"I was traveling with a cousin on the Uasingishu just after the Nandi expedition, and, of course, long before there was any settlement up there. We had been camped... near the Mataye and were marching towards the Sirgoit Rock when we saw the beast... I saw a large animal sitting up on its haunches no more than 30 yards away. Its attitude was just that of a bear at the "Zoo" asking for buns, and I should say it must have been nearly 5 feet high... it dropped forward and shambled away towards the Sirgoit with what my cousin always describes as a sort of sideways canter… I snatched my rifle and took a snapshot at it as it was disappearing among the rocks, and, though I missed it, it stopped and turned its head round to look at us... In size it was, I should say, larger than the bear that lives in the pit at the "Zoo" and it was quite as heavily built. The fore quarters were very thickly furred, as were all four legs, but the hind quarters were comparatively speaking smooth or bare... the head was long and pointed and exactly like that of a bear... I have not a very clear recollection of the ears beyond the fact that they were small, and the tail, if any, was very small and practically unnoticeable. The color was dark..."

"An Unknown Animal on the Uasingishu" // The Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society, 1912 (1142: no.4, p.123-125)

"It was getting dark when one of my boys came into my room and said that a leopard was close to the kitchen. I rushed out at once and saw a strange beast making off: it appeared to have long hair behind and it was rather low in front. I should say it stood about 18 in. to 20 in. [45 to 50 cm] at the shoulder; it appeared to be black, with a gait similar to that of a bear — a kind of shuffling walk. Unfortunately it was nearly dark at the time and I did not get a fair view of the head.

Several Dutchmen had asked me a few days before what the strange animal was on the plateau; they said it was like a bear, but they had only seen it at dusk; it turned on their dogs and chased them off. They described it as a thick-set beast and it was making a peculiar moaning cry."

C.W.Hobley "On Some Unidentified Beasts" // The Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society, 1913 (1142: no.6, p.48-52)

On March 8, 1913, I was travelling alone on our motor trolley along the Magadi Railway. At about 9 a.m., when I was at Mile 16, I saw, about fifty yards ahead of me, what I took to be a hyena.

It was almost on the line when I first saw it and at that time it had already seen me and was making off at a right-angle to the line — which is straight at this point.

I wondered at seeing a hyena out so late in the morning, and looked at with interest, especially as, owing to the speed I was travelling (about twenty-five miles [40 km] per hour) I should pass so close to it before it had time to get away.

There had been heavy rain the night before but at the time I saw the animal it was clearing up, although the sun was not shining.

The country is quite open, with grass about eighteen inches [45 cm] high, and the ground is "black cotton", with many projecting whinstone boulders.

As I got closer to the animal I saw it was not a hyena. At first I saw it nearly broadside on: it then looked about as high as a lion. In colour it was tawny — about like a black-maned lion — with very shaggy long hair. It was short and thick-set in the body, with high withers, and had a short neck and stumpy nose.

It did not turn around to look at me, but loped off-running with its forelegs and with both hind legs rising at the same time.

As I got alongside it, it was about forty or fifty yards away, and I noticed it was very broad across its rump, had very short ears, and had no tail that I could see.

As its hind legs came out of the grass I noticed the legs were very shaggy right down to the feet, and that the feet seemed large and were, of course, covered with black mud.

I could not at all think what animal it was, and it was only after I was actually past that I realised that it must be the strange beast of which we had all heard, and which has been seen several times during the construction of this railway.

Directly I realised what I had seen my first impulse was to go back, especially as I had a .350 Rigby with me.

I could still see it loping away, but I remembered that a slight wash-away had been reported at Mile 29, and our engines were held up and waiting for me to get them through.

I therefore went on, intending to stop on my way back and take careful measurements of the spoor. Unfortunately, however, when I was returning in the afternoon very heavy rain was on, so I did not stop, as nothing would have been left of the spoor, the whole country being under water.

This strange beast was first mentioned to me by Mr. Clifford Hill, who, on the first survey of this railway, had a young Dutch boy with him who came across one on the Koora Plains (Mile 71).

He had seen nothing like it and could not describe it, so Mr. Hill showed him a picture-book of animals, and he picked out the bear as being like the animal he had seen.

The first we heard of it during construction was when we had our pipe-line discharging water to waste at about Mile 71. Several engineers saw a strange spoor in the mud so formed - all the rest of the country being dry. It has been sketched to me and described as that of a bear.

A native servant of one of the engineers, Mr. Archibald, also reported that he saw this strange animal, which, he says, stood on its hind legs and looked at him, but would not run away.

The only other instance of its actually having been seen is reported by a sub-contractor, Mr. Caviggia, who saw one at Mile 38, and his description is very similar to mine.

I have been in Africa — East, South, and West — in the wilds in advance of civilisation, building railways during a considerable part of the last eighteen years, and I cannot think of any animal I have not seen in its wild state, but I have never seen anything like this beast.