Blogs from Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa

Rainmaker and I purchased an 18 1/2 acre smallholding farm located in the Eastern Cape between Grahamstown and Port Alfred in the farming community of Martindale in September 2005. We did not and still do not farm. We simply love and enjoy the country lifestyle. Our location is perfect because we have the choice of driving 30 kms (18 miles) to go into Grahamstown or Port Alfred. We go into Port Alfred during the Gramstown Festival as there are too many cars and people on the streets during this time in Grahamstown. During the Christmas and school holidays we prefer to go into Grahamstown as there are literally too many people and cars in Port Alfred during this time. So we have the best of both and it is always a pleasure wherever we go. Our ... read more

Its been a while so no doubt an update is well overdue, the last 6 weeks have been hectic, studying for our Level 2 FAGSA exams and sorting out the next 6 months but more of that later…..The last instalment left us in Mozambique, after leaving Tofo we moved on to Limpopo Transfrontier Park (which boarders Kruger NP) once again its rugged going and a 4x4 is definitely needed. The Park has suffered the same fate of most Moz parks, poaching encroachment and settlement in the park itself. But there is definitely a difference you can see the hand of SAN Parks (South Africa National Park Board) everywhere with proper camps (albeit empty) and clear rules and regulations governing the use of the park. Limpopo along with Kruger and Gonorezouh (in Zimbabwe) form a massive transfrontier ... read more

The Eastern Cape is renowned for weird weather and this week we got it all, a tropical start to the week followed by 4 days of hard rain and cold conditions more like being back in the UK. It was miserable all the animals were hunkered down out of the rain and the problem here is that the set up is not geared for rain. The tent leaks, the sides of our lodge leaked and let’s face it driving around in an open topped vehicle is no fun. Well unless you happen to be driving it in which case trying to remain on the muddy roads and to get up steep hills is excellent fun. As usual Monday was the new Friday and Alex and Chris decided on a little trip into Paterson to visit the ... read more

No, we haven’t been gored, eaten or otherwise destroyed (although Alex and Chris tried the best last Friday night but more of that later). It’s just been sunny, busy and generally hectic. We had a great week with the breeding herd of elephants who charged us twice, once on Monday when we returned from canoeing to find them coming down to drink. Chris bumbled into the matriarch while heading for the little boys bush. Cue mayhem, trumpeting and very scared looking Chris leaping into the Land Rover. Friday night our braii was rudely interrupted by them trumpeting and running past again clearly upset that we were using their water point for fishing and cooking meat. We also got our first taste of African bureaucracy while trying to extend our visa this involved visiting the Home Affairs ... read more

Friday was possibly the best day yet, we were asked to assist with the darting and capture of Damara and her two cubs. The objective of the exercise was to dart damara and move her into the boma for surgery to replace the transmitter which stopped working a couple of weeks ago and is essential for the monitoring programme undertaken by the conservation centre. The aim was also to take the cubs as well, both adolescent. This would enable measurements and health checks to be done as well as keeping mum and cubs together. It was a precision operation with the cheetah being tracked for around 3 days prior to the darting. We found them on a fresh kill and we were the back up vehicle tasked with keeping an eye on their movements post darting ... read more

Two weeks of waking at 5.30 and I’m still not used to it, at least the daily commute only involves walking to the shower, mind out for snakes and scorpions, and then down to the main lodge. The resident bushbuck and its baby like to wait in ambush on the path which can be a bit disconcerting if you brave the walk to the toilet in the middle of the night. Rio swears she has a zebra stalking her which leaves only its tracks outside her tent each morning. In addition life has got serious with a Monday exam each week, luckily both Sandra and I passed (me with higher marks obviously). The exams so far covered the basics of guiding, orientation and vehicle skills as well as a detailed one on Dangerous Animals (the Big ... read more