Ntwa Dumela - The Lion Who Greets With Fire! Poem by Margaret Kollmer

Ntwa Dumela - The Lion Who Greets With Fire!



A poem by my grandson, Gregory on a tortuous crossing of Van Zyl's Pass in Namibia by his father and brother in a 4 x 4 called Ntwa Dumela. Greg says his Dad's name, too, should have been Ntwa Dumela as he, too, is a lion who greets with fire! (I can vouch for that!)

Once there was a Landy
Which came in rather handy
Namibia was the place;
A country of unforgiving space.
Touring all dust roads
Gears in all manner of modes
Up hill and down dale
Some as slow as a snail.

The true test was Van Zyl's
A pass that is said as one tough as nails
Low and slow was the whispered call
Lest you take a deathly fall.
This we approached with great respect
It wasn't, you know, a kerbside mall!

Slowly we ground on
weighing in at almost three tonne
The trailer pushing its formidable bulk
Upon us like a lumbering hulk
And sweat pouring down under a sizzling sun.

It took a mighty three long hours
But in the end victory was ours.
We carved our way over the pass
Ntwa Dumela showing its class
Like a beast on all fours
(And Dad not doing too badly either!)

We joined the many names
etched and signed on the rocks
To prove we'd crossed the notorious Pass
Ntwa Dumela had been oh so handy!

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