David Lemon
An interesting newcomer to Princetown, is David Lemon, who completed a 3,200-kilometre trek along the length of the mighty Zambezi River three months before his 70th birthday.
In his time David Lemon has managed to fit in working as a police officer, salesman, legal clerk, school bursar, cricket coach, charter skipper, labourer, journalist, author and public speaker. Raised in Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe - he left home in 1963 intent on becoming a teacher, but instead found himself in the Gloucestershire Constabulary for eight years, before going back to the country of his birth to join the Rhodesian police force. Returning to the UK in 1988 after his retirement from the force, David decided to try his hand as an author and wrote four teenage adventure novels, two of which were published by Penguin. However, it was ‘Never Quite a Soldier’, a brutally honest account of his time during the turbulent years of civil war in the dying days of Rhodesia, that established his reputation as an author of humour, tragedy, heartbreak and redemption.
In his late thirties, David embarked on the first of many African adventures. Lake Kariba is an inland sea on the Zambezi River; it forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is one of the last unexplored stretches of open water and is definitely not for the faint-hearted. In an open 10’ dinghy, David rowed the lake in both directions. He told me: “It was quite hairy, I had no rowing experience, although after 63 days I became an expert”. During his row, David was shipwrecked three times and lost most of his food. Ashore he was bitten by a poisonous snake and had countless close encounters with lions, hippopotami, crocodiles and buffalo. Encouraged to write about the trip, he entitled the book ‘Hobo’ after his boat. The adventure bug had bitten and in the early 90s David cycled from Nairobi to Cape Town. He was arrested twice, beaten by armed soldiers, and menaced by hyenas and lions. He fell off his bike on many occasions and contracted amoebic dysentery in Tanzania - but still he smiles as he tells me how much fun it was. Four and a half months and 7,500 kilometres later, he arrived in Cape Town’s Mount Nelson Hotel to a champagne reception, already making notes for his next book, ‘Two Wheels and a Tokoloshe’.
In 2000, David started writing freelance for the Sunday Express and spent eleven years working undercover in Zimbabwe reporting on the homelessness, starvation, and murder exacted upon the farmers whose lands were being seized. He wrote horrifying accounts of injustice but also found human stories of dignity, kindness and courage. ‘Soldier no more’ is a challenging and inspiring book about those cruel years.
But Lake Kariba still called - in his fifties David walked approximately 2000 kilometres around the lake through wild, African countryside, much of it uninhabited. Without permission to walk in national parks he was cautious, but was only arrested once, although he lost a lot of weight and even had to stitch up his own leg. In his sixties, he tried to kayak around the lake but was refused entry to the Zambian side; he lived to tell the tale, despite suffering badly from hyperthermia.
Approaching his 70th birthday David wanted to celebrate with something special - emulating David Livingstone’s attempt to walk 3,200 kilometres along the length of the Zambezi River from source to sea. Mistaken for Jesus, asked to run for the presidency of Zambia, battling exhaustion and malnutrition he struggled through some of the most difficult terrain in Africa. Deep gorges and flood plains coupled with daily temperatures of over 50°C carrying a 35kg pack proved too much. After six months of daily struggle David collapsed and was airlifted out suffering with hallucinations, covered in leg ulcers and bruises. Cerebral malaria added to his problems, but fourteen months later, he was back where he had been forced to stop, and continued the trek, becoming the first person to complete the epic walk in 292 ‘working’ days. Along the way he received encouragement and hospitality from cabinet ministers, drug smugglers, tribal chiefs and river people.
Fundraising from the expedition was donated to the Lilayi Elephant Orphanage outside Lusaka, as David is passionate about these beautiful creatures and their plight. He now travels around Britain lecturing on conservation as well as recounting tales from his many adventures. He is a man with a keen sense of adventure, but limited sense of the importance of planning or preparation. Most of his adventures have taken place on a shoestring, with little or no back-up. He carried little in the way of supplies, preferring to eat what he could find – mopani worms, monkey and even rat. David travelled without a tent and often without a map. “I just kept the water on my left,” he told me in his usual self-effacing and irreverently concise way. Now in his seventies, I asked him if he’s planning any more adventures and he says his daughter ‘would rather he didn’t’. But he has adventure running through his backbone so I’m not sure he’s ready to hang up his boots just yet.
Nichola Williams
Contact albidaman@aol.com for signed copies of David’s adventure books and details of his talks.