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Stopping Fires in the Bush - Jerry Barr

Page history last edited by Henry Hamburger 7 years, 2 months ago

             It was my second weekend as a mathematics teacher at Sir Samuel Baker Senior Secondary School in Sambaker, twenty miles from Gulu, Uganda. In 1961, Gulu was a small dusty town, no movies or any other recreation that a twenty-two-year-old from Chicago was used to. There was just a few dukas run by the same Mr. Patel.  Those Patels must have been a big family. Now my duties at Sambaker included five days a week teaching and voluntary extra activates including sports after teaching.  So what to do on the weekends?   As a boy, I was involved with the Boy Scouts. Camping, fishing and hunting was my pleasure- made the rank of Eagle Scout at thirteen years old.  So now, located more than two hundred miles from the pleasures of large cities and in the bush of Northern Uganda in 1961, I was in camping heaven.  So camping became one of my weekend activities.  I had a small but comfortable two man tent, cots and sleeping bags, and other camping equipment plus fishing and rifle equipment for my own "safaris."  I was ready.

 

            So now,  on my second weekend at Sambaker, I decided to drive to Murchison Falls National Park and do some animal watching.  The park was only a three-hour drive from my house, so a friend and I loaded up the camping gear and went "on safari."   There was a lovely hotel called Paraa Safari Lodge right near the actual falls, complete with comfortable rooms, balconies, a restaurant and complete bar, but we would be camping!  Our destination was going to be the Paraa Lodge camping area.  

 

As was the norm in Northern Uganda, the road was murram gravel, barely two-lanes wide with plenty of potholes and washboard.  Traveling two hours went well, but as we got to the road bordering the park and near the entrance, we came upon what we believed was the start of a wild fire.  Did my boy scout training jump into action.  We parked the Land Rover, and with wet towels and shovels, we spent more than one hour putting out the fire.  Of course, tired and thirsty, we were covered in black soot from the burning bushes and grass.  There was no such thing as carrying ice on safari.  We surely needed a cold Bell or Tusker. 

 

We jumped back into the Land Rover, got to Paraa Lodge, and went right to the bar for that tall cold Tusker.  Of course, the bar was filled with customers including many English bureaucrats taking the weekend off, with the gin and tonics flowing.  There we were, faces and clothes black with soot and proud of our accomplishment, putting out what appeared to be the beginning of a major fire.  Of course, the folks at the bar asked what had happened, and proudly, we announced our success to all who would listen.  The entire bar full of patrons went up for grabs in laughter.  We,  as rank American rookies, we got the news: These  fires were set on purpose to burn off the ten foot tall elephant grass during the dry season.  This was a common practice especially in the Murchison Falls National Park, better for tourists to see the animals.  At least the Tusker beers were cold.  Live and learn.

 

Comments (2)

Clive Mann said

at 6:03 pm on Dec 31, 2016

Good story.
Last line of penultimate paragraph 'Tusker' not 'Tucker'.

Henry Hamburger said

at 8:46 am on Jan 1, 2017

fixed it. -hh

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