Watch My Tracer By: Keith Chisnall

Author: Keith Chisnall

This is the true story of my life in an African country known then as Rhodesia. This memoir chronicles the extraordinary events that took me from a young boy on the farm learning bush skills from my old, Shona teacher to my years in the security forces embroiled in a ferocious bush war. This was a brutal civil war for the very heart and soul of that young nation. The journey also tells of the deep friendships and life-changing experiences that arose during that bloody conflict which pitted the formidable mettle of the Rhodesian armed services, both black and white, against the insurgents. There are some stories of overt and covert operations conducted by the special forces with whom I served that have never been made public. Descriptions are included of the technical and physical survival techniques which we devised and used with great success. Conditions though sometimes demanded that these tactics were formulated “on the spot” – they emphasized the vital importance that empirical experience played in honing these strategies and to adapting them as the war progressed. Interwoven with the accounts of conflict are stories of the many humorous anecdotes that inevitably arose during these times together with descriptions of the beautiful landscapes that I encountered and the rural life of ordinary folk who became swept up in a war which ravaged their way of life. You will get insights of my deep love and understanding of the wilderness and wildlife of that region. Today I work as a Group Leader, leading tours into Africa for those who yen to explore and gain knowledge of the animals, people, terrain and biodiversity of these incredible lands.