18. A Terrifying Visit to Wankie Game Reserve

So it was that our family of five departed early one morning in our small car. We were feeling excited about the trip and about all that we would see. First, we drove 42 miles south to Salisbury, and then almost 300 miles further south to Bulawayo, where we stayed in a hotel for the night. Once up and breakfasted, we drove 180 miles north-west to Wankie Game Reserve where my parents had arranged for us to spend three days. After that, we intended visiting the almighty Victoria Falls (75 miles away) near Livingstone, on the border between Northern and Southern Rhodesia. We would stay in a hotel in Livingstone before heading home, via Lusaka in Northern Rhodesia. With another 300 miles to cover, we knew it was going to be a long road trip.

We were well prepared, though, or so we thought, since my father had checked the pressure of the tires on our car, and we had hung two water bags on the car door handles. Water bags were canvas bags with a stoppered spout, and a short rope on top, with which to hang up the bags. As required, we had soaked them in water for 24 hours or longer to soften the canvas and had then filled them with water. We hung them on our car door handles, so that, as the water inside the bag evaporated slowly, it was also cooled by this evaporation process. A wonderful invention used for years in the Australian outback, the water bag was an invaluable asset when one was travelling miles from any form of civilization. Drinking water was essential in a hot climate, and it was always best to self-cater.

Only a relatively small part of the Game Reserve was open to the public, but this area was still huge, taking several days to traverse by car. We knew we would be staying in three separate rest camps located at set points along the two hundred or more miles of dirt roads. Each camp, containing several rustic lodges, was protected by high wire fencing, and patrolled by armed game wardens and their helpers.

Security was very tight for travellers, to ensure the safety of all: visitors were not permitted to leave their cars; they had to remain on the roads at all times, and maintain the very low speed limit; domestic animals were prohibited; car windows should stay closed, in case animals caught wind of human scent; intended routes had to be logged ahead of time, in official log books kept in the rest camps, and overseen by the park wardens; travellers had to leave their camps relatively early in the morning, in order to be at their destination well before nightfall. We were only 20 degrees south of the equator, so the day began at approximately 6am and ended at 6pm, at which time night would descend, suddenly, like a vast curtain of total blackness.

It took a day to drive from one camp to the next. Failure to arrive at the correct place by the stated time meant that the wardens, armed with rifles, would set off immediately in their Land Rover cars and trucks, to find the missing tourists, who could be stranded, surrounded by wildlife, anywhere between two camps. Such travellers had to be rescued and brought to safety at once. We heard more than one tale of dangerous meetings between man and beast. The day before our arrival, an angry cow-elephant separated from her calf, had overturned a VW camper van, pinning its German tourists inside. They were obviously terrified by the experience but were fortunately rescued before the elephant had crushed the vehicle, and the van’s passengers, too.