We had an exam today on advanced rifle handling. It gives us the theoretical background to our practical training on Thursday. The test was reasonably easy but quite technical. Terminal velocity, sectional density and ballistic coefficient. I’m sure the Delta Charlie (Derm and Marty Cahill) and Mike Charlie know what I’m talking about.
It was a strange experience. A few of my colleagues pointed the weapons in our direction as they were walking back towards us. This is one of the golden rules of things that shouldn’t be done. I wasn’t comfortable with the level of “SAFETY,” being adhered to! It certainly gave me more of a respect for the weapons. The recoil when we shot was certainly something I didn’t expect. I can imagine the damage that a high calibre bullet would do to your body on impact. We were put through our paces. We have to be able to load and unload a full magazine in 8 seconds and be able to fire 3 rounds into a target in quick succession. This won’t be as easy as I thought. If it ever happens in reality and we have to stop a charging animal then I think a good few of us would be in trouble. We have a good bit of time to practice though and I intend on visiting the firing range frequently before our practical exam.
The locals didn’t do very well in the shooting stakes either which wasn’t a big surprise. Most of them can’t drive very well as they have “bought,” their licenses over here. I don’t think any of them even hit the target apart from my mate Citi. They couldn’t seem to line up the sights properly so I felt a little bit better. I nailed the target with 11 out of 11 but didn’t hit the bull’s eye. There’s room for improvement there. It’s amazing how sensitive the trigger was on the 303. I didn’t even realize on one of the shots that I had pulled the trigger. Amazingly that was the shot that got closest to the bully!
I headed off to the local Shangaan village after to see where Citi and Ivan are from. I met the Citi’s Granny, various Girlfriends and Brother. The people were very friendly and all smiles. They aren’t in any way affluent but there lifestyle was nice and simple and they seem to be very happy with their lot. It’s a cool little village with a bit of agriculture thrown in. They seem to have a nice community feeling and I guess it’s like village living at home where you know all your neighbours. Lots of goats, cattle and chickens. The animals don’t have it as well over here though. The land is very barren. The goats have resorted to climbing trees to get to the nutrition. Unfortunately I didn’t bring the camera for the pictures of these “spider goats,” but it was quite a sight!
We went on a night drive and did a bit of star gazing when the sun went down. The sky over here is unbelievable. You can see most of the planets at night. We can see Mars, Jupiter and Venus. It’s pretty cool and I guess all these little things add up to a better knowledge of the grand scheme of things. I think it’s the small things that strike you the most. There are a lot of things that you take for granted. Even a simple thing like leaving the tap running when you are washing your teeth. You learn to turn it off when you are here for a while because water is precious. Some days it’s hard to believe I’m really here living in Africa. It’s a great feeling.
Saturday started off with an early game drive. I slept it out and my punishment was washing down the two vehicles. It brought me back to the good old Blanch Renault days of washing cars for Fergus. I even felt the same way when I was doing it. Heavily hungover! We had to celebrate a birthday. Our instructor Sean was 35 today. We made him take a mud bath. It was very funny. All the guys in the course picking up big muck balls and destroying the girls with them. Good fun on a Saturday.
We headed for the Bush Pub again for a bit of dinner. I was the “Dessie,” so that put pay to any drinking. I didn’t mind though because of the two bottles of Stellenbosch I polished off the night before. We met some American hunters in the pub. It was really weird to talk to hunters. I suppose the majority of people I am studying with are very anti hunting. The guys were slagging us calling us “bunny huggers.” I thought it was quite funny as they hit the nail on the head about some of the guys here. I personally wouldn’t be anti hunting. I think that these guys come over here and spend big money to hunt. The money they spend goes into the local economy and the wheels keep on turning.
We were in Kruger for a week last week and when I was in a place called Letaba I read an article in the local newspaper. The article was about a local farmer who had been found gored to death on his property. The farm was very isolated with no running water or electricity. The Police were called out and trackers were sent to the scene. Foul play was ruled out and the conclusion was that a “ Dacha Boy,” or single male Buffalo had killed the farmer. The hunters actually shot this Buffalo on Wednesday. John from Michigan described how the Bull had been shot 5 times before he finally gave up on life. It was quite a story. They had been hunting him for 3 days and finally they got the opportunity to take a shot. The guys didn’t want to take a brain shot as they were looking for a trophy for home so they tried to hit the old Bull with heart shots. It was an amazing story and I suppose just confirmed for me what I’ve heard about how tough these old bachelors are. Sean used a great expression to the describe the look they give you when they see you. He said that they give you a look like “you owe them money!” They are not an animal you want to bump into while out on a walking trail! The hunters offered us some of their Buffalo meat. It was very tastey indeed and I guess when you know the story behind it it makes it more surreal. We were eating meat that came from an animal that killed a man. That’s what makes Africa such a visceral experience for me!
We were driving home and we saw all these flashing lights ahead of us. We thought it was a Police checkpoint but it turns out there was a car crashed into the reserve fence. The car was totaled and the guy was standing outside the car looking pretty dazed. If you could pick a place to crash (not that you’d want to) this would probably be last on my list! It looked to us like he had taken a nice leisurely drunken game drive at night and had written off his car. Not a great place to crash considering the reserve he crashed in has all of the “Big 5.”
The Drakensburg Mountains looked majestic as we drove through the night. There was some fire break burning going on. The whole mountain side was ablaze. It looked eerily beautiful against the black sky.
There is supposed to be a game on tomorrow against Vervetine. (The local village Citi and Ivan are from) That should be fun and I can put some of those skills I learned playing with Caslteknock Celtic into practice!! I’m sure I’m gonna get battered but sometimes that’s half the fun!
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