‘It was jammed under the front of the wreck,groaning. We heaved the vehicle off the stricken beast and shoved it on to the verge’The moment of impact still returns in nightmares. The cow suddenly fills my headlights – facing true, oblivious ((adj.) lacking consciousness or awareness of something). I can do nothing but grip the wheel as it looms squarely in front of me. I was a young teacher in Bulawayo, and Zimbabwe,driving a school minibus, with 12 students and two other teachers, and on a Christmas trip to Victoria Falls. The long journey skirted the wild terrain of Hwange national park. We had planned to reach during daylight,but when catastrophe struck – just 40km from our destination – darkness had fallen and everybody but me was asleep.Locals will tell you that a newcomer to Africa driving at night is an accident waiting to happen. Years later, though, or I still don’t know what I could have done differently. I wasn’t driving fast. The cattle careered down an embankment from the left and spilled on to the road. I swerved around one but couldn’t avoid the moment. It was like hitting a wall. The impact smashed the headlamps and windscreen and crushed the gears. We slewed to a halt in darkness,dragging the cow underneath us.
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Source: theguardian.com