tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79684693278640688132024-03-19T02:42:10.899+02:00monkeys on the roofValhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-47025725255815202752015-09-14T19:44:00.001+02:002015-09-14T19:44:15.796+02:00elephants and falling starsI was looking for a book as evening fell. Rummaging in boxes. then I heard it. a half cry like someone trod on someone else’s foot in the race to the waterhole. In the soft grey light, elephant shapes hurried in to the waterhole. The Breeding herd moves like one giant beast with many legs; bulls following spread out like satellites around the cows and calves. I hear mud squelching, branches cracking as the giant mammalian multi beast ploughs into the reed bed. There are rumbles, the type that reverberate against my sternum, my solar plexus, and deep sonorous ones that run along the ground and up through my feet.
The excited crashing, rumbling, and leathery flapping noises subside. I worry that there is enough water here for all those thirsty elephants. A bull moves across the area infront of my house and begins to tug on a palm tree that grows outside my bedroom window. It is dark now but he is darker. I have tied cow bells to the small baobab trees that are growing here, to protect them from hungry elephants. This elephant moves between all the small trees without making a sound. He comes close to me as i stand on the stoep. The breeze is blowing straight onto him so there is no point in hiding.
I start talking to him. He toys with a high branch and stays a while before sucking the tiniest bit of water out of the bird bath. Elephants are everywhere, crunching munching and pulling on trees. The stars have come out and one falls in a golden line.Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-6832482826676746332012-11-21T16:34:00.001+02:002012-11-21T16:34:30.457+02:00November NewbornsThe monkeys were absent for a few mysterious days. We missed them. The first impala lamb was spotted gazing around in wonderment, and the cuckoos arrived. Then the monkeys returned, and all was clear. There were new arrivals - very new. The other monkeys were still being introduced.<br />
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<br />Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-50913168485056201342012-10-24T08:32:00.000+02:002012-10-24T09:39:34.139+02:00Who Cares?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who cares? well some people do apparently.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Backed up against a quartzite cliff alongside the Olifants River in Balule Nature Reserve, is an extraordinary project called CARE. It is a baboon sanctuary for orphaned and otherwise unwanted baboons. Baboons are problem children, especially when habituated or hand reared. They can be aggressive and threatening in a wild situation, and they can definitely differentiate between human females and human males - they know which to confront if necessary.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For all the bad press baboons attract; we need them in the wild. They forage and browse symbiotically with other species, who rely on the vigilance of the baboons to keep watch and warn them of predators or approaching dangers. Thus they keep the other species more calm when risks are few.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Baboons can tell when you are looking at them, even from behind their backs, through a window far away!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We love to watch baboons interacting in a relaxed troop. The antics of the young are hilarious and entertaining as they play-learn and explore their world. The groups of adult females, and dominant males keeping the hierarchy intact allow us to consider our own primate socialising from a safely removed distance.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, for now, I have no authority to talk authoritatively about CARE. Hopefully, one of these days i will go and walk around with the volunteers and project managers, and discuss their hopes dreams and logistical issues. But I did sneak a peek in there this week, on a rainy day with some pals who know the right people. I have to say i found it somewhat disturbing - in the way that baboons watching us drive by from fenced enclosures made me cast them in an all too human light. Wild baboons are omnipresent - even trying to enter the cages. They communicate and vocalise with the baboon inmates which apparently is a good thing.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Baboons are much maligned because in many ways they compete with us for habitat, territory and food. When pushed to the fringe they can become destructive to human property. There is a dichotomy though because as they are feared and hunted by people, they are also much loved, and an essential piece of the environmental well being.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That sneak peek at the CARE project has been tugging at my thoughts. It was started by a Rita Miljo, who pioneered the successful release of baboon troops into new wild areas. Sadly she died in a fire at her home, at the age of 81, earlier this year. But I feel that the people and volunteers she has left in charge of her work, still deserve to be recognised and supported. They campaign for, and nurture, our wild things in remote and unsung corners of the continent, asking for so little and yet doing so much.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, given the unauthorised nature of this posting, I invite you to visit their website and see for yourself. I will paste the links below. In a world where everything bright and beautiful is under threat, I applaud and thank those who dedicate their lives to the preservation and making of forward plans for beleagured and politically incorrect creatures. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you would like me to find out more, or ask any specific questions when I do get to return there, please let me know in the comments below.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.primatecare.org.za/">http://www.primatecare.org.za/</a> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/world/africa/rita-miljo-81-guardian-of-south-africa-baboons-dies.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/world/africa/rita-miljo-81-guardian-of-south-africa-baboons-dies.html?_r=0</a> </span></span></div>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com20Balule, Zimbabwe-20.1 27.95-20.5771665 27.318286 -19.622833500000002 28.581713999999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-88928399719691895242012-10-03T09:33:00.000+02:002012-10-03T09:34:29.522+02:00September - Late Edition<br />
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September - a month between moons. If it was March we could have called it Many Weathers. But here in the southern hemisphere we watched September behave with adolescent confusion as winter turn to spring.</div>
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There was heat, and then rain, followed by wind, and clouds, and finally the haze of early summer. Trees sprang flowers from dessicated branches filling the air with scent.</div>
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The monkeys left the roof to investigate and feast on the tiny pompom plumes of the acacia trees. There were giraffe about the place doing the same thing. Its strange how its easier to see a giraffe thats far away than one thats just about to step on your feet. </div>
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Our month was one of travel. Meetings here and there, and things to be done in far flung places. We drove and drove from south east to north west. Like a pendulum that has reached its furthers extension, we were there a few hours before we turned and headed back again.We diced with twilight donkeys, and lumbering cattle herds on their way home to the kraals. We dodged potholes - some of which are made worse by donkeys and goats that eat the calcrete beneath the tar. Alongside the road one of Africa's greatest rivers ran like a wise and patient elder spreading life giving tendrils to the kalahari sands.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3uOdjP8N24o/UGvpnDGT0rI/AAAAAAAABbU/GkSDm2qwjTQ/s1600/a+fixing+ferry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3uOdjP8N24o/UGvpnDGT0rI/AAAAAAAABbU/GkSDm2qwjTQ/s320/a+fixing+ferry.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There is upheaval everywhere - riots and strikes, and authority figures being challenged; systems threatening to crumble. Everywhere we look there are crimes against the planet. Outrage simmers below the surface breaking through in geysers of fury. These are times of change. We have to care.</div>
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Here on this continent, our wild things are under seige. The ancient remnants of jurassica are facing wholesale slaughter. If its not contained soon, very soon, our biodiversity will be safe in story books only. From tortoises, and crickets, through splendid birds, marine life and plants all the way to super predators, elephants and rhinos. Its happening right now. Here, and all about. </div>
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To all those working tirelessly and at great personal risk to preserve our wild things - THANK YOU</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-blX079eJt4I/UGvpzHk-f1I/AAAAAAAABbc/B4jcpM1w1kQ/s1600/a+makoro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-blX079eJt4I/UGvpzHk-f1I/AAAAAAAABbc/B4jcpM1w1kQ/s320/a+makoro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It is incredible to think that those giant planetary forces that swirl about beyond the reaches of our cosy blue dome of sky, and beyond our imaginations, can have such an effect on us all. Our comfort zone is a tiny bubble of blue in an infinity of darkness and dust. Frankly, moving to Mars does not appeal to me at all. We could spend some of the space exploration budgets on taking care of home.</div>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-11544696428947667972012-08-19T19:56:00.001+02:002012-10-03T09:35:34.166+02:00august winds<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yGrr3Jw5d3Y/UDEna_yq2MI/AAAAAAAABZg/-KpbAS-W_OI/s1600/a+elephant+bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yGrr3Jw5d3Y/UDEna_yq2MI/AAAAAAAABZg/-KpbAS-W_OI/s320/a+elephant+bull.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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August - the season of winds. Winds of change blow through our world heralding a change of seasons. First the winds are icy cold telling us of snow on a mountain top somewhere. Then the winds are warm, gusty, like the first days of summer. As if the gods of wind are trying on shoes, they go back to the icy winds again. They try those on for a day or two, then decide no - those are so last season. Lets try summer. Oh the agonies of indecision.</div>
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In the meantime. the grasses are drying, and waterholes recede revealing cracked crevices of thick glutinous mud. As the bones of the earth are laid bare by winds, so the bones of the animals start to show beneath dusty hides. We are not meant to see the rib cages of elephants - but there they are, showing a line of shadow ridges as the herd pauses to soak up the wintery sun.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MAylbcdqZlU/UDEn0efPezI/AAAAAAAABZw/ZdcBFUe39-I/s1600/a+elephant+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MAylbcdqZlU/UDEn0efPezI/AAAAAAAABZw/ZdcBFUe39-I/s320/a+elephant+.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The elephants are passive, intent on eating yellow grass - a bulk diet of roughage. They conserve their energy and stay focussed on their immediate needs. There should be a young calf by every female elephants side, instead we are seeing one young calf per breeding herd. These elephants are struggling - traveling many miles for food and water. Predators are taking their toll. The day seems benign - sunny and bright - yet we are looking at creatures at their limit on the cusp of the season.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-moZhDFuou1M/UDEn9Z97QwI/AAAAAAAABZ4/-f4oFaKUFW0/s1600/a+elephants+sunning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-moZhDFuou1M/UDEn9Z97QwI/AAAAAAAABZ4/-f4oFaKUFW0/s320/a+elephants+sunning.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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At the elephant beach at midday, we watch the big bull elephants arrive. Sonic rumbles of greetings reverberate through our own skin and bone. Its the deepest sound. More elephants morph out of the grey scrub bushes around the lagoon. The water reflects a bright hard tanzanite blue. The elephants walk into the water no deeper than their ankles. They are careful not to disturb the shallows, reaching further in with long extended trunks.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7tuF3PgiRM/UDEoHpJ6bII/AAAAAAAABaA/ekKFuq0NCZ4/s1600/a+elephants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7tuF3PgiRM/UDEoHpJ6bII/AAAAAAAABaA/ekKFuq0NCZ4/s320/a+elephants.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The air is icy cold and elephants stand like statues in a sculpture garden, showing their broadsides to the sun - soaking up as much warmth as they can before the afternoon begins to cool. There is no splashing about on such a day. Even the tiny calves content with playing in mud and dust. No-one wants to be caught soaking wet without a towel as night falls.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2eQMbLrr1EE/UDEoRZoSeHI/AAAAAAAABaI/ikK1gXz5Tjw/s1600/a+elephants2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2eQMbLrr1EE/UDEoRZoSeHI/AAAAAAAABaI/ikK1gXz5Tjw/s320/a+elephants2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Elephants stand all around our view, reflecting in water, morphing into the tree line,</div>
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conserving energy, maximising heat, rehydrating, living with intent. Before the shadows lengthen, there is a sign that we humans cannot hear, and the herds begin a slow move back into the treeline. Everyone heeds the sign. In minutes the herds are gone from sight. Silently they are moving into the forest. The beach is deserted again, with only the carpet of footprints and droppings steaming in the afternoon view.</div>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-21934466985267984572012-07-14T07:32:00.003+02:002012-07-14T07:48:19.419+02:00recent monkey scenarios<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zFWN-R0WFjA/UAEC8kGwTiI/AAAAAAAABYs/qJcJxIAgGOw/s1600/a+monkey7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zFWN-R0WFjA/UAEC8kGwTiI/AAAAAAAABYs/qJcJxIAgGOw/s320/a+monkey7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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now just follow me - I will show you</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As mentioned before, the monkeys from the roof are fast becoming kitchen monkeys. Our recent show of force has apparently had no effect at all. Yesterday, I was watching something on the TV and looked up to see four or five monkeys sitting on the table having cased the empty kitchen. They were so quiet. I jumped up and said something like "oh no you guys. WhaddoyouthinkyouRdoing? out out!"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">not itchy feet</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They left softly and empty handed. All but one - the big male with the blue dangly bits. He decided to linger a little longer and ducked into the studio to hide behind the sofa. Hoo boy. Fortunately I have become more vigilant about putting food away and out of sight so there was no contraband in sight. Getting him out of the studio entailed (no pun intended) opening the front doors wide, then stepping back into the kitchen and around outside the windows, so that he could leave with the least amount of damage to property, and the most amount of dignity for him.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C5b_-SjYr1A/UAEDL7N8ZsI/AAAAAAAABY8/xwDFG5AZatQ/s1600/a+monkey2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C5b_-SjYr1A/UAEDL7N8ZsI/AAAAAAAABY8/xwDFG5AZatQ/s320/a+monkey2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">lookout</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They have discovered that they can enter the ceiling via the laundry room. This is proving to be a great hiding place for raids. However there is a high risk of getting trapped in the house when all the doors are closed.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usiGPIXKfPE/UAEDUrBYDxI/AAAAAAAABZE/IIWBwwzKTrs/s1600/a+monkey8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usiGPIXKfPE/UAEDUrBYDxI/AAAAAAAABZE/IIWBwwzKTrs/s320/a+monkey8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">through the window</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The first time someone was caught like this, the house was dead quiet after a monkey raid. We closed all the doors but the monkeys kept hanging around outside staring in the windows. Sometime later i found some nasty brown monkey 'drops' on the kitchen floor, and by the bathroom. Ahha! hide and seek began. The outside monkeys watched me accusingly through the glass as if to say "what have you done with him?" Eventually he was located peering down from the ceiling, and an exit route was arranged for him to leave quietly. The troop left as soon as he was out.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9c0pnmK1Q3Y/UAEDcw5wvzI/AAAAAAAABZM/_7o4up6J-BU/s1600/a+monkeys4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9c0pnmK1Q3Y/UAEDcw5wvzI/AAAAAAAABZM/_7o4up6J-BU/s320/a+monkeys4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">those bumps in their cheeks are food stashes</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">or butter that will not melt in there</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Next time, it was that female monkey that was caught inside. She is more forward and aggressive. There were no monkey faces watching anxiously through the windows for her. This time the troop left without her. When she finally took the exit route, she was all alone in the world. I thought this might teach her something, but apparently not.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLt3X_ZU0r8/UAEDu4SVR2I/AAAAAAAABZU/kloCPRQ7h0Y/s1600/a+monkey5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLt3X_ZU0r8/UAEDu4SVR2I/AAAAAAAABZU/kloCPRQ7h0Y/s320/a+monkey5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">We do love them - its just a matter of boundaries and who cleans up. Maybe they got butter on their paws sometime?</span></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-45102484323673763502012-07-08T14:00:00.001+02:002012-07-08T14:00:50.591+02:00July chat<br />
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There has been blogger interuptus for far too long, and its high time for a chat. Its not that the monkeys have been silent around here - or even absent. Quite the opposite in fact. Yesterday the big male monkey ( with the splendid blue dangly bits that proclaim his status) sneaked into the kitchen around lunch time and tried to cram the rest of the roast chicken into this mouth. The sound of glass smashing as the pyrex bowl took a hit, brought us running into the kitchen. The chicken fell to the ground and the monkey fled to the lounge to bounce off the walls a bit before making it to the door - not before his backside was peppered with a bit of snakeshot though. Just enough to give him a clear message. </div>
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The monkeys have been very invasive lately, and we need to reassert our territorial rights to the kitchen. They have learnt to stay calm when in the house, and if we approach, just to hide under a table, or under a bed, or in the ceiling, while we pass by - resuming the raiding tactic behind our backs. There has been hide and seek in process. But its those tell tale calling cards that always give the game away. </div>
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Winter is here with its delicious coolness and wide blue skies. The grasses are yellow and whispy and the warthogs are all around the house. We are in safari season which means travelling long distances on rickety roads, billowing dust, bright sunlight, and sparkling waters. It means elephants, and lions, and all the myriad creatures; dark velvet night skies and the whiff of wild sage brush.</div>
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well now here is a strange and mystifying thing. We keep finding baby frogs in the toilet cistern. How do they get there? the inlet pipe is tiny. Perhaps they come in as eggs and grow there, but what do they feed on. How are they alive in there, in that chamber of sensory deprivation?</div>
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Yesterday we fished one out again. He was small and brown and shiny, with a mottled pattern. He sat quietly in the hand, and 'walked' rather than hopped. He seemed slow, then we realised that all he had known before was the dark interior of the cistern. Suddenly he was riding a human hand into a brightly lit and brightly painted kitchen filled with strange smells, and stranger giants.</div>
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We took him out to the waterhole, and rather reluctantly he fell off the hand and into the water. He bobbed at the edge of the pool, watching us. Funny, it was as if he said 'take me back inside!' but we must have been imagining it. Later we found an identical frog in the same bathroom, inside the bucket. It was a bit confusing - surely it couldnt be the same one?? but we took him out to the waterhole even so.</div>
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Twenty years ago, when speaking to a prominent kenyan naturalist, he said that trying to keep rhino's alive on this continent was like 'trying to keep ice cubes in the lake'. We were saddened by his defeatist attitude but was he defeatist or realist? It can seem that if you are in any way involved in trying to protect and conserve our planets precious natural resources you are destined for days of heartache and hopelessness .</div>
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In the intervening years so many dedicated people have focussed their life's efforts on trying to preserve rhinos and other endangered species. And there are wonderful success stories that we rarely hear about, or give any major credence to. Valiant rangers have given their lives to poachers bullets in the field, in remote and little known wildlife areas.</div>
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Responsible fundraising efforts go to equipping these rangers with hi-tech communications and basic uniforms and even salaries. They are on the front line of a nasty war, that is getting nastier. The illegal trade in wildlife products (rhino horn, ivory, tiger bone etc) is today included in the same cartels as drug trade and human trafficking.</div>
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The more attention, funds and manpower we throw at stopping these heinous crimes, the more they seem to flourish. Tigers are still critically endangered; rhinos are on the brink of extinction AGAIN; elephants are being slaughtered in their thousands. We know where the market is for all these products, and yet we cannot seem to address it directly. We have increased security at seaports and airports, and yet still, massive shipments are uncovered, suggesting an unknown quantity that slips through undetected to supply an ever growing demand.</div>
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They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Perhaps in these days of regime change, climate change and enhanced global communication networks; there will be a respite for Africa's beleaguered creatures - great and small. We need to think outside the box - and fast.</div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-89650604751284539252012-06-07T10:13:00.003+02:002012-06-07T10:13:51.059+02:00water for elephants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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taking the waters</div>
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selinda spillway</div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-27349252005192823962012-05-16T12:38:00.000+02:002012-05-16T12:38:02.727+02:00rhino wars<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Winter has arrived today with a cheeky wind that makes the tin sheets on the roof grate together in a fingernails on blackboards kind of way. The monkeys were here early testing the metal - they love to thunder up and down on the wriggly tin, rolling and tumbling and falling from the overhanging trees. It could be fun if we could join them, but its a better way to wake up than some urban alarm clock.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We are in the midst of a rhino war. These giant gentle creatures are being mown down all around us for the sake of the horns that grow on their noses. What bad luck to have such a thing. They are our living unicorns - whats left of them. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We are trying everything, but as long as the buyers in China are still able to pay, our rhinos only have the chances we can make for them. Very sadly, as our rhinos are killed, and numbers decrease, the horns on their noses increase in value which makes extinction a very real possibility in our lifetimes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The other night we were out following a lion down the road. We smelt a funny smell but as the lion had walked right past we didnt think it could be a dead thing. The next day we went back to look. There was a blood spoor. Splashes of blood connected by dribbles of dark red spots. Then we saw a rhino track smudged into the blood here and there. We called in the anti poaching team and waited for them, not wanting to disturb any tracks and clues that might be about.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Finally, our worst fears are confirmed. A big bull rhino carcass lay in a clearing - his horn roughly hacked off. There is little dignity in death. The smell of the decaying process is overwhelming. I wanted to go and lay flowers on the body - like the Indians do when elephants are hit by trains. But we cannot interfere with the crime scene. I think I have been in mourning the past week for the senseless avaricious nature of this death and the suffering and trauma that preceeded it. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oh, I wasnt going to talk about the rhino issue - but now I have.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">(Rhino horn is made of compressed hair like structures containing keratin and protein. There is a dense inner core of calcium and melanin similar to horses hooves or birds beaks. Mineral content varies according to range and diet. Scientific research has proved that rhino horn has no medicinal properties)</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-57263901574223486512012-05-13T10:00:00.000+02:002012-05-13T10:00:00.967+02:00happy mothers day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Betty Jeanne Thraves 1922-1982</div>
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happy mothers day</div>
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♥</div>
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<br />Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-63146801049809288482012-04-24T14:54:00.000+02:002012-04-25T08:19:47.165+02:00the good that elephants do<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Given that we have reduced elephant habitat to tracts of land that cannot be used for agriculture - either arable or livestock; generally speaking of course. Most of the game reserves where elephants are allowed to live today are in semi desert terrain and often on international borders; Given the choice, elephants prefer to eat grass, but in these areas, grass is often a very seasonal commodity, so for the rest of the year they make do with the rough bark of hardwood trees. This often makes them unpopular with people who love trees - but elephants need to eat something after all.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And woebetide the elephant if he happens to stray out of his designated area in search of something more palatable to eat, or cleaner fresher water. He instantly becomes labelled a 'rogue' elephant; or a 'rampaging' elephant - none of which he truly understands, but makes his reception very hostile and is usually life threatening.His life could depend on semantics in this way.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, from a non scientific standpoint and in defense of elephants, what some see as destruction, is often a very vital contribution to the health of their environment. First of all they have a very vast digestion, and their droppings are muffin shaped balls of instant manure. The seeds they eat receive the required heat treatment in their journey through the elephants digestive system, to enable them to germinate successfully on return to the ground.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Elephants pull down branches of leaves from tall trees, in order to browse the furthest leaves. This enables smaller browse dependent species to access food sources even during the driest months.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Young elephants strip the bark from trees, often ring barking them, during seasons when the sap is rising. This could be seen as a bad thing, as the tree usually dies. But it creates clearings in a forest, and prevents the forest from becoming too dense. it also creates habitats for birds and insects, and small tree dwelling animals. Not to mention firewood for human campfires.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big bull elephants push down trees. Sometimes this is interpreted as a show of strength, or a feeding requirement; but it also has the benefits of making fresh leaves available to smaller browse dependent animals; it creates habitat for ground birds and small predators, and often assists with preventing soil erosion. Have you noticed how often the tree happens to fall across a bush road?</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Elephants make wide clear paths that meander through their range, linking waterholes. If you are lost and thirsty, follow an elephant path to water - but keep your eyes and ears open!</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A herd of elephants make less noise travelling through a forest, than one or two people.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At a river crossing, we once saw fish using the underwater elephant tracks as nesting sites. Each round indentation had a resident parent fish guarding their eggs.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am sure there are a million more ways that elephants contribute to environmental health within their range states, but these are the first few that spring to mind. I also know it is extremely good for our heart and soul to spend time with elephants when they are relaxed and feeding or travelling on long ancient paths. </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jBf_qVAmTus/T5ahcc42PvI/AAAAAAAABWg/7q3Xr31jObE/s1600/a+ele+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jBf_qVAmTus/T5ahcc42PvI/AAAAAAAABWg/7q3Xr31jObE/s320/a+ele+4.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">Of all footprints<br />That of the elephant is supreme.<br />Of all mindfulness meditations<br />That on death is supreme.<br /> — The Buddha</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-10502572442167609612012-04-22T15:10:00.000+02:002012-04-22T15:10:20.786+02:00out of the blue<br />
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<i>After my brief preoccupation with the colour red, and all things bright and beautiful, I became immersed in the colour blue. A deep dark blue. I also hurt my back on a stubborn horse. This morning I woke up and decided there was quite enough of that, and today my inner child was needing attention. It was a beautiful clear sunny winters day. We drove into the reserve. The impala rams have been behaving like idiots for the past few days. Furiously chasing each other around the place - making that sound like tearing up cardboard, and that weird grunting rutting bark. They have been clashing heads and acting like they own the place - all in an effort to impress the females and gather the biggest harem of all. The females largely carry on grazing and moving from sun to shade and back again - occasionally taking off with a start if one of the clashes gets too close. They are so vulnerable to super predators when they are like this as they are completely distracted with their own importance, and the task at hand. Plus they are making these weird noises that carry for miles. Ironically the grunting rutting noise even sounds remotely like a leopard.</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qc06KzPNDG0/T5QBQg4K6XI/AAAAAAAABVw/JmrYLWnvCcU/s1600/a+drag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qc06KzPNDG0/T5QBQg4K6XI/AAAAAAAABVw/JmrYLWnvCcU/s200/a+drag.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<i>So there was an air of 'I told you so' when we came across a strong drag mark crossing the sand track this morning. It was pointed out to me how we could see the marks in the sand where the impala horns had bounced along, although the weight of the body had swept away the leopard tracks in all but a very few places. We climbed down from the vehicle to follow the drag mark on foot, into the mopane forest. Here and there we lost the track as it went through a gully, or grassy area, but quickly picked it up again on the other side. This leopard was a mighty strong animal. It dragged the heavy prey item between the trees, and into the long grass at the base of the koppies, without even stopping to eat. There was no trace of grassy stomach contents or blood, only the smooth drag mark, and the marks made by the horns alongside. We went deeper into the forest, ducking under thorn branches, and stepping over rocks and logs. Here in a flattened grassy glade we found the tail of the impala. Around the corner, hidden away in a patch of long grass, the carcass of the lost ram.</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rZbhgdJ3_sA/T5QBhcrkydI/AAAAAAAABV4/SztaLFxq6fY/s1600/a+leopard+track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rZbhgdJ3_sA/T5QBhcrkydI/AAAAAAAABV4/SztaLFxq6fY/s200/a+leopard+track.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i>The leopard had not had much time for feeding, so we guessed we were being watched - although it was impossible to see from where. One little agitated bird call might have been a clue. Otherwise the blue sky and bright sunlight masked all secrets. We retraced our steps, and went home to fetch the camera trap. Returning quickly we tied the impala ram to the nearest tree, so that the leopard would not drag it away. And we set up our antiquated camera trap overlooking the scene. With luck, when the leopard returns, he will trigger the infra red sensor and we will be able to record his presence in digital images.</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HczpDT5prNI/T5QB0MxfqgI/AAAAAAAABWA/oV6R0jDTtgw/s1600/a+leopard+grass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HczpDT5prNI/T5QB0MxfqgI/AAAAAAAABWA/oV6R0jDTtgw/s320/a+leopard+grass.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i></i>Leopards are masters of camouflage, and it is said you only see them when they decide to show themselves. You can hardly ever take them by surprise. Perhaps he was watching us from the long grass.</div>
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<i></i></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-18822012943974861472012-04-08T12:56:00.003+02:002012-04-08T12:58:09.349+02:00Seeing Red<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-naYofKHTbE8/T4Ft3W7gzaI/AAAAAAAABVA/z_NjhAMA_YA/s1600/a+carmine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-naYofKHTbE8/T4Ft3W7gzaI/AAAAAAAABVA/z_NjhAMA_YA/s320/a+carmine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I saw red yesterday. The colour red. A deep luscious red with a hint of blue to give it depth. Not as dark as blood, nor as orange as a postbox, it was the kind of red you want to have around - to share the landscape with it. It made me thankful that i could see that red. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OmR8vmZHl2A/T4FuGxzDE1I/AAAAAAAABVI/KqTBMKJ_gs4/s1600/a+red+fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OmR8vmZHl2A/T4FuGxzDE1I/AAAAAAAABVI/KqTBMKJ_gs4/s320/a+red+fish.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Appreciating the ability to see that red, made me thankful for blue, ocean blue, cornflower blue, warm blue and cold blue. Then the floodgates opened and i thought of all the beauty in the world. I wondered how much time i had left to see it and didn't want to miss a jot. Sorry if that sounds morbid but the edges are already getting a bit blurred.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tlmzi4wTvGA/T4FuPzs5yxI/AAAAAAAABVQ/FJNsAHnXqeE/s1600/a+bluemoz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tlmzi4wTvGA/T4FuPzs5yxI/AAAAAAAABVQ/FJNsAHnXqeE/s320/a+bluemoz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This world of ours is full of crazy extravagant beauty that defies the human imagination. But visuals are for beginners i guess. Beyond that lie smells, touches, sounds and extra sensory sensations.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnEr0Ay1FeE/T4FuXOf0cGI/AAAAAAAABVY/dqTMVhGpl4E/s1600/a+agama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnEr0Ay1FeE/T4FuXOf0cGI/AAAAAAAABVY/dqTMVhGpl4E/s320/a+agama.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Apart from that deeply philosophical moment in the parking lot yesterday, I caught three red toads in the house last night. Not the luscious red kind, more a burnt umber colour, but they squeaked indignantly as i delivered them to the great outdoors.</div>
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The full moon rose golden red through the trees last night. A clear round orb unsoftened by summer haze. We are heading into winter, as we celebrate Easter and the season of rebirth.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4t--hwfeLW0/T4FuoEk2wII/AAAAAAAABVg/dqDkdXNkZYc/s1600/a+red+sunset+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4t--hwfeLW0/T4FuoEk2wII/AAAAAAAABVg/dqDkdXNkZYc/s320/a+red+sunset+tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We have been travelling and static, busy and idle, social and solitary, content, conflicted and then contemplative, and lo the time passes. There is a whisper of winter in the air although we have had some late summer showers. The tadpoles in the waterholes have all become little active frogs and somehow manage to find their way into our house at night. I spend a good hour every evening trying to catch them and put them out side, feeling a little like the Flintstones ejecting that dinosaur to no avail.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But my motivation is snakes. They follow the trails of the happy little frogs, and I am not mad about snakes in the house - especially at night.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So yesterday there was a mozambique spitting cobra in the kitchen. We didnt have time to catch it as we had to go out, but we left all the doors open and hoped it would find its own way. When we got back, there it was on the stoep. It had obviously zapped a red toad who was lying there with one leg sticking out. The snake moved away when i came outside but soon came back to claim its kill.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is something grotesquely fascinating about watching a snake swallow a prey item that is way way bigger than its own head. So i thought i would share a few pictures with you. Not all the pictures are sharp - sorry - but I hope you can see enough to get the story. The cobra is about 1 meter long.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(Not for the squeamish)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">approaching the problem</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the snakes body is very active at this point, and the tip of his tail keeps seeking for cracks and crevices in the wall behind</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">however sideways was never going to work</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">manouvering around to a more manageable position</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">head first and the swallowing begins; the snakes body is more calm now</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">down the hatch all the way to the pelvic region</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the last view of the toes before the licking of lips commences</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">bon appetit!</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-73020173290370289192012-03-04T15:53:00.001+02:002012-03-04T15:54:24.401+02:00Sunday<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8PfKT4V1xYQ/T1NyDQ_-G1I/AAAAAAAABTY/jJYc_eXbQPg/s1600/a+python+creeper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8PfKT4V1xYQ/T1NyDQ_-G1I/AAAAAAAABTY/jJYc_eXbQPg/s320/a+python+creeper.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">python vine and termite mound</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sunday afternoon. The heavy heat is broken at last by the pounding strength of an electrical storm. The air is cool and fresh and water lies in pools on the ground reflecting a grey sky. The air is now pungent with smells - ozone rich, with a hint of damp soil and kraal manure. Green leaves pump out oxygen and the giraffe resume browsing on the hebaclada bushes. During the storm they stood straight up. I wondered if they were ever struck by lightening. Ostriches, I know, tend to sit down and lay their long necks on the ground during a lightening storm.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The storm has moved on accross lake Zibidianja towards the spillway. Distant crumping sounds trail in its wake. The rain was gentle this time when it came. It was calming, cooling, soporific. It made me want to lie down and snooze. So instead I am making tea, eating a shortbread biscuit (from the stash reserved for visitors) and thinking about the storm. This too shall pass - the squashing heat, the turgid air, the lazy bones - and it has.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-LEs4xt3Vg/T1Ny0M1qxoI/AAAAAAAABTg/L8rLzJgf7vE/s1600/a+rakham+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-LEs4xt3Vg/T1Ny0M1qxoI/AAAAAAAABTg/L8rLzJgf7vE/s320/a+rakham+tree.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">this acacia tree has been visited over the years by elephants</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">particularly the young elephants that like to eat the bark</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">it reminds me of those lovely drawings by Arthur Rackham entwining tree spirits and fantastic creatures</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">an imagination running free</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o9Vg2IHroM8/T1NzoQGZ3cI/AAAAAAAABTo/-nM842d5z44/s1600/a+parkoff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o9Vg2IHroM8/T1NzoQGZ3cI/AAAAAAAABTo/-nM842d5z44/s320/a+parkoff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">sunday parkoff</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-41417434683450065712012-03-03T16:50:00.000+02:002012-03-04T15:56:11.704+02:00under cover of darkness<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Last night I couldn't sleep. Insomnia ruled the moonlit hours. The candles were not enough to read by, nor was the moonlight. I lay and listened to the soft night noises. There it was - a gentle sporadic swishing of grass. Another sound like a canvas sail unfurling. I sat up quietly and stepped through the mosquito net onto the creaking floorboards. Moving as quietly as possible - trying to remember which were the noisy floorboards i made my way out onto the deck. Just below where i stood, a young bull elephant was grazing on bunches of lush grass, swishing them against the ground to loosen any earth or unwanted sticks. With the wind in my favour i stood and watched him slowly move along, the moonlight washing the skin on his back with silver.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Further along the floodplain there were more dark shapes, both large and small. A breeding herd of elephants had moved into the island of trees under cover of darkness to reap the harvest of shrubs and herbs that they cannot access in daylight because people live here. In the dead of night they can move in peace.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Recently I subscribed to receive newsletters from a group called www.elephantnews.org if you would like to sign up contact groo@elephantnews.org Every news report that involves elephants in Africa and Asia lands in your mailbox. I had to unsubscribe from the Asia list purely because the tsunami of news reports was overwhelming. Elephants truly are newsworthy!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet most of the news is saddening; elephants killed by poachers here, and there, in their hundreds. Crateloads of ivory from poached elephants are uncovered in major sea ports and airports across east and southern Africa. These tons and tons of blood ivory, lead to houses full of ivory processing machines and more and more cases for shipment. All destined for China and the Chinese market.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It leads me to wonder if there is still room for free ranging elephants amidst our land hungry species.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tonight the elephants are moving further into the forest, content with their moonlight browsing. By morning they will be gone.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-84746305258907507422012-02-12T12:09:00.001+02:002012-02-12T17:10:11.864+02:00storm breaking<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8csFK3XrVs/TzeM9HlSK3I/AAAAAAAABSY/PDm3urgTsCA/s1600/a+monkey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8csFK3XrVs/TzeM9HlSK3I/AAAAAAAABSY/PDm3urgTsCA/s320/a+monkey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Th</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e air is like an oven door open - a steam oven. Normal activities like walking from A to B are like swimming in invisible water. The white heat from the sun chases us into the shadows. Everything is still, waiting, slow. Even the monkeys hang in the trees, watching us through heavy lidded eyes. Tails hanging, limbs hanging loosely mingling with the branches. A loop of vine makes a convenient arm chair in which to snooze. I envy them their ability to climb and live in a tree. There is no coolness - everything i touch is too warm.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Late afternoon and the softest baby breath of a breeze touches my arm. Distant sounds like someone walking across a wooden floor could be thunder. We watch the sky hopefully. A few downy soft cumulus clouds loom behind the house. In the west a dark smudge of sky draws slowly closer.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2po0IACBHaY/TzeNrWRIx_I/AAAAAAAABSo/ZRUTdeh7mPs/s1600/a+rainele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2po0IACBHaY/TzeNrWRIx_I/AAAAAAAABSo/ZRUTdeh7mPs/s320/a+rainele.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">elephant crossing the road in heavy rainstorm</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As darkness falls, a quick flash of light that could have been a torch, flits past the window. We wait and watch. There is another, and another. Definitely lightening. A few seconds later, the sound of celestial furniture removals confirm our hopes. Here it comes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No soft pitter patter this time. The rain comes hard and fast, strobe lit by lightening and celebrated by a triumphant percussion section. Delicious, mouth watering, skin tingling cool ozone packed air, swirls into our lives and around our sweat caked skin. Body temperature normalises and lethargy slips off our shoulders like a heavy blanket. It makes you want to dance - truly. Get out there and splash some mud around. But this time we content ourselves with watching the light show that skitters all around us.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5B6cOJ3br2Q/TzePihy4jtI/AAAAAAAABSw/YqWfDYt6RCk/s1600/a+elesunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5B6cOJ3br2Q/TzePihy4jtI/AAAAAAAABSw/YqWfDYt6RCk/s320/a+elesunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;">just a lovely sunset visit with a peaceful elephant</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-19103610931835459692012-02-10T17:43:00.001+02:002012-02-10T17:46:10.650+02:00the moon in leo<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MkS3HWvipM/TzU6UU4_q7I/AAAAAAAABSA/1oPwWsBO-iM/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MkS3HWvipM/TzU6UU4_q7I/AAAAAAAABSA/1oPwWsBO-iM/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There was a full moon a couple of nights ago. A big amber cheddar coloured beaming thing that climbed steadily up the trees and high into the dark sky. I learnt recently that each full moon, in the northern hemisphere at least, has a different name. February's full moon is called Wolf Moon, or Hunger Moon, implying deep midwinter, long cold nights and food supplies running low. Keep the wolf from the door until spring ok?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here in the southern hemisphere we could also have names for the full moon. Every full moon could be called Poachers Moon anyhow, as the monochrome daylight that the moon illuminates our world with, makes it so much easier to get around at night for those with poaching intent. Farmers and Game Scouts across the continent are often sleepless at full moon, for more than biorhythmic reasons.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How does the full moon treat you? I am always spell bound with wonder and feel a deep kinship. It irks me to think of miscreants poking about for water and minerals up there. Surely somethings should be sacrosanct? will future generations look at the moon and see smokestacks?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This month the moon is in Leo. The constellation of Leo will follow the moon across the night sky, if only we could see it. We were woken by lions calling as they travelled through the koppies. In the morning we found their tracks - clear imprints in the soft brown sand.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_N5nZK4pN_A/TzU6mv81oiI/AAAAAAAABSI/HgjoNpgT6Uc/s1600/a+moon+eles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_N5nZK4pN_A/TzU6mv81oiI/AAAAAAAABSI/HgjoNpgT6Uc/s320/a+moon+eles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eIbjWshVoMo/TzU6y-9M5AI/AAAAAAAABSQ/yVPgS47NWoU/s1600/a+moon+leopard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eIbjWshVoMo/TzU6y-9M5AI/AAAAAAAABSQ/yVPgS47NWoU/s320/a+moon+leopard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-39975114430039678472012-01-26T08:14:00.001+02:002012-01-26T08:19:55.245+02:00Rain Check<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K5hrflBfHf0/TyDsNqF_p-I/AAAAAAAABQU/aTRdVuwEC5g/s1600/a+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K5hrflBfHf0/TyDsNqF_p-I/AAAAAAAABQU/aTRdVuwEC5g/s320/a+map.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">adventure map full of potential</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A week later and our world is drying up fast. The waterfalls around the house finally ceased to flow yesterday. The mud is still saturated and slippery, but the plant life is flourishing and the early sunlight glows through a festival of green.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">flooded road to Machampane</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sadly we had to call a rain check on our planned adventure to a remote <a href="http://underthefevertrees.wordpress.com/">bush camp in mozambique</a> but in the Kruger Park, repairs are in progress at camps, and roads. Rivers and streams are babbling brooks innocently sparkling in the sunlight as if they would never ever dream of that outrageous behaviour they showed us all last week. The only telling signs are the vegetation detritis hanging high in the branches of bushes on either bank.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">bushbuck in Letaba camp</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At Letaba camp it is business as usual and the border post to Mozambique is open again. We drove through to Massingir with our friends from NYC - as a compromise and to make up for our mudshyness. Looking at the pools and wetlands on either side of the road confirmed our decision.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">women with fish on their heads walking the Massingir Dam wall</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Massingir Dam was full of the brown water that flowed through SA in the past week. As we arrived all the sluice gates were open. We drove around the small township and finally came to rest at a hotel type place with a view of the Dam. The warm aroma of bat guano seems to emanate from every place with a ceiling here but the ambiance was friendly and there were some ice cold beers. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B3kHdi4QDSg/TyDtdOUPnTI/AAAAAAAABQ0/tuNrAMMPiA0/s1600/a+dam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B3kHdi4QDSg/TyDtdOUPnTI/AAAAAAAABQ0/tuNrAMMPiA0/s320/a+dam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Massingir Dam swollen with floodwaters</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;">tiny fishing rowboat center right, between island and shore</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We had booked into some self contained chalets at the Park Entry gates - charming log cabins with thatch roofs and gauze windows. The midday was sweltering hot . We decided to investigate the back roads a bit, and visit the other camp site and lodge. The back road had been little used by anything other than cattle and firewood sleighs since the rains. Some villages had ploughed their new lands over the tracks, and another had sited their football pitch right across what was once the road. So its not suprising really that we missed the turn to the camp site.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">the notch on the tusk suggests this elephant uses his right hand tusk for most of the work</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our evening drive became rather longer than planned but we did see one bull elephant and some lovely woodland scenery. The sun was setting and we had forgotten to pack the cool box, so all aboard became a little quiet and focussed until we found the main road back to camp. There was a moment of tension when I thought I had lost the keys, but soon all were smiling again and the night sky was clear and spangled with those glorious stars.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JfVIkf7YYFg/TyDt2uWigtI/AAAAAAAABRE/Fi35H3gv7Nc/s1600/a+bug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JfVIkf7YYFg/TyDt2uWigtI/AAAAAAAABRE/Fi35H3gv7Nc/s320/a+bug.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">beauty in the eye of the beholder</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rumour has it there is another tropical storm or cyclone off the east coast but so far we are looking at clear blue skies.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mNATygAzcSM/TyDuF9AoROI/AAAAAAAABRM/R8JbFFlP3gk/s1600/a+chairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mNATygAzcSM/TyDuF9AoROI/AAAAAAAABRM/R8JbFFlP3gk/s320/a+chairs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-23693329502400105362012-01-19T13:18:00.001+02:002012-01-19T13:18:46.264+02:00flood water fun<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5dWbMmX3KA/Txfx4B7iZtI/AAAAAAAABPE/xI4gYwCpr1U/s1600/a+flood1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5dWbMmX3KA/Txfx4B7iZtI/AAAAAAAABPE/xI4gYwCpr1U/s320/a+flood1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A tropical storm blew in two days ago from mozambique. It rained so much that our world became a moat around the house. The rain guage overflowed so we don't have accurate figures, but we have had more than 200mls rain in 24 hours. At first it was calming, cozy to watch the rain from a dry house - and above all else it was cool after the melting heat. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M9baK7ewCyk/TxfyVu3y9ZI/AAAAAAAABPM/QMtUg2V5PkM/s1600/a+rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M9baK7ewCyk/TxfyVu3y9ZI/AAAAAAAABPM/QMtUg2V5PkM/s320/a+rain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> We slept to rain hammering on our tin roof. In the morning we were surrounded with babbling brooks, waterfalls, and torrents of clear water gushing out of the koppies behind the house. When you live in a seasonal rainfall area, you can never be sure when or if it will rain. Even if you are not a farmer, you keep a wary eye on the landscape and see when it is suffering, parched and dry. There is always rejoicing when rain falls. And when it is heavy enough to make dry rivers fill with flash floods it is exciting to go and see what is happening.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cPJ7ZfqFcmo/Txf2fHft9bI/AAAAAAAABPU/TwoejE1pXoM/s1600/a+road2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cPJ7ZfqFcmo/Txf2fHft9bI/AAAAAAAABPU/TwoejE1pXoM/s320/a+road2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So there we were, driving into Kruger Park with the rain slashing down - into the eye of the storm. Every tiny creek and crease in the landscape was pumping milky brown water under and over the road; sheets of water lay on open plains forming a miniscus at the roadside waiting to tip. In places it had tipped but was shallow enough to drive through. In other places the water had lifted platlets of tar off the road surface as if they were scales. They lay in tumbled jigsaw pieces on the verge.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Waterholes we know that are traditionally serene pools of reflections and hippo heads, were transformed into swollen angry forces, storming over their dam walls, and racing in furious frothy torrents over rocks and between the dark wood trees.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aor2C6ZmQ_A/Txf31XBOsiI/AAAAAAAABPc/iFVZ_V3k3hE/s1600/a+dam+burst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aor2C6ZmQ_A/Txf31XBOsiI/AAAAAAAABPc/iFVZ_V3k3hE/s320/a+dam+burst.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We made it through to Letaba camp. In the restaurant, groups of sodden looking tourists gazed glumly at the torrential scene. We snapped pics and revelled in the excitement of watching the river rise. In 2000, the river flooded right into the restaurant area - for now it was still well under control.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We decided to head home. In that short time, the river had crossed the small bridge on our exit road and was rolling and tumbling through the gorge with great gusto. A tortoise washed up on the edge of the fray. It was being caught by the waves that swirled in from the rocks. I broke the rules and lifted him to higher ground. It was the cleanest tortoise i have ever seen.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YuwFpZ6cCqM/Txf4KC8D7OI/AAAAAAAABPk/P0pqiOWJL9M/s1600/a+maswidzudzu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">But we could no longer cross the bridge so we turned back to Letaba camp to wait for the water levels to subside. Sometimes Africa just makes you wait, and it always reminds you who is in ultimate</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YuwFpZ6cCqM/Txf4KC8D7OI/AAAAAAAABPk/P0pqiOWJL9M/s1600/a+maswidzudzu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">control of the situation. These days its not just Africa that does this.</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Back in Letaba the water had flooded into the parking area to the extent that normal sedan cars could not drive through certain areas. Things were changing fast, and still the rain came slashing down. The best thing to do is stop and wait so we did. Strangers started chatting, sharing road reports. We heard that the road south was closed, and the road north was blocked by floodwaters. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MWdAMYPny0U/Txf5VPFOwiI/AAAAAAAABPs/qEyug8_S_nA/s1600/a+aftr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MWdAMYPny0U/Txf5VPFOwiI/AAAAAAAABPs/qEyug8_S_nA/s320/a+aftr.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After lunch we tried again. Luckily for us the floodwaters had dropped below the bridge and, although the crash barriers were torn and twisted over the road, we were able to drive through. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We made it home through the rain slashed park. But this wasnt enough. We decided to drive to the Olifants River to see the floods there. Rayson came with us this time. I love how, in this area, all the locals turn out to look at a flooded river. Even the police were there taking pictures with their cell phones. The brown swirling waters raced under the road bridge carrying huge tree trunks and debris that now and again thunked into the bridge supports. Rayson is our man about the place. He thought we were mad to stop on the bridge and headed straight for the other side to watch from there. He had a point. Watching the racing flood waters certainly made you feel dizzy and sick. We saw a hippo out of the water on the other side and wondered if the marooned trees were full of snakes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Back home we decided to quickly check if the lions were still on the open lands. We drove along the fence line and slipped into a mushy hole of mud. We were instantly stuck! Having assessed the situation we decided not to dig due to the waterlogged soil, but rather to walk home and fetch the other vehicle and pull this one out. It was about a two kilometer walk and I tried hard not to think about the two rangy male lions we had seen just that morning. Rayson found a terapin turtle on the road, and there was a giant African land snail moving slowly along. The road was a delta of flowing streams and pools. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We picked up the other vehicle and returned to the fence line. A tow rope was hooked up but the road was way too slippery and the other vehicle was just too stuck . Traction was not happenning.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-64308457930407003282012-01-15T12:44:00.001+02:002012-01-15T12:44:50.575+02:00Rhinos - in praise of<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fzANeYbWd3E/TxKouB_WLYI/AAAAAAAABNs/uVjOZIp7nM0/s1600/a+rhino2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fzANeYbWd3E/TxKouB_WLYI/AAAAAAAABNs/uVjOZIp7nM0/s320/a+rhino2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I can't tell you where or when these pictures were taken because rhinos as a species have never been more at risk of extinction. We have lost two subspecies already in the past year.</div>
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For these gentle jurassic giants, it seems the clock is ticking. When we are lucky enough to see rhino in their natural habitat it is almost with a sense of anticipated loss. How much time will they have? will their bouncy inquisitive young even have a life in our lifetime?</div>
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So here are just a few pictures showing rhino doing what they do best - which is eating lots of grass or leaves, and rubbing shoulders with each other. They also love to lie around in sticky mud and leave calling cards at steaming middens.</div>
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They are frighteningly easy to kill. They are creatures of habit and territory.</div>
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They stand still, like well behaved targets for poachers or hunters bullets, while they try to work out if you are a threat or not. </div>
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We all know where the markets are for rhino horn and ivory. </div>
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So why can the carnage not be controlled?</div>
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Rhino horn is made from the same stuff as human hair and toenails.</div>
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The needy could use their own.</div>
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They can move suprisingly fast when they get going.</div>
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white rhino grazing in golden fields</div>
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a young black rhino visiting the pool for a drink</div>
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The remains of a young white rhino who died with his back foot caught in a poachers cable snare. It must have taken a few days before he fell headfirst into a donga (ditch) and probably died of stress and thirst. This is the skull and jawbones - all thats left to be seen, after human and wildlife scavengers have taken what they want.</div>
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<br />Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-57857864336463095802012-01-13T14:39:00.000+02:002012-01-26T08:21:20.938+02:00Roof chat<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V0tK98SHan4/TxAj9CiFNUI/AAAAAAAABM0/mF0uT7ZPQqI/s1600/a+giraffe+airstrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V0tK98SHan4/TxAj9CiFNUI/AAAAAAAABM0/mF0uT7ZPQqI/s320/a+giraffe+airstrip.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Having just re read my last post I found a glaring typo. How come this was not visible before? ...all taught muscle... should read 'all taut muscles' hehe sorry! i am the queen of typos. once upon a time long long ago, i did a very amateurish job of a brochure for a certain safari lodge far far away. Somewhere in the text i wrote about the Plaintiff cry of the Jackal. ugh - apart from being overwhelmingly corny it is just a joke. Well i hope it made someone smile, or laugh. And to be fair, Jackals do always look a little bit guilty.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Obviously 2012 looks determined to outpace its predecessor. We are nearly half way through January already. Around here everyone is busy raising young. The impala lambs are big enough to stray from their mothers now. When the herd passes, all we hear are mothers calling their lambs, and lambs bleating looking for mothers. How can something as dainty and graceful as an impala ewe make such unappealing grunts and groans?</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--l8Q4S41IXI/TxAkNMTIO8I/AAAAAAAABM8/FjXCPeKTvKQ/s1600/a+dabchick+nest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--l8Q4S41IXI/TxAkNMTIO8I/AAAAAAAABM8/FjXCPeKTvKQ/s320/a+dabchick+nest.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Warthogs are busy with piglets, or wartlets, and the cuckoos are busy laying eggs in other peoples nests. The dabchicks at the waterhole, made a perfect nest out of floating vegetation, with one egg sitting in state on the top. It did look vulnerable, and while we were watching a tarapin turtle was showing undue interest. Next time we looked that egg had gone. Then another appeared, and with unfortunate timing the breeding herd of elephants arrived to swim and play and generally lower the waterlevels. This time even the nest disappeared. Obviously the dabchicks must rethink their building plans.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hVbCg1LFLps/TxAkzfDd4pI/AAAAAAAABNM/n1yy0r42RoQ/s1600/a+giraffe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hVbCg1LFLps/TxAkzfDd4pI/AAAAAAAABNM/n1yy0r42RoQ/s320/a+giraffe.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The weather has been relentlessly hot. The air heavy with the promise of storms that never come. The white sun sucks moisture out of every living thing, including us, to replenish its army of clouds. Last night there was a big amber moon in the east, and there are some interesting planets around promising interesting times in this era of change. I hope 2012 is generous, kind and loving to you all.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-25840432200792004682011-12-31T15:59:00.000+02:002012-01-26T08:22:00.470+02:00telling tails<br />
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There is a new monkey on the roof. He came in through the front door. He picked up the last remaining apple on the sideboard and moved into the lounge. I heard a noise. I was home alone. It was a tiny noise, like a button falling. Monkeys can be quiet like this. I went to investigate and there he was perched on the sofa eating an apple. All the doors and windows were closed. I was afraid he would panic and try to jump through a window or something equally dramatic. When this has happened before the culprit often bounces of walls and bookshelves before diving for the closed window. But this is a new guy. He has house cred. He looked at me and continued with the apple.</div>
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I opened the door to the stoep and got serious about asking him to leave. He moved under the table and slowed down a bit, waiting to see if that was far enough. It wasnt. Then he was out. Maybe he spent Christmas at a nearby lodge.</div>
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Christmas ah, how was yours?</div>
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<br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-82834821672216182212011-12-25T11:44:00.000+02:002012-01-26T08:22:32.444+02:00Mozambicans on the Move : Christmas 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We are back from the sparkling seas of Mozambique. Border hassles and potholes notwithstanding, the magic of coastal mozambique soon soothed the senses. The vibrancy of sunlight and colour bounced around us to delight the senses even when the summer heat was beating down.</div>
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You just have to love it there. There are state of the art vessels and vehicles on land and sea, but here are some more interesting modes of transport that capture the imagination.</div>
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Dhow fisherman on Bengui island pulling in the catch of the day.</div>
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sail power beats steam anyday on the coral seas</div>
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walking home with a couple of beers under the arm</div>
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wedding procession in Maxixe</div>
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hang on - nearly there</div>
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chinese umbrella</div>
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three up in sunday best</div>
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standing room only</div>
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going visiting</div>
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barrow man Chokwe market</div>
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<br />Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7968469327864068813.post-37659687891827715492011-12-08T09:28:00.001+02:002012-01-26T08:23:06.896+02:00running on empty<br />
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I<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> am sure you all thought that Monkeys have been sleeping On the Roof all this time? Well let me assure you it has been a busy few weeks. What with summer arriving with all its promised abundance, and the festive season fast approaching.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The business of life has had to be really demanding to make sure it gets more than its fair share of attention.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But the list is slowly being ticked. Some spaces are incredibly stubborn and just refuse to be ticked, and others require lots of effort, but slowly slowly catch-a-monkey as they say in these parts. A most unfortunate turn of phrase for us on the Roof!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Right now, the winds are in from the Indian Ocean and tomorrow we will hoist our spotted hankerchiefs on their sticks, and start the trek coastward. Logistics have been demanding this time, but it will all be worth it when that silken sea wraps itself around our ankles and the coral sand squeaks underfoot.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here the impala have all dropped their young. The lambs are so light on their feet its like they hardly touch the ground. The herd moves protectively with them like a troop of ballet dancers - all taught muscle and energy. The mopane trees have made the transition to summer green, and happily provide a dense curtain for vulnerable youngsters to retreat into.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The air is full of bird song - kingfishers, cuckoos, black headed orioles - sounds of summer. At night there are bugs around the light - preying mantis hang ready to pounce praying for a meal; clumsy dung beetles mistake the light for the moon and come droning in, crashing into walls and ceilings. Moths grace the scene with their spectacular presence. And speaking of presents - I am just not ready for christmas yet. Slow down year!</span></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060531713032236270noreply@blogger.com10