Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

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Horus
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Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Horus »

When copper is mined a huge quantities of mineral ore is removed and for every tonne of copper actually produced they will extract maybe 25 tonnes of rock from below ground. This creates massive galleries of maybe 25 foot across that follow the ore body, these passage ways are so large that a full sized diesel locomotive can be driven down them on tracks to transport the ore bearing rock into loading bins that take the rock to the surface in dedicated rock hoisting skips that operate four abreast. These skips hurtle to the surface where they are inverted over a ‘camel back’ structure to deposit their contents into storage bins on the surface awaiting transportation via 6 foot wide conveyor belts that look like thick black snakes as they undulate their way across the open bush towards the main Plant Area. Watching these skips rising and falling between the lower levels of the mine and the surface is hypnotic as they sometimes operate in perfect synchronicity, then at other times the pattern becomes chaotic like watching a group of drunken bell ringers as the skips and ropes fly upward only to pass another one that is descending again. This activity can go on all day transferring great quantities of ore bearing rock from below ground to be processed within the main plant area which could be 15 miles or more away from the mines themselves, eventually all this frenetic activity is turning the ground below your feet into a vast hollowed out honeycomb structure.

Even though this mining activity is being cut through solid native rock at depths of several thousand feet down, it still has an effect on the surface and causes subsidence, which is the technical term for the ground collapsing under your feet.. One such collapsed area was known to us as “The Caved Area”. It was some distance out into the bush and only accessible by an unmade and rarely used track and to reach this area I would have to leave my vehicle on the road and walk in. You may wonder what I was doing there in the first place, but simply put this ‘caved’ area was quite close to an old reservoir that had been constructed many years before the original subsidence had began to occur and a major overflow pipe from this dam had to discharge into a river on the other side of this rough and broken ground and I was there to inspect the condition of the overflow pipe as it crossed the caved area. To understand what is happening here you need to know how these overflows work, picture a bathtub full of water that has a tube extending upwards from the plug hole, but with no actual plug. Then if we imagine that this tube is a foot in height, then we can fill the bath with up with a foot of water before it starts to go over the top of the pipe and down the drain. So provided the pipe is large enough to cope with the flow, then we could leave the taps running and the bath would never overflow. In this way the dam is always protected from bursting its bank due to becoming overfilled, the technical name for this device is a Decant Tower.

This water from the Decant Tower has to be contained as it passed over the caved area, otherwise vast quantities of water that ran into the dam and overflowed during the Rainy Season would percolate down the fissures and cracks on the surface and flood the lower levels of the mine immediately below it. A similar thing had happened previously at another mine some 90 miles away and had killed hundreds of miners, so it was an important inspection to carry out. To accommodate the massive amount of water that needed to be carried away, a steel pipe over 6 foot diameter crossed the caved area. It was constructed in many smaller sections of pipe about 30 feet in length with flexible flanged joints to allow the pipe to move while remaining fairly watertight. The reason it needed to be flexible was that the ground below it was broken and crevassed and constantly moving up and down. As an added precaution there were two huge wire cables each one 2” in diameter that ran on either side of the pipe through large brackets. These were indeed necessary as in places the ground beneath the pipe had completely collapsed and in places it spanned across gaps many tens of yards across like some South American rope bridge only held together by the twin wire ropes down the sides, the ground beneath having completely collapsed leaving it suspended in mid air. During the rainy season I would periodically walk the length of this pipe to inspect it for any leaks as even slight ones could discharge millions of gallons of water into the already unstable caved area. It was my usual practice to climb on top of the pipe near the dam and walk along it as this was the easiest way to navigate this craggy and deeply crevassed area and I could do all my inspection by looking to the right and left of the pipe as any leaks would be quite visible.

I had parked up my vehicle and walked down the track, a small troop of Baboons had seen me coming and scampered off into the large clumps of bamboo that grew alongside the road. I kept my eyes open as Leopards prey on Baboons and as I once had a close encounter with a Leopard in this area before, so I was quite alert to any danger. I clambered down the embankment of the road then stepped onto the pipe as it passed under the track and disappeared off into the tall Elephant grass that grew alongside the pipe. The tall waving grass squeezed around the sides and attempted to meet again at the top leaving me little room to walk through, even so it was still higher than my head. I forged my way forward pushing the stiff fronds aside and as I walked the occasional ‘Whydah’ bird would leap high into the air it’s extraordinary long tail feathers fluttering below it, jet black in colour and the size of a Blackbird, it had a tail a yard long their long plumage dragging them back down again as they leaped high into the air to attract a mate, then to disappear again as quickly as a jack in the box. I had left it a bit late to start my inspection and the storm clouds were already gathering, but I was not worried, I often got myself soaking wet in this job as I was outside so much, or messing about in reservoirs or pumping stations, I loved this job because I was always outside. My biggest fear at this time of year was being struck by lightening, I am no hero and would happily lie down in a thunderstorm, rain pouring over my back and clutch the pipe like it was my mother in order to make myself really small. Before now I have jumped out of my boat and into the water to keep my head below the highest point on open water during an electrical storm.

It was raining heavily now and water was streaming off the broken rocks alongside and below me, my main concern was not slipping off the pipe, rather the fact that no one knew where I was. It was not often that I was on my own, but this was the case today mainly because today I was late in getting this inspection sorted and had not brought one of ‘my native boys’ along with me, which on reflection was rather stupid considering the place I was going. I pushed on and noted a few small leaks that we would have to deal with the next day and then started to cross over one of those suspended sections. This was particularly dangerous as there was a drop of maybe 60 feet in places below me, slipping off here would be certain death and we are talking of the days before cell phones and very little in the way of heath and safety regulations. I started to cross and feeling much like the famous Great Blondini crossing Niagara falls I had my arms outstretched, the ground below me fell away in jagged steps towards the middle into a deep gulley before rising back up again on the other side. I remember the rocks being an unusual metallic iron colour very shattered and striated.

I was several yards out when I saw it, a white bleached shape on a rocky ledge about forty feet below me, small rivers of water washing around the outline. Something about the shape made the hackles rise on my neck, it lay on a narrow ledge and as the rain ran off the brim of my hat and down my back I could feel a chill running up my spine that was not caused by the cold rain water. It was a baby! My god it was the skeleton of a baby! I actually felt fear in being so alone as I was in this wild inhospitable place. I walked or maybe staggered back until I had solid ground under the pipe and clambered down by swinging off the wire rope, I was much more agile in those days. By now I was soaked to the skin and even my bush boots were sodden with water and my thin T shirt stuck to my body. I made my way to the edge and peered over, there it was as clear as day, tiny head and small legs and arms with a tiny pelvis and ribcage, there was no mistaking what it was, I let out an involuntary shiver and my body went cold. What should I do? Part of me just wanted to get the hell out of there, but another part told me to get a better look, I decided to get a better look.

I carefully lowered myself over the ledge until my feet could feel something solid, then carefully made my way down, step by step and ledge by ledge, Water ran over the ledges and across my desperately clutching hands as I gripped the jutting angular shapes of the fractured rock to make my decent, this was foolish, but I had to keep going, the skies darkened and the cold rain chilled me to the bone as I carefully made my decent. Eventually I reached a point directly above the skeleton where it lay on a small ledge, the head was on one side and a small arm crossed over the rib cage as if the baby was asleep. A deep sadness tinged with fear passed over me as I gazed at this pitiful shape below me and my mind raced to see some sort of logic as to the circumstances that led to what I was now seeing. Babies skeletons always seem to have disproportionally large heads and as I looked closer something struck me as odd, this skull had teeth! Canine teeth! It was then that the penny dropped, this was not a human baby at all, it was a baby Baboon. Quite why this little creature had ended up here will remain a mystery to me as will the fact that no wild animals had scavenged the body leaving it to decompose into a skeleton. I was not curious enough to continue and as far as I know it may still be lying there, slowly dissolving into the African landscape, however I decided that I had had enough adrenalin for one day, so headed for home, cold and wet, but quite relieved and until today I have told no one about this little interlude in my life.


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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Ruby Slippers »

This is great writing, Horus! You have explained the technical side so well that even I can understand it! The baby baboon side is terrific and makes me think of the explanation that mankind began in Africa. :up
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Horus »

Thanks Ruby S, I was a bit concerned that it contained too much technical detail and therefore become boring to read. :)
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Jayway »

WOW . . . I am hoping this will continue, love to read your stories. I was able to imagine this place. I have only seen a tiny coppermine here, from the stone age or something .. well there were models of stone age people - - - haaa haaa -- happy in my ignorance !
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Horus »

Glad you enjoyed it Jay and if you could imagine the scene from the way it was written then I call that a success. :up
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Kiya »

Horus I was with you all the way on this journey :)

I was beginning to dread what you were about to find but thank goodness it was a baby baboon .

You had me really gripped :) & hopefully it continues , roll on chapter three :) :)
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Horus »

Glad you enjoyed reading it Kiya :up but part 2 was the end of this particular story ;)
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Super duper fantastic story H! Honestly really enjoyed it. You definitely have a writing 'style' that brings the read in, captures and keeps their attention :)

Waiting for the next chapter now! :) :) :) :)
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Re: Red in tooth and claw (Part 2)

Post by Horus »

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments :up
You may be pleased (or not) to know that whilst delving into the depths of some older document folders I came across a couple more short stories about Africa. One was actually written especially as a letter to the son of a guy that I used to go fishing with when I came across him quite by accident on another forum some years back. In one it recalls us both fishing in the 'Petrified Forest' that I mentioned in my first short story, I must re-read them fully and see if they are suitable as I don't think I have ever posted them on here before as they go back to being written around 2008. :tk
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