Snakes Alive

From Great North Road

SNAKES ALIVE ......

Among the Rhodesia Railways passengers that were picked up by the northbound train at the Wankie station early in the morning hours were Northern Rhodesian Immigration and Customs officers. The officers would work their way through the train collecting and completing the necessary government documents.

I was on my way home from St. Stephen's College, Balla Balla, in April of 1964 and this was my first experience of crossing the border since the Central African Federation ended December 31, 1963.

Around 6:00 am, my traveling companions and I were rudely awakened to a loud knock on the compartment door, and a stern voice ordering us to open up. Being the law abiding citizens that we were, although slightly inebriated from the previous evening festivities, we opened the door and were warmly greeted "Goody morning Bwanas, heving you enee ting to declare?". There standing in front of us dressed in his new crisp khaki uniform and cap with a shiny badge declaring to all that our new found bureaucratic public servant was with the Immigration Department, he went on to advise us that he was also working for Customs.

Before anyone could say "declaration", Billy Howells, one of our traveling companions, thrust his hand into a duffle bag and hauled out a baby python, held it up high, and asked if his reptilian friend should be included on the goods declared form. Before anyone could say "visa", our friendly Immigration officer turned from black to gray, jumped out of the compartment and ran yelling down the corridor to the safety of the next coach.

As we approached the border, we fully anticipated being arrested .... the train crossed slowly over the Victoria Falls bridge and eventually reached Livingstone, and after a short stop over, and much to our relief at not being incarcerated, we resumed our journey.

Contributed by Kenneth Miller.

October 2001