Monday 8 April 2013

Arrival in Southern Rhodesia - at last!

March 13 1953 (Friday) Land Mileage 7140 


What a pleasure to wake up inside a hotel and not have the inconvenience of rain and a wet Land Rover!   Breakfast cooked for us was total luxury after the last few days. We filled the tanks up with fuel once more and we were on the road again soon after 08h00. The road was a great improvement on the surfaces of recent days and we quite enjoyed the 82 mile trip  to Kapiri M'Poshi.

This was just a small railway station with a hotel, petrol and stores. We were there by mid-morning, but decided that we should top up again with fuel while we were able. Carrying on from there through Broken Hill, we had a lunch time break and drove onto Lusaka, the capital of Northern Rhodesia. We found a Land Rover agent there and Dad bought a new speedo cable, as ours was behaving in a very strange manner!   We had been told that we needed to report to Customs here, so maybe that was why the Ndola Customs officials were not interested in finding out who we were!   We had no problems and after leaving Lusaka, we saw our first snake on the road. We had no idea what kind it was, but so long as we were a safe distance from it, we did not really care too much. Although we were all used to snakes, when the species was unknown and the possibility of it being poisonous was quite a strong possibility, precaution was the order of the day! 

We carried on to the small village of Kafue, where we filled up with fuel yet again and then up to the bank of the Kafue River, where we expected to find another ferry. Here we had a wonderful surprise - they had just completed a bridge across the river!   We carried on for some distance stopping at 17h30 in a quarry for the night. We lit a fire and had an enjoyable evening sitting by the fire having a chat, knowing that if all went well, we should arrive at our destination the very next day. 

March 14 1953 (Saturday) Land Mileage 7414 

We were up at 06h00, feeling quite excited now that journey's end was in sight. We had a good tidy up and breakfast before we hit the road at 07h00. We arrived at the Northern/Southern Rhodesia border an hour later.
First view of the Otto Beit Bridge, built in 1938 by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company, crossing the mighty Zambezi river, which forms the border between Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia (Now Zambia and Zimbabwe). It was the first modern suspension bridge outside the USA built with parallel wire cables.
We passed very quickly through Customs and then Dad drove across the bridge, sited near Chirundu Gorge. Mum, David and I walked across the bridge with shouts of joy; we had at last arrived in Southern Rhodesia!!

Mum, myself and David walking over the bridge. Note, I have my pith helmet on !
We went into the Customs and Immigration on the other side of the bridge and found we had more forms to fill in here, than at any other point of the journey! 

We still had a day's drive ahead of us, so we were soon on our way again, passing through large valleys and thick vegetation. We kept our eyes on the road ahead, hoping that we were not going to come across another angry elephant!

We were then stopped by a guy with a net and a large fly spray; he sprayed out the vehicle before allowing us to proceed through a chamber and out the other side. We discovered later that this was to prevent the spread of the tsetse fly. There are 22 different species of tsetse fly, and they live only in Africa. These flies are slightly larger than a horsefly, breeding along rivers and streams. They are active during the day and both male and female feed exclusively on blood. The bite is extremely painful and very itchy. 

Tsetse flies are an enormous health risk in parts of Africa. They can transmit a disease called trypanosomiasis, an infection of the central nervous system. Rhodesian trypanosomiasis, also known as nagana, is transmitted from animal to animal and mostly affects cattle, horses, and wild animals although humans can be infected. The Gambian form only affects humans and is commonly called sleeping sickness. The flies are hard to control, and tsetse fly infestation was at this time becoming more and more serious in Africa.  To the best of my knowledge, the problem is now mainly under control, but cases of  trypanosomiasis still appear from  time to time in Zimbabwe.

We stopped at noon for a short break and then carried on to the small town of Sinoia. Just after this we came across some young lads who had managed to drive their Morris Minor into a ditch. Dad brought out the tow rope and with the help of the winch, we soon had them happily on their way to the dance  they were going to. Hopefully, after the occupants had taken on a few drinks, the Morris Minor did not end up in the same predicament again! 

We carried on through the villages of Banket and Darwendale, on what was called a strip road. This consisted of two continuous strips of tarmac, set  far enough apart to take the wheels of a car. Approaching vehicles each moved to one side for passing, so that the right hand wheels of each  car were set on the left hand strip and the left side wheels were in the dirt .   The arrangement was certainly a great improvement on what we had been driving on previously. On arriving at the suburbs of Salisbury along the Lomagundi Road, we found ourselves eventually on full tarmac. This was bliss!!    We pulled into the parking area outside the very posh Miekles Hotel at 17h15. Salisbury was the largest city in Southern Rhodesia and the capital. We had travelled 7736 miles without a single puncture, and thanks to my Dad's engineering background, all the other problems that we had encountered were easily solved. 

Dad went off to book into the hotel, but came out with a very glum expression on his face. He had been told that there were no rooms available. A gentleman who was standing near the entrance of the hotel obviously had overheard us and asked what the problem was. We told him that we had just arrived having driven from the U.K. and we were in desperate need of a hotel for the night; did he have any ideas where we could go, as we needed a suite if possible?  

He asked us how we would pay, and receiving our answer of traveller's cheques, he went into the hotel, returning after a short time to tell us a suite was arranged. We later discovered he was the manager, and that we had been turned away originally as they thought we looked so scruffy, that we would not be able to afford to stay there! By the time we had bathed and changed we looked a little more respectable when we came down to dinner.
Meikles Hotel
 The photo that was taken the following day, published in both the Rhodesian Herald and the Bath Chronicle back in England.

The view from our suite in Meikles hotel overlooking Cecil Square. There was a flower market at Cecil Square every day; this looks as if this is exactly what was captured in this photo. 

My Life Before Charente to be continued :-) 

 
The section of my life story during our overland trip is published on Kindle if you should be interested:-
 THE GREAT 1953 TREK
See
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1

15 comments:

  1. I'm learning so much from you! Did you all know of the perils ahead, like the various diseases, etc,,,?

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    1. Rosaria we did as much research as possible and we underwent many different injections and vaccines before leaving the UK. I cannot remember all, but I know yellow fever, hepatitis, typhoid fever and diphtheria come to mind. I also remember one of them being very painful and none of us could lift our arm for days, this was the one we also had to have a booster for! I think many of these vaccines are not necessary today. Keep well Diane

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  2. Thanks for your new adventure Diane. As above, this is very exciting. Have a nice week. Araceli

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    1. Thanks Araceli, glad that you are still enjoying the posts. Keep well Diane

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  3. How excited you must all have been to reach your destination without too many problems. Not even a puncture, that is remarkable. Fancy looking too scruffy to pay for the hotel. Hee hee what would one expect after such a journey. What a fabulous adventure you were experiencing.

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    1. diane I am sure we all looked like scruffy tramps, it was a good job the manager was around or we might have been camping in the street! Thanks for the comment, Keep well Diane

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  4. So much adventure and new experiences before reaching your destination! I believe you didn't realize then all you've learned with this journey, only time would make you look back and see how richer you were. As I told you before I would have loved doing this.

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    1. JM I have so enjoyed going through this trip again, it has been fun for me to go over so many memories. If only the countries were a little more stable it would still be a fun drive. Keep well Diane

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    2. I believe you, Diane. It must have been wonderful remembering all the episodes of your fantastic journey.

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  5. That's amazing! The bridge reminds me of the bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia. What lovely memories you have.

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    1. Thanks Rose and all the memories have been brought to life again while I type these posts :-) Diane

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  6. Good that you got to your destination (despite the hotel refusal chapter). It seems that I missed the angry elephant episode. But I am looking forward to reading some more. Have a good weekend.

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    1. Thanks Awena for your comments. The hotel was quite funny when ee thought about it afterwards, but we were lucky that the manager overheard part of the conversation. Diane

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  7. I've so enjoyed about your journey and hope to continue to read more. I'm from that part so it brings back memories of travelling through Chirundu where we had our car sprayed for tsetse flies as well.

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    1. Sandra it is good to hear that other people have many of the same memories as I have. Hope that you have a great weekend and thanks so much for the comment. Diane

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