Chapter 12 The “cows” in the road

While sitting on the veranda of the single quarters one evening, I saw an astonishing sight. I must explain that Dett was a one-horse town but it did have a club and a hotel.

The hotel was situated on the “other” side of the railway line and the tar road led from the main road to Bulawayo and Wankie past the hotel, over the level crossing into the town of Dett.

The distance from the town to the hotel was approximately 100 yards and the road led past the single quarters.
In the moonlight we could see one of the Irishmen staggering back from the hotel after having had a few too many.

The problem was that he was walking through a herd of buffalo and swatting them on the rump to get out of the way. Astonishingly the buffalo were very calm and did not bother him.

As he came past us we asked him what he was doing and the reply was “Trying to get these cattle to move out of the way so I can get home!”

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Chapter 18 The Barbel

As a CTC controller, we were supposed to work 6-hour shifts, but due to the terrorist war going on in Rhodesia at that time, 2 of the controllers were called-up for active duty and poor me and my colleague had to work 12-hour shifts. This was very demanding as you were locked away in a room with all the panels and things and did not know if it was day or night or rain or shine outside. We were allowed to have our rest days off when a relief was sent to us. Rest days were from 6 in the morning on Thursday till 6 in the evening on Tuesday.

This was my fishing time and I spent it at the Wankie Angling and Boating club at the mouth of the Dekka river into the Zambezi.

Once I came back from the river at approximately 9 o’clock, had breakfast and then a shower and drifted down to the pub because after 10 in the day it became so hot that you had to stay out of the sun.

At the bar was a guy that looked very pale and I asked him if he was OK.

This was his story.

Every year the intake of the pumps for the Wankie colliery had to be cleaned. He was inside this intake in about 8 foot of water with a scuba outfit, as he had to stay underwater for a long time. While working a Vundu that had entered the intake as a young fish but had outgrown the size of the grill, would push its nose against him while he was working, he would just swot it away with a spanner.

When he was finished he saw the tail of the Vundu in an aperture and decided to give his workers outside a fright and throw the Vundu at them.

Holding the ladder with one hand he grabbed the “Vundu” with the other and the next thing he knew was that he was lying on the concrete floor outside, with his workers looking down at him. The “Vundu” was nothing else than an electric barbel and luckily for him his workers saw the commotion under the water and sprang in and “rescued” him. 

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Chapter 26 Big croc

Whilst living in Wankie we used to visit the Wankie Angling and Boating club often. This was where the Dekka river joins the Zambezi and was a prime fishing venue.

In my boat we used to go upriver to the rapids and then drift downstream while spin casting for tiger fish, then start the engine again when the water starts to slow down as you enter the Kariba dam , and motor upstream while trolling up to the rapids and repeat the whole process again.

The Zambezi makes a big “S” and before you enter the slow water there is a big rock in the centre of the river called “Black rock”. During the rainy season the rock is completely submerged but in the dry season it is about 6 inches below the water.

Many a boat had a run in with this rock and broken propellers were a result.

The rock was about 5 metres from the bank and between the roots of the trees on the bank lived a huge crocodile. It must have had a run in with a boat propeller when it was young because it’s snout was a little shorter than it’s lower jaw. It was viscous and would chase any boat that came too near.

It used to be a game to cruise slowly past his hiding place and tease him and then accelerate when he comes after you.

BEWARE OF ROCKS if you go upstream towards Deka Do not attempt to go past "Black Rock" without a guide, unless you really think you know what you are doing and have done it before.

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Chapter 27 Bass fishing in hostile territory

One of the guards came to see me while he was doing his call-up in the Army and wanted to know if I wanted to go fishing with him and his troops.

I still had my camo from the Air force and quickly got dressed and off we went on an army truck. A few miles south of Wankie we turned off the main road and proceeded to the most beautiful dam I have seen. A few guards were placed around the perimeter because this was terrorist country and we proceeded to catch bass. This really was a special dam as we caught some nice bass around 5 to 8 pounds while the guards were on the outlook for terrs. We filled the keep nets with some lovely fish.

NOTE: these names are fictitious.

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Chapter 28 Zambezi in flood

During my off days one April I went to the Wankie Angling and Boating club to go fishing. What a sight, the river was in flood and was considerably higher than I had ever seen it but the water was clean, not muddy as you would expect. This was because the rains fell in Angola and the mud was settled before it even reached the Victoria falls. I launched my boat and went upstream to the rapids which were nearly under water. Tying the boat to a tree on the bank I proceeded to try and catch some fish. One rod I left in the water with a piece of meat on it.

After about half an hour I noticed the rod that was in the water was slowly being dragged to the edge of the boat. Quickly I grabbed it and started to reel it in finding that there was a barbell on the hook. As I lifted the fish into the boat I noticed that it was an electric barbell and I certainly was not going to try and take the hook out. Leaving the fish in the bottom of the boat I returned to the launching site and called for my servant to come and get the fish. I lifted the fish with the rod and he grabbed it but let go of it immediately. “What’s wrong” I asked him. “It stings me” he replied. I then explained to him what it was and how to get the hook out. “First you grab a stick and kill it before you try to get the hook out” I told him which he did but that day he learned a valuable lesson.

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