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Alex has a rough time when his camp is raided by armed robbers . . . Sunday, 04 June 2006
"With the first bush fires being spotted already and villagers burning their fields now these days will soon pass and the dust will become trapped in the air down here in the valley changing the way things look for the rest of the year until the rains come. "Last night, I held a braii with massive jumbo prawns for Anna’s parents and Anna and Adrian. It was a great success and they left full and happy. Anna is still recovering from her appendix operation and remains sore but she is in good spirits and definitely on the mend." Tuesday, 06 June 2006 "Sometimes it gets busy here, though not often. There was a bit of a fiasco with the water pump last night when the guys tried to pump from a dry river. The Zambezi had dropped around a foot, leaving the pipe exposed to the air and forming an airlock in the pump. I have decided, as a consequence that we shall drop the pump a couple of feet on to a lower sand and allow the suction hose to feed further out into the river. This also has the advantage of putting the pump below the platform and obscuring it from the river a bit. The downside is that it means clambering down to reach it. I shall take another look later to see if we can address that little problem. "This morning John Taylor dropped in for coffee and a chat ... He was right on the ball with something that had not occurred to me before. The development of the valley has been concentrated on the prettiest parts and now that the valley is pretty much developed solidly there are very few gaps left for animals to get to the water." Sunday, 18 June 2006 "And finally everything is going to shit. It all came to a head last night when I was woken after 1:00am this morning by a voice outside saying “Bwana, we have a big problem, wake up. Chrispine is sick.” I knew I didn’t recognise the voice and thought it might be someone staying over in the compound. I would have a word with them about that in the morning. "As I pulled on a pair of shorts the door was suddenly unzipped and the barrel of an AK47 appeared in my face quickly followed by a large man wearing what at first glance looked like a turban. The man holding the gun was smaller and stayed in the background. "The larger one did all the talking and told me to hand over the money, I immediately emptied my wallet but he knew that wasn’t all if it and so I unlocked the trunk and handed him a million kwacha in 5000 bills. Then, at gunpoint, they forced me to drive them to Kayila Gate where they let me go." Tuesday, 20 June 2006 "The other problem that I was going to mention if I had not got caught up with the police and showing them the scene where I was released and giving them a statement was that the generator has packed up. Completely, and totally this time because the alternator is only putting out 50 volts according to the meter which does not mean much except that everything is kaput and my wonderful electrical system has been brought swiftly to its knees." Tuesday, 27 June 2006 "A week rolls by with the repercussions of the robbery echoing around the valley. My cold continues to slightly debilitate me as I am constantly coughing and sneezing but it is on the way out at last. It is also really chilly in the mornings now. It is much colder than I have noticed in previous years; I feel sure but cannot prove because I have no thermometer to judge by. "There has been a free and frank exchange of emails following one I sent out in anger at the response of Chris Liedenberg to the general email that Adrian at CLZ sent out advising them of the original robbery. Chris had basically advised all staff and managers to keep quiet and not alarm the tourists. I had gone to visit the British High Commission in Lusaka to report the incident and the lady I spoke to there advised me to be sure to report any other information as they were concerned that they were not getting information from the lodges. "In a separate situation in the region a village has grown up on the western side of the Nyamangwe River where fishermen have been basing themselves and fishing all along the river much to the frustration of the lodge owners and managers. The lodges have been pushing to get these fishermen and the traders and hangers-on who have joined them evicted from the camp and finally, an eviction order was issued through the Community Resource Board and the squatters were to be evicted last Friday. CLZ had asked the lodges to pitch in with transport, fuel, food or anything else to assist the Police and ZAWA in a joint operation but no-one offered anything in fear of repercussions at their own camps. At the last minute, however, they did scrape together a few donations, perhaps feeling guilty. "It strikes me that a lot of the time the strength of egos and the fierce competition to be top dog in the valley goes a long way to keeping the infrastructure of this place at its primitive level. To live here you have to be tough and it was not so difficult it would appeal less to those who find it attractive now. In a sense, the toughness has become self-perpetuating. Nobody will fix the road beyond a level that makes it passable and only when their own vehicle is completely stuck will they consider it impassable. Fortunately, my vehicle is as tough as the best of them here and I have not been caught out yet. Just putting that down here in black and white seems to be tempting fate." Wednesday, 28 June 2006 "Last night I had an altogether different wake-up visit in the small hours from an elephant that spent some forty-five minutes grazing and browsing around camp. That and the return of the giant kingfisher to the stump of the old acacia out front have begun to convince me that the place itself has not been changed by the robbery. "I have been though and not in a good way. I look at my staff with new eyes, suspicious of their motives and wonder about their loyalty. My patience with the way things are done in this country has evaporated in a cynical belief that the whole system is designed to sap the resources of the investors and developers until they all come to the realisation that we are being duped. "When I came here to live I was unsettled by the level of prejudice and cynicism in the long term ex-pat community. I felt that I could make friends with the locals and develop some sort of a rapport but realise now that I was fooling myself to a great extent. I realise now that through my own actions, I have left myself with few friends, black or white, that I can relate to and after a more than a year here find that there is not one black Zambian that I can sit and talk to on an equal level. Every encounter has an agenda, hidden or not, and I do not remember a single situation where a local has gone out of his way to assist me." Thursday, 29 June 2006
"After lunch I got Patros to rip up the lawn under the area of the satellite dish. I do not want any accidents due to hungry elephants and the sticking out bit with the expensive gubbins on is probably quite delicate on an elephantine scale. "Finally, I organised the overflow system on the water tank to go and fill a little water spot halfway up the road. For the time being the pipe is lying on the surface but I may put it underground if the bush fails to absorb it over the next few weeks. It is a vain idea to encourage some antelope into the gully at least at night. I know there are a few bushbuck around and it would be good to see them here. There is not enough open ground for impala here but maybe they will come to the western side, the old ChaChaCha site in time." Friday, 30 June 2006 "At least we have some sunshine this morning and the guys are busy working on the elephant deterrent rockery around the satellite dish. It actually looks alright and as a result any damage to the satellite is going to be as a result of panic or deliberate effort. "I have also decided, this time, to take heed of the service manual for the new generator and change the oil after the first twenty hours running time. Coming in at over a thousand pounds, I think it is worth taking proper care of the thing, particularly since I depend so much on it. "It seems that there may be a development on the robbery. CI Malamo has asked me to provide transport from Chirundu tomorrow as he has a lead from an informant or something. I hope something does come of it. With the return of elephants and birds to the camp there does seem to be a small positive influence creeping back and I do hope that the good spirit can be restored in time." |
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© Afrikeye 1999 - 2007 (certain items under permission of original copyright owner) |
"It
is pretty chilly in the mornings now, though not yet so cold as to have steam
rising from the Zambezi so I guess it has to get colder still. The light in the
mornings and evenings is quite special at the moment as there is a clarity and
crispness to the air that sharpens the outlines of the trees across the river
and for a short while they are picked out in glorious pink to orange highlights.
"Yesterday, at lunchtime, two elephants came into camp to
graze on the lawns. Finally I was in the right place with my camera to take a
picture of an elephant in camp! They had come in thinking the place was empty as
the workers were all in their tents and I was in mine with the blinds up, hiding
from the chill of the day. I certainly surprised the elephants with the sound of
Velcro when I opened the blinds to look out at them.