GUEST SPEAKER
Our guest speaker today was Mark Hillis, “raconteur extraordinaire” and worthy of acknowledgement in Ripley’s Believe it or not.
Mark agreed with some reluctance to help his wife Chris’ realise her dream of a trip to the big game country in South Africa and Namibia. Mark openly expressed his fear of large animals and Africa is full of them. As he later revealed he came to meet up with one in a much closer encounter than he had anticipated.
To get to South Africa, Mark and Chris flew with Qantas via the South Pole. Mark was a bit concerned when he noticed everyone looking out the windows of the jet. He had not realised they were flying via Antarctica and thought it “pretty cool” when he saw the sight below. On arriving in South Africa they had to take a flight in a smaller unpressurised aircraft to arrive in the area where they wanted to explore the wilderness. Mark suffered altitude sickness and was glad to hit terra firma.
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Some of the highlights were taking a riverboat cruise on the Okavango river, avoiding Hippos which are responsible for more human deaths than any other of the big game, catching Tiger fish which literally have huge teeth like a tiger’s, and having close encounters with Lions, Elephants, Giraffes etc.
Mark showed photos of their escort on a bush camping expedition, who carried a powerful rifle to protect them should a large animal charge. Apparently their campsite, which consisted of canvas tents and a fly screen enclosure, was the scene of a lion kill only the night before they arrived. Mark said that lying in his tent on a camp stretcher with lions nearby, made him feel “like a slab of meat laid out in a butcher’s window”.
Mark stuck close to his guide’s side, however his wife Chrissy blithely trailed along excitedly taking photos.
Mark, decided it was time to head for more familiar settings and so they hired a Nissan Micra and set out for Sun City, a luxurious resort near Johannesburg.
When almost there, they had their most dangerous and frightening experience. With Chris driving, they collided at 120 ks in the dark with a wandering bull. The car exploded and was totally destroyed. Fortunately Mark and Chris were relatively unscathed, Mark requiring just a few stitches.
Despite urging to the contrary, Mark refused to go to hospital and persuaded a couple of locals to drive he and Chris to Sun City where they were able to have a doctor visit and stitch Mark’s cut eyebrow. Marks’s description of the Locals’ car and paying them had everyone else in stitches.
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For drama, “Believe it or not” content, Mark’s story of his trip to see big game, ranks right up there with George Thomas trip to America and the blowing up of his back pack by American Security.
Can John Egan top this when he returns from Russia? As Pat Ingram said in thanking Mark “the best speakers come from within our own club.