Golf Bonny Island, Nigeria
mention to Baba that “wouldn’t it be a good idea to give up after nine?”. His reply was “it’s your putt”. It turned out that there had been an attempt to overthrow the President two miles up the road!
Another interesting four-ball was with ‘Chip’ Bush - his father was US President at the time - and the US Ambassador, George Arthur Trail III. After a rather mundane round, we retired to a private restaurant room in the Hilton. Next door there was a meeting regarding the crisis in Sierra Leone. Mr Trail, after half a glass of red wine too much, mentioned that, if a certain Mr G Taylor did not behave himself, the ‘Yanks’ would go in and sort it out. He was removed from his post the next morning!
“The ‘blighter’, in this case, turned out to be a hippo. Believe me - do not keep one as a pet in your back garden. It will destroy the place on a daily basis!”
Working down in Bonny Island, off the southwest coast of Nigeria, was an experience. After flying to Port Harcourt, I travelled to the island by powerboat through the delta, mangrove islands and, what seemed like, constant rain. My accommodation was on a houseboat that was hit by tidal waves nightly from the oil tankers moving up and down the delta. The ‘blighter’, in this case, turned out to be a hippo. Believe me - do not keep one as a pet in your back garden. It will destroy the place on a dialy basis! Bermuda grass would not grow here because of the lack of sunlight. We tried ‘papsalum’ as it grew naturally, and was known locally as Port Harcourt grass. It has a fairly similar method of maintenance to Bermuda, except it
tended to thatch up regularly. Back then, it was very difficult to acquire herbicides, insecticides and fungicides - apart from a little spring, dead spot fungicide, which was never required! However, insecticides - because of sod web and cut worm, which could be devastating - were essential! So, I had to make my own. The Nim tree, a cousin of Mahogany, grew on the course, and is renowned for its various chemical properties. Every part of the tree is said to have medicinal properties, so I soon learned about pyrethrum and how to extract it and, after a few months of experiments, found the right concentrations. I won’t say it was 100% effective, but it certainly suppressed them.
A general view of the Defence Raya course
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148