West with the Night

Markham describes a series of events that took place in 1935 when she was the only female bush pilot in Kenya. The author describes Africa as a huge, mysterious, mostly unknown place. She takes pains to explain that those nations that have sought to colonize and change Africa do not understand its nature.

She receives a phone call at her cottage outside of Nairobi at 1:00 am saying that a gold miner is seriously ill and that a doctor wants her to bring an oxygen tank to the small community of Nungwe, which is 350 miles from Nairobi. Markham is skeptical of her ability to help the miner because it has taken the message several days to get to her. At the same time, she and other aviators have been worrying about Woody, another bush pilot who disappeared along with his plane several days before. She must delay her search for Woody until she transports the oxygen to the mining camp.

Arab Ruta, a member of the Nandi tribe whom she has known since her childhood, helps her start her plane. She flies in absolute darkness, writing, “Night envelops me entirely, leaving me out of touch with the earth, leaving me within this small moving world of my own, living in space with the stars” (15).

Markham sees the runway at Nungwe from 1,000 feet in the air surrounded by flickering orange lights. When she lands, a doctor appears to take possession of the oxygen tank. Another official, Ebert, greets her and tells her that they built the runway specifically for this flight.

Ebert tells her that there is another seriously ill white mine worker who would like for her to come see him. The man suffers from blackwater fever, which is a complication of malaria treated with quinine. Markham remembers once having flown a blackwater patient who died during the flight. The illness at that time was universally fatal.

Ebert takes her to a hut where she finds a man named Bergner lying in bed. The patient begins to talk to her about other white settlers of Kenya that she might have known. He brings up the name Carl Hastings, saying that she must surely know him because he is a well-known white hunter. Though Markham has not heard of the man, she pretends that she has, hoping to lift Bergner’s spirits. She tells him that, contrary to the bet Hastings had with Bergner—that he would never find a suitable wife in Kenya—Hastings indeed fell in love and got married and thus owes money to Bergner.

Years later, Marham meets Hastings at a dinner party. Hastings confesses that he does not remember having known Bergner.

The next morning, Markham resumes her search for Woody by flying over the Serengeti plains. She knows that Woody was flying a Klemm airplane, one that she regards as inferior to other aircraft. As she looks out over the vast expanse of territory that is simply labeled as “unsurveyed” on the map (35), she sees a huge herd of impalas, wildebeests, and zebras running together. To her, the zebras are clownish creatures.

Markham relates the story of Punda, a young zebra. As a girl, when she was riding one of her father’s horses named Balmy, she came upon a herd of zebras including a mother and new foal. The foal took a liking to Balmy and followed the horse and rider back to the farm. The zebra remained for several months, coming into Markham’s room in the morning to wake her up. As she thinks about Punda, she realizes that she should be paying closer attention to the ground 5,000 feet below.

After she has already flown past it, Markham realizes that what she thought was a watering hole is actually the highly reflective wings of Woody’s airplane. She circles back and locates a place to land. She finds Woody alive. The magneto in his plane failed, forcing him out of the air.

As they prepare to leave, a small group of travelers appears in wagons pulled by donkeys. The merchant who guides them is Bishon Singh, a Sikh merchant whom Markham has known since she was a child. In fact, Bishon saved her life from a lion attack when she was a little girl. He has not seen her as an adult, and the two feel amazed to encounter one another in the wilderness. When she says she is taking Woody back to Nairobi, Bishon offers to fix them tea because they have such a long journey ahead. Markham notes that, in the plane, it will take less than an hour. Markham notices that Bishon’s arm has withered. He explains to her that a lion also attacked him and says, “[I]t makes us like brothers, you and me” (53).