 I
was working in Africa some years ago and visited the astonishingly
beautiful Southern African kingdom of Swaziland to write about
developments there since its achievement of independence from
Britain shortly before. Ted Reilly, who ran the famous Mlilwane
game sanctuary near the town of Mbabane, invited me to join
him on a trip into the bush. The purpose was to transport a
batch of white-eyed duck across the country in his Land Rover
and to check on river crocodiles destined to attract tourists
to the Hlane game park in the north-east region near the border
with Mozambique, then in the middle of a nasty war of liberation
from Portugal.
This part of the world is Africa as romanticists
picture it, glorious Rider Haggard country where every sight
and smell is an invitation to adventure. Counting the crocodiles
certainly turned into an adventure. We rowed across a lake
in a thin-skinned boat as lightning bolts crashed across the
night sky. Pairs of red dots in the deep darkness illuminated
by our flashlights showed where the reptiles were observing
our approach, their eyes reflecting the beams of light like
those of cats. I thought the plan was to note down their numbers
and then turn the boat around, leaving the critters in peace.
But Ted wanted to go ashore for closer observation. Unable
to beach the boat for fear of holing it, we went overboard
near a bank and waded through the menacing water to a bank,
pulling the boat behind us. Every rock, every sunken log felt
like a crocodile waiting to taste of morsel of me. Ted and
his two Swazi assistants were hugely entertained by my obvious
terror as they discussed the matter in the local SiSwati language.
I could not understand the words but their laughter was eloquent.
We survived both the summer lightning storm
and the crocodiles. Afterwards, we camped under a tree and
brewed a big pot of tea - Five Roses orange pekoe, a popular
brand throughout Southern Africa. Drinking the steaming hot
beverage with milk and sugar in our tin mugs as the sounds
of the African night provided the backdrop gave me an unforgettable
moment - and a sense that I was a genuine African adventurer.
I had stared a formidable killer in the eye - a whole bunch
of eyes in fact - and then nonchalantly sipped a cup of tea.
Alan Quartermain would have been proud of me.
|
