Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 20
Husband commenced talk of wanting to farm and after a time he received news that one was for sale. We went to have a look and I, after being worn down by his mentioning it, gave in. We made the financial arrangements after selling our house in town and moved. It was 1974.
The farm was located 8 miles from the centre of Kitwe, past the suburbs of Parklands and Riverside including the police station, through Buchi Township and via a causeway bridge across the Kafue River. There was another route via Kitwe Playing Fields and through the same Township. This river formed the frontage of the farm with a tributary called the Matupa Stream and a government run State Ranch on the other side both forming our boundaries. The rear boundary was a fence wayyyy out back. There were a total of 250 acres with approximately a fraction of this under cultivation – the rest was untouched vegetation and bush. We re-named the farm Matupa Ridge (from its previous name of Green Acres) as the house sat on a ridge facing a 300 yard sloping lawn to the banks of the Kafue and dubbed ‘the fairway’ as we kept the grass short more for the vista from the house than anything else.
From the causeway bridge one passed by State Ranch, traversed along a two wheel track for about ½ a mile, past a Pine forest on the right to reach the house. It was single storey and split level with a number of steps descending to the main bedroom. From the front door one entered a large lounge with enough space for the dining table at the far end. A wonderful stone fireplace to the right warmed us on many a chilly August night. Being close to the river it could be quite a few degrees lower at that time of the year and before the heat started to build through September into October, (aptly named ‘suicide month’) before the rains came.
Lovely big windows at the far end gave us a good view of the river, there were Eucalyptus trees and part of the orchard to the right just visible. A stable door led onto the veranda and two terraces to the left with steps gave firstly, access to grass and a flower garden, further steps to the second terrace led to another grassy area and the last steps straight onto the ‘fairway’. Eventually the steps which led to the second terrace had a kidney shaped swimming pool we built. To the far left we planted coffee and banana’s screened from view by the trees and similarly, trees to the right screened the orchard of oranges, lemons, grapefruit and ‘naartjies’ (already mentioned earlier). On the right steps led to a partially uncultivated area sporting a large bush and grass covered anthill. One large 20+ year old Avocado tree stood on one side of the orchard and yielded the best ever avocado’s I’ve ever tasted! The flesh was as creamy as butter and the size of them unbelievably large! The crop each year was so huge that we fed them to our pigs who adored them as much as we did! To the majority of Africans they were a little too ‘foreign.’ We had thought of exporting them but at what cost to the consumer when the tiny ones available in England at the time cost £1 each.
The strawberry patch was located to the right of the house on the edge of the pine forest and not quite visible from the grassed terraces. The rich, loamy soil was beyond belief and, beyond belief too, were the strawberries! They were the size of golf balls and delightfully sweet. (The current Queen visited Zambia one year to open Parliament and had been invited to spend a weekend at the then President’s lodge located further upstream on the Kafue. Word had got out about our strawberries and we were asked to supply a quantity for dessert – hence the patch being dubbed, 'The Royal Strawberry Patch'!)
Adjacent the river bank near the orchard was a well with pump which delivered absolute clear water to the house and from which everything grown was watered during the dry season.
----oOo-----
