The guides at this reserve were always armed - the guide in this picture has a pistol on his hip - even if we weren't getting out, and in most reserves, if one takes a walk, one is usually accompanied by....
....a man with a rather larger gun. Only in one reserve....
....Etendeka in Namibia, did we find someone who, as a matter of principle, never carried a weapon. I have to say, I felt far more confident in Dennis' care than in the care of a men packing a pistol or an ancient and pretty useless Kalashnikov.
Only once did we walk in the bush without supervision, and that was at Okonjima in Namibia where, when we asked if we could, the management seemed quite happy. The most exciting thing we saw up close was a young male kudu (above) but I was far more worried about the baboons which started calling in the kopjes not far from where we were wandering.
Walking in the bush, and particularly walking in the bush without supervision, is a wonderful if rather intimidating experience. It makes one feel alive, but also makes one appreciate how difficult life must be for those who live permanently in areas where dangerous animals roam. In the UK we've killed all our natural predators and seem very against reintroducing them; yet we'd be shocked if we heard that Kenya had just shot its last lion.
To think this was the cradle of humanity; ancient humans with families of all ages. Life must have been tough when the inevitable happened.
ReplyDeleteMr Haylett,
ReplyDeleteYou won’t remember me. I can remember your tales of Africa though, vividly told, while your hands drew pictures in front of us. The young lad eating the large zephyr like flying grub and your VW with high clearance for pot-holes on mud roads.
Your classes took us to places in the world we were, for the most part, unlikely to visit.
I’m very glad you’re bashing away at the keyboard, sharing your thoughts and memories.
I recently heard about Mr Ford passing away and my thoughts turned to The Plume. I can’t claim to have enjoyed my time there and, despite regretting leaving so soon many times over the last 37 years, it is nevertheless the way things turned out and lead to a variety of jobs including living and working in Amsterdam, many years in the legal profession and prior to that Scientific Cruises in the North Sea.
I always wanted to write. Well, actually I do write, often to myself or to literary agents, competitions and Publishers, which is a little like writing to myself as, ultimately, no answers are received! This doesn’t diminish my enjoyment for it. Perhaps that enjoyment would be lost if it became a job.
Keep blogging.
Paula Manning
Hi Paula - Brilliant to hear from you, and thank you for your kind words about my digressions from the subject I was supposed to be teaching.
DeleteLike you, I love writing. It's like a drug, there's a compulsion, however much one seems to fail, to communicate to people 'out there'. I started by writing a novel, in the evenings after I'd finished marking books and preparing lessons and, like you, I sent it off to agents and publishers, and had little luck. Then, one day, I sent a short story to The Bridport Prize, one of the best short story competitions in this country, and won. It didn't make much difference, even though I did win one other major competition, but I kept at it. I now write poetry, just because it was something I'd never done before; and I was short-listed for this year's Bridport Poetry prize. I'll keep at it, even though I don't think I'll find any success - but, hey, it won't be for lack of trying!
Very best wishes to you. Keep at the writing. One day, suddenly, unexpectedly, you'll succeed.
How nice of you to reply.
ReplyDeleteYou may have been “off topic” but it was a welcome meander, which was on topic, even if that was more Rivers than flying grubs.
I will keep entering competitions too, I’ve done a few of those. It makes me feel a bit better that my attempts are up against your attempts- as yours are likely to be considerably more accomplished.
Writing is a compulsion indeed.
As to the loss of wolves and bears over here, well yes. We don’t have any idea what it must be like living with the daily possibility of attack. Made worse by diminishing habitat no doubt. That said, I’ve never liked guns, whether used for protection or otherwise. Naive though that feeling maybe.
I will read your blog now that I’ve found it. It’s inspiring but then you were always so in your teaching- thank you.
Paula
Hi Paula
DeleteThank you again for being so kind in what you say of me. 'Inspiring' is what I hope every teacher aspires to be.
You suggest that my writing is 'considerably more accomplished' than yours. I apologise for seeming to boast about my successes but I only did so to illustrate that anyone can be successful in writing given a level playing field: my only formal qualification in English is an 'O' level yet many who win have 'creative writing' degrees and other such high-falutin' qualifications.
The 'level playing field' is important. I dislike the National Short Story
competition because, to enter, you have to have had a work published. I like Bridport and the Royal Society of Literature's competitions because your work, when it is judged, is very strictly anonymous.
The other thing which I think helped me is that I don't, in general, read other people's short stories. Nor do I read fiction books. That way, what I produce seems more likely to be original.
Talking of qualifications, I think I can now confess that your geography teacher had no qualifications whatsoever in geography, not even an O level.
Take care.
Jon