A Charmed Life
I am so lucky that my parents are adventurers
At three we went to Los Palmas and stayed there
until I was five living in a wonderful house with
a flat roof that hosted our garden and I had a dolls
house that I could walk in and so many dolls that I
took apart to see how they worked but couldn't repair.
Mum and I spent our days mainly at the beach
each day a man came by with a cart and donkey
but I was never allowed to stroke him as he bit people
I was given a rare butterfly that I never saw hatch
I was so disappointed to miss seeing it before it flew away.
One time I cut myself on sugar cane and the brute of a doctor
poured iodine on it and boy it stung I would not let him stitch it
sand kept getting in it and I was left with a scar that I used to
tell right from left I bare it still this day. We drove up in the mountains
and both me and my sister saw a lady dressed like a witch high up
on a cliff ridge we had to turn back after a few miles due to landslides
and she was gone but we both remember her she had a pointed hat.
Shortly after we returned to London and spent nearly three years there
and once more we were on our travels to East Africa we arrived in
Dar-es-Salaam harbour on my eight birthday I promptly went down
with malaria and missed the first week of our stay there and then we
moved to Dodoma where we stayed for 2 years before going back to
Dar for the next eight years we had many unforgettable adventures.
Like being chased by an angry rhino he landed so close to us as we
went down the embarkment nearly on our roof and on the way back
we were chased by a bull elephant ears flapping he nearly caught
us we were lucky that the road flattened and we could speed up
but boy it was a close one my father has it on his cine camera.
Safaris were great fun we stayed in a great tent the poles were about
three inches thick but not much protection if a lion came into camp
we could hear them roaring to each other close by. We saw them a
few times a we drove around exploring the Serengeti and watched them
bring down a deer and the feeding frenzy that followed they are vicious.
Africa is a place of magic and to this day holds a special place in my heart
what a childhood we had. Days spent sailing Dar harbour and out to sea
once our catamaran started to sink about half a mile from Honeymoon
Island and it took ages before people saw we were in trouble and help
arrived to help us and in barracuda waters we got saved just in time.
as I said I have lived a charmed life there were many other adventures
I have picked some of them to share with you.
Copyright © Shadow Hamilton | Year Posted 2025
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