Guns, Beds and Mozambique Spitting Cobras

My Land Rover was packed full of kit for living in the African bush. It was a short wheelbase Land Rover, had no windscreen, no roof and I'm not too sure whether it had any doors to begin with. It was certainly built for an African adventure.

I arrived late in the afternoon at Devuli Ranch where I had been told that a house had been put aside for me to use during my one year stay in Save Valley Conservancy. I drove into the compound with relief - I had pushed started my Land Rover twice on the way down. That was the first challenge over and done with. The compound consisted of about seven houses, dotted in the African bush, with a swimming pool as the central feature and all surrounded by secure fencing. This was to prevent wild animals from wondering into the area where we were living, making it a bit safer to walk around at night from one house to the next. It did not, however, exclude all the wildlife, which I was to later find out.

Derek Henning came to greet me and welcome me to the Save Valley Conservancy. He pointed out the house that I was going to use, and my eyes really popped out of my head. The entrance to the house had two vast wagon wheels either side of the gate and bright pink bougainvillea was growing over the wagon wheels. My house was enormous; there were five bedrooms, an enormous living area and the Veranda surrounding the whole building, it was a little bit more than I needed. It was the original house that had been built when the first white explorers came through the area and had not been lived in for a while.

"Jenny, how are you with snakes?" asked Derek.
"Well, not too bad," I murmured, nervously wondering where this conversation was going.
"Just that the house has not been lived in for a long time and Mozambique Spitting Cobras have been seen in the area. So what I would advise is that you take this and leave it in an accessible place."
I took the double barrelled shotgun from Derek rather gingerly. "Just fire from the hip", he continued, "because if you fire from your shoulder you will probably dislocate it. Do not worry about the house, it is fine if you pebble dashed the walls, just aim and fire."

My eyes were out on stalks by this time, this was certainly an interesting introduction to living in Africa.

For two years I slept with a loaded double barrelled shotgun under my bed.  I never used it, but was certainly aware of its location and it took me a few weeks to get used to the idea that I had a gun under my bed!

Life in Africa is often unpredictable, which is also the charm of the continent. Prepare for the unexpected and your life will be enriched.