Los Banos Rotary Club History
Roth Tells Of Hunting Trip

John Roth, well known Merced automobile dealer, Tuesday noon gave members of the Los Banos Rotary Club an interesting review of a recent big game hunting trip made by him and two Fresno friends into British East Africa, on which he succeeded in bagging 26 legal animals of a possible 32 species.

The men traveled by plane across the north pole to Copenhagen, Sweden, then through Europe to Nairobi and on to Naomongi, Africa, from where the safari started. Traveling in a convoy headed by two large dories and two heavily laden trucks, the safari included 16 natives and two guides. The party pushed steadily ahead through the jungle for six days before reaching good hunting territory.

Roth told of several personal hunting experiences, including a rhino shooting episode by Jess Rodman, Fresno, who pumped 5 shots into a charging rhino, and his guide added two more with a heavy .416 calibre rifle before the animal fell almost at their feet.

The trip, he said, was an unforgettable experience and was the climax of a lifelong ambition to hunt in that part of the world. But he missed his primary ambition to kill a leopard when, presented with an exceptionally good shot at a male leopard, he was fascinated by the spots on its side and from while the animal gracefully jumped from a tree and disappeared in high grass.

April 19, 1957

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