Cuckoo - One man, in particular, Jordan, caused me a great deal of trouble; and was repeatedly reported as poaching ivory beyond the Kisii country and along the Anglo-German border. I was told that this man would be a nasty customer to tackle and unlikely to stop at anything to evade arrest. I set out to track him down. Jordan led me a long chase for several weeks; but finally I located his camp, caught him red handed with a lot of ivory for which he could not account satisfactorily, and without any game licence in his possession. He tamely submitted to arrest and the confiscation of the booty, largely because he had made himself so universally unpopular with the local natives. He told me that he went in hourly dread of being murdered, which was not surprising as his oppressive methods towards them had been disgraceful. In due course he was tried and convicted, given 6 months' hard labour in Mombasa jail, and all his store of ivory confiscated by the Govt. On completion of sentence, he was deported to Bombay.

Jordan - When I first went to Nairobi I was 21 and I saw lions in the streets at night. There was little in Nairobi in those days but the old Stanley Hotel and Tommy Wood's store. ... there were not more than 100 Europeans in the town, but you could see Sikhs, Parsees, Somalis and Goanese, Hindu women in rainbow saris, Arabs carrying flintlocks that were inlaid with silver ........ You could see old John Boyes, who was a great man among the Kikuyu, riding a small Abyssinian mule  ......... I had the reputation of being the worst ivory poacher in EA. In one season along the upper Maggori I traded ivory for much cattle to Greek traders in German territory, and this was against the law which allowed you no more than 2 elephants on one licence, and the Germans would have shot me had they caught me. ..…..

he tried to trade with the Kisii - plays tricks on the witch doctor who spears him in the leg. ............ went to school in Worcestershire. Ran away to sea 3 times and the third time got to SA and enlisted as a constable in the Cape Mounted Police. Rode with Gorringe's flying column, and the Boers gave him a bullet in the leg to remember it by. .......….

I had an animal farm in Africa, outside Nairobi, to which I brought the animals I trapped. ..... got fed up with this business and went hunting again - for bongo for Rothschild. No one had shot one before, no one had a whole skin. Jordan used Wanderobo and dogs and shot his bongo. The skin and head were officially seized by the PC at Eldama Ravine since he had no licence. Weeks later I heard that a skin and a head had been sold for £50 at public auction, and later resold for £250. I had heard of no one else shooting a bongo, but there they were auctioning a skin? ............. met my wife on a Union Castle liner when I was coming back to Africa one year, and we were married in Mombasa Cathedral. Whatever else happened to that marriage we started it well by making her the first white woman to cross Africa.

Game - After serving with the Cape Mounted Police through Boer War, met a man who persuaded him to go prospecting in GEA with £30 between them - they found gold but in a waterless country, contracted blackwater fever which finished his partner. Lying in hospital at Mwanza natives stole all his goods, but an Arab offered him a passage in his dhow to Port Florence where he was offered a job to open a trading station amongst the warlike Lumbwa tribe. Got to know Wanderobo and spent next 8 years hunting elephant etc. During a visit to Port Florence he found bubonic plague raging, and, as there were only a few Europeans, he volunteered his services and was given charge of the Indian Bazaar for about 6 weeks, during which time he burnt most of the goods through finding dead rats amongst them.

Just after this the Nandi tribe started on the warpath, and he served in the Intelligence and Transport, with the Sotik and Kisii expeditions. In 1911 Jordan married, and he and his wife  enjoyed a honeymoon trip across Africa from East to West, taking over a year and travelling about 4000 miles. Returned to England in 1914, and served with Royal Berkshire and Devon Regiments.

After WW1 he became a FRGS. Repatriated to Africa he made right through Angola and the Portuguese Congo, but unfortunately had to return to England through intermittent malaria. Never returned to Africa. Spent next 7 years hunting and trapping in Oregon, California and British Columbia.

Red Book 1912 - J.A.V. Jordan - Nairobi ?