NRA Journal - Summer 2003 - National Rifle Association

WELSH TOUR TO SOUTH AFRICA 2003by Richard JeensTravelling in large parties is always troublesome andfurther complicated by taking rifles; the outward journeyto South Africa was no exception. Contrary toexpectation the tour party, which numbered twenty onein total, departed Bisley ahead of schedule several hoursahead of our flight. Despite the efforts of the Captain,there was scant time in duty free before boarding asHeathrow felt the need to confirm that our rifles reallywere rifles three times over. Fortunately procedureswere less arduous upon arrival and we were verypleased to be welcomed by Richard van Lingen and ourtour provider Jim Parker. Under their guidance, transferfrom flight to freeway was fluidly effected and the tourbegan in earnest.AcclimatisationThe three weeks tour was broadly divided into twosections. The first week consisted of acclimatisation andtravel, while the second and third weeks involvedparticipation in the South African National Meeting andthe major team matches. Our first stopping point wasthe Battlefields Lodge near Dundee in KwaZulu-Natalprovince. After the inevitable problems with Customsand the disruption of an overnight flight, the hospitalityhere was most welcome. From this base we spent twonights visiting the principal sites of both the Zulu andBoer wars. Each day we were guided round the sightswith a full and informative commentary enabling us todevelop an impression never really attainable fromwritten sources. We visited Rorke’s Drift, Isandlwana,Bloodriver and Talana battle sites as well as the museumsthat accompanied them. Driving between each locationwas revealing of both the physical scale of the countryand gaps in investment. Dirt track roads that woundbetween small villages, for example, regularly had aplethora of road signs and markings to guide the tourists.Cannon at Blood River. (All photos: Welsh Rifle Team)At each location the differences between Boer, Zulu orEnglish accounts of the events remained striking over ahundred years on. At Bloodriver, for example, the Boermemorial suggests up to five thousand Zulu deaths,while the Zulu site estimates under a hundred. The scaleof bloodshed in the region was perhaps mostdramatically clear at Isandlwana, where the piles ofstones marking the mass graves had been whitewashedand so starkly stood out from the land.We moved on from Dundee to our next stop at theHluhluwe-Umfolozi game park. The journey wassomewhat enlivened by a puncture to one van, fallinglogs from a timber transporter and Chris Hockley’sapproach to parking at our lunchtime stop. Thiscombination of annoyance, downright danger andamusement meant that we were very appreciative of thesupper awaiting us at Hilltop Camp. From here we sawa huge range of wildlife on dawn and dusk drives. Themore adventurous also went on bush walks and wererewarded with a much closer view of the rich habitatand its occupants. Some more senior members of thetour felt that the Dutch girls on the afternoon walkcontributed to the scenery. The only disappointmentcame with the absence of lion or elephant. So it waswith great reluctance that we left the park and headedtowards our first shooting engagement.Arrival at the Nottingham Road range was accompaniedby a collective kit explosion. A quick afternoon shootwas sufficient to reassure most people, however, thatthe flight had not damaged anything beyond repair.Shooting proper started the next morning with anindividual competition, which most of the party spenttrying to adapt to the less than conventional distances.This was not, however, accepted as an excuse by theinsurance company for the blue van’s collision with agate post into the range! The afternoon team match wasnarrowly won by Wales Red with Tim Valentine topscoring for Nottingham Road and Richard Jeens for theWelsh. Nottingham Road Rifle Club proved themselvessuperb hosts at the dinner in the evening, the culminationof which was the auctioning of the top shots from bothsides in advance of the bi-national pairs match the nextmorning. Some generous and alcohol fuelled biddingresulted in a suitable supplement for club funds. Muchto their credit the youngest members of the team, whowere the last to leave the party, were the first to appearat breakfast the next morning. This display of efficiencywas betrayed by the failure to communicate the laterstart time the night before. Perhaps fittingly the twotop bidders topped the eventual ranking, despite AlHaley having to be reminded that he had actually bidthe night before. The close victory for John HowardDavies and Tim Valentine combined with the generosityof our hosts to ensure that Nottingham Road was a verypleasant and memorable part of the tour.27