12 Aug 2010
Good gracious I’ve done it again. It’s been nearly 2 weeks since last I wrote. Oh well. Things here have been pretty hectic. David, Tokkie and the crew of 5 Australians came home. I think I was probably equally grateful for their safe return and for the replenishing of my chocolate supply. The hunting in South Africa was successful, with all the Australians getting more than one animal in a 48-hour period. The hunting down there is of a whole different breed, firstly because of the terrain. The land is open grass and scrub land. This makes spotting the animals a breeze, but complicates the stalking part. Here at Threeways the bush is still much thicker than it usually is at this time of year, although the last 2 or 3 days of fierce wind is promising to thin it out. But even if all the leaves were gone, it’s still forest, making spotting the animals before they spot you the name of the game.
Tokkie had one night’s rest and then took off in the morning to take Mandy, Terri and David back down to the airport. He’s been doing an obscene amount of time behind the wheel lately. I would probably be out of my mind by now if I were him. He seems to take it in stride, though, as he usually does with things that are unpleasant but necessary. David was assigned to act as guide for one of the Australians, a pleasant guy named Marcus. Another one was given into the custody of Kenneth, a black PH who has been temporarily hired to take up the slack. And the other three Aussies were sent off to a different ranch, supposedly to hunt buffalo amongst other things.
David slipped into his new role with pride and excitement and has been executing it with all the professionalism that can he can muster. Unfortunately I have been feeling somewhat under the weather and have been opting to catch all the extra sleep I can in the mornings. So I send him off at 6 am with the cameras and we have been separated during the day, seeing each other for a short time at lunch and then again before bed. It might be an alright arrangement except for one unfortunate character flaw of David’s. Unfortunately it’s this same character flaw which makes him a good surrogate PH: his enthusiasm for the clients. When we have a spare moment after lunch in the afternoons, all my significant looks, hints, and throat-clearing are not enough to drag him away from the guys to spend some time relaxing with me. It takes nothing short of a blunt statement expressing how sure I am that the clients would like some time to themselves to extract him from his rapt conversations with them. Same concept goes for after dinner. Maybe his enthusiasm will cool with time but somehow I doubt it.
Anyway, David succeeded in acquiring an extremely nice kudu for Marcus, as well as a warthog and 2 impala, which were all the animals Marcus wanted. The other guys came back from hunting buffalo with sad tales of how there was not only a marked lack of buffalo, but most other types of game as well. So, somewhat dissatisfied, we sent them all back down to the airport. The next group, also Aussies, arrived the next day and began hunting today. David is again in charge of one of them and has been out all day hunting and getting to know them. Half of the group has again been send off to a different ranch, and so our numbers here remain handleable.
Dirkie decided to take this time to head to South Africa and continue working on her wedding plans so I have been stuck in the office doing. . . . .well. . . . . not a whole lot. Sometimes I wonder what keeps Dirkie busy here all day long. And then I wonder what it is that I’m not doing that I’m supposed to be doing. . . . Also the weather has become very cold and blustery which makes me want to just snuggle on the couch and read and watch tv. Kind of sad I’m missing the summer weather in the other hemisphere. But 4 of our 6 months here are spent already and we’ll be back in paradise before we know it. Enjoying the wildness and fun while we’re here. Doing what good we can. And hopefully learning something in the process.
15 Aug 2010
Well it’s been more of the same here. David has been having fun guiding one of the Aussies, while the others have gone off to Mateke Hills. David is beloved by all the hunters and loves the attention and being in charge. He got another nice kudu last night for this new guy, and now they are after eland.
The Aussies have been really good conversational fun at mealtimes and it’s been nice to have some humor and new stories around. Australia seems like someplace we’d like to visit in the near future. Quinn came back from the concession a few days ago. He succeeded in getting a nice elephant for his client, but the buffalo were nowhere to be found. They have been looking for leopard here, but so far with no joy. And the client is leaving tomorrow so chances are not looking too good for the leopard. Oh well.
The weather the last couple of days has taken a turn for the better. The winds have gone and the temperature during the day is in the 70s and 80s, sunny in the morning and clouding up a little towards the late afternoons. Everything is drying out still, and there’s very little green left in the bush. But the rainy weather usually comes October-ish, so the flora and fauna here won’t have to wait out a long dry season.
Dirkie is still down south, so I’ve been stuck hanging around the house still, monotonous but relaxing in a way too. Definitely won’t complain when Dirkie makes it back here. Am just about finished with the cattle stuff. The last big step is to go back out there and put them through the crush again one by one and correct all the tags. And I’m sure there are one or two out there that were not in the group when I did the initial roundup too. After I do that, all that’s left is to recheck that they’re all in the program one more time and send the records off to be registered with the national herd registry here. Will be really glad to have all that settled.
