Zambia World Wide

Rabies

Between 1968 and 1969 Francistown had an outbreak of rabies. After the results of the first two dogs I shot on my property tested positive I was given carte blanche to shoot any stray dog on my premises. I lost count on how many rabid dogs I shot. The dogs had to be burnt and buried. Once the labourers lit the fire they would run away as fast as possible as they were convinced that they could get rabies if they inhaled the smoke. The Government set up an anti rabies campaign. Every dog they vaccinated against rabies was marked with a large paint brush. After a cut off date the police went out and any dog found in the street without the painted mark was shot.

The tame Guinea fowls I had, some of which were crossed with the white Leghorn fowls acted as my warning alarm. I could tell by the sound they made if something was amiss.

We had a rather scary experience with one of the rabid dogs. Coming home one evening after attending a cinema show at the Francistown Recreational Club we found a rabid dog chewing at the fence I had erected to protect our dog Oubaas (old boss). With the outbreak of rabies whenever we went out we would tie Oubaas up in this temporary enclosure. To our surprise Oubaas remained in his kennel as if he sensed something was wrong. We remained in the car until the rabid dog went into the centre of the mealie plantation. I ran in the house and collected the .22(5.6mm) rifle which I used for the other dogs. I soon realized I would have felt better had I taken the shot gun. With Pauline behind me holding the torch we started our search between the rows of mealies towering well above us. We felt at ease as we were going in the direction the dog had taken until Pauline heard a rustle behind her. As we turned we realized that with Pauline now in front there was no way I would be able to shoot the dog. I also realized that it was frightening not being able to see what is behind you. We worked out a plan of action but not having the shot gun it became risky. We also decided it would be best if we made our way back down another row. Suddenly the end of the mealies seemed miles away. We were reacting to the slightest bit of sound. We had gone some 30metres when we spotted the dog in front of us. After shooting the dog and looking at the fence covered with blood and saliva we were so pump up that we found it hard to fall asleep.

Single engine aircraft

Mervin Spence my engineer with the Botswana Government first had a single engine aircraft and later he bought a twin engine. We were flying back from Kasane on our way to Francistown following the boundary fence between Botswana and Rhodesia. All went well until we were somewhere in the middle of the Wanke (Hwange) game reserve. Suddenly there was a deadly silence and the propeller came to a halt. The aircraft dipped its nose and headed downward with the wind whistling by. The situation did not sink in immediately. At first I was trying to stop the items in the rear that came tumbling down towards us. It was only when I saw mother earth getting too close for comfort that the reality of the situation sunk in. Mervin however was calmly going about his business. With the ground getting too close for my comfort I started to think that it was time to start praying. Then to my relief I heard the motor start and we were once more airborne.

Mervin explained that he was flying on the reserve tank and unfortunately when empty it can’t automatically go over to the main tank. He apologized for not first adjusting the aircraft so that the descent would be much slower before changing over to the main tank.