Lumango station foreman showed the inspection team, a pond nearby where lions drank water at 6 pm local time, calling upon the team to board the train least they encounter the best as it was 15 minutes to the time.
“There are several challenges as our lives are under siege as we work to inspect or repair the railway line as there have been times where game wardens shot at us thinking we were poachers only to find that we were not,” said Boniface Paul, a foreman at the station.
Paul called upon the management to provide them with safety attires and working tools.
The situation was no different at Pwaga station which was only reported to be near by the Selous Game Reserve with Game Wardens and wild animals being the only neighbors they had.
“We are landlocked and the only way to communicate is to use the passengers train as there is no other means to do so,” Paul said.
According to Paul, all is well at the station because there are game wardens but not once they get out of the station to inspect or repair the railway line.
” There are times when we meet some lions or elephants on the road while inspecting the railway line and the only thing we do is to pray and stand still and only live by the grace of God,” said Paul.
Some stations along the railway line are in major towns while others as those mentioned above are in the middle of the Selous Game Reserve, one of the largest remaining wilderness areas in Africa with relatively undisturbed ecological and biological processes. Enditem
- Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh