Morning horror...

At 4:30am I felt something tickling behind my right ear... Without really waking up, I brushed it away. Could have been a fly or some other small insect.

At 5am I woke up because something was crawling up my left leg... A scorpion? A snake?

I was fully awake within a few seconds and jumped out of bed!

After a few minutes we had captured the monster... A totally harmless insect, a koringkriek. It has been described as an armored insect, grasshopper or whatever... But not nice in bed!

It is about 5cm long!!!!

Another baby squirrel...

Yesterday we got another baby squirrel. It was a bit older than the previous one, so a little better chances of survival. Later today the vet will come to us and pick it up to give it treatment in his ICU!

Locked Out...

Late yesterday afternoon we visited our neighbors across the street. We hadn't planned to stay long, but they insisted on us having supper together. As usual we got out of our house through the garage, using the remote, and made sure that all other doors were locked...

Then after about an hour there was a thunderstorm, not heavy in Nelspruit, but probably quite bad a few miles from here, because suddenly all electrical power were out! That happens every now and then, so we didn't panic, but at 10pm there was still no power...

Luckily our electrical fence was switched off, so we had to phone our security company, and they connected us to a locksmith who solved our problem! R400 less in my wallet...

Next time we will use our keys!

Sad news...

This afternoon the vet came to our house and told us that our little squirrel didn't make it... Too sad... But at least we all did whatever we could do...

But think of this: this vet actually took the time and the trouble to come to us to tell us! Isn't that fantastic?

Weather here is very warm and humid... But I enjoy it anyway...

This is Africa!

Yesterday afternoon I heard Diva, our boelboel, barking outside my study. Her barking has a special character when there is some kind of intruder. Just by luck I had one of my cameras in my hands when I went out to have a look. I immediately saw what it was that had upset her: a big leguan. The animal was at least 1½ meter long, and quickly went down into the pool. The dogs were running around the pool, and the leguan was swimming around, sometimes coming to the surface. We took the dogs away, inside the house, and after a while the leguan got out of the pool and disappeared into the nature reserve!

Later in the afternoon, after Leona had made some phone calls to the university in Pretoria, and being referred to different persons, she got connected to a vet in Nelspruit. He had been working at the game reserve at Timbavati, but now working at the Parks Board in Nelspruit. He took care of our little squirrel and will do his best to keep it alive!

A Nice Sunday Outing

Yesterday we went with the dogs to Kaapsehoop, about 30 km from Nelspruit. It is a small village in an area that used to be a mining town about 100 years ago. There are some ruins of old houses from the mining period, but the most fascinating remnant is the wild horses. They have no owner, no stables and they have been breeding for a very long time. The total number is probably at least 50 could be more...

Kaapsehoop also has some really interesting geological features. There are big rocks that looks as if they have grown out of the ground, just like mushrooms! After a walk around these beautiful rocks, we found a nice spot in the shade under a big tree, where we had a small picnic. The dogs were calm and a bit tired after the walk in the hot sun. We sat down on a blanket with a beer etc.

Just after a few minutes a herd of horses came up to us, very curious, especially about the dogs! The wild horses seem to be quite tame and used to people. We where a bit anxious that there would be a confrontation between our dogs and the horses, but no...!

The pictures show how nice it was. Both Rufus and Diva actually had nose-to-nose contact with the little horse, and the dogs didn't bark a SINGLE time!!!

A laughing horse!

Late afternoon we found a baby squirrel again... We will try to rescue it... We were not successful with Freddie, but we try again...