Southern Africa Unexplained

Case N° 151 · UFO Afrinews No 21, January 2000

Report from Graham (Harare)

1997 · Harare, take-off flight path of Harare Airport; direction of Beatrice, Zimbabwe

What was reported

Standing in his Harare garden with his 18-month-old daughter at about 2:50 pm on a Saturday in mid-November 1997, Graham looked straight up and saw a silver disc at roughly the height of an international flight; his home lies under the take-off path from Harare Airport. The disc stayed stationary for at least ten seconds, then suddenly accelerated rapidly west-south-west towards Beatrice, and he followed it for another ten seconds until it passed beyond the horizon. Momentarily distracted by his daughter, he looked up again and saw another disc apparently in the same spot; distracted once more, he found it gone and a 360-degree search of the sky showed nothing. The sky was cloudless. He cannot accept they were weather balloons, given their metallic look and the acceleration from a standstill.

What Hind made of it

Harare Met Office data make a midday weather balloon possible, even the same balloon blown back by high winds, but Hind stresses this is mere speculation that cannot be proved and asks readers to help.

Explanation offered
Weather balloon released at 12:00, possibly blown back into position by high-altitude winds

In their words

  • I cannot accept that these discs were weather balloons.

    Graham, spread 13

  • However, this is merely speculation on our part as we certainly cannot prove anything

    Cynthia Hind, spread 13

Connected

  • C.H. Alexander of Civil Aviation, HarareCase fileSame place

    The Harare Airport corridor: Alexander stood on the Runway 06 approach in 1994; Graham's garden in 1997 lies under the take-off path. Hind's own suggestion for Graham's stationary silver disc was the Met Office's midday weather balloon; the 1994 object was the re-entry.

  • Lights in the Sky D: fast flashing light, Glenara Avenue, HarareCase fileSame place

    Both late 1997 in Harare on the airport's flight routes: Barry Smith's fast flashing light heading toward Harare Airport on 11 September (Hind: probably a satellite) and Graham's disc under the take-off path in mid-November (Hind: possibly a balloon). Two of the three most recent Harare sightings sit on the air route.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 21 (January 2000), spread 12-13

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