Wednesday, April 22, 1998

Climbing with Angela

Come November, Pat and I have lived in the Bvumba for a year. I haven't done half the things one should do in the Bvumba but since we received the Section 8, I am rectifying that. Granny Beryl used to do all the walking for us but now that she has left we don't have her daily feedback of life in the Bvumba. The dogs miss her terribly as they used to play a vital role in granny's walks. 

Pat and I would get back to a traumatized Gran, laid out on her bed wet facecloth on her forehead, who would describe in breathless detail how Pop-eye ate two of the neighbour's turkeys then a detailed explanation of how Pop-eye brought down our neighbour's calf. This would be followed by an account of why Basil rushed out on the road and tried to eat the tyres off the wheels of passing traffic, causing vehicles to veer off the side of the road into culverts and things. Eventually Pat had to put a stop to Granny taking the dogs when we received our first summons. So now I have become the walker in the family.

This would not have happened if my neighbour Angela hadn't coaxed me into it. My first walk with Angela nearly killed me. She arrived accompanied by the biggest dogs I have ever seen in my life. Two enormous Great Danes with eyes as big as saucers (do you remember that childhood horror story). Well there would be nobody banging us over the head and pinching our wedding rings I reassured myself . We set off and unfortunately left our machete behind. The path we took petered out and we were faced with a vast amount of hedge like growth which we crawled through on our bellies, when I had stopped giggling I realized how serious this was and the enormity of maybe getting lost in the undergrowth and nobody ever finding you. Have you any idea what the Bvumba bush is like?. 

We successfully navigated our way through to the stream most of this in a crawl like position. I would slither through tunnels of undergrowth while one of the Great Danes would lick my face in encouragement and the other would head butt my bum. To my utter amazement we eventually found a clearing and made our way up a huge incline, gasping for breath my lungs strained to the limit I felt I was about to collapse and wondered if Angela would be able to get Air Rescue to carry me out of there. Just as I was taking my last breath we burst out of the forest and found ourselves at the house. I had survived. Now I am a seasoned walker no mountain too large. Ask Angela?

Mandy Retzlaff
Bvumba
Zimbabwe