Roadside Dispatches
DURING THE 1950S, in rural Tanganyika (Tanzania), a handful of colonial officials were responsible for vast tracts of wilderness, including all the many wild animals, tribal people and settler-farmers. Contact between man and beast was unavoidable, and seldom would day pass without some sort of drama – sometimes serious; other times not without humour. Road trips were seldom completed without incident.
Contact between man and beast was unavoidable, and seldom would a day pass without some sort of drama
We farmed on the Mwese Highlands, west of Mpanda. A few times a year, I would make trips to Tabora to buy supplies or to have major repair work done on one of our vehicles by a Chinese family who ran a garage. I usually stopped to deliver fresh produce to the Mpanda mine, stayed the night with my friend, Jack Carlyon, and left early next morning for Tabora. The trip was only 220 miles, but depending on road conditions, could take anything from five to ten hours.
On one trip I took with me” (Help, sir!)
