Survivor - African style

And the last two men standing are.... Jacob & Bob! Who will be the winner although Bob now has come out & said that he is willing to retire "gracefully" at the time of his own choosing. Who knows really when that will be? Jacob, on the other hand, has made no such utterances! His alliances made during the game, by ensuring allies got a fair share of whatever was available, have steadfastly supported him & will go to any lengths to ensure that he is the winner! After all, if he falls so do they & will they survive with a new kid on the block? Will they still get the handouts for their own survival from the new 'Boss'?

It is absolutely amazing how a nation that has the concept of 'Ubuntu' firmly entrenched in their collective psyche can still support the rulers who have systematically raped their countries to the point of almost total collapse for the benefit of the few. Who disregard the needs of the many for the enrichment of the toadies. Whose over-inflated egos demand that they have bigger & better lifestyles than the people who put them in power. Body guards, imported limousines, private presidential aircraft, massive dwellings while the majority might, one day, own a 2nd or 3rd hand motor vehicle of some description but will, most probably, not be able to afford the upkeep or the fuel. Who might, one day, have a proper house with running water, an inside toilet & more than one room to facilitate the feeling of privacy.

And then we come to the august house of parliament! What a joke! Highly paid MP's, dressed to the nines, sleeping during session. Only if they actually arrive, that is. Benches are more empty that full, unless of course, the safety of their tenure at the trough is threatened by an opposition vote of no confidence. That normally brings them out of the woodwork.

The promise of 5 million jobs - well now, no one mentioned what sector that would be in! Have a look at the amazing amount of money South African legals are making out of answering lawsuits for politicians, police, the National Prosecuting Authority to name but a few. The prez himself must be a favorite of some of the more affluent legal firms in the country. So, yeah, jobs are being created but paid for at the expense of the countries coffers.

And so we are heading for the final of Survivor - Southern African Politics! Who will win? My money is on JZ! He has more lives than a cat, is more impossible to catch & hold than a bar of soap in the shower & has a laugh for everything! Heh heh heh heh....

New pup - now closing on 2....

I've just been woken up by Ditch! Sorry mate, been off this for a tad! So I'll do a quick catch up.....

Firstly - the 'Pup'!He is  pushing 40Kg out the window now but can still run like the wind -especially when we take him on his walks in the bush (every morning starting 'bout 06:30!) He is spoilt  - he 'owns' 2 couches in the house & from about 05:00 he also takes over our bed.

Comatose!

This is his normal position in the pub - well, the others are much more 'porn' than this so I left them off in case sensitive viewers get upset! ;)
He was a bit of a worry when we first got him re the PICA thing but seems to have got over that now. Energy levels are still over the top & he is very insistent about things when he wants to play. He has a 'toy' box - an old cardboard box that we keep his bits & bobs in (try to anyway) which consist of tennis balls, rope, toilet roll cardboard inners, rags, old socks & sticks. When he figures it's play time he hurtles off, opens the box with his snout & picks whatever he wants & then bugs the hell out of you until you take notice & take up the challenge. His idea of playing with the ball is you have to stick your hand halfway down his throat (ending up with much dog-snot on your hand - he does lick his backside!) & after fetching 2 or 3 times you throw again & you get this lokk "you threw it - you fetch it!" Bloody Ridgebacks! :)
His morning walks are taken out into bush area where there is a fair amount of game - both large & small. We have found Brown Hyena scats in a few places but the norm is Cape Hares, Klipspringers, Duiker & Steenbokkies. Chases like blazes, ends up running 5 kliks or so & then comes back with the tongue dragging on the ground.

Watching a Kudu bull this morning

The only real taker for the French stuff - only the dregs mind!

Rhino's & such

The Rhino saga really seems to have caught on - thank God! I was really amazed to see the support we got from around the world - USA, UK, Europe but I never noticed anything from the far East? Virtually every province in the country had good turnouts & awareness seems to be climbing but on the legal & justice side we seem to be lagging behind a tad. 8 Years for poaching? Most probably be out in 5 or less! That really pisses me off!
The police (Hawks I think it was) have managed to collar some suspects higher up the food chain than most of  the arrests to date - I just hope that all the investigative ducks are in a very neat row so that we will see some sort of justice being done!
The unfortunate part is that the big boys will obviously have plenty of money to call on - more than likely from the sale of Rhino horn or Elephant ivory! Amazing how money will always help the evil bastards out of the brown stuff no matter where or how they earned it. I'm still not convinced that we have got to the top of the pile yet as far as nailing the "Big Boys" & I still feel that there is collusion either at Government level or SAN Parks or maybe even Customs & Excise. Certainly there seems to be a lack of urgency in the Far East governmental agencies to try &  assit us in tackling the problem.

What makes living here worthwhile.....

Early morning sunrise at the southern most tip - Cape Aghullas

Slightly more north but still Cape Aghullas

A Rock Kestrel on an early morning hunt

On the road to Fraserburg to fetch our new pup.

The Teekloof pass on the R353 to Fraserburg.

Just to give some idea of the diversity & beauty to be found in this troubled land. For most people, once you have lived in Africa for any period of time, it will always call you back!

The character is emerging (with the teeth!) :)

The food is disappearing & the weight & size are climbing rapidly but best of all is the character finally comming to the fore!

 Sleeping seems to have a priority - if there is no food in the offing!

 The frown wrinkles are so typical Ridgeback. Strange little bugger tho' - he sits flat on his backside & not on his haunches.

Just checking out HIS kingdom! He is now over 4Kg so that all seems well. More deworming at the end of the month & booster shots - vets really know how to charge! ;) Bought some leather work gloves today to try & reduce the loss of my blood from his teeth!

Sleep is out the window.....

Well, we been & done & got 'im! Shinga has arrived - 980Km round trip to the Northern Cape (first time I've been there * hopefully the last?). Only 6 weeks old when we picked him up & 1,7Kg's of razor sharp teeth & a 4 hour "sleep" clock!

He started out with us as "Tippex" 'cos there were 9 of them in the litter & we needed to remember which one we chose so the breeder stuck a dab of tippex type corrector on his head! He has now been renamed to Shinga - an Ovambo name for a Cheetah - more in hope than anticipation as he does sleep a lot! But, bloody hell, when he wakes up & feels it's playtime (normally about 2 in the morning!) he tends to rip into the nearest member to his mouth. From this you can deduct that he is sleeping in "our" bed! It was either that or no sleep at all as his lungs are well developed & he is obviously missing his old pack.
 Ah well, sleep - who needs it? I weighed him again in 3 days after we arrived back & his weight is up to 3,05 Kg so growing he definitely is!

He has found a home in a carboard box - ONLY during the day! Producing it at bedtime creates a major panic so we don't even try anymore.

Someone once said "Happiness is a warm puppy"! Very true even when you have to get up at some ungodly hour, freezing cold & maybe rain to make sure he pees & poops outside. It seems that the colder it is, the more misrable the longer it takes for them to find that "perfect spot"! :)

Once I get the little bugger to stand still (without falling asleep) I will post some better pics. For now, note the size of his forelegs! Gonna be a strong boy - I hope!

You were right Ditch, hard to do but now it's done I'm glad! ;)

To get another one or not........

I have been struggling over this for some time now, do I take the plunge & get another Ridgeback or not? I must admit I'm very tempted - but the old thing comes back - do I really want to chance going through that again? Split in two minds, some pups have come up for sale (albeit 300 odd Km's away) & the urge is strong. Then you think back to 'The Boy' & is there a place for something new? I dunno! I do have another week or so to decide. Most probably end up with a headache! ;)