G'day fellas,
Thank you for you generous welcome, it's greatly appreciated. I look forward to future chats on this forum.
I am not that old I suppose, I was born in the 60's, but I am a total Dinosaur, as I am still a hunter and a fisherman. My family background is colonial, both sides, and I still love most of the values of that era. It's a real shame that my parents felt that they would be safer in Oz, but as my father used to say, 'Africa has changed now', and man, is he right.
Mum reckons Australia is great, as in Kenya whenever she had to pull up on the side of the ride, in the middle of nowhere, for a rest stop, she would find a suitable patch of scrub to conceal herself, when out of the blue, she will scream in fright as an African would pop up suddenly saying 'Jambo Memsaab'! You don't get that in outback Australia, except from the dreaded bull ants, and they don't stop to introduce themselves, so I suppose that's a lot worse.
When registering for the forum, I had a chuckle, as yes I did hunt in Kenya, and yes, in the mid 1980's, but it was waterfowl hunting on a rice fields north of Thika. I even had a Kikuyu gentleman to collect my ducks for me, whom my uncle rallied up for the job. Either, way, like in Oz, I was used to wading out in the muck with no waders to collect the ducks, it was great fun, I just wish I was better at it, as my uncle is one of those people who is gifted with the art of shooting down difficult targets in flight.
Regrettably, Kenya is closed to the hunting of normal game, so it may have been only duck hunting, but it was still hunting of a different kind. It was only when I was leaving from my visit to Kenya when I caught up with my younger cousins, who mentioned that they had a cousin doing game control in Tanzania whom would probably take me out on the field, but I had to fly out, so that wasn't an option at the time.
I am still a bit cautious of going to Tanzania, considering my sister and I were taken out of Tanzania illegally. My parents decided that it wasn't safe to stay in Tanzania after independence, and authorities said that my parents could leave Tanzania, but that my sister and I were born there, so we weren't allowed to leave. My grandparents then decided to collect my sister and I , and persuaded the border guards that they were taking us for a picnic over the border in Kenya, and that as we were only little kids (I was a baby), they new that we couldn't run away. My parents then traveled over separately, and met with my grandparents at Nairobi Airport where we left the country.
A few weeks later the Tanzanian officials turned up at my grandparents farm at Thika demanding to take my sister, and I, back to Tanzania, but it was too late, we were gone
I am therefore hesitant to return to Tanzania for a visit, as they may decide to give me merry hell, or a big fine ???
During the mid 1970s my grandparents were forced to sell their dairy farm at Thika, were offered 70 pounds, (or whatever it's equivalent was in Kenya shillings), or if they refused, well who knows ???
My grandfather, having no choice said that he would only sell the farm if he let the local tribe, whom lived on the farm, would be allowed to run the farm, and keep their jobs. This tribe was not Kikuyu, and they had been living on the land prior to the white settlers purchasing the country. The tribe was like family to my grandparents, my grandparents employed and trained them on how to run the farm. Well as you have already predicted a Kikuyu politician claimed the farm as his own and gave it to one of his family, and the local tribe was evicted from the land.
My grandparents returned to Australia, and were living in Brisbane for the rest of their years, but my grandfather never forgave the corrupt Kikuyu politicians, and was extremely sad for his employees on the farm.
I suppose I wouldn't be sitting here safely in Australia if they didn't relocate to Australia, my life would be entirely different, I would have a colonial British accent, with a proper education, but would have missed out on a lot of other adventures that I have experienced in Oz. I do feel that I have missed out, especially after hearing all the stories of adventure and such, that was Kenya in the yesterdays, but I suppose the pasture is always greener on the other side hey.
Regards
Rob
