Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
rabies. An unusual outbreak in 1981 of rabies resulted in some 15,000 kudu dyeing over 3
years in Namibia when saliva droplets left on leaves from browsing resulted in subsequent
kudu browsing on the same leaves getting rabies. This may also have been the cause for the
kudu horns I found inside the Sesfontein Fort while there. Canine distemper has also jumped
species from wild dogs and domestic dogs to lions. Population crashes also happen to humans
without medical treatment. It is worth noting that in the situation of Zimbabwe the Shona
people had been the largest population group in the area but Courtney Selous hunting in the
area in the 1800s noted that the population was quite sparse, although in Mashonaland a hostile
tribe attacked and destroyed his camp.
As Shaka Zulu's strength increased in the 1820s in the Zululand area of South Africa among
the disarray of surrounding tribes, the enrollment of the youth and women into his own Zulu
nation increased. As a result, one of his senior chiefs (indunas), Mzilikazi, absconded with a
large group of Zulu's to what is now currently southern Zimbabwe, namely in the area of
Bulawayo which means “the killing place” because Mzilikazi killed his son there when he
tried to take over his father's tribe. Mzilikazi ruled this area with an iron fist and rarely were
even the white hunters allowed into the area, with exception of Cornwallis Harris.
According to John Moffat, the son of the pioneering Robert Moffat at Kuruman, after Robert
built up the mission station at Kuruman, he travelled in 1829, 12 years after arriving and
starting the translation of the Tswana Bible, which he later finished, he travelled to meet
Mzilikazi. His trek oxen were attacked by marauding lions and one killed fearlessly an ox
since the lions had lost all fear of human having feasted on the bodies of those killed in smaller
tribes as Mzilikazi took over the territory after running away from Shaka. Mzilikazi was
amazed at seeing for the first time wheels on ox cart, was very impressed with Moffat, and
began a strong and lasting friendship with Moffat that was to last 30 years. Hence Moffat
facilitated the permission of hunters like Harris, Gordon-Cummings, and naturalists like Dr.
Andrew Smith's explorations (1835 with Moffat who made preparations for American
missionary Dr. Wilson and his wife) of the area. The later revenge attack by the Dutch Boers
on Mzilikazi and the Wilson mission station created suspicion in Mzilikazi's mind that
missionaries were spies for the Boers, particularly since Dr. Wilson left with the Boers
despite the ransacking of the mission. His wife had died so he left only with a newborn son.
While David Livingstone was recovering in Kuruman from a lion bite to his arm, he courted
Mary Moffat, Robert's daughter and married her. After he recovered he headed up to the
Zambezi River and Linyanti area where he befriended the Makololo tribe that had fled from
their original area further south when Mzilikazi attacked them. In 1853, Mzilikazi accompanied
Moffat on a trip north to try and find Livingstone but gave up but did forward supplies for
Livingstone on an island in the Zambezi which Livingstone found on his return from Luanda.
On his fourth trip to Mzilikazi Moffat was asked by the London Missionary Society to help
establish a peace between the Matabele and Makalolo, and also establish a mission station
among the Matabele. The idea was that if a mission station could be setup there and also
among the Makololo in Linyanti /Kafue area, the fighting between the tribes would abate and
peace would return. Furthermore, at the urging of Sechele, the only convert of Livingstone, and
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