Hubby and I were returning from a very rewarding game drive. After a couple of very unremarkable drives, our luck had improved and we had spotted some of our favourites and were looking forward to a relaxing dinner and a game of 30 seconds with the kids. Our driveway veers to the left and just as we turned, a bird that had been sitting in the middle of the road suddenly took flight. The only way I can explain the take-off was that it was reminiscent of Orville’s famous take off in the Disney movie, the Rescuers. It was disastrous and didn’t end nearly as well. Thelma the Spotted thick-knee – A ..read more

Hubby and I were returning from a very rewarding game drive. After a couple of very unremarkable drives, our luck had improved and we had spotted some of our favourites and were looking forward to a relaxing dinner and a game of 30 seconds with the kids. Our driveway veers to the left and just as we turned, a bird that had been sitting in the middle of the road suddenly took flight. The only way I can explain the take-off was that it was reminiscent of Orville’s famous take off in the Disney movie, the Rescuers. It was disastrous and didn’t end nearly as well. Thelma the Spotted thick-knee – A ..read more

The late afternoon sky was broody and the scattered clouds hung in the sky like forgotten washing on a clothesline. The plains game were resolutely going about their business, when I came upon a scene that sucked the air out of my lungs and sent a jolt of pain through my stomach.  Zebra foal lying motionless on the plains – January 2021 A zebra foal was lying prone on the ground while several fully grown zebras stood guard in squadron formation around him. I was convinced the poor mite was dead and joined the heart wrenching vigil over him from the safe distance of the Landy. Fr ..read more

A continuation of the Sonic story. Sonic – April 2021 Some of you may remember my story about Sonic the nyala who survived a predator attack and whose setbacks would have seen the human equivalent undergoing physio and chiro for weeks in order to correct the damage done. There would be time to lie in your bed and recover, potentially psychological and trauma counselling to help you deal with, and get through the experience and a family backing you up and supporting you. Well, Sonic didn’t have the benefit of any of those things. She had to go back out into a world full of predators, fend for h ..read more

Resident monkey tucking into an orange that she managed to steal while our guard was down – July 2020 Zaza has been an inventor since the time she could move around independently. Always making stuff and trying out new things. A lot of the time it turned out to be an utter disaster, but when she got it right, she had us all stunned. A craze many parents would like to forget about is slime. Well, Zaza was the queen of slime. She perfected it when even teens 1 through 3 couldn’t. Admittedly she was a whole lot more persistent. I’ll never forget hubby’s annoyed “where on earth is my contact lens ..read more

4:30 am. My alarm goes off. I reach for it and press snooze. An unrelenting tap tap tap on my shoulder. A small face, with a cascade of hair two centimetres from mine. “Aren’t we going on a drive?”. I pull myself out of a deep slumber and smile at my littlest. “Ok. Give me a second”. I stumble out of bed and reach for my shoes – automatically doing the triple “s” test., no scorpions, spiders or snakes.  A bright flash of light catches my attention. “What was that?” Hubby, who for a change is half awake replies, “Probably just the duiker”. At that point we had two pairs of duiker on either ..read more

I have had an assortment of visitors go for a game drive with me, many of them human, but also innumerable insects and way too many arachnids. There is nothing more disconcerting to me than having a spider run across the windscreen when I am driving and then have the audacity to try to come through the window and ride shotgun with me. I have driven through many webs – spiders love to spin their webs over the road and you end up smacking into their web and acquiring a grumpy little eight-legged passenger. On my last trip here with hubby, we had a particular failed game drive, the thought of whi ..read more

OK. Let’s just say it straight out. Baboons are a colossal pain in the butt. I understand that this is their space and they have more of a right to be here than we do, but they are still an utter pestilence when you are forced to share a space with them. Baboon chilling on our outdoor table – January 2021 (image from our camera system) We’ve all had that neighbour or tenant that you can’t wait to get rid of – who makes noise till all hours of the night, accumulates a pile of trash and then tosses some over to your side of the fence or just generally goes out of his way to be as annoying as hum ..read more

The first I heard about Tropical Storm Eloise was a warning issued on our Estate’s WhatsApp group, which I glanced at and then carried on with what I was doing. It definitely registered, but no alarm bells. Yet. When I started getting messages and weather reports from family members, who were a little concerned, I thought I should probably give it more than a peripheral glance. The skies before a sudden downpour – Tropical Storm Eloise January 2021 This is what Reuters had to say about it on 22 January 2021: “JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A powerful storm nearing Mozambique is expected to intensify ..read more

 A tribute to a legend. Today, exactly 5 years ago, the last of the “original” Landrover Defenders rolled off the production line. The Defender was produced for over 67 years. There were many different versions with just over 2 000 000 models built during that time. In 2020, a new Landrover Defender was released and time will tell if it lives up to its esteemed predecessor – it certainly has big shoes to fill! The Landy 9 years ago, hubby came home with what I thought was the craziest idea he had had to date – and that is saying something! After all this is the man who planned a ..read more