Rock Hudson himself drove the film crew round the Nairobi National Park, with the stand-in for his co-star next to him. The crew and game warden were in the back of the semi-open Land Rover. Although all the animals in the park were wild they were used to vehicles. Many shots of various animals were taken, including baboons. For the latter Hudson threw peanuts onto the front of the vehicle. One half-grown male, seeing the actual source of this food, jumped through the half-door onto Hudson's lap, stole some extra peanuts and even snatched a lipstick from the hand of the stand-in. Hudson grabbed the baboon by the scruff of the neck, calmly took back the lipstick and threw the animal out.
Although shooting animals and getting out of the vehicle were forbidden in the Nairobi National Park, Rock Hudson was allowed out of the Land Rover to aim his gun at a zebra. The actual shooting of a zebra was filmed by the second unit in the Nanyuki area about 100 miles away.
Some shots were filmed in the Nairobi National Park. The film crew were met at the game park entrance and were told they could not bring in their own trees, hay and lucerne. The park warden said that thorn trees were a permanent feature and that the crew could get close enough to the animals to film them without having to feed them first.
The storming of the Naivasha Police Station by the Mau Mau was an actual event used by Robert C. Ruark in his book, on which the film was based. The incident was needed for the film but, rather than travel the 50 miles to Naivasha for the original building, a mock-up of the police station was made in the industrial area of Nairobi. Before the actual filming started chickens were thrown into the road outside the mock-up to give some authenticity.