https://bbc.com/news/articles/cz4xn7yqe25o
Vet recounts wild tales of working in Kenya
Rachel
Candlin, BBC News,
West of England
Hugh Cran treated animals in the Rift Valley in Kenya
A British vet who worked in Kenya for 55 years has
recounted the time he went for "a pee", only to see a lioness staring
back at him.
Hugh Cran, who lives in Somerset and trained in Edinburgh in the 1960s, was also a British vet who worked in Kenya for 55 years and has recounted the time he went for "a pee", only to see a lioness staring back at him.
He said over the years he had "many chance encounters".
"I
was threatened twice; on one occasion I was charged by an elephant on the top
of a mountain," he said.
He said that every day was a challenge in the
unforgiving environment of the Rift Valley, as he travelled miles on rough
roads, performing impromptu surgery by torchlight with dirty water.
Mr Cran, who has now written a book, said: "I
once got out of the car to pee and saw a lioness peering at me through the
bush."
But he said the experience only sought to encourage his passion for working in the country.
Mr Cran, from Castle Cary, had answered an advert
to be an assistant vet in the Rift Valley shortly after finishing his training.
He covered a 100-mile (160km) radius of untarmacked
rads in the course of his daily work.
"I had darting equipment so I was called out
to dart zebras which had been snared, or injured lions or cheetahs which had a
broken leg or jaw," he said.
"The distances were so great you couldn't nip
back to the surgery and out again, so I used to carry everything in my car for
any possible emergency."
He said over the years he had "many chance
encounters".
"I was threatened twice; on one occasion I was
charged by an elephant on the top of a mountain," he said.
"When that happened you had no time to do
anything except get out of the way."
The second was his close call with the lioness.
Mr Cran
travelled long distances to treat animals caught in poachers' snares.
He said his interest in Africa had been sparked at
an early age.
"I was always very keen on reading about
Africa; King Soloman's Mines, that sort of thing, and I always wanted to work
in the Tropics," he said.
But when he took the job in Kenya he had no idea
how long he would end up there.
"I intended to stay to test the waters for a
year or so but ended up staying rather longer," he added.
The Great
Rift Valley is part of a ridge system running through Kenya from north to south.
As a young vet he quickly had to adapt to the very
different working environment from that he was used to.
"Frequently I'd go into my surgery in the
morning and turn on the taps, and there was no water," he said.
"I'd turn on the switch, and there was no
electricity. Sometimes in the middle of an operation, say at night, the power
would somehow stop.
"Vets in this country would probably be
appalled, but I think the results were just as good as they would be if you had
all the equipment which one gets in this country."
A stunning encounter
On one occasion Mr Cran was asked to help a crew
filming a flock of pelicans with the help of a microlight aeroplane. He said it
was a stunning encounter he has never forgotten.
"They were trained to follow the microlight in
formation as if it was one of the flock, they were so tame and trusting,"
he said.
"If the plane dropped back another bird would
take its place as part of an extraordinary interaction.”
"They were wonderful, wonderful birds." He always carried darting equipment with him in case came across animals that needed to be sedated.
Mr Cran kept diaries of his experiences and has used them to spark the memories he has retold in his book.
Rift Valley Fever, named after a disease
spread by mosquitos affecting humans and livestock, was published on 25 April.
Comments