Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-16
TAXI SERVICE RUNS
! LENGTH OF AFRICA
Native Drivers Skid Autos
/ Over Huge Snakes to
Kin Them.

The worlds longest taxi service has
been established in Africa.
It runs from Juba, at the head of
navigation on the Nile, to Cape Town,
kt the southern tip of the continent, a
distance of more than 5000 miles. The
Trans-African Motor Safaris, as it is
called, schedules the trip as a 60-day
Journey, although road conditions may
diminish or extend the transit time.
Trail Covered in Forty Days.
"Africa's new auto service down the
continents backbone uses the southern
two-thirds of an 8,000-mile Cape-to-
Cairo route, which has been pioneered
by a few daring tourists" says bulle-
tin of the National Geographic Society
from its headquarters here. "a young
South African ami his wife covered the
trail in 40 days, driving the entire dis
lance, except for 1000 miles OF inn
passable Sudd morass, through which
they ferried on q Nile steamer.
Rains may slow up the cars to
speed of 300 yards in five days: Lions
may come crawling up to watch the
driver change fiat tire. The rhinoc-
eros must) be carefully avoided, be-
cause these clumsy; heavy weight beasts
have been known to charge and wreck
automobiles, killing the passengers.
Through an Al FrescO Zoo.
"African chauffeurs skid their cars
over big snakes in their path to be sure
of killing the reptiles. In Tanganyika
and Kenya the route leads through an
outdoor ZOO vast game preserve plains
thronged with thousands of African an
imals-elands, kongoni, antelopes, ze-
bras, ostriches, CRATES, hyenas, -harte-
best and jackals. Unafraid OF auto
mobiles. herds Craze peacefully while
ia taxyf their IIf1fnnrad fAGn-
ing grounds.
"Salt and golf clubs should have their
place In the luggage of every motor
traveller through Africa-salt to get out
Of rlte. golf clubs to while away stop
overs. Even such q village as Kasama,
merely jungle crossroads, populated
by q handful of whites, has its golf
course. The fairways are not as sporty
however as those in Ellzabethvllle,
where 500 ant hills, ranging from foot
stool size to young hills, substitute Tor
hunkers. -
when the wheels spin and sink in
TIE muck it Is time to call for native
help. Naked men, women and children
will flock to aid the unfortunate motor
ist. With shouts and chants, they. VIII
pull out a car, They will chop down
trees and bushes to make a corduroy
road over a wet spot. When the labor
is over no reward pleases them more
than a teaspoonful Of saltl
Leopard FoiIs First Attempt.
"Africa,s swift development has been
dran1atfzed by successive attempts TO
shorten the time between Cairo and
Cape Town The trek was first accom-
plfshed in 1898 by Grogan, who tray-
eled on foot with small army Of ma
tive porters In 1913 the first attempt
to 20 through by automobile failed When
Capt. Kelsey was killed by q leopard.
Col. Van Ryneveld new the route in
1920, although two machines were
wrecked before he reached Cape Town.
Surveys now are under way for regular
air service.
are making Cecil Rhodes dream Of an
ALFRED route through Africa an accom-
plished fact years before he or any OF
his disciples expected swift through
trafic could be established. He proph-
esied the day when trains would run
from Cape Town to Cairo. It now
seems probable that surfaced roads and
air stations win substitute for Rhodes
steel rails.
Lines of highways thread the new
map of Africa like cobwebS spun by
busy spiders. The new taxi service has
today the choice Of four routes south
from Juba on the Nile.
The Proposed Route.
"The route selected leads from the
Nile to cotton growing Soroti, on the
banks of Lake Kioga, through Mbale,
under the slopes Of Mount Elgon, down
into the trench of the Rift Valley at
Naivasha, where Europeans are intro
ducing dairy farming.
Snow-capped Mount Kenya, some
1900 feet high, pierces the horizon
during the last part of the 776-n1ile,
f1ve-day jaunt into Nairobi, capital of
Kenya Colony. With a white popula-
ton of fewer than 1000, Nairobi has
nevertheless organized an automobile
association, largely responsible for the
remarkable development of the road
system in British East Africa.
South the Great Trunk road goes,
S49 miles TO Dodon1a, upland center of
Tanganyika, curving westward as 1t
runs around the foothills of Mount Kill
manjaro, 1928 feet and Africa's high
est. Six hundred miles more brings
the traveller to Abercorn, at the lower
end Of Lake Tankanyika-6 wicked
miles that constitute the weakest link
in the trans-African chain.
"Once across the border into Belgian
Congo, the motorist breathes a sigh of
relief, because Belgium, reaping millions