An African childhood movie
Traditional Kikuyu dancers at the Muthaiga Club. Not exactly my backyard, the Muthaiga Club is/was a very exclusive club in Nairobi, were the likes of Denys Finch-Hatton and Beryl Markham were members. For some strange reason, we were members of the Parklands club. Our Savary friends were members at the Muthaiga… Oh. Well. Hakuna matata.
The term “traditional” might be a bit stretched, even in those early days. This was a show put up for members and guests at the club. The dancers wear black and white hides of colobus monkeys, very common in Kikuyu lads and in the Mau forest in particular.
Mother cheetah and her three almost grown-up cubs. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
Mr. Chui, Esq. the leopard, at the Nairobi Park orphanage. Hence the very close shot). Leopards were the only members of the “Big Five” we never managed to see in the wild. Very elusive fellows. Yet, at some time, they roamed close. My cousin John was born in Nairobi. They lived in Karen, in the outskirts of the city. At night, they had to lock the dogs inside the house lest a leopard might kill and eat them. Leopards love dogs. (I probably mentioned that before.)
I did think of calling this post “My family and other animals”, but the title is already taken. (By very talented Gerald Durrell.)
“Ring of bright water *”. Mijbil* at the orphanage of the Nairobi park. The orphanage picked up wounded animals in the bush and gave them a second home. Still does, as far as I know. My older brother doesn’t like otters. He was bit by a supposedly “tame” one in Cambodia. Me? I find them ever so graceful.
Mpaka (cat) Minette in her favourite basket, in the garden of our Nairobi house. Why do cats love baskets or crates, or drawers?
Mbwa (dog) Rosalie the dachshund. They were very good marafiki (friends). To the point that when they fought for fun, Rosalie the dog sometimes adopted typical cat attack tactics… sideways for example, while dogs normally attack in frontal way. Fun to watch.
Jacarandas in Nairobi. I had to check when they bloomed. Wasn’t quite sure. In Mexico they bloom in February-March, in South Africa around October (dankie Robbie). Well, “Boogle” says: September to November… I would have sworn it was earlier. Beautiful trees no matter when.
My mother Renée in the garden of the Nairobi house.
“I went down to the crossroads,
“Tried to flag a ride…”
(Robert Johnson wrote the lyrics, Cream played it close to perfection.)
On the road to Mombasa. Yours truly and my father with our faithful Peugeot 404.
My lord Tembo, the elephant, in Tsavo. Up close, not personal.
“Mr. Spock? Scotty? Mr. Sulu? All systems ready?”
All aboard Equinoxio’s Time-Space shuttle, back to Africa in the sixties. Kwaheri sassa.
(c) Martin-Onraët & Equinoxio
“My family and other animals”, (c) Gerald Durrell; Mijbil *, and “Ring of bright water”, (c) Gavin Maxwell.
Equinoxio 
Can’t say I have heard of a Jacarandas. I wonder if it is called something else here? Or maybe we just don’t have them.
You probably don’t have them in California. It’s originally form the Americas though it can be found in Africa now. Very pretty trees.
Si les chats adorent se cacher ou se reposer dans de petits endroits, plus ou moins accessibles, c’est peut être pour se sentir en sécurité ou tout simplement pour avoir la paix 😀
Bonne journée Brieuc
On est bien d’accord. Les chats tiennent à leur tranquillité…
Nairobi, at the other side of the immense continent. I suppose it is quite (or even very) different from the west of Africa (?). Tall, slender people. The beautiful dancers! And the animals, a cute juxtaposition between the big cats and the domestic one + dachshund. Otters indeed are gracious, but I wouldn’t want to be bitten by one. 🙂 Wonderful trip to Africa again. And cool to see you getting taller and broader in the shoulders during this series of home movies. Tot ziens Brian.
East Africa is rather different from the West, though there are commonalities. (Baobabs can be found in both.) Thorn trees are specific of the East. And maybe the South, that I don’t know.
Totsiens as they say in Afrikaans.
So many wonders. So many interesting tales to tell!
Asante sana. (Thank you very much)
That crossroads sign is a doozy! Wonderful pictures as usual!
Thank you Jan. It was quite a nice sign. Near Nakuru, very close to the Equator line.
I particularly enjoyed that last song.
Myriam Makeba was a great artist. And this song in particular. “The click sound”. You may have heard the clicks. If I’m not mistaken one of the languages in South Africa uses clicks of the tongue. (Zulu maybe?) which gives this song a unique style.
Yes, I heard the clicks on the song. I know I’ve heard about the African language using clicks, but I don’t remember what it’s called.
They’re called just that: “clicks”. It’s fun how humans invent so many ways to communicate.
I agree! Language is endlessly fascinating, no matter what form it takes.
A friend of my mother’s spoke 12 languages. (I secretly formed an objective of learning 12 languages and failed) She was the wife of the Israeli Ambassador in the West African country where we lived. A great lady.
I’ve always wished I could be multilingual.
Il n’est jamais trop tard pour apprendre…
“It no is ever too late to learn”… (
My wife is starting to learn the piano. 😳) (Which means I have to go back to my music days… LOL)
True. I think now it’s a matter of priorities.
Agree. I too am beginning to set priorities, while we still can. 🤞🏻
All the things you have seen … so amazing. I would like to see a Dachshound attack like a cat by the way.
The last song, was that Miriam Makeba?
I was lucky, as I always say. Now, I can just share some of the experiences.
I swear, the dog had learnt the cat’s ways. They were like “soup sisters”, raised together. Observation is well within a dog’s abilities. I don’t think I have it on film. I’ll check though.
Tschüß
It is great that you share them!
It’s my “reward” after the few years of digitizing the 8mm movies. The old reels are safeguarded away from light and dust in a tight chest.
Now my friends and my family, my grandkids can see them in a modern way… It’s great.
(I sometimes wish my mother could see them, she would have been delighted at the new technology.)
Viel dank Freundin.
I love all these old photos and the video.
We have loads of Jacarandas in Oz, especially in Brisbane. They usually flower when Uni exams are on (October) so students get nervous when they start seeing blooms. They’re spectacular, laying a carpet of purple everywhere, but I don’t think the flowers last long.
Love the “Beware Elephants” sign!
Just read you guys had them too. Purple carpet indeed. Funny that students should become nervous when Jacarandas bloom… Love it. And no, the flowers don’t last long. And don’t park your car under a jacaranda, the flowers are a bit sticky, hell to take off the car.
We loved the sigh too. This was a common sign on the Nairobi Mombasa road, that cuts Tsavo National Park in two. But elephants don’t care and cross the road.
Yeah, I know all about Jacarandas.
Elephants shouldn’t care, it’s us humans that are in the way… 😉
It was basically the view of the elephants I’ve “met”.
impressive images, giving witness to arich emotional life
Thank you.
Another amazing video! Isn’t it wonderful that we can digitize old 8mm movies?
Thank you.
Yes, it is amazing. The process itself is quite tedious, at least with my “amateur” equipment. But once it’s done the possibilities are amazing. Cut, paste, put the sounds you want. ‘Matter of fact, the final elephant sequence I cut off another movie which not very interesting…
And in the end it keeps a memory of those that raised us… 🙏🏻
Nice pictures equinoxio. I enjoyed them and reading the captions you wrote. Is your mother still with you?
Thank you. No, she’s been gone a while. 20 years actually. I often think how she would have enjoyed digitizing her own movies or seeing the result. 🙏🏻
Admittedly, that is the first time I’ve ever seen a BEWAR OF ELEPHANT sign. Another wonderful trip through your life. Thank you.
Always a pleasure Gigi.
And yes, we too were thrilled when we saw the road sign for the first time. 😀
It wouldn’t last a second around here. Someone would have it on their wall immediately. Can’t keep the DUCK CROSSING signs up for long.
Is that right? Ducks crossing? Shaking my head…
What a life you have led. I remember, ‘Ring of Bright Water.’
Such a beautiful movie. I actually saw it when we were in Africa… (And read the book too)
More priceless images. I, too, like the elegance of the otter, but I’ve never seen one. I’m pleased you closed with “Africa’s First Lady of Song”
Thank you Derrick. I guess for otters you’d have to go to the land of the Scots… What was the name of Maxwell’s place? I hear they put up a sanctuary for otters there…
And Lady Makeba was the only choice wasn’t it?
Cheers.
Just about three years later than Daktari. 🙂 Watching it currently. Very impressed despite it being filmed mostly in US with only few scenes from the real Africa (which they repeated ad nauseam).
Your films are… the real, live Africa back then. That’s what makes them precious. And the thought of “I’ve been there, I’m in the movie”. Guess very few of us have had the chance of traveling that far and being shot on film – or even photos. Me I barely have a couple B&W photos of my childhood thanks to my aunt who had the only camera in the family.
Ring of bright water was nice but the ending was sad. Watched the movie. Felt sorry for the poor little guy.
Jacarandas in your movie are spectacular – the red-orange one included. The animals too, of course. Missed Minette lately, was glad to see her again here. 🙂
Why do cats prefer tight places? Maybe they feel unsure, threatened by something or someone, and need to feel safe somewhere where they can control the situation. “There’s only one opening, got my eye on it, my back is secured; if anything [threatening] comes in sight I attack” might be one explanation, but that’s from a human point of view and from the little observations I could gather these last years since I raise cats. They also prefer higher ground for the same reason. There may not be only one explanation though, it could depend on their momentary state of mind.
Well, that’s for the small domestic cats – large cats don’t seem to have the same preferences, or do they… Maybe you find proof in another one of your home movies. 🙂
Thank you for the jump back to the past. I was four back in 1970, and had barely seen my first live cow in the country where my parents took me for recovery. Not quite a stroll through Africa but… 🙂
We got out first “telly” precisely in Africa in 1967 (discarding the one French channel in the summer for the holidays.) And we also watched Daktari which was fun, because we felt we lived inside the TV. Hard to separate reality form illusion.
You remember MInette? Amazing memory. Yes, cats always settle down with their backs to the wall. They probably have Mafia genes…
And I agree Ring of bright water is sad, respected the book. But sad nonetheless..
We got ours a little later, around the time of your movie (’69-’70). Daktari was broadcast even later, sometime in the late 70s or even early 80s – can’t remember exactly. I was still young, and fascinated by the “life in the wild”. To you I guess it was just “the domestic daily life”. 🙂
Of course I remember Minette, she’s unforgettable: pretty girl, cute name. 🙂 Daughter of a mobster? Maybe, who knows… 😛 😆
Truth is, when a cat turns her/his back on you it means they trust you completely (with their life). That’s a big thing for a cat.
“Domestic daily life”. Exactly. Which got me stares when I finally “got back” to France. I could see the French really didn’t believe me.
True, it takes time for a cat to trust you but when they do…
Difference between life in the bush and life in a large city is… huge. No wonder your French colleagues wouldn’t believe you. 🙂 But maybe at some point they watched Daktari too. Heck, would I have ever believed a chimp and a lion would be best friends if I didn’t see it right there on the screen?! Sure, there’s a scenario, training people, all that, but still… the chimp is pulling hard on lion’s tail and is still alive. 😀 Which may also fall into that getting to trust one-another which may not be strictly between humand and animals but between animals of different species too.
By the way, last night there was an episode (S3E5 or something) about a man from a supposedly lost tribe. At some point he shouted at the people of his tribe “wagina” (or “wageena”?). You said “wa” stands for plural which makes sense, but the “gina/geena” part I don’t know and the web might assume I’m looking for… something else. 🙂 So i thought I should ask you. 😉 They talk very very little Swahili in the series even when there’s allegedly native population involved, which I found quite odd in a way.
Wa or Ba (same prefix really) is the plural form in many Bantu languages. Though not only Bantu. Bamiléké in Congo means plural of the Léké tribe. (An old friend of mine studied the Bamiléké a long time ago)
I don’t know what “gina” means.
Maybe it was something made up ad-hoc although it seems quite improbable considering the environment. Could it be “wajina” or something that sounds close to that…? Hard to distinguish by speech only as there is no subtitle whatsoever for any of the episodes. Oh well. 🙂
Many “dialogues” were made up. White actors playing Indians in Westerns. Or black Americans playing safari movies…
I wouldn’t be so sure about made-up dialogues, at least not in this series. I did hear “asante sana”, “kwaheri sassa” and a couple others I knew from your writing here so it seemed genuine. But maybe it could be something that was slipped in as a “forgotten language” or “forgotten dialect”. After all they were talking about a thought-extinct tribe. Darn, curiosity got the best of me. 😀
Otherwise I know about “faking” natives and all that, I’ve watched a lot of of movies where they did that. Even as a child I could recognize they were fake and was wondering why they didn’t use real natives. Didn’t know all the implications back then.
They did use same woman for about three different characters so far, in this series. Also a few [probably] mexican actors for natives, judging by the names in the end credits. Some of these decisions are perfectly understandable, as not many regular actors would feel comfortable around wild animals, as tamed, sedated, or chained up they may be. Similarly it would take too long to teach English, maybe even specialized terms, to natives just for a few lines of dialogues in an episode – not to mention other connected things that we take for granted.
Speaking of actors and wild animals I just remembered Roar (1981). I watched the full uncut version (thanks to P2P 😉 ). As the poster at IMDB says: “No animals were harmed in the making of this film. 70 cast and crew members were.”
So yeah, certain decisions are important and as hilarious or frustrating as they may be it’s better than having people get hurt or die.
“70 cast menbers…” 🤣
Meaning they were hurt. Some even badly (one was scalped). Have you read the details on that page? They used untamed lions, mostly males. It was insane.
Oh and there’s Melanie Griffith in the cast too. I was surprised to see her. Apparently she’s the stepdaughter of the director.
Sounds insane indeed. Now Melanie Griffith in her young days. I’ll look it up.
I love jacarandas and always wish we got them in the UK but we’re too far north. They do well in Lisbon and of course I’ve seen them on my travels further afield if the timing is right. And of course I love the elephant too!
👍🏻
I loved seeing your mother playing around and smiling. ❤
Thank you. (And missing whatever she threw up in the air…LOL)
Yeah, with our technology she could make movies and YouTube videos too.
Absolutely. She actually got into computers at a “late” age. I bought her one when she was past 70. She’d never used one before. And became quite good at it.
That’s great.
Enjoy the rest of the week.
Yeah, with our technology she could make movies and YouTube videos too.
Hi Brian, you really had a most marvelous childhood even though it was spotted with some periods of angst. I saw a leopard in the wild for the first time in March. As you say, they are very elusive. It is still on my bucket list to see more of the leopard in the wild.
Dag Robbie. I suspect your childhood was not that different. How old were you when you arrived in SA? 4? (If I read correctly and am not mixing things up…)
This last March? Wow. Keep Mr. Chui on your bucket list…
Totsiens
Hi Brian, I came to SA when I was 1 year old. My biological father died when I was 3 months old. Mom married dad when I was 2. My childhood was very free. Totally different to how life is now.
Sorry about your biological father, but your Dad is your Dad. He raised you. And I can imagine how free your childhood could still have been. Not like now.
In a different Time-Space, when we were on holiday in France at our Normandy house, my sister and I, together with our friends in the village would go out in the morning on our bicycles, with a sandwich and a bottle of water, and ride and ride, until 6PM. Not a care in the world. Now? No way.
Yes. People love signs like that. It’s not too terrible (the steeling) but the duck signs had pictures of ducks and everyone loves them. My daughter has signs on her wall but they buy them (used) from special sellers.
In France too. You can buy old signs, which are fun. In many countries: one of my daughters bought me a “Hippies use back door” sign…
Oh, cool. I love that. My daughter buys some of them as well. 🙂
We’re all on the same track…
Once again a lovely flashback to the past. When you look back at history and what happened in your life, sometimes you have to wonder, oh did that really happen… This sounds a bit like what you experienced back in the day in Nairobi where you got to see traditional Kikuyu dancers and had friends who knew their way around. And you rubbed shoulders with quite a few animals.
Enjoyed the video too. As the others have said, loved the Beware Elephants sign – someone was thoughtful to give the tusks an apt colour. It’s a sign that stands out. Looking at the photos, and then watching the video and it reminds me that there is so much life and pleasure in the simplest moments. Sometimes you look back and the best moments are the mundane moments… Hope all is well 😊
True. SOme of the best moments were mundane. Others were… out-of-thid world? 😉 I think we are just the sum of our experiences and starting point(s). Yes some can have several starting points. Like you…
All well, xie xie, hope you are too…🤗
Some of your experiences in Africa seems like out of the world experiences…. You only live those experiences once, especially if you don’t visit or return often (anymore). Agree, some can have several starting points – different points to define different chapters. Wishing you well 😊🙏✨
“Chapters” is a good word. You have many chapters of your own. Just a thought about writing, why don’t you think in terms of “your” chapters. Chapters don’t have to follow a sequence. You have Singapore chapters. Australian chapters. And others maybe. You might have Hokkien chapters, and English chapters… (Though I seem to recall some of your family spoke something else other than Hokkien, forgot the word.)
Chapters. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Chapters, similar to seasons. You could have chapters within seasons, and seasons are the broader arc or theme 😊
You have a good memory… Some of my family speak Hokkien, other relatives Hakka, probably others too. Fascinating where we all come from. Always a pleasure chatting, Peng You 🙏
Chapters, seasons, whichever way you visualise it. If you recall my “African childhood” posts, each is a chapter. Doesn’t take a long time to write, which takes the pressure off. Write the first that comes to mind. (As if you were telling someone.) Keep it short. Then after a while, you will have many chapters to organise into a book…
Hakka! That’s the word I was looking for.
I see Hakka is spoekn in Taiwan, as Hokkien is too. The two are probably somewhat related.
Pleasure’s all mine
Exactly, write the first thing that comes to mind. Not necessarily write the story in order. That’s something I learnt over time…and it is very liberating, especially writing my book not in order of chapters….
We help each other out with words. Enjoy the weekend, peng you 🙏
You too Kawanku. I’ve read your full text. Trying to think of useful comments. MIght take a while… 🙏🏻
You are one blessed guy! To have Africa as your backyard must be many photographer’s dream.
It is. Matter of fact, many other bloggers post much better photos of Africa than I do. But… I was lucky to live there.