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"Death in the Grass"
Acrylic on panel, 18"x36"
SOLD

Determined to reach Fort Portal at the base of the fabled “Mountains of the Moon” in Western Uganda, the footsore safari pressed on. Their guide was Uganda’s chief game warden, Samaki Salmon, who had confidently told his royal hunting party that it would be a simple trek in the relatively cool air, and that they would be in camp before nightfall. This was not to be the case.

The year is 1930 and His Royal Highness, Edward, Prince of Wales, was making his second visit to East Africa. Scandalized by his abdication of the British Throne and his love affair with Wallace Simpson, he was nonetheless an avid outdoorsman and respected hunter. On both his visits to Africa, he has impressed his white hunter, The Honorable Denys Finch Hatton (made famous through Isak Dinesen’s “Out of Africa”). Finch Hatton was perhaps chosen to lead the Prince’s safari because he was an Old Etonian and had the right British accent and social breeding.

However, Finch Hatton was skeptical from the outset that the party could complete the trek in one day. Perhaps the Prince also had his doubts, because he gave his bearer a bottle of whiskey to put in his rucksack and bring along just in case. Salmon said there would be no need to bring along whiskey as there would be plenty at Fort Portal.

The Prince ignored the reassurances and took it along anyway. He was determined to see the view he’d been told about from the top of the Bondibugyo Escarpment. The party trudged on as the weather took a turn for the worse. It was now getting very cold and it had started to rain. The fine misty rain didn’t faze the Prince, it probably reminded him of the Scottish highlands; gleefully he pressed on through the tall grass.

Then, to the astonishment of them all, Salmon the guide, announced that he was lost! It was now going dark and they were totally unprepared for the conditions. They had no tent, no shelter, no blankets and were now looking at the ordeal of spending a long night at over 5,000 feet in the rain and cold. The bearers cleared a small circle in the grass and the party sat on the ground with their backs to each other. They were grateful to see the prince’s bottle of whiskey and listen to his interesting tales from Patterson’s Man Eaters of Tsavo. To add to their discomfort, a nearby lion could be heard roaring over and over again all night. A somewhat fitting backdrop to the Prince’s stories. Obviously no one slept, and it was a night to remember.

In my painting Finch Hatton leads the way with the Prince behind him, just before they call it a day and succumb to the elements, lost in the grass.