train to Ndola on the Copper Belt from where he got a plane and flew to Nairobi, and we never heard from him again.
Mike and I  spent the night in a local hotel and met some farmers from Fort Jameson  who were most enthusiastic about the area with cheap land and plenty of labour and the good prices that they were getting for their tobacco.  We then headed for the Kafue and I tried for a farming job in Mazabuka, not too far from Lusaka but with no success  So Mike and I went for a weeks break on the Kafue River. I shot three small buck which we ate and biltonged . I fished the teeming river   for bream which were delicious,  and we soon got fit and well. We had set our camp beds under some mulberry trees which were laden with fruit and so our diet was good. The African fisher boys were catching masses of fish in their nets which we bought  200lbs from  them and took it into Lusaka and sold it at  1 shilling a pound, and so we went into it as a business which suited both the fishermen and us. But it did not last long as the District Commissioner said we were taking business from Africans on their bikes. Two years later Europeans with a fleet of trucks were doing the same thing, but the DC had changed.
So we went to the copper-belt  and tried a shift down the mine for just one day. It was terrible and we vowed that come what may we would live or die in the open air with the bright blue skies above than for all the money down a hole there. So now in October 1949 we headed towards Fort Jameson  which took us over 10 days after a series of mishaps. First at the Luangwa Bridge a shackle and spring broke. I hitch-hiked into Lusaka and got a new spring, but then could not get the old shackle out of the chassis, until about a week later someone came by with a heavy duty hacksaw and we were able to extract it.  We lived off the country, shooting the odd buck, guinea fowl and franklin a bird like a partridge. Mike would stand on the Luangwa   Bridge with his .303 with me underneath, and would shoot the odd croc. I would then dive in grab it bleeding whilst Mike covered me from above. Once landed we used the liver as bait and we landed two enormous Vundoos one of which weighed out at the local transport depot at 65lbs!  People passing through past our bust car gave us tea, sugar  and some bread so we did not do too bad. Eventually we had the spring repaired and were able to proceed on towards Fort Jameson.
2. Our first  Elephant.
As we travelled from the Luangwa River we passed though very broken hilly escarpment country where the road went left and right around very twisty corners, and then up and down  and across a series of valleys. Suddenly on the right hand side of the road in a small valley we saw four elephant. One was a cow and three were bulls.
They were the first African elephant that we had seen and we wanted to take a closer look, but the self starter on the car was not working so we drove on to the top of  small dip, and turned off the engine and walked back. Looking over the edge of the road we  saw the four sleepy and lethargic animals ambling about. I had heard reports that the African elephant was a very different beast to the Ceylon one, and far more vicious, yet here were these great beasts just idling around in the most lethargic manner. I picked up a small stone about the size of a cotton reel and threw it towards the nearest bull. The stone never even got to him before he had sensed my movement and all three as one came charging. Luckily  the slope below us to where the herd was very steep, but none the less,  we took off doing a record sprint, pushed the car down the slope to start it and smartly moved off.  I then realised that the African elephant was quite different to the Indian and however slow he may look, when aroused is as quick and smart and dangerous as ever. This was the first time Mike had ever bumped in to an elephant herd and the experience gave him quite a turn!

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