The Caving in Grounds

From Great North Road

By Philip Pain.

It was during one of those idyllic school holidays in 1960/1 that Colin McClusky and I decided on a hunting expedition to the giant wild fig tree that grew in the caving in grounds. These are situated on the left hand side of the road going to the golf course.

This tree was the favourite feeding place for hundreds of green pigeons and I am sure that many of you who went to the area will remember the tree. On this particular morning Colin and I set off with our air guns,(Mine was a Diana 24) a box of matches, salt and a box of 500 Marksman pellets. The salt and matches were for cooking the pigeons.

As usual on our way to the caving in grounds the first stop was the old inclined mine shaft headgear that was situated on the South side of the road to the golf course and behind some mine buildings. (If I remember correctly it was in these building that Trevor Gothan as a small boy lost the tip of one of his fingers when he touched some rotating gears.) The actual shaft at the base of the headgear was sealed with concrete where the rails for the skips went underground. The fence that had been put up to keep kids like us out had long ago fallen into disrepair.

This headgear was one of my favorite places, first you had the adventure of climbing up the headgear using the rail sleepers as ladder rugs, not difficult but exciting. At the top where the sheave wheels used to be, you had a fantastic view of Nkana. It was not high enough to see your actual house but with a little imagination you could work out where places were by using prominent landmarks like the giant water tower at the Rhokana Club and the massive trees at the Northern entrance to the Nkana hospital. While sitting up there we always wished that we had a telescope and used to fantasize about what we would be able to see. Thinking back we would have needed the Hubble to get a view of the things we were imagining.

The trip down the headgear was always exciting because you had to go by feel to find your footing. Once back on mother earth with shaking knees either from the exertion or the adrenalin rush, we would rest on the large pipeline that ran North South past the area and marvel at where we had been a few minutes earlier.

After we had rested we would go through a hole in the fence next to the "DANGER NO ENTRY" sign (I think this type of sign was an invitation for kids) and we would be in the caving in grounds proper. Colin and I knew the area like the back of our hands and after exploring some of the lesser sink holes were soon at the fig tree. After filling our mouths with pellets (It is a wonder that we did not get lead poisoning) we would take up our favorite hides and shoot a few pigeons or anything else that moved for that matter.

Caving Grounds.

On this particular day when the day got hotter and things got a little quiet we decided to go to a sink hole nicknamed the big hole. The big hole was the largest of all the sink holes that we knew of in the area. Those of you who can remember it was the sink hole that had formed in the middle of a road that was running North South through the area. We often joked about someone traveling on a bicycle at night along the road and not seeing the hole. Every time we went there we half expected to find the remains of someone who had gone over the edge. (Never did) When we arrived and peeked over the side we noticed that the hole had deepened considerably since our last visit and we could see what appeared to be a mine tunnel exposed at the bottom. Colin and I had climbed to the bottom of this sink hole on many occasions but the thought of gaining access into an old mine tunnel was too much for us to resist, but there was only one problem and that was when the hole subsided it had formed a vertical section of about five meters. (When we were at the bottom it felt like fifty)

After a quick discussion we decided to return the next day with a rope and torch to explore the tunnel. On getting home that afternoon Colin found a long piece of white rope and I found a length of black rubber covered three core electrical wire. (Rubber covered wires in red, black and green.) We decided that if we joined the two together we were sure it would be long enough to get us to the bottom.

On arriving at the big hole the next morning we joined our lines together and tossed it over the side only to find out that we were still a few meters short of the bottom. While we were wandering what to do we noticed a large tree on the Eastern side that had an exposed root dangling down the side of the hole that was several meters long and we decided to tie the end of our rope to the bottom of the root to get the extra length we needed.

I climbed down using the root as a hand hold and tied the rope to the end of it and tossed the remainder down to the bottom. After testing the line I climbed down to the bottom using only the rope down the vertical section. (We had lots of practice during PT using the ropes in the hall that hung down from the ceiling.) Colin followed soon after and when he was on the bottom we started to explore our tunnel. Much to our disappointment it was not a mine tunnel but an opening that had been washed away by water and was only a few meters deep. From the surface we had convinced ourselves that it was a mine tunnel. (Boys and their imagination.)

After messing around on the bottom for a while we decided to climb out, with Colin deciding to go up first and taking hold of our line gave it a good tug to test it and to our surprise the whole lot came snaking down to join us in the bottom of the pit. (The lesson we learnt that day is that a knot on a taper is sure to come off sooner or later.) After a few laughs and discussion about how lucky we were that the rope did not come loose on our way down we suddenly realized that we were in serious trouble. There was no way we could scale the 5m vertical section without the aid of the rope.

At first our misfortune started out as just another adventure and after looking around we found a few pieces of dried wood that had found their way to the bottom and we decided that it would be an easy job to dig hand and foot holes into the side and climb out. As we found out that this was easier said than done. All went well up to shoulder height but when we tried to use the holes and balance to dig the next one we found out to our dismay that to try and hold on with one hand and dig with the other was almost impossible. You would loose your grip in the soft soil with the hand you are holding on with. The next step was to stand on each others shoulders and dig. This got us about half way up the vertical section with the guy at the bottom getting covered in red soil. We were starting to feel like ants in an Ant lion's trap. We eventually learnt to modify the hand holds so there was a little ledge inside the lip to hang onto but nine times out of ten they would break away.

By mid afternoon we were only about two thirds of the way up and the adventure had started to turn a little sour with thoughts of having to spend the a night in the hole without food and water, by this time we were very thirsty. The other problem was that we had told no one where we were going as we were forbidden to go to the Caving in Grounds. By late afternoon we managed to get over the lip of the vertical section and onto the sloping section which was easy to climb as you only had to dig small holes to balance on and there were a lot of natural crevices to use as hand holds. It was after dark when we finally got home with scraped knees, knuckles and broken toe nails. (We didn't wear shoes in those days)

For a long time after we used to return to the big hole with our mates and a proper rope with knots tied every couple of feet (The rope tied securely to a tree trunk.) and go down to the bottom and climb out using the vertical section as a challenge.

One day if I ever get to go back to Nkana, I wish to take the walk down this particular memory lane and see if it is all still as I remember it.

To Colin:

R.I.P. my old mate.