The Journey Continues

Next morning after a hasty breakfast, the intrepid explorers set off.
After an hours peaceful travel they were enchanted to see a herd of giraffe browsing at the forest edge,






and motored quietly towards them to enjoy a better view.






Just as well.

A party of natives appeared on the left bank.
A flurry of spears fell around them.
Long range fortunately, and all missed.

A second, more accurate volley.

Better aimed this time, several hit the boats.
Stores were damaged, but the only casualty was to Ser, their guide who received a large splinter in his upper arm.
A 6 foot cube of a man, he showed no sign of pain as he increased speed to move out of range.
Ser was only the last syllable of his otherwise tonsil strangling name, but suited his personality and bearing.


 Quickly they moved into an even greater danger,
 lining the bank was a group of very angry Arab traders ,whose own ambush had been ruined by the noise of the boats.
A flurry of shots rang out even as the heavens opened in a sudden downpour.

Perhaps the gods were smiling on the party.
Not a single shot came near.







Moving rapidly away in the poor visibility, another group of traders appeared, one of whom armed with a more modern rifle, fired.
The others could only look on.

Black Powder has its limits.




This time their luck was not so good and the bullet ripped into the Professor.

He slumped down, bleeding heavily.









As the rifleman raised his weapon for another shot Fortune again smiled on the party.

Disturbed by the noise a Rhinoceros charged out of the undergrowth,
The rifleman had time only for a hasty shot before being hurled to the ground by the angry beast.



Moving hastily away the party reached a calmer part of the river.
Giant dragonflies flitted at the rivers edge, silenced reigned.




Searching for a good spot to land and tend to their injuries, the party scanned the banks for a safe place.




On the left bank two more rhinos were peacefully grazing, on the right ,movement could be seen through the bushes.Was that a person they could see?





Hopefully they moved closer.


It was.




They gratefully moved towards the bank to land and recover from the morning.


What the afternoon had to offer everyone would have to wait and see.

Into the Mists.

Professor Compiagni and his niece Sophia were embarking on their latest quest for that mythical creature Homo Sapiens, so called Thinking Man.

All of his years working at Universities and for Government Departments had done nothing to prove that such a creature truly existed, but his lifetime quest went on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       April 4th 1918

Somewhere in East Africa

Leaving the trading post at Port St James, the adventurers set off.

     They knew that the journey would be a dangerous one,The Terrain was hostile, The flora and Fauna likewise, Some of the Native tribes were rumoured to be friendly, but others  like The Ama Zoni, and the Sushi, who were rumoured the eat their victims raw, were not. 

Very little was known of the Pygmy tribes, The Neehi and The Nowusime,   Much of their journey would be where no man had gone before.

The first part of their journey would however follow the trail of Hans and Heinrich Doppelganger, the Twin Archaeologists who had  come this way looking for the elusive mojo, possession of which was thought to grant great power to the holder.

After a few hours they came across a small herd of antelope.

A native hunting party had also spotted the antelope and were herding them against the river bank. The party eased off on their engines,not wishing to alarm the herd and draw the wrath of the natives.       
 


As the party drifted past the Sophia waved and the natives more interested in the hunt responded with a quick wave before commencing their kill.

    A little further on and a Buffalo could be seen drinking, Notoriously bad tempered, The party watched warily as they steamed past.

 Continuing on, very little could be seen. The jungle was alive with sound, and they knew that their progress was being watched by many unseen eyes.

      By mid afternoon the party had settled in to a routine of watching as the banks of the river lazily drifted past.

 When they were beginning to look for a place where they could safely camp for the night, suddenly the engine on the second boat began to misfire, and they were forced to drift back downstream until a spot could be found to moor and repair the fault.
   As it turned out a simple enough job, cleaning out the fuel line.
But it was almost dark by the time the task was finished.
Camp was made and a restless night followed.


The Journey will continue.

Musket armed natives....

slowly working my way through bits for this project - few musket armed natives completed

Action at Patimbobo .....

The Sultan of Nambuzo wants to take control of the railway from the interior. 

Attempting to extend their influence the germans have sent some troops to support the Sultanate of Nambuzo in this action - a small force of colonial troops and askari.  Aware of the the Sultan's intentions, the British have assembled a scratch force to defend the railway - comprising some Indian colonial troops, a naval landing party and some armed sailors. 

Both sides are on the move and plan to take control of the small railway halt and telegraph station at Patimbobo where the railway crosses a river.

---oXo---

Patimbobo....

the German column approaches....

The British force on the move ....

The German column reaches Patimbobo railway halt ....

The British force nears Patimbobo....

Both sides start to deploy ....

The firing starts by the railway bridge, as the British flanking movements come into contact with the German forces...

Losses slowly mount on both sides .....

The armed sailors prepare to cross the footbridge ...

The Indian colonial troops flanking attack has failed and they fall back ....

the naval landing party is not making much headway trying to cross the rail bridge...

the naval landing party falls back, however the armed sailors are across the footbridge ...

the naval landing party moves forward again to provide supporting fire for the armed sailors ....

the armed sailors have seen off the German askari who were in their way ...

the Germans regroup and fire on the armed sailors ....

Out-matched the armed sailors fall back ....

The Germans secure the telegraph station and set up a perimeter....

What remains of the British force has fallen back to the native village...

with insufficient men to take further offensive action, the commander of the British force decides to withdraw.

Askari...

Slowly working my way through my lead pile for Africa. I've just finished a mixed lot of Askari commanded by a couple of European officers.

Attack on Mutimbo ....

Armed traders from the Sultanate of Nambuzo,  based at the trading post of Mutimbo, have been causing trouble in the adjoining British protectorate. Diplomatic efforts to stop incursions have failed. A small raiding force has been assembled to carry out a punitive raid on the trading post to deter further incursions.

---oXo---

The trading post at Mutimb, with native village nearby....

The British attack force comprising a naval landing party (from HMS Winscombe), a detachment of Sikh colonial troops with some armed colonial police make their way towards Mutimbo...

A sentry at the trading post spots the advancing column in the distance and raises the alarm....

As the column nears the trading post they can see the defenders are in position ...

They advance splitting into two groups, one heads straight towards the trading post, the other starts a flanking move...

The defenders open fire at long range with their muskets and small cannon....

As the attack column gets closer to the trading post they start to take casualties....

The Sikh troops advance to the attack while the naval landing party form up and start firing at the defenders to their front ...

The naval landing party advance firing as they go, their firepower takes out the defenders to their front ...

A small group of defenders attempt to outflank the attackers, a colonial police officers organises a few men to hold them off..

as they flanking attack is held off, the Sikh troops after some hard fighting are into the trading post along with the naval landing party - the remaining defenders are starting to back off ....

With the bulk of the defenders either killed or having run away,  the attack force fires the buildings and starts to mop up...

The trading post at Mutimbo has been destroyed, the British hope that the Sultan will get the message and keep his forces to his own territory.