Lion shot in Nuerland
35 mm | Negative film Kodak Panatonic
Previous PRM Number:
WT.Southern Sudan.5.14
Accession Number:
2004.130.32903.1
Description:
A portrait of Thesiger looking down, his porters (one wearing thiau armrings) and servant Idris Daud standing behind one of forty lions Thesiger shot in southern Sudan.
He later wrote that lions were then considered vermin in the region, and were especially abundant in the Western District.
Thesiger's two servants were both issued with guns and proved skilled and enthusiastic shots, invariably accompanying him on regular hunting forays.
The distinctively skewed framing of the image is characteristic of those taken by Malo, Thesiger's interpreter.
Photographer:
Malo
Date of Photo:
1938
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Wahda
Group:
Nuer ?Western Jikany
NamedPerson:
Idris Daud, Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
PRM Source:
Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
Acquired:
Accepted as Art in Lieu of Inheritance Tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Pitt Rivers Museum, March 2004
Other Owners:
n/a
Class:
Hunting , Weapon , Fauna
Keyword:
Fire Accessory , Animal Lion
Other Information:
Manual Catalogue (Thesiger album card) entry for similar image - 'VOL E p.
34/LION shot by me in the Western Nuer District' [Elin Bornemann 25/5/2004] In The Life of My Choice (Harper Collins 1987) Thesiger notes (page 273) that 'I know that today it sounds unforgiveable to have shot seventy lion in five years, but that was fifty years ago and circumstances of that time cannot be judged by those of today.
Lion were then rated as vermin in the Sudan, and were especially abundant in Western Nuer District.' Chris Morton [16/9/2004]
Recorder:
Elin Bornemann [10/12/2003] Christopher Morton [16/9/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
