Hoping it is not going to bore some members, I'd like to share yet another of my articles with the readers.
Mervyn Maciel *HOW I CAME BY THE 2 ELEPHANT FEET-by Mervyn Maciel* During my service with the Provincial Administration in Marsabit in the late 1940’s and 50’s, it was not uncommon to see elephants roaming in the boma late in the evening and especially at night. Several would often appear, feasting noisily on the pepper trees outside my government quarter while we relaxed indoors. The locals would often complain when elephants went on the rampage destroying their shambas and crops. It was on one such occasion that the Administration decided to call in the ‘expert’ – Terence Adamson (brother of the famous George Adamson) to do some culling. When news reached me that the local Turkana and others were feasting on the meat of an elephant shot not far from my house, I quickly sent one of our station labourers to try and rescue the 4 feet. I was too late as most of the carcass had been demolished, but the men managed to save 2 feet for me. They saved me a lot of labour by hollowing out the feet (more meat for the ‘watu’!), leaving me to clean out, disinfect and dry them out. I’ve lost count of the number of bottles of disinfectant I used in the process. At one stage I thought I’d lost one of the feet, only to find that hyenas had dragged it away during the night(teeth marks there to prove this!) As it was too cold to have the feet dried in Marsabit, I left them out in the Chalbi desert for 2 months. No fear of these being stolen as word had gone out that these belonged to the *Bwana Karani *in Marsabit. Later on I stuffed these with the moss found around Marsabit (elephant grass or old man’s beard), had suitable tops made for them and polished them regularly with boot polish. I've lost count of the number of polish tins I must have used on these feet.These feet served as stools on which many of my friends sat! When we left Kenya for the U.K., I obtained an Export Permit from the Game department after explaining how I came to possess the feet. It was always my wish that the feet should go to a good Home, and I am delighted that John Rendall(of “A lion called Christian fame”) who I met at a luncheon in London,has accepted these on behalf of the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust, and pleased that they are returning to the Africa(Kenya) where they belong.
