Khutse again (J1)

We headed for yet another weekend into Khutse last weekend. Alan's first weekend in the bush, and it was as great as always. We stayed at 'campsite' no14 this time, about an hour further into the park compared the the last times. This also meant that there was absolutely no-one around. It is always amazing to only be able to hear the sound of crickets, and a roar from a lion or hyena, but no other noise at all. And the skyline is only lit up by stars and the moon, no other light at all.
As mentioned in the previous blog, we did pick up a nice roof tent, which worked perfectly. Below a picture in the folded position, and when put up (takes less then 1 minute)


There is no shop anywhere near the place, the nearest (very basic) shop and petrol station is approximately 150km from the campsite, so the car was packed with supplies and extra diesel to keep us going all weekend. Having the tent free up some space in the back (which would have been taken by our tent, air mattress, bedding) was a welcome bonus. Cooking on the fire is always fun, Jill makes the best stew with kudu, wildebeast and oxtail in a potjie (cast iron three legged pot). She is also very good for cooking breakfast:
I usually do a braai (barbeque) with wors (sausage), lamb chops and corn on the cob. The cooking keeps us occupied for a good part of the camping, but collection of the fire wood for probably just as long..... It is very dry in Botswana at the moment. Rain season does not start until October / November, and the last rain was in April. The tracks had gotten very heavy and sandy, and the car was put to a real test. Especially on our way back when we found 2 cars stuck in the sand. One had sunk away into the sand, and the other managed to get itself stuck trying the pull the first one out. It is very important to keep driving in these sandy spots, and we were reluctant to try and pull them out, with danger of also getting stuck ourselves. But leaving them there would be cruel, so we did give it a careful try, and managed to pull both of them loose.

We did not spot any of the cats such as lion, hyena, cheetah or leopard. But we did see plenty of wildlife again:

Giraffe

Beautiful bird, I have not identified this one yet

Gemsbok

Ostrich

Hartebeest

Unfortunately we are back in the office now, buried into the work. But weekends in Khutse definitely make up for all that.

J1

Just a random update

The year has flown, it's springtime again and we don't know where the months have gone.


Here are some recent photos from just "around", and a few notes to go along with them.


We're still loving having Alan around the place, even though the testosterone level in the house has been thrown so totally out of balance. I'm seriously considering getting at least a few more female animals around or something. 3 male dogs, 2 boys and 7 sports channels on TV... Or maybe redecorating the house... in shades of pink and lilac or you know, along those lines.


So, what is the queen to do?


Besides put them to work (obviously):



A & J1 pruning the snot out of our overgrown peach tree. Desperately needed. Now we might actually get fruit this year that won't be the size of a golf ball, but rather actual peach-sized peaches?!?

Also in the last week or two I planted a passionfruit vine and a grape vine. I have no faith in my own ability to cultivate edible plants, but we'll see if maybe the warm and dry Botswana climate can do it for me. With the help of the great Irish slave-boy, I also planted chillies, sweet peppers, cucumbers and coriander in the vegetable garden. I aspire to make my own salsa by the end of this coming growing season. The gardener laughed at me because I've obviously not sown a single seed since my 3rd grade botany project. I had seeds everywhere and he overheard me telling Alan to space them out in "exactly 30cm spacings". whatever! apparently that's not necessary when you can transplant them later on in the year. who knew?!

While I was busy out there, I noticed some weavers have begun building their nest in one of our other climbers on the pergola:

Speaking of birds, we suspect there is a crested barbet building a nest in one of the trees in our yard. Actually, not the tree itself but in a log that we nailed to the tree, which we took over from the Polsons. Fingers crossed.

The landlords came by last week to check us out. They live in the West Indies and were back in BW for a visit/general stuff. They said we weren't keeping the pool clean enough and we said "but it's winter" and that was pretty much the end of that. I think they realize they got some good renters in the place and we're obviously not wrecking the joint. She nearly had a go at J1 for not mowing the lawn enough but before she even went down that road he reminded her that we'd just had frost the night before so I think that was the end of that thread. Either way, I suppose we can understand, I mean, not a day goes by that we don't breathe a sigh of relief that those nice (clean) Swedish boys who are living in our house back in Ireland aren't a bunch of irresponsible scumbags or something.

The road to fitness (and summer i.e. swimsuit time) is still going strong. We're still climbing the mountain 2x per week, yoga (Alan in tow) and J1 playing tennis on mondays, plus we manage to work a run or something-or-other into another day during the week. Sprinter Lynch is pushing us to the point where we're actually running up the mountain (from about halfway up - where the track starts) rather than climbing. We're getting there. If we can only pull off about another 100m, we'll be there. But of course the last hundred metres is the steepest and most uneven and looks like Mount Everest. But I'm enjoying the feeling of having legs-of-jelly. It's been a long time since I've had that feeling.

This weekend the boys were filling up at a petrol station and J1 saw some guys moving a roof tent, in the back of a bakkie. So he went up to them and offered them money for it on the spot (without even asking if they would consider selling it), seeing as they obviously weren't using it (come on, it was in the back of their bakkie!). So, they realized their chance to make a quick 3k right then and there had arrived, and lo and behold the tent is ours! It's a total bargain considering new ones retail at 7k. It's brand new and would have only been sitting in those guys' garage. Now it has a nice comfy new home on the top of a lovely '93 Pajero, where it'll get lots of abuse scraping along thorn tree branches and will enjoy a wide variety of foreign bodies sleeping in it throughout the year! (We will kindly be offering it to our visitors and taking the old trusty ground tent for ourselves - that is until said visitors realize how much of a pain it is to get in & out, up & down etc. in the middle of the night when nature calls).

So anyway, now we just have to get a rack welded onto the top of the rig and fix the tent on, and we're 2 items closer down to the bottom our never ending 4x4 (standing at the bottom of a diesel tank tearing up dollar bills) wish-list. We're going to take it on a test run with Alan this weekend, in Khutse. Can't wait. Photos to come.

A little preview (J1)

Having recovered from our porcupine intruder last week, and the dogs (literally) licking their woulds, we went into a very nice and relaxing weekend. Poor Alan really deserved this after putting him to work at our office all week. He came expecting a holiday....

Friday night we had sundowners (drinks while watching the sunset) at the Gaborone yacht club on the dam. There was music by our friend (and ecologist) J, and giant hamburgers from the kitchen, very enjoyable after a busy week at work.

Saturday morning was spent (again) repairing the fence we built for Reggie. When he is determined to get out, nothing can stop him. He can pull chain link fencing apart like it was not even there. We made another attempt in re-enforcing it, and will have to see where he finds the next weak spot.

During the afternoon we had the plan to walk from Gaborone to Gabane, we had done this a few months ago, and it was very enjoyable. Just outside Gaborone we stumbled by total coincidence onto the back of the set for the 'No. 1 ladies detective agency' movie. Of course we had a wander around, until security came to kick us out. No-one was allowed to see anything until the release, so enjoy these pictures, before we get solicitors' letters etc telling us to take them down......

The amazing thing was, this whole village had been built recently as the set for the movie, but it looked like any Botswana village, which had been there for years. It included broken down cars, chickens and buildings in need of repair and re-painting. I am reading the last book in the series now, titled 'The good husband of Zebra drive', and would recommend them to anyone who has not read them yet.

Our 2 1/2 hour walk ended in Gabane village, at the "Mountain liquor restaurant", where cold beer was waiting. At about 6 the barbecues were going at full speed, and the restaurant sell the best marinated steaks, with complementary pap. Some pictures of us around the barbecues at the bar:

We also went to see the Simpsons movie this weekend, I thought is was very funny, and would certainly recommend it to anyone.

Yesterday I played my first game of tennis in over 2 years. Our work experience student E. has access to the university courts, and it was great to play again. We will try to make this a weekly habit. Maybe we might also join a local tennis club (and squash courts), so Jill can start playing tennis as well. I am looking forward to teaching her.

J1

The Night We Fought Off the Giant Porcupine

...and Alan's introduction to Africa just keeps getting more and more entertaining.

Last night we were all a bit late getting to bed, as there was a bit of a bloodbath going on at la casa.

As usual, I let the dogs out to do their thing around 10:30pm before bedtime. Normally I do this thing where I stand out on the stoop and stare up into the sky trying to spot at least 1 falling star before the 4 legged monsters are done peeing and ready to go back inside. Last night, however, I was only out there for about 30 seconds before I realized all 4 of them had all bolted off into the bush, and some seriously scary noises were starting to come out of the darkness over there.

(I keep telling Hannes we NEED SOME LIGHTS OUTSIDE but so far as far as we've gotten is the string of jalapeno christmas lights that hang over the stoop. Not exactly the practical flood lighting I was hoping for)

First there was just branches breaking and a bunch of growling, which then turned into howling and crazy barking and a doggy shriek or two. The scary part that was no matter how much I called any of them, they just weren't listening and it sounded like something ferocious was on a rampage. Then the weirdest sound I ever heard - it was like someone had a corrugated iron box full of timber and was shaking it violently and running and stumbling randomly around through the bush... or something.

Of course my first thought was: "Crikey!!! Leopard!!!" but then I realized

1) the only growling that was going on was very dog-like

2) leopards are graceful and don't thunder around awkwardly in the bush

3) all 4 dogs sounded like they were all still alive

and then I realized how LARGE the thing (whatever it was) sounded, nearly like it had hooves so I thought "crap!. . . probably a cow or a donkey I bet Mary left the gate open again!" but the way the dogs were shrieking bloody murder still made me pretty scared that something huge was going to come crashing out of the darkness and straight at me.

So I hollered at the boys and they both came running out of the house and neither one of them had any clue what was going on, so weren't really being any more help than a box of rocks. Not to mention the flashlight that I grabbed out of the kitchen was giving off about as much light as a dying wristwatch, so we were all pretty much helpless, standing there in the pitch blackness stunned, listening to 4 hysterical dogs on the attack, an unidentified large disoriented creature making sounds I'd never before heard in my life, and our own voices shouting out the names of dogs who had absolutely no intention of following any commands whatsoever! By this time, every single dog within the entire neighbourhood of Notwane was going crazy in response to Sech, Reggie, Reilly's barking and howling, and of course Billy's high-pitched, blood-curdling screeching.

After about 2 minutes of just being stupid and standing around frozen in fear, we kind of all started moving towards the chaos and somehow that ended up with the dogs dispersing a bit and Sech (of course) charging the THING towards the swimming pool. THen Alan got a glimpse of it fighting it's way into one of our landscaped beds and goes "it's not a cow! it's spikey!" around about the same time Johannes managed to catch Reggie, who was all bloody. I found my way to the swimming pool lights and turned them on, and then Hannes managed to get into the dog pile and grab Billy. His back was full of spines about as long as his own body. I would've believed sooner that it was a porcupine, had I not caught a glimpse of this thing that Sech was currently attacking, and seen the sheer size of it.

It stood taller than all the dogs with the exception of Sech, and had feet the size of a small human. And when it reared its spines, they actually stood HIGHER than Sech (who already comes up past my waist, himself), and it was most definitely fighting off the dogs with some serious agression. It even came AT us a few times while we were trying to corral the tornado of fighting dogs into the light. It was really, really huge!

I was pretty confused because the only porcupine I'd ever seen in my life was back in South Dakota when I was a kid and I remembered it being small, docile, sitting in the middle of the road, and only about as big as a large hedgehog. This thing was bigger than a Boerboel!!

Anyway, to make an already long story shorter, we saved all the dogs & threw them inside, except Sech, within a few minutes. You can tell this dog is bred to fight and protect by the way he was wired to the gills with adrenaline, had a face full of spines, and was STILL GOING. The porcupine was rattling his spines, hissing, attacking, going for it, and Sech just wouldn't back down. There was blood everywhere. I managed to grab the camera, it was taking so outrageously long to get the situation to a manageable position. I can swear that the whole neighbourhood probably thought that there was a full-scale attack in progress on plot 32A.

This photo doesn't do the size of the giant porcupine justice. It was really scary. It was like a small person stomping and storming around with 10,000 million knives sticking out of its back, going rattle rattle rattle hiss hiss click click rattle rattle....

Thankfully Alan didn't know anything about porcupines, and actually got up close enough to be able to grab Sech, eventually. The struggle involved a thick jungle of thorn trees, a pissed-off porcupine, and a raging boerboel who was ready to kill. I'm still not sure how he did it but it must be that insane Waterford warrior blood in him. Check out all that champion blood splatter all over the face:

With all the dogs inside, it became clear exactly how much blood was being lost. The living/dining room looked like a murder scene.

The quills that we pulled out nearly resulted in a few hands getting chomped off, but it was all out of love.

Here's some of the un-broken ones we saved for posterity:

Since none of us knew that much about the Giant African Porcupine, we did some research this morning and found out the following interesting facts:

- They can weigh up to 30kg (60lbs)

- They walk flat-footed and have 5 toes

- They are Africa's largest and heaviest rodent

- It will stamp its feet, click its teeth and growl or hiss while vibrating specialized quills that produce a characteristic rattle.

- Quill length on different parts of the body varies, from 1 inch up to 12 inches on the back.

- Porcupine quills have long been a favorite ornament and good-luck charm in Africa. The hollow rattle quills serve as musical instruments and were once used as containers for gold dust.

Alan's closing remark of the evening:

"Well, that certainly wouldn't have happened in Ireland!"

Back in the office...

...after a nice trip to South Africa last week, mainly time off for pleasure. We did a great job timing our first week-off-of-the-year with the arrival of Alan. The week consisted of:

- Hanging out in Joburg with Jéan.

- Hanging out in Pretoria with the P's.

- Fetching Alan from the airport.

- Quickly integrating A. into Africa, and Joburg in particular (where he's starting his new job in about a month).

- Shopping around (a bit) in the greater Pta/JHB area for roof tents and other 4x4 accessories.

- Hitting Pilanesberg for a quick camping trip and some animal-spotting for the new guy.

Apparently A. had never slept in a tent before. Well now he can't say that any more. He also got to enjoy my (Jill) campfire eggs & bacon & onions deluxe. And who wouldn't kill for that opportunity.... really.

We've been to Pilanesberg many times, but this time took the cake as far as babies were concerned. Apparently we hit the peak time for new arrivals in the wild kingdom and every adult animal spotting offered a newborn or two, to boot. So for this blog, I will post a couple photos of not even half of the baby guys that we saw in just 2 short days.

(Oh yes, and A. got to see 3 of the Big 5 in his first expidition out in the NorthWest Province, so he's doing very well for himself. He's also proven to be a natural born spotter... catching quite a few really really really long distance views on hillsides at least a mile away that even J1 and I didn't spot. Although I'd say every single time he made me slam on the breaks, it was zebra. I think he's well and truly got some sort of zebra-magnet hidden somewhere on him)

Baby hippo (look to the right)

Baby ellies

Baby waterbok

We also saw: baby rhino, baby bosbok, baby baboons, baby zebra, and baby giraffe.

Once we got back to Gabs, of course we had to make Alan climb Kgale Hill a couple of times (not to mention the end of vacation means the beginning of fitness for us, too), and we did a lot of showing off Gabz-City and that kind of stuff. We also celebrated his birthday and put him to work (kind of) in the office. By the end of this week, he'll probably be desperate for his new company to come through with all his immigration paperwork (which is why he's here with us for a few weeks), so he can get back to Joburg and start working at a real job where the boss doesn't drag you off to yoga class in the afternoon and make you do work on your so-called "holiday"!!!

Thanks to anyone out there who is holding thumbs for our beloved Reggie. He's doing just fine, we're keeping our eyes peeled and our hopes up high that if he did have a cancer "thing", that it won't be coming back. Surely he has a few more good years left in him. The vet thinks he removed it all so we just have to go with that. Meanwhile, he's still the same old high-maintenence, obnoxious food hound that he's always been, so that's good enough for us! I think he's doing just fine.