Zambia World Wide

The backbone to success in Botswana

In my view no farmer before and during my time could succeed unless his wife could stand up to the occasion. To me these women were true pioneers.

There were the Du Toits who stayed across the Tati River. If they happened to be on the other side of the river when in flood they had to leave their transport behind and negotiate the 50metre wide river by hanging onto a steel cable suspended across the river. With one of my visits to their farm the Tati River was in flood. Looking at the cable I found it hard to believe that anyone could actually cross the river on these conditions let alone a woman. Imagine your feet above the ground at times and most of your body submerged in a strong flowing river and there is no chance of giving up when your hands hurt or if you got tired. To my way of thinking she was either crazy or very strong. I decided to come back the next day as the Tati River subsides rather quickly.

Marie Eloff could slaughter, cut up, pack and deliver twenty goats to a prospecting company by lunch time. Everything was done by hand. Their first house was swept away when the Tati River flooded its banks so they built their second house on a hill in less than a week. Hessian formed the bases of the walls. This was painted with a mixture of salt water and cement. Salt was added to the water until an egg would float in it. Once set it became water tight. Before they went to bed at night they had to check for snakes and scorpions. Frikkie her husband was as strong as an ox. We once went out hunting and shot a Kudu bull. The nearest we could get the vehicle to the Kudu was about fifteen paces. It was decided to remove the innards and then Frikkie would place the Kudu on the shoulders of his brother Theuns and me. When he let go we went down like a bag of potatoes. Theuns and I nearly died of suffocation as the weight of the Kudu had our heads buried in the sand. Once recovered we put the Kudu on Frikkie’s shoulders and he carried the Kudu to the vehicle. Frikkie and Theuns would catch some of the biggest Mambas I have ever seen with their bare hands and then milk them. I hated watching this as I knew if one of them were bitten he would not live to see another day. Theuns once became constipated after eating too many prickly pears. Frikkie solved the problem with a bicycle pump and soapy water. One evening some Transvalers (people from the Jo’Burg area) were invited to a barbeque on Frikkie’s farm. One self centered character really started to bore us. The worst he could do was to boast that he would catch a Duiker with his bare hands. Before he knew what was happening we were all on Frikkie’s truck armed with some search lights. A Duiker was brought to a standstill with the searchlights in its eyes. Without any persuasion he got off the truck and went for the Duiker. Before this fellow knew what was happening the Duiker had punched a few holes in him with its sharp horns and his army coat was in shreds from its sharp hoofs. I don’t think he had much to boast about on his return to the Transvaal.

The walls and flat roof of the Prinsloo’s was corrugated iron with no insulation. Hessian was suspended from the roof to act as the inner walls. A car battery served as a source of lighting. When it went flat they would swap it with that in the truck.

The bath of Japie Straus was made of a 44 gallon drum cut length ways in half with two ends removed and welded together.

In April 1968 I moved to plot 940 a small holding just outside Francistown on the Tati River which I had purchased. The change from what we were accustomed to, to what we now called home was enormous. The house had no ceilings, no hot or cold water, no electricity, no built in cupboards and the floor was plain cement. With our roof wetting we had to wet the floor to keep the dust down created during the dancing sessions. Before arriving home a labourer would warm water on an open fire for our bath. The outside toilet with its long drop had to be inspected for snakes and spiders before put into use. The second bedroom was on the stoep. Then there were the twenty Jersey cows that had to be milked and the collection of eggs. Later there were ducks, geese and pigs.

When we sold the small holding we had tiled floors, hot and cold running water, flush toilet, a built in fireplace, 3 bedrooms with built in cupboards and a separate lounge. Joe Howard who came from Salisbury and was in charge of a building construction company based in Francistown played a big role in these changes.