TRAVEL SCENES IN KENYA AND TANGANYIKA [Allocated Title]



  • Title: TRAVEL SCENES IN KENYA AND TANGANYIKA [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: AYY 1162
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: On the road in Kenya and Tanganyika.
  • Description: START 10:00:00 A Royal East African Automobile association roadsign at Nankura 110 miles west of Nairobi giving directions and distances in miles to places near and far - Nairobi, Mombasa, Salisbury (now Harare), Johannesburg, Cape Town one way and Entebbe, Stanleyville (now Kisangani), Khartoum and Cairo the other, with London via Algiers exactly 6245 miles away. 10:00:25 Broad-leafed tropical plants and a coconut tree in Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. Scenes in the centre of Mombasa - 'The Times of Mombasa Building', light vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the city centre lined by commercial buildings combining Oriental and European styles. Young Arab-looking street kids and African youths in the streets. African workmen from Mombasa's Public Works Department making small tarmacadam strips (?). Three Royal Navy officers wearing tropical dress strolling through Mombasa. Notices in English and in Swahili announcing the times of religious services in the Mombasa Memorial Cathedral. Views of the white stucco Anglican cathedral. 10:03:26 Views of Mt Kilimanjaro, at 19340 feet (5895 metres) Africa's tallest mountain, as seen from the grounds of The Two Bridges Inn in Tanganyika. 10:04:04 Views of 17,000 foot high Mount Kenya rising sharply over a fertile district of Kenya around Nanyuki exclusively colonised by European settlers and known as the White Highlands. On a European-owned farm, an Italian prisoner-of-war operates a Farmall tractor fitted with McCormick-Deering mechanical scythe in a wheat field; African youths gather up the stooks of wheat by hand and the wife of the ranch owner follows the tractor on foot. 10:05:19 Views of the home of a wealthy European settler at Nanyuki, a large two-story mock-Tudor mansion in spacious grounds with a brief view through its lead-framed lounge windows, the large garden complete with flower beds and pergolas. 10:06:09 Herds of impalas, wildebeests and zebras in bush country. Animals kept by a European farming family - two pet cheetahs who are allowed by their European owners to roam freely. Another cheetah, this time tethered, playing with a freshly-killed chicken it has been given to eat. A young giraffe coralled by its European owners in a pen. An impala. A two-horned duiker. Three young buffaloes. A baboon, seen striding across a settler's garden and looking for insects. A chimpanzee descending from a tree. Baboons hiding in trees. A pony. 10:10:07 A battered sign at Nanyuki advertises the Silverbeck Hotel located precisely on the Equator. Sergeant Wernham's Ford 15-cwt pick-up truck motors along a dirt road past a sign in English and Swahili advising all drivers to stop if they encounter camels or livestock on the road. Tracking shots from the passenger seat of the Ford pick-up truck as it motors along a dirt road. A dying camel found lying by the roadside, possibly the victim of a collision with a motor vehicle. 10:11:34 Shots of Wernham's Ford pick-up truck on the move and three African drivers in charge of a team of eight oxen pulling a cart filled with logs. 10:12:30 Wernham's Ford pick-up travels in hot, arid terrain in the Northern Frontier District where the sparse vegetation consists almost entirely of thorn bushes and acacia trees. 10:13:20 The sign for 'The Blue Posts Hotel' at Thika about 50 miles east of Nairobi. Views of the many waterfalls at the confluence of the Chania and Thika rivers. END 10:16:26
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Wernham, John19072007(1907-2007) British soldier, photographer and osteopath. Sergeant John Wernham (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: East Africa 1939-1945 (theme) Empire & Commonwealth (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 410 feet; Running time: 16 mins 26 secs
  • Notes: Summary: John Wernham recorded audio commentary over this film on 14 May 1992, DVD Reel 1 from ca 00.00 to 10.55. In the shot showing the noticeboard for the Mombasa Memorial Cathedral, note the different times for the services for its European and African congregations. Remarks: Excellent footage. This material, together with the rest of Wernham's film record of his time in East Africa, constitutes a valuable and possibly unique pictorial record at this time in the region's colonial history.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    AYY 1162

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    AYY 1179 (MADAGASCAR AND KENYA [Allocated Title])
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