Zambia World Wide

Snake encounter

I’ve had many encounters with snakes. As mentioned in my article “Times to remember”in episode 1 it can be seen that it started at an early age when I got a hiding at school for placing a poisonous snake in a girl’s desk. Strange as it may sound, it was only about two months ago that I found a fully grown Puff Adder a meter from my back door in Villiersdorp. We suspect it came from a section they recently cleared for a new housing development. The funniest was near Garneton Zambia when I had to build an open wire route to supply Garneton with telephones in the beginning of 1959. We were burning the long grass to start the surveying when out popped a Gaboon Viper. After the labourers had killed the snake I picked it up and started chasing them with the snake. I was thoroughly enjoying myself as they had scattered in all directions. For some reason the Africans are dead scared of a snake even if dead. The last laugh was however on me as the snake suddenly started moving in my hand. All I remember was throwing the snake as far as possible and running in the opposite direction with my labourers in fits of laughter.

While staying in 11 Washington Avenue in Nkana we had three encounters with tree snakes. The closest encounter I had with a snake was during one of these encounters. It all started when Morgan the house boy came running in the kitchen shouting “Nogga, Nogga”. He had come in close contact with a tree snake in front of the garage. According to him the snake had gone into the garage. On investigating his story I saw the snake lying between a large wooden toolbox and the wall. Once I had the car out of the garage I gave Morgan a garden hoe. I told Morgan that as soon as I pull the toolbox away he must pin the snake down with the hoe which fortunately was not very sharp. Morgan would only participate in the exercise if the tasks were reversed. As he pulled the toolbox away I pinned the snake down. The next thing I knew the snake’s head with its mouth wide open was within inches from my lower hand which was holding the shaft of the hoe. The reason being that I had pinned it down near its tail end, which is something I never thought of. I went ice cold as I realized that there were quite a few possibilities which could count in the favour of the snake. Firstly I had to move my feet away from the hoe making it impossible for the snake to reach them. In the process I had to ensure that I did not release or increase the pressure exerted on the snake. What really scared me was the thought that it was only a matter of time before the hoe cut through the snake. Fortunately the snake gave up the battle before this happened and made an attempt to slide under a nearby a washing machine. Naturally I immediately removed the hoe allowing it to slither into the machine. I switched the machine on and it wasn’t long before I heard the clatter as it got caught between the drive belt and the pulleys.

It’s amazing to think what goes through a person’s mind and the reactions that take place in possibly less than 30 seconds in times of a crisis.

Unlawful encounter

When I was in Orapa a local Chief in the area gave me a tribal license. It cost me R2. With this license I could hunt 6 Wildebeest, 6 Impala, 6 Springbok, 6 Duiker and then there were 2 Warthogs and a Steenbuck. To make use of this license meant that I had to illegally smuggle one of my rifles into the mine complex. Whenever I went hunting a sergeant in the police went with me, as he too had a tribal license. Being a policeman he was legally allowed to have a firearm on the mine premises. After one of our hunting trips we as usual would share the meat with friends.

A mine security official after not getting any meat from the sergeant went and reported us to Jock Moncur the Chief Security Official. Jock arrived at my house not as Chief of Security but as an Honorary Game Warden. He commanded me to hand over my firearm. He charged me for illegally hunting because as far as he was concerned I was not entitled to a tribal license. Arriving at the police station as luck would have it the sergeant was on duty. Here Jock made a big mistake when he tried to lay a charge against the sergeant as well. The next thing there was one big argument and the sergeant’s vocabulary included the four letter word. I started to break out in cold sweat as I was now convinced that I would as a result of their argument certainly spend the night in jail. With all their shouting the Station Commander came out of his office and summoned us into his office. When the Station Commander demanded that the Sergeant give him a good reason for swearing at Jock my heart missed a couple of beats. Little did I know that he had heard that Jock was on the war path and started doing the necessary homework. He asked to be excused and soon returned with the Government Gazette. He wanted to know if Jock was an Honorary Game Warden why his name did not appear with the five recently appointed Honorary Game Wardens. I still remember two of the names as they were friends of mine. They were Jack Bowsfield who I supplied with Lucerne for the Ostridges he exported and Bodo Muchi, a German taxidermist. The Station Commander then asked Jock to leave his office before he decided to charge him for impersonating an Honorary Game Warden. He also stated that it was the prerogative of the Chief to whom he issues a tribal license. Jock got up and told me that I can come and collect my rifle when I leave Orapa. Two days later Jock was at my house for a haircut as there were no ill feelings amongst us. The only time we really had a go at each other was the night we played in a final for the singles Badminton championship. We were evenly matched but I did however end up victorious. The haircutting trade I learnt during my stay in Zambia