Big Al & Rhodesia

[Vogless]

Wow, Big Al! I had no idea.

Glad we're friendly .

I remember reading SoF when I was a wee lad at the grocery store. Rhodesia was all over them at the time. I remember thinking how cool the uniforms were.

[Sirius]

@Al and Correus: Sheesh! I was doing everything I could to stay out of the army (South African army, that is, the Zim conflict was ten or so years before my generation got involved)... the way I saw things, I wasnt going to help perpetrate an unjust war. Ducked conscription for years, and eventually publicly declared my conscientious objection - enough for a 6-year jail term in the old South Africa. But by then the regime knew things were a-changing so didnt prosecute me or any of the others who did the same...

You guys need to visit the current Southern Africa! A LOT has changed. A LOT has stayed the same. Its very much still a fantastic place, just in a different way.

Big Al, the anti-Brit position is still here, but honestly, is mostly just a gentle teasing you get now (unless you want to claim your country knows how to play rugby, and then you will be in for it.... ).

The Gods must be Crazy depicts a part of Namibia/Botswana than is just beautiful beyond the speaking of it... but even thats changed. @Big Al: if you remember Maun in Botswana as the sleepy village where you need a Landy to leave, you will be shocked. Its a sprawling town now. Tar roads to and from. But less than an hour out of Maun the Okavango and Kalahari are mindnumbingly beautiful. @Correus: that part of the world is Landrover heaven... You dont need a 4x4 to get to amazing places (although its nice to have) - I bounced around Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa in a tired old Toyota sedan - skipping over sand and rocks that would have heavier cars bogged down, and ended up in campsites where i was the only 2wd there...

I know this thread is tacking very close into the "no politics" wind, so let me just say this: What looks so simple to outsiders can be anything but. South Africa is a place of contradictions. (Zimbabwe is even more complex). One member of my immediate family fought hot pursuit ops into neighbouring countries for both the SADF and SAP, and after that, when his back caved in from all the parachute drops, worked urban counter-terrorism defusing bombs to keep shopping malls safe. Another member of my immediate family helped smuggle wanted activists - some would call them terrorists - out of the country. Two sides of the same conflict. Same blood. We all sat around the same dinner table after the fact, with tolerance of our past required all round. If that represents the politics of one family, can you imagine the complications of a nation? Its a land thats famous for its black and white politics, but really, its all about shades of grey.

Would I want to return to the past, the Southern Africa I grew up in? Hell no. Not for anything. What we have now is not perfect, but the current conflicts are nothing compared to the conflicts that once were...

[Big Al]

I don't think it's going political, Sirius. People have asked me about my past and I have only answered with some of my experiences.

Oh, by the way, we do know how to play rugby! We invented the game! That doesn't mean we always play it well, though I could regale you with stories about that too, where we footballers embarrassed the local rugby teams.

[Sirius]

@Big Al: Absolutely. I think my comment was more about my post than any of yours...

Honestly, I would love to hear more of your story. And if you ever are back in Zululand (or KwaZulu-Natal as its known now - KZN) let me know, and i will buy you a single malt or three and we can discuss the merits (?) of English rugby...

[Correus]

@Sirius - Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!!! You are making me want to go SO bad!!!!

I have a Rover friend in SA who is one of the owners of a excursion company named 'African Adrenalin'. If I knew I could get by with it I'd drop everything and run off to work with him!

He's a great guy! During the 2010 World Cup he sent me a genuine SA vuvuzela - the kind wraped in the SA flag.

There is another safari company, that goes to Africa exclusively, called 'Cowabunga Safaris'. Believe it or not it is located here in Kansas!!! The owner is getting up there in age, I've often wondered about seeing if he was interested in selling the business at some point.

I'm telling you...when the Grover is done it will be a mobile homage to Africa!!

BTW - did I mention that one of my other periods of interest is Britain's Colonial Period in Egypt and the Sudan as well as the FFL in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia? I remember one time, about the age of 10, telling my parents that if I didn't get into West Point I was going to join the FFL.

[grant]

My wife really wants to go to Africa, so someday it will happen. Funny how that works. She wants to see Gorillas, Chimps, and such. I of course have mapped out how far Rorke's Drift is from "Chimp Eden" - and it's surprisingly close. So maybe. Someday.

[Sirius]

@Sirius - Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!!! You are making me want to go SO bad!!!!

I have a Rover friend in SA who is one of the owners of a excursion company named 'African Adrenalin'. If I knew I could get by with it I'd drop everything and run off to work with him!

Just visit. It doesnt have to be a huge life change. Do a week or five in SA/Botswana/Zambia in a hired vehicle - you might have to stoop to a Hilux or such - to get used to the conditions and learn how to deal with us Africans...And you will get a better sense of what you need or dont need for the big trip. (I have no doubt the Africa bug will bite. As Al says, nothing quite the same as confronting big game in their own backyard...)

Honestly, you can get a very good African experience in a conventional rental, with a just a few transfers into more remote lodges or parks. Many of the Botswana lodges and villages are easier to get to by plane than by road (sand track) anyway - you can charter a Cessna for less than it will cost you in fuel and food to drive there.

[carvel2]

Which brings us neatly back to
http://www.warlordgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4585&hilit=flying

[Chesh]

My wife really wants to go to Africa, so someday it will happen. Funny how that works. She wants to see Gorillas, Chimps, and such. I of course have mapped out how far Rorke's Drift is from "Chimp Eden" - and it's surprisingly close. So maybe. Someday.

My mum looked after two chimps as pets when we were in Liberia. Sally-Ann and then Billy. Sge tells the story that she saved them both from the cooking pot. There are pictures of me and one of them lay in the same cot together, or on the sofa together or my mum carrying us round one on each hip.....as mentioned before just wish I was a little older so I could remember some of it.

[grant]

My wife really wants to go to Africa, so someday it will happen. Funny how that works. She wants to see Gorillas, Chimps, and such. I of course have mapped out how far Rorke's Drift is from "Chimp Eden" - and it's surprisingly close. So maybe. Someday.

My mum looked after two chimps as pets when we were in Liberia. Sally-Ann and then Billy. Sge tells the story that she saved them both from the cooking pot. There are pictures of me and one of them lay in the same cot together, or on the sofa together or my mum carrying us round one on each hip.....as mentioned before just wish I was a little older so I could remember some of it.

That's incredible! And good on your mum to save them from becoming bush meat. Bloody savages. This world needs to wake up.

Chimp Eden and Jane Goodall are just terrific for their work .