The Kudu Horn and Scouting

"The kudu is a species of antelope which ranges from South Africa to Ethiopia. A kudu bull may stand over five feet high and is colored from a reddish gray to almost blue. In addition to the beast's reputable sense of hearing, its keen sight, sense of smell, the great speed make it a difficult animal to capture."

Frederick Selous, in his classic work, A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa, 1881, described the kudu as "perhaps the handsomest antelope in the world."

Following a tradition stretching back more than 85 years, the troop is often called to assembly with the traditional sound of the kudu horn at many Wood Badge courses and Junior Leader Training Conferences .

It may seem strange that the horn of an African antelope, a type used by the Matabele as a war horn in the 19th century, should call Scouts and Scouters together in America and in many countries around the world. But it was just such a horn that roused the first Scouts ever called together. In the summer of 1907, Baden-Powell held his first experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbor. Retrieved from his African trophies, the kudu horn entered Scout service.

William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt, one of Baden-Powell's best biographers, records the first use of the kudu horn this way:

"The day began at 6 a.m. when Baden-Powell roused the camp with the weird notes from the long, spiral horn of the African koodoo -- the war horn he had picked up on his expedition into the Somabula Forest during the 1896 Matabele Campaign."

"As a colonel in southern Africa during 1896, Baden-Powell commanded a flying column in the Matabele Campaign. It was on a raid down the Shangani River that he first heard the kudu horn. He had been puzzled by the speed with which alarms were spread amongst the Matabeles, until one day he realized that they were using a war horn of great carrying power. A code was used. As soon as the enemy was sighted, the alarm was sounded on the kudu -- taken up right and left -- and, thus, carried many miles in a very short space of time.

"When he assembled the first Scouts at Brownsea, Baden-Powell remembered the kudu horn he had brought back with him from the Matabele Wars, and used it too add a touch of adventure and fun to the camp.

"After Brownsea Island the kudu horn was returned to B-P's home and was silent for 12 years, while the movement it had announced was fashioned and spread throughout the world. Then, in 1919, Baden-Powell entrusted the horn to Gilwell Park for use in the first scoutmaster training courses."