Sixteen African chiefs, the heads of tribes represented in 11th East African Division fighting in Burma, are received at Government House in Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

At Government House in Colombo the African chiefs are met by Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore, the Governor of Ceylon, and Lady Moore, accompanied by Lieutenant-General de Robillard Wetherall (former commander of 11th African Division in Ethiopia and now General Officer Commanding Ceylon). Some of the chiefs are in traditional clothes and others in western dress. The chiefs sit down to tea. Outside Government House the chiefs, now clad in 'jungle green' battledress for a visit to the front, are met by Major-General Francis Tuker. At Colombo Zoological Gardens the chiefs are much impressed by an (Indian) elephant ('which in Africa are the most feared of the great beasts' - from the dopesheet). Chiefs riding an elephant. Feeding the elephant with bananas. One of the chiefs, obviously enjoying himself, is lifted bodily off the ground by an elephant using its trunk. The chiefs feed a baby elephant. Views of Government House. Tables and chairs set out for a dinner or tea party.

Notes

According to the dopesheet it would seem this footage appears out of sequence on the viewing copy of this film. The chiefs apparently arrived on 16 June to meet troops and were met by Tuker on 17 June, visiting the zoo and being received by Sir Henry the following day.

11th East African Division (not to be confused with 11th African Division) drew its soldiers from Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland (now part of Malawi), Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The Division's Burma combat debut was in August 1944, relieving the 23rd Indian Division.

Corresponding still photographs, held by the Museum's Photograph Archive, provide the following names of the chiefs seen in this film:

Sheik Ali of Zanzibar.

Chief Kalumbu.

Chief Humbi, a Ziota.

Chief Kawinga of Nyasaland.

Chief Shoka of Tanganyika.