Autobiography

experience. On the last day of our safari we
decided to take an adventure trail with our two
guides; equating to about a three-mile walk.
We had seen Africa’s ‘Big Five’ - buffalo,
elephant, leopard, lion and rhino – and now we
were hopefully going to see the ‘Small Five’ -
the dung beetle, the elephant shrew, the
buffalo weaver, the ant lion and the leopard
tortoise.
Early on in our two-hour walk we encountered
three male buffalo that had been separated
from the herd, and we had to beat a hasty
retreat back to our support Land Rover.
Winston was concerned that if they attacked –
and they certainly looked like they might –
even a bullet from his high-velocity rifle might
not penetrate the massive horn across the
buffalo’s forehead. We were soon continuing
our walk, but as we came round a bend there
standing in front of us was a huge rogue male
elephant. We were over half a mile from the
safety of our Land Rover, and this massive
elephant had only one tusk and looked
ferocious. Winston instructed us to stand
rigidly still.
‘Don’t move a muscle and every thing will be
fine’ was his instruction to Lesley and me. It
reminded me of being with my helicopter
flying-instructor Norman Collins, who on one
occasion, when I’d lost control of the helicopter
and just before we crashed, said calmly, ‘I
have control!’
The elephant bellowed, and scraped his
massive foot along the ground, raising clouds
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