:26:51- It couldn't.- It's sublime.

1:26:53 > 1:26:55Like generations of settlers before him,

1:26:55 > 1:26:59there is no doubting Toby's genuine love for Africa and its wildlife

1:26:59 > 1:27:05and I know that once it's in your blood, it never lets you go.

1:27:05 > 1:27:06Oh, there's another...

1:27:06 > 1:27:09Eight all together.

1:27:09 > 1:27:11Yeah, it's on the move.

1:27:11 > 1:27:14'Safari is still a story of white settlers in Kenya,

1:27:14 > 1:27:18'but the search for freedom that inspired so many to come here in the first place,

1:27:18 > 1:27:23'is what attracts over a million tourists to visit every year.

1:27:25 > 1:27:31'I hope it's a freedom that carries on inspiring and feeding the human soul into the future.'

1:28:02 > 1:28:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd