Russell Bowker-Douglas

Great news being told of your web site. I was at Arusha school from 1949-1954 when I was enrolled at Kongwa until I left school in 1957.

My father, Russell Bowker-Douglass started Tanganyika Tours & Safaris from Arusha and went on to build and own Lake Manyara Hotel until he was nationalized like every one else by the Nyerere government.

I went on to be involved in aviation until I retired at the end of 1999 when I was a "Jumbo" captain and instructor pilot for a major airline and 25,000hrs flying experience!

As you can see from my address, I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Its where the expression, "Godzone" came into being!! I have the good fortune to be surrounded by not only ex-Arusha School but ex-Kongwa-ites too. To name but a few, Peter Taverner, Denton Webster and Nigel Borrissow.

Numerous ex-Kenyans live near me too, Thadie and Lavinia(nee Allan) Ryan, Dave Power, Peggy Tisdall, John & Robin Channer and Dennis & Anne Bower to name but few. The local Ex Kenya Regiments meetings from this area often fronts up over 100 at curry do's.

I would like you to publish what you can of this letter in the hope I may get in touch with friends from long ago.

Best regards, Rusty

Russ Bowker-Douglass

Your website is absolutely fascinating. You have done an incredible job with your research and the communication with individuals who were in the area in this time frame is absolutely fabulous. My most sincere kudus to you.

May I please ask,; have you come across any information on a man named Mike Carroll, who hunted with/for Tanganyika Tours and Safaris or a man named George Neary, who hunted with Tanganyika Tours and Safaris from Oct. 1957 to Jan. 1958. He later purchased Tanganyika Tours and Safaris from Russell Bowker-Douglass, during the time he was building the Maryana Hotel.

Any information about these individuals would be greatly appreciated. Again, thank you for the extraordinary job you have done with this web site.

Stan Lawrence-Brown, Dave Lunan's former partner, had set up shop at Arusha in 1957. Lawrence-Brown Safaris (Tanganyika) Ltd.'s main competitor was Russell Bowker Douglas, who owned Tanganyika Tours and Safaris Ltd.

Among hunters Russell's firm was affectionately known as Tanganyika Whores and Shauris Ltd. {shauri is Swahili for "ruckus" or "problem"). The firm's letterhead proudly announced, "By Appointment to H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands." Prince Bernhard, or P.B - as he is popularly known in the hunting fraternity, went on four hunting safaris with Douglas. Russell recalled, "P.B. was one of the finest sportsmen I ever met. He liked to take photographs, and would only shoot if an outstanding trophy was found. He actually shoots very little, but he loves safaris!"

Russell was a well-liked fixture in the Tanganyika hunting community. He was as much at home with royalty as he was with rednecks. Russell's firm was staffed with a fine team of young professionals.

[T.T. & S. Ltd.�s hunters: Bob Foster (for a time}, John Fletcher, Anton Allen, Nicky Blunt, Pat Hemingway, Jackie Carlyon, Neil Millar, David Williams, Don Rundgren, Mike Dove. and Chris "Tiger" Lyon.]

In Arusha, Russell's safari office was in the lobby of the New Arusha Hotel. In those days, in front of the hotel there was a sign:

THIS SPOT IS EXACTLY HALF WAY BETWEEN THE CAPE AND CAIRO AND THE EXACT CENTER OF KENYA, UGANDA, AND TANGANYIKA

Russell's partner, George Dove, sported an enormous waxed mustache as his trademark. Dove was a pleasant, hardworking man with his heart in the right place. George, and his son Mike, built two important tourist lodges, Kimba camp at Ngorongoro Crater, and Ndutu Lodge on the southern border of the Serengeti national park.

Footnote: After Tanzania's independence there were a number of deportations of whites from the country. Because of this uncertainty George and his family settled in Australia.

Russell [Douglas] built a major tourist destination with construction of the Lake Manyara Hotel, which has a marvelous view overlooking the Great Rift Valley.

Stan Lawrence-Brown had his office in the Safari Hotel one hundred yards up the street from his rival, Russell Douglas. The Safari Hotel was newer, and probably fancier than the New Arusha, but it did not have the trout river frontage, lovely grounds, or the Old World charm of its rival. The Safari was a four-story rectangular box built of stone and concrete, and in its time the interior was comfortably appointed with lofty rooms. Even today, while the Safari has sunk into obscurity with the advent of newer hotels, one cannot help but notice that this large hotel has all its plumbing on the exterior of the structure, a result of an oversight by the contractors, who had forgotten to include plumbing. The hotel was owned by two aristocratic English sisters, Gladys and Margot Rydon. Both women owned prosperous coffee estates. Gladys lived in a magnificent mansion overlooking a mysterious crater lake called Duluti, seven miles east of Arusha. Margot's son, David, was killed by a buffalo near Arusha in 1964.

One of Russell's hunters was Jackie Carlyon, who hailed from Cornwall, England. He was a nephew of fiery soldier Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen. Carlyon, who had private means, came to Africa as a mining engineer, but got a job stooging for a license with George Dove and Russell Douglas. Carlyon was one of the most likeable of men, and one of the few "gun nuts" in the hunting community. He constantly experimented with heavy-caliber weapons, and was an acknowledged ballistics expert. He was also an outstanding shot with heavy rifles, despite his rather puny stature. In 1962 Carlyon's promising career was snuffed out in a car crash, when he was killed with his gunbearer driving from Arusha to Nairobi.

Just read about Russell Bowker-Douglas. Is this the same Russ that I used to fly with back in 1988/90 with Scottish European Airways? Last seen in Glasgow, 1990. If so, Best Wishes to you; you certainly get around.

Wondering if it would be possible to give me the email address of Russell Bowker-Douglass as shown on your website. My wife and I met him and Wendy on Safari in Kenya in October 2005, and lost his email address. I this is not possible would you pass this message on to him so he may contact us if he wishes.