Both my grandfathers (my dad's dad and my mom's dad) were fairly adventurous in their younger years. Funny enough, both were methodists and both were educationists. They were willing to take the challenge of travelling, facing the unknown and settling in new areas. As you can imagine, travelling through Africa all those years ago was no easy task.
In my paternal grandfathers case, he was an education officer in the colonial government. One of his responsibilities was to inspect schools in rural areas, travelling with a driver in a trusty old Land Rover. When he had chance, he would take my dad and his siblings (mostly when they were on school holiday) along for a ride. Using bush tracks, they trundled from school to school, village to village, across rivers, mountains, savannas, and forests. I remember being told stories about their encounters with wild animals, and having to push the Landy out of mudholes or up steep hills. In the attached picture is my paternal grandfather (from whom I got my name Nathan) and his trusty Land Rover that took him all over what is now Northern Zambia. Those trips were the original Nate's African Expeditions! :-) Look out for my next blog about my mom's dad.
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