The Irish Connection

From Great North Road

By Bill Hunt

Any folk out there that remember The Sunshine Girls?

A contingent of gorgeous Colleens flown out from the Emerald Isle to reinforce the flagging medical nursing staff of Northern Rhodesia during the sixties. Not only did they provide badly needed nursing ministrations to the communities, they also improved the competitiveness at the marriage stakes! There was frenzied excitement amongst all the eligible males, (and quite a number of the ineligible) to curry favour with this band of lovelies!

One such cavalier (no name no pack drill!) invited a large group of these ivory skinned girls to an exciting 'Darkest Africa' trip on the great river Luapula. After a long hot dusty trip on the dirt road through the Congo they arrived at the Luapula Chembe Ferry where they boarded his river cruiser. This double-decked vessel was a large flat-bottomed pleasure barge fully equipped; even with the kitchen sink! A fully stocked pub, Hard Tack, Simba Beer from Mokambo, braai, fridge stocked with T bone steaks & Boerie, fishing tackle, hunting hardware, shower, music, coloured lights & like a Surrey, a shade awning with a Fringe on top.

At sunset, all aboard, bums on seats, drinks in hand, Das Kapitaan, skippers cap at a jaunty angle, a la Errol Flynn, gunned the twin outboards & headed upstream on this crocodile & hippo infested river. Now, it was well known that a demon Hippo lived in the area – this previously docile animal had been rudely introduced to the European race when a cretinous 'great white hunter' had taken pot shots at him with a light rifle from an outboard motor driven boat. From that day this Hippo could not abide the tone of an outboard motor & prudent tiger fishermen avoided his domain wherever possible.

The skipper decided to drop anchor at this spot & impress the girls with his fishing & culinary skills & hopefully land some large mouth bream for the Sundowner Braai. Horace the Hippo had other plans, he surfaced once to get his bearings, blew his ballast tank, went down & under the infernal craft & overturned it. Everyone was thrown clear, & fortunately the hippo focused his attention on the barge & sent it to the bottom of the river. All the girls had been kitted with lifejackets but there was a fair amount of panic as thoughts turned to crocodiles as they struggled to reach a small midstream island.

Eventually the exhausted, bedraggled group managed to make landfall. Darkness set in & the shivering, scared girls must have wished that they had not left the biting insect & snake free climes of the old country! To add to the scary scene as darkness fell, was the realisation that they were sharing their island with other denizens. All the sounds of Africa became very strident. Hippos grunting, tree frogs chirping, nightjar calls, movements through the undergrowth, to name a few. Mosquitoes were a major problem, particularly to tender fair skins. After a seemingly interminable long night without any means to communicate with the outside world, keep warm, or see their surroundings, the pink tinge of dawn arrived & hopes started to rise.

Very soon they were able to attract the attention of passing local fisherman in their dugouts. A flotilla of dugouts was quickly organised & a ferry operation similar to the evacuation of Dunkirk was set in progress. These girls had something to write Home about & it was not Blarney!

Any of these Colleens on the GNR who can add to the tale?

Contributed by Bill Hunt

January 06, 2002