Mementos

[Marc Ret]

This tankard has sat on my bedroom dresser for the last decade and a half. Picked up for pocket change (and pulls duty as a vessel for the same) in Bulawayo but is a priceless reminder of a great month spent with a friend in Zim. It's main appeal wasn't so much the tankard's aesthetics but, rather, it's marked country of origin- Rhodesia. A reminder of what once was.

Mounts and pictures aside, what items do others have that elicit memories of Africa?

 

[ActionBob]

A spear, 4 gin traps, and beat up panga acquired way out in the Mozambique bush

A set of baskets with lids on tall stands from the dining room at camp in Tanzania.

 

[R.M.C.]

I'm kinda nutty about souvenirs so my first trip to RSA I bought tanned hides, ostrich eggs, wart hog tusks elephant hair bracelets, etc.
Very cool to have that from Rhodesia!!

 

[steve white]

Spearheads, some with small shafts for long distance throws, (one a tiny bit more expensive as the woman said her grandfather had used it in battle with fatal results) from South Sudan--I asked my friend, "how do I know these are legit, and not factory made?" He said, "you see any factories around here?" We were in the middle of nowhere which pretty much defines most of South Sudan (even got an old license plate marked "South Sudan,"a now defunct title for the area.) They don't carry spears anymore--just AK47s, but they cannot stop fighting, either others or among themselves. Well, it is a revenge culture.. Sudanese, jeese!

In Camaroon, I was approached by a man who claimed to be the mask maker for the local chiefdoms. The masks were for, oh heavens--what is the name of that voodoo like clandestine group? Oh, yeah, JuJu. They looked old and retired, but he may have been an expert at aging them, and he claimed to have replaced them with new for all the ceremonies. I told him I would buy one I saw which had human hair and scalp affixed to the skull area of the mask.(horrors) He said he didn't want to sell that one, but later called at my place to say he would bring it for sale on the morrow--the date of our departure. Then he pulled a bait and switch--a mask without the hair and described as the second in line in the dance--a "lieutenant."
So I bought it for a vastly lower price and he acted disheartened. I might mention that I did not sell it--I threw it away, as bad luck noticeably dogged my life while in possession. My wife insisted on it.
All the rest are just trinkets...
Oops, forgot a rock with blood on it--a momento of when I found the lost track before the bushman trackers!!

 

[mdwest]

Spearheads, some with small shafts for long distance throws, (one a tiny bit more expensive as the woman said her grandfather had used it in battle with fatal results) from South Sudan--I asked my friend, "how do I know these are legit, and not factory made?" He said, "you see any factories around here?" We were in the middle of nowhere which pretty much defines most of South Sudan (even got an old license plate marked "South Sudan,"a now defunct title for the area.) They don't carry spears anymore--just AK47s, but they cannot stop fighting, either others or among themselves. Well, it is a revenge culture.. Sudanese, jeese!

I spent a lot of time in South Sudan between 2011-2016 (4-5 trips a year for 1-2 weeks at a time), and continued to make occasional trips there for a few years after that.. As strange as it may seem, its one of my favorite places in Africa.. Ive got a lot of truly wonderful memories of time spent in Juba and the surrounding area.. and experienced a good bit of excitement in the country a couple of times as well..

Most of my trinkets/momentos from South Sudan are pretty insignificant with the exception of one..

I've got a collection of "war clubs" that Ive picked up over the years from all over the globe.. I couldn't find anything like that from South Sudan.. but I did manage to trade a Mundu tribal elder for his "council stick" in Yei.. its an ornately carved piece of South Sudanese teak a little more than 2' long that the elders apparently carry around during special occasions to demonstrate their status within the tribe.. (Im guessing he was able to get someone to carve him a new one pretty quickly/easily.. or he wouldn't have let the one he gave to me go... and it is probably in reality worth a whole lot less than what I traded him for lol...)...

Somewhere around here I've also got an ID card that identifies me as a Colonel in the SPLA as well.. I always enjoyed pulling up to the gates of Bilpam (their version of the pentagon... sorta... )... showing that ID card, and watching the reaction of the guard on duty as he looked into the vehicle and saw a 6'4", large framed, pasty white guy sporting senior field grade officer credentials lol..

 

[Jason Miller]

I have collected so much stuff over the years from Africa that our basement filled and my wife agreed to allow me to completely decorate our home in Texas with artifacts.. I am still remodeling part of the house and will post pics when its furnished but it will look like a museum,

I have tons spears and weapons , some over a hundred years old, artifacts owned by Henry Stanley, and Jean Pierre Hallet, one of the largest collections of authentic 80 year old plus shields traded directly from the tribal elders, carvings, masks and on and on. I have a coconut that I picked up off a deserted beach in East Africa that is silly but it brings back memories of that hike along the deserted coast.

One of the silly things I do is grab a rock, or piece of broken brick off the ground etc from memorable places as well as I have a plant sucker given to me from the karen Blixen house that is growing in my yard as well as a Monkey Puzzle tree also from Karen Blixens estate.

I have a many hundred year old beer pot we found in a ravine in South Africa in 1997 that I hand carried home on my lap through Cairo (probably wouldn't be allowed to do that today, sorry South Africa )

Some taxidermy from memorable hunts ( I don't mount animals anymore, just hunt for the experience)

And over 2 thousand books of travel, exploration, adventure in South America, Africa and Arctic. So If you find yourself bored in Central Texas come over and hang out.

I often wonder if when I am gone my kids will just yard sell this stuff away or if they will donate it or just ebay it.. I have tried to label things as to where they are from and what they represent.

 

[Jason Miller]

So I bought it for a vastly lower price and he acted disheartened. I might mention that I did not sell it--I threw it away, as bad luck noticeably dogged my life while in possession. My wife insisted on it.

Interesting story, and I have experienced the same, way back in the early 90's I spent a lot of time in South America doing mission work, remote Ecuador. My cousin was a mechanic and we worked on old diesel generators deep in the jungle. I made it my goal to find an authentic Tsantsa and put the word out I was looking for one. Long story but I wound up trading an old single shot shot gun for one and brought it home. I had it mounted in glass and proudly displayed it in my study. It was so cool! Years later my daughter who was probably three or four at the time started seeing things in the house, she described some scary things but was too young to really be scared about it. For some reason as these weird things happened I immediately thought of the shrunken head and of course my wife as well insisted it was time for it to go. It was donated and immediately the weirdness stopped.

I have a book called Devilmans Jungle written in 1940's about the Congo I have not been able to read completely , just too dark ..

lastly, kind of a funny story, related to this.

When my wife and I lived in South Africa (1997-8) and were ready to come home I had an old Land rover I needed to sell and fast, I had a friend who went up to the Congo and purchased artifacts and brought them down to sell in Jo Burg at the waterfront. I was getting desperate to sell the land rover before we left and offered to trade him a ton of artifacts for the car, he agreed and I picked out half a container of artifacts to ship to the states. Once home I kept them in the garage while selling them and giving some to friends.

I gave an old mask to a workmate at Tandy in Fort Worth and about a week later he came to work scared saying the mask was making noise and for me to come get it. I laughed and said No way! and that evening after work went to his apartment. He said be very very quiet an listen. So we listened. From the mask came sort of a scratching noise, sometimes it would stop and sometimes be loud enough to get ones attention, he lived alone so noticed.

So after close examination I noticed some saw dust on the floor and after examining the mask found a weevil burrowing around in the soft wood. LOL We both laughed but it was truly kind of spooky.

 

[steve white]

I spent a lot of time in South Sudan between 2011-2016 (4-5 trips a year for 1-2 weeks at a time), and continued to make occasional trips there for a few years after that.. As strange as it may seem, its one of my favorite places in Africa.. Ive got a lot of truly wonderful memories of time spent in Juba and the surrounding area.. and experienced a good bit of excitement in the country a couple of times as well..

Most of my trinkets/momentos from South Sudan are pretty insignificant with the exception of one..

I've got a collection of "war clubs" that Ive picked up over the years from all over the globe.. I couldn't find anything like that from South Sudan.. but I did manage to trade a Mundu tribal elder for his "council stick" in Yei.. its an ornately carved piece of South Sudanese teak a little more than 2' long that the elders apparently carry around during special occasions to demonstrate their status within the tribe.. (Im guessing he was able to get someone to carve him a new one pretty quickly/easily.. or he wouldn't have let the one he gave to me go... and it is probably in reality worth a whole lot less than what I traded him for lol...)...

Somewhere around here I've also got an ID card that identifies me as a Colonel in the SPLA as well.. I always enjoyed pulling up to the gates of Bilpam (their version of the pentagon... sorta... )... showing that ID card, and watching the reaction of the guard on duty as he looked into the vehicle and saw a 6'4", large framed, pasty white guy sporting senior field grade officer credentials lol..

Yeah, as long as you follow their rules, you are fine.
The Agar and neighbors were always having mock fights with their war clubs, one fellow had the ace in the hole...a 3 ft club made of black rhino horn that had been in his family. No one ever fought against it as it was reputed to break all other clubs.
Never did get used to the heat.

 

[R.M.C.]

Dang, some of those artifacts are spooky lol

 

[Marc Ret]

The friend that I was with in Zimbabwe had lived in Bulawayo for six years. He was there as the president and one of the professors at the Theological College of Zimbabwe. Work, a wife and three young children didn't afford a lot of free time but when he had a little, he enjoyed snooping around abandoned farms which yielded a few interesting finds.

Swung by his place today to grab a pic of two of those items he brought home that have long held an appeal for me and thought some here might enjoy seeing as well. No definitive markings as to what rail line they are associated with so we can only speculate.

 

[Jason Miller]

wow those are cool

 

[Marc Ret]

wow those are cool

I couldn't agree more, Jason. I've often contemplated whether it's worth losing a 30+ year friendship if I were to get caught sneaking them out of the house....

 

[PARA45]

This is a great post. I don't have much, but I've picked up rocks from places I've hunted and also got a little bit of sand from the Kalahari.

For those with cool stuff, if you don't mind, please post pictures.

 

[Badjer]

The only real unusual mementos I have: In 2008, while hunting a 40,000-acre ranch in the Texas hill country I found a thrown horseshoe. (Left in picture) In 2009 at the same ranch, different area, I found another. (Right in picture) In 2016 in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico, I found a third. (Holding in hand) I also have 2 Coues deer sheds from the Mexico trip. (The center shoe was given out at a friend's wedding in 2005 with the date and their names on one side of a card and an Irish luck blessing on the other. It was shiny gold. I repainted it to look more rustic.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

With only one trip under my belt, I am only just getting started. There are three things, aside from my trophies...

1) A carved wooden Cape buffalo that I picked up in a gift shop. I swear when I saw it, it reminded me of the cow in my avatar. She sits on my desk at work under my computer screen.

2) A fossilized warthog tusk I found on the ground while putting a stalk on an animal; it sits on my desk just inches from my wooden buffalo.

3) A fragment of a warthog tusk I found on the ground during my hunt. I cut off the last two inches, put a hole through it, and put it on a black leather cord. I don't do jewelry - pretty much at all. But it's been around my neck for most of the time since I got home. I do not remove it. I fiddle with it several times a day, and it reminds me of how magnificent Africa was (is), and how bad I want to get back.

 

[Badjer]

The only real unusual mementos I have: In 2008, while hunting a 40,000-acre ranch in the Texas hill country I found a thrown horseshoe. (Left in picture) In 2009 at the same ranch, different area, I found another. (Right in picture) In 2016 in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico, I found a third. (Holding in hand) I also have 2 Coues deer sheds from the Mexico trip. (The center shoe was given out at a friend's wedding in 2005 with the date and their names on one side of a card and an Irish luck blessing on the other. It was shiny gold. I repainted it to look more rustic.View attachment 512080

My bad. I missed the "from Africa" part in the first post, and can no longer delete.

 

[WAB]

A couple of things that are of interest to me, a box that contained .700 H&H cartridges (I did the final ‘pre-black test firing of the first .700 H&H produced), a medallion from our closing bell ceremony on the NYSE, and of course my VonGruff knife.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

My favourite memento comes from your side of the ocean, Vancouver in fact. I saw a painting, well a signed print in fact that had such a feeling that it just had to come home. It is the 'Summer of 45' by William S Phillips, the true master of light. It hangs in my study and every time I see it talks of hope and renewal, as he intended.

 

[Major Bonkers]

Interesting story, and I have experienced the same, way back in the early 90's I spent a lot of time in South America doing mission work, remote Ecuador. My cousin was a mechanic and we worked on old diesel generators deep in the jungle. I made it my goal to find an authentic Tsantsa and put the word out I was looking for one. Long story but I wound up trading an old single shot shot gun for one and brought it home. I had it mounted in glass and proudly displayed it in my study. It was so cool! Years later my daughter who was probably three or four at the time started seeing things in the house, she described some scary things but was too young to really be scared about it. For some reason as these weird things happened I immediately thought of the shrunken head and of course my wife as well insisted it was time for it to go. It was donated and immediately the weirdness stopped.

I have a book called Devilmans Jungle written in 1940's about the Congo I have not been able to read completely , just too dark ..

lastly, kind of a funny story, related to this.

When my wife and I lived in South Africa (1997-8) and were ready to come home I had an old Land rover I needed to sell and fast, I had a friend who went up to the Congo and purchased artifacts and brought them down to sell in Jo Burg at the waterfront. I was getting desperate to sell the land rover before we left and offered to trade him a ton of artifacts for the car, he agreed and I picked out half a container of artifacts to ship to the states. Once home I kept them in the garage while selling them and giving some to friends.

I gave an old mask to a workmate at Tandy in Fort Worth and about a week later he came to work scared saying the mask was making noise and for me to come get it. I laughed and said No way! and that evening after work went to his apartment. He said be very very quiet an listen. So we listened. From the mask came sort of a scratching noise, sometimes it would stop and sometimes be loud enough to get ones attention, he lived alone so noticed.

So after close examination I noticed some saw dust on the floor and after examining the mask found a weevil burrowing around in the soft wood. LOL We both laughed but it was truly kind of spooky.

That’s like an M.R. James story.

 

[Rare Breed]

This tankard has sat on my bedroom dresser for the last decade and a half. Picked up for pocket change (and pulls duty as a vessel for the same) in Bulawayo but is a priceless reminder of a great month spent with a friend in Zim. It's main appeal wasn't so much the tankard's aesthetics but, rather, it's marked country of origin- Rhodesia. A reminder of what once was.
View attachment 511757
View attachment 511758

Mounts and pictures aside, what items do others have that elicit memories of Africa?

I like this thread. Every trip to Africa I want to take back a hand made craft. My last trip I took back a hand made beautiful bowl… it was very irregular in shape I forcing it was hand carved not made in china