Mkushi River Hotel

From Great North Road

In 1954,the Miller family left Kasama and traveled by Thatcher Hobson Bus to Kapiri Mposhi where we boarded the train that took us South on our way to Capetown to catch the Union Castle ship to Jolly Old England.

The trip from Kasama to Kapiri Mposhi took two long days, stopping the first night in Mpika. The cramped first class compartment was immediately behind the driver and the masses rode in the back of the bus. Our luggage was placed on the roof of the bus along with bicycles and numerous cackling chickens cooped up in reed like cages.

I recall the hotel was located in a scenic area near a small waterfall.

Shortly after we arrived in the late afternoon, I was placed in the bath tub and the red dust from the road was washed away. I was then smartly dressed for dinner and was allowed to play outside, until Mater and Pater had cleaned up and were suitably attired for sundowners.

Being given my instructions to remember my manners and not get into any trouble or dirty my clothes, I ventured outside to explore the unknown. I quickly made friends with a puppy and like any seven year old, started to chase my new four legged friend.

Much to the consternation of the landed gentry staying at the hotel, I shouted with glee as I chased the barking hound around the gardens of the hotel. I soon left my footprints for all to see, when I ran down a freshly cemented path. After several strides, I stopped dead in my tracks, I might as well have been dead, I was standing ankle deep in cement and at my rear were the tell tale tracks of my misadventure. My new found friend, stopped a few yards ahead, looked at me with a glint in his eye and trotted off to tinkle on a frangipani tree.

On discovering my plight, I was unceremoniously escorted by a rather irate distingushed gentleman to my parents' room, at which he knocked loudly on the door. Pater opened the door, took one look at me, made me remove my cement covered socks and shoes and sent me into the darkest reaches of the room with the warning that he would be dealing with me. I was doomed.

Punishment was swift and I only felt relief when my stinging red derriere sat in the cool waters of my second bath of the day.

Contributed by Kenneth Miller.

23 November 2001

postscript ....

MKUSHI RIVER HOTEL ......

Heather, Kevin, it is wonderful to have such young friends with vibrant minds .... you are both indeed correct, it was Mkushi River Hotel.

In my twilight years my only regret is that my few brain cells have started to wander and the cold Arctic air has frozen the others.

OOOPs - here is another long lost memory ... the Crested Crane Hotel in Mpika, was I believe near an airfield and was a fueling stop in the twenties and thirties for overseas flights.