Peter Bramwall

Bramwall was a Kenyan, and had been at Banagi for about a year, during which time he had completed the first phase of the construction of what was to become the Seronera game lodge for tourists. This first stage consisted of only a few concrete rondavels, with thatched roofs, and a water collection system from a nearby rocky kopje.

Shortly before the end of my first three-year tour of service, Brian Hodgson called me into his office, and said with a grin that he had a job for me that he thought I would enjoy. How right he was. Apparently the provincial commissioner of Lake Province, one 'Fanny' Walden at that time, was disturbed by reports of large numbers of Masai grazing their cattle on the Lake Province sector of the Serengeti. He wanted a rough census of the Masai cattle carried out, and Hodgson had suggested that I be told to do the job. I was to be assisted by Peter Bramwall, who was game ranger at Banagi, and Peter Venter, a stock theft prevention officer from Arusha.

I [John Cooke] was to be assisted [at a census of Masai cattle] by Peter Bramwall, who was game ranger at Banagi, and Peter Venter, a stock theft prevention officer from Arusha.

Bramwall was a Kenyan, and had been at Banagi for about a year, during which time he had completed the first phase of the construction of what was to become the Seronera game lodge for tourists. This first stage consisted of only a few concrete rondavels, with thatched roofs, and a water collection system from a nearby rocky kopje.

He was a trifle eccentric, and his method of travel across the Serengeti plains was, for example, highly original. The dust was atrocious, and Peter used to travel in a completely open landrover, clad only in an old army greatcoat. On arrival at his destination he simply removed this, shook it violently to detach much of the accumulated dust, and then got dressed in clean clothes.