Up To Date

 

Finally this blog is back to being up-to-date. Last week Jill stayed with us for a couple of days. Next to having a lot of fun we started organizing the next stage for the Kalahari Kids Kit: finishing touches, marketing, selling, and future projects like the creepy crawlers book on the internet.

We can be quiet proud of our premises: Jill said next time she has to be in Gaborone she’ll use us as base camp again, instead of staying in the Big City as usual, because our rooisanddorpie is absolutely way more ‘normal’ and nice then Gabs.

 

Finishing touches: our neighbour teenager Karabo and Bram are making labels out of tin cans.

 

Looking quiet good for an inexpensive (already way over budget…) labelling solution!

 

Maduo’s first visit to our yard, together with her big brother Karabo. Maduo helped Bram establishing his claim to fame at Mochudi hospital. April 2009 he went there with Rachel, and after she gave birth to Anele he fetched mother and son. April 2010 he brought Mma go Moagi in to deliver Maduo, and picked them when they were discharged. Sure, another ‘neighbour’ who just needs a ride to the hospital haha.

 

We had our first decent rain, 34 mm! Immediately after this all the acacias turn green and start blossoming. According to Mma Binkie it will be the last decent rain for the time being. She only has to look at the sky to know, she is way better then any scientific weather forecast.

Contemplating the small disaster in the herb garden. The rain was welcome, but poured down so heavily that almost all the baby coriander, dill and lavas is smashed. On the upside the sage, parsley, thyme, lemon grass, oregano and lemon herb seems to do well. So what to with the empty spaces? And how to up the greening of the fence, and what to put in the new patch in front of the herb garden? Endless things to contemplate…

Wet moselesele blossom – close to the acacia family (Dichrostachys cinera).

 Dry moselesele - the Shona name ‘Mupangare’ means tassels for the chief’s hat. We still have to identify many other acacias and trees that spontaneously grow in our yard.

 

After finishing his first nest this little guy immediately started to build a second tree house, and then a third. Busy busy busy, cause while building he also has to attract chicks into the nests he already finished.

 

More amazing is that our resident weaverbird is so tame that Bram can approach him real close. ‘Weaponed’ only with his old camera and a mere 135 mm tele lens it’s possible to capture the huisvlijt vlechtwerk.

A man’s dream: his small houses right next to his house, very convenient. He managed to get the first nest occupied by a lekker bird already. There is a chick that shows serious interest in nest number two. House number three literally is a bit small, but still attracting attractive potential buitenvrouwen.

Pottering

 

Our neighbours Rachel & Melvin all set to go to church in their new Audi. They are the ideal neighbours; nice, cheerful, and always willing to help out. While Melvin spends most of his time at home working on cars (imagine our luck having a mechanic for a neighbour!), Bram potters in the yard with building materials.

 

Now what is this supposed to be? Being the principal building inspector, aussie Nadia is confronted with some heavy management tasks. Like The Pool phase 1 (the grey concrete basin) and phase 2 (the wooden decks) – very suspicious looking structures, should she ignore this or does it require her attention?

At least Bashi (left) is around a lot, that is reassuring, this whole thing might even have something to do with dog pellets.

 

Applying the marbelite finishing has to be done in the late afternoon because during the day it is way too hot for a quick drying product like this. Note the grey line – that’s where the kinky disco lights will be. Can’t wait to have sundowners while soaking in the hot tub & enjoying the view!

 

Finally the electrician Bathalefi can start his part of the job. First the pool pump Arend gave us has to be connected. And then there are the lights, the jets – amazing what a pool that will be heated by a donkey boiler requires when it comes to electricity.

 

Moira and Lisa (for short; it should be Tsarina Elisabeth Johanna Amalia Victoria Wilhelmina Petronella Katharina Maria de lIzegrim) inspect the sundowners area for those who don’t feel like loitering in the pool.

 

Lisa tries to figure how many 8 kg bags of dog pellets are needed to fill this giant bowl. Or will it be filled with pap or custard?

 

Our fierce watchdog Lionel uses the plateau of Bram’s Hollywood stairs to overlook the premises. Note the ear – nothing goes on unnoticed.

 

When Bram is out of bed first Louis jumps in to have a ‘so glad to see you after this endless night’ cuddle & sleep in.

 

And then there is coffee while the dogs digest their break-fast.

 

This one can grow huge, and is awfully prickly. Taking cuttings will for sure result in at least one damaged arm and hand.

 

Halfmens – a beautiful cactus-like tree that eventually will be a couple of meters high.

 

Maud’s succulent rose garden phase 1 – a desert rose.

 

If you are stranded in the bush without water, look for insects. Insects need water every day, and they can’t cover huge distances, so if you see them water must be nearby. This is one of the many types of wasps we have in our yard.

 

Just like last year ‘our’ weaver is weaving nests like there is no tomorrow. The poor guy never managed to attract a wife so far. If they are interested, they will inspect the nest. If it happens to be unsatisfactory, she’ll rip it apart, just to make clear he should start all over.

 

This last year’s cutting is already flowering.

 

Our lily from Miena’s garden.

Fabulous Aussie Moira, the fastest, the best jumper, the master thief as far as food is concerned, ready for action.

Kalahari Kids Kit

 

The proofs are being printed! Four books for starters, and we will start working on the fifth, about invertebrates - insects - snakes soon.

 

The concept is Jill Thomas’ idea. She owns Berrybush (Tsabong, Southwestern Kalahari Desert), offering campsites, rooms and delicious meals (see links below, Maud had so much fun there last year). It is a great place to be, and an ideal stopover for people on their way to Mabuasehube Game Reserve and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. So Jill sees all those families in their 4x4s, packed with camping gear, all set and ready for the bush, kids on the backseat with their game computers and mp3 players. Will it be possible to get them at least a little bit interested in the flora and fauna they can spot if they look out of the window?

 

What if they would have little books that give them a preview of some animals and plants they are likely to see, instead of the big books full of stuff you are unlikely to spot and facts that are way over their head?

 

And for the little ones a nature colouring book. It will be a set of books and colouring pencils put all together in a custom made bag.

 Since Jill doesn’t have time to go all the way from concept to a finished product, she asked us to assist her. Which might seem a bit over our head because we are neither native English speakers, nor nature photographers, nor flora and fauna experts. Jill has spent two years with the San, learning about Kalahari plants and their uses. Jill’s friend Vincent, who is a wildlife photographer, helped out with a lot of pictures. Jeff donated his knowledge about nature, English and Setswana. Jill’s brother-in-law Dave took care of the Afrikaans names.

Altogether we feel happy with the result – now lets see how the first edition sells…

If you are interested you can order a set by mailing us, sundesignafrica@gmail.com

Jill's new website is under construction; this link to the old one will give you at least an impression what Berrybush is like:

Berrybush 

More great pictures by Vincent:

African nature photography by Vincent Grafhorst 

Atherstone @ Limpopo

 

For our end-of-October outing we finally went to Atherstone Nature Reserve, just over the border in South Africa. Europeans tend to think South Africa’s attractions are Kruger Park, Kaapstad & wine estates, and the Garden Route. But it is plastered with great places, and when you drive around where most overseas tourists don’t go, people are incredibly nice and helpful. Soon after Derdepoort border post we got lost, which is a bit of a hassle cause that part of Limpopo province isn’t exactly densely populated. But after a while we found a farmhouse, got directions, and discovered we had already almost reached our destination.

 

We planned on camping, but upon arrival we discovered there had been a misunderstanding while booking over the phone, Atherstone doesn’t have campsites. This setback was combined with a stroke of luck; the manager put us in ‘the old farmhouse’, a facility he wasn’t allowed to rent out anymore because it will be demolished and replaced by chalets. A fabulous place, about 50 meters from a man-made well where game comes to drink, and we had it all to ourselves. Except for the woman who was brought in in the morning to wash our dishes and clean up the kitchen – a welcome luxury visitor.

 

Sundowners in the bird hide next to ‘our’ watering point, while spotting impala, wildebeest, guinea fowl, red hartebeest, tsesebe, giraffe and etcetera. Atherstone has quite a lot of species, including black and white rhino, and elephant.

 

It’s the warthogs turn to drink.

 

The one spoor we can read: elephant. We saw one having a drink- and shower party at ‘our’ waterhole, and Maud heard a bigger group drinking and bathing during the night. The setback of a place that has elephants is they make part of the place look desolate, all trees reduced to dead stumps.

 

Atherstone has a big selection of game, among which quite a lot of giraffe. Actually we have never seen so many giraffe in one weekend - great!

And in the end there are the vultures.

Upon leaving the manager gave us a pile of Limpopo Province brochures and a map, so our weekend outing destinations for the coming months are set.

 About Atherstone

More about Atherstone 

Ons Afrikaners sal Kamp

 

Our second weekend out: the yearly Herman Charles Bosman celebration in Groot Marico, South Africa on October 15-17. To make it a real holiday weekend, we camped at the Riekerts- or Bosvelddam near Groot Marico. Luxury camping at that; Greetje & Arend offered us their cabin at the dam, so we weren’t cramped in between other tents. We actually should go there more often. Nothing like a decent patch of water if you are living in the semi-desert, and it is only a three hours drive (which is really nearby around here). Even if the dam is packed it is still fairly quiet and relaxed cause most visitors are Afrikaners who go fishing.

 

Herman Charles Bosman is a South African writer who worked as a schoolteacher in Groot Marico for some years. The area and the people provided the background for his best known short stories, the Oom Schalk Lourens series and the Voorkamer sketches. All the Bosman events are organized by a group of old South African hippies from Groot Marico, and they always do a fabulous job. For starters: moerkoffie, diphaphatha = roosterkoeke, bread from the woodoven, bushtea with honey, homemade marmalades – delicious.

 

The connection between Bosman and Indian music might be somewhat vague, but the tablas, sitar and etcetera do fit in the flower power atmosphere. Note the Aloe marlothii on the right; it’s the archetypal aloe one can find in the bush a lot. You can take find literally – quite some finds have been transplanted to our yard.

Maud’s favorite part of the programme: ‘Tree outing and identifying at RiverStill Guestfarm for the early birds’ by Koos. We lost some early birds when we had to cross the river Groot Marico, and a couple more while walking up the hills. Or was that because neither the daggha plantation nor the mampoer distillery seemed to be anywhere near?

 

Great camouflage! (That piece of grass is some type of walking stick.)

 

After learning which shrub to use for toilet paper, what berries to eat, the meaning of ‘English wood’ (good for nothing wood, remember the Boer War 1899-1902) and much more we moved on to flowers.

 

Bram’s favourite photograph subject: trees. Actually women are probably the real favourite, but trees have more patience.

 

The Bosman weekend wasn’t our only aim. We also had to do Serious Shopping in South Africa. Bram needed some pool items, and since we had to do SA-shopping anyway we made a list of other things we couldn’t find in Botswana, the main item being a fitting collar for Moira. Bram figured Rustenburg was our best not too far bet, which seemed nice, cause Hamish had told us over and over again how fabulous camping at Rustenburg Kloof is.

The one pretty picture one can make at Rustenburg Kloof. Can’t tell one is camping next to a motorway that’s busy day and night - as busy as the baboons that consider this camping their supermarket. But our shopping spree was really successful; got the collar, and a big bag of doggy candy, and much more.