To begin with I have a copy of a report by Cynthia Hind - who was the top Ufologist in Zimbabwe before her death a couple of years ago. This report was brought to my attention by a previous guest - Patrice. As Della and I are shortly to leave La Rochelle, I thought it prudent to publish this article so that someone may remember it in the future. Whether you believe or not - it is indeed interesting!
Those of you who have been to La Rochelle may have heard me tell the story of the UFO landing which took place at the property in 1981. It was, and remains, the second-best-documented UFO 'incident' in Zimbabwe - the best-documented being the landing at a school in Ruwa. Della and I, I am convinced, actually saw that craft.... but we were not in Ruwa - we were in Victoria Falls. We were sitting at the outside bar at the Elephant Hills Hotel when we saw something very strange in the night sky the day before the kids at the school reported their encounter. But that is another story.
Here then, the La Rochelle incident. A contemporary report:
Location. La Rochelle near Mutare, Zimbabwe
Date: August 12 1981
Time: 1800
Twenty laborers returning from work in the fields at six o’clock, saw a fireball rolling across the grounds of La Rochelle, a Forestry Commission station some nine kilometers from Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe. In charge of the group was Clifford Muchena and he was as stunned as the others; they watched the one and a half meter diameter fireball move from one side of the lawns to the other, and then roll up the sloping lawn to an observation tower attached to the main house. “It walked up the wall of the tower” said Clifford “and entered the top window---then it burst into flame.”
Clifford rushed to ring the warning bell at the side of the house, to call one of the Game Wardens to come quickly. As he was ringing the bell, the fire ‘gathered into a ball again, came down the tower wall’ past Clifford, and then burst into flames again when it reached the Fantasy, an outbuilding which used to house the ex-owner’s orchids. Clifford ran to try and douse the flames, when he saw three men standing there with their backs to him. He was sure one of them was Andrew Connolley, a Game Warden and his Supervisor. He called out ‘Mr. Connolley, Mr. Connolley’ and slowly the men turned around, whereupon Clifford fell to the ground.
“I couldn’t see their faces because there was so much light shining from them that I had to put my hands up to protect my eyes. They were wearing shiny overalls…”
The power from the light forced Clifford to his knees and he remained there until the light went out. When he looked again, both the fireball and the men were gone.
“All the time I was very frightened” he said. Indeed the women in the compound, witnesses to the sighting, had run off into the bush with their children and were not easily persuaded to return. All the witnesses, including Naison Sampindi, Clifford Muchena, Eunice Kachiti, were convinced that what they had seen were ghosts, the spirits of their ancestors. Probably a shave, a lost spirit who has not found his way home because his descendants have not done their duty by him.
HC addition # 372
Source: Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews # 2
So - you be the judge!
On now to some photographs. Firstly, this astonishing image - can you guess what on earth is going on here?
Of course it was our end-of-term play put on by the children of the Penhalonga Correspondence Centre, located in the grounds of La Rochelle. This year was 'Goldilocks' - and here are the three bears...
Then the following attention-grabbing headline, and not, as you may surmise, from the Manica Post, but from Zimbabwe's 'premier' daily newspaper. It tells the tale of the dastardly plot by the United Kingdom to invade Zimbabwe!
And in case you are thinking I am joking - the details were confirmed by no less a person than the former President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma.
Why on earth the United Kingdom would want to 'invade' Zimbabwe is never adequately explained.
And in case you do not believe this is a Zimbabwean paper - the story on the left is about a woman attacked by a 'jumbo' - an elephant. If anyone wants me to sort out a subscription to this fine example of journalistic integrity - let me know!
Then this very strange sight which greeted me a several days ago, leading me to think the Berbers of North Africa had found their way to Zimbabwe:
But nothing quite so exotic - just Jim and Sue. Some of you may remember Jim from the post of 4th February 2103 titled 'You snooze, you don't necessarily lose!', when he fell asleep watching Superbowl, after waking me up at 01.30am to come and watch it.
Jim and Sue are good friends who undertake missionary work in Zimbabwe, and they stayed a few nights with me a couple of weeks ago. While they were here, we had an unexpected 'cold snap'. Being totally unprepared for cold weather and without warm clothing of any kind, they went to their rooms, grabbed their bath towels, wrapped themselves up snugly, and returned to the hotel lounge to sort out their emails!
This is such 'odd but practical behaviour' that I confer upon Jim & Sue the title of 'Honorary Zimbabweans'!
They even look like us:
Well... sort of! But how nice to have guests behaving oddly.
Have a great day!
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