With Rifle and Camera in Rhodesia.
A Holiday away from the Beaten Track.....
"Most Delightful Trip I Have Ever Done."
In this article there are no stories of exciting chases by lions; no details of hunters cornered by elephants. It is a simply narrative of how a man and his wife spent an enjoyable holiday in Rhodesia with his gun and camera. The author is LT. Col. H.E. Crocker C.M.G., D.S.O., of Bournemouth, and his story will be interesting to others who are seeking an unconventional way of spending a holiday.
IT has always been my wish to go for a trip through Rhodesia, and at last, toward the spring of 1925, my wish was fulfilled. My wife and I left India on long leave, and landing at Beira made our way by train through Salisbury to Broken Hill in Northern Rhodesia. Here we engaged porters, bought stores, and made arrangements for our long two months' trek of over 300 miles through the Rhodesian forests. It was the dry season, and tents were not necessary.
At last all was ready. Loads were distributed over night to the array of porters collected by the Native Commissioner, and the following morning we started off.
Our plan was to march due east till we struck the Portuguese frontier on the Loangwa River, and then to follow that river due south till we reached the Zambesi at Feira. We would then make for Sinoia, and take the train to Salisbury.
For the first 70 miles we marched across a high plateau, covered with thorn trees and swarming with game of all description. I saw many kinds of antelope, and we just missed a herd of zebra. Out shooting one morning I saw a small heard of elephant which passed by some 300 yards away. To the disgust of my boy I refused to shoot them. I had no licence and the ivory, moreover was small. Lions were numerous, but though we heard them often enough at night we never saw them.
We would rise early and march for an hour before halting for breakfast. Then on again till about midday when we would halt for the night, usually near some village where we could buy eggs and chickens for ourselves and food for the porters. The natives often preferred salt in payment instead of cash.
After tea I would go out shooting and generally managed to bring back something for supper, wither a small antelope or a brace of guinea fowl, which swarmed in the valleys.
On my return to camp I would served out rations myself to the porters, who each received two pounds of flour. I always gave them some of the animals I shot. Then came bath, supper and bed.
It was cold on the plateau and though we had a tremendous fire burning all night we kept off lions and other unwelcome visitor, we had to wear all the warm clothing we had bought.
After ten days we left the plateau and scrambled down a steep escarpment into the great valley of the Loangwa. We were now among bamboos, which gave place to dense forest with great trees, from whose branches hung festoons of creepers, writhing and squirming among the undergrowth like serpents.
Here again I found plenty of game, eland, koodoo, impala, and many others. I shot a roan antelope one morning, and on my way back to camp I could have shot an impala. He was leaping and dancing in a glade to the delight of his wives and did not notice my approach. I was so fascinated watching him playing about, full of the joy of life, that I hadn't the heart to shoot him.
Later on that same morning I fell down a steep bank on to a herd of koodoo which were off like a flash., a magnificent bull bringing up the rear. I could not resist the temptation of hunting him, and my boy and I set off a long chase. We saw him once or twice, but he rapidly left us far behind, and I returned to camp, where I had all the meat I wanted.
My porters were hugely delighted at the prospect of so much meat, for they are great meat-eaters, and become despondent if they do not get it. I could not go near them for days afterwards.
We now heard lions roaring at nights, and one night I hard a lion snuffing round the camp, evidently attracted by the smell of the roan. The wretched boys had let the fire die down when they heard him approaching, and had fled to the shelter of their own camp, surrounded by a "scherm" of branches.
We saw his tracks through the camp in the morning. He had come up from the river and had terrified the cook and his wife who spent an uncomfortable night in a tree.
I thought the lion has swum across the river, and determined to sit up for him in case he paid us another visit. I accordingly had a "machan" constructed in a convenient tree on a sand bank in the river close to the camp, and here I took my post after tea.
As soon as the sun sank behind the trees the life of the forest awoke and the animals came down to drink. There were baboons, wild dogs, antelope, and many others which I could not distinguish. I could hear a hippo crashing about among the high reeds some way off, but he did not come near me.
After some time there came a tremendous roar from the opposite bank, and shortly afterwards I could just distinguish two black blobs swimming towards our bank. They landed some way down, too far off for a shot and disappeared. They never came near us again.
The natives in these districts were very musical and wold sing all day. Some of their songs were delightful, and would well repay harmonising. They are also fond of dancing, and on several occasions we could them dancing all night to the accompaniment of tom-toms and their own voices. We went to see the dances at night in the villages. They formed up in two long rows, woman opposite to the men. The men danced in turn, followed by a little string of woman. They kept at it for hours, unheeding the cold. We had to wear all we had, but they stood about wearing nothing above the waist.
We stopped one night at the village where the girls had been brewing beer from maize. My porters fortunately did not drink it, but my servants drank all they could get and were happily drunk. Both the cook and his wife were in a sorry state the next morning. "Stomach very sick Bwana," she exclaimed, ruefully rubbing her tummy as she staggered along.
As we approached the villages the woman would flock out to welcome us with songs and dances and shrill cries which brought the others running from the fields. Forming up in front of us, they would trot along in a mass, singing and dancing till we had marched through the village.
After some days we struck a motor road which led us to Feira where we received a hearty welcome from the Native Commissioner. Here we paid off our faithful porters who had done us so well on the long trek, and while fresh porters were being collected, the Native Commissioner too us for a shoot up the Zambezi in his State Barge, manned by ten paddlers.
It was one of the most delightful trips I have ever done. When the wind favoured us, we would hoist a sail and skim along in great style. The current ran fiercely, and our crew had to paddle strongly to force the heavy craft against the stream. The steersman, standing erect holding the long tiller, would sing one of the fascinating river man's songs handed down through the centuries, and the crew would come in on the chorus with a deep throated roar.
We had good sport with duck and also bagged a few antelope.
Then saying farewell to our kindly host, we crossed the Zambesi, and continue our march through the thorn covered valley.
We climbed a steep escarpment out of the Zambesi Valley, and found ourselves on the plateau of Southern Rhodesia. Marching past Sipililo, where we received great hospitality from the Native Commissioner, we reached Sinoia in due course, where we paid off the porters, and our faithful servants who had stuck to us throughout the journey from Broken Hill.
Our trip had been most successful. The weather had been perfect and we had kept remarkably fit.
The unfailing kindness and consideration of the officials had contributed in no small degree to our success and enjoyment, and to them our thanks are due.
(article extracted from the Rhodesian Annual 1931)
Kind thanks to the author and publisher. No financial gain is obtained nor sought - for sharing purposes only.
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