Out of My Africa

Morning horror...

2010-02-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-25T04:06:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-11T12:09:00.002-08:00

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...

2010-01-11T12:09:00.001-08:00

Our South Coast Holiday

2009-12-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

We really had a nice time at the South Coast! Spent some time at different malls, several beaches etc. I bought a lot of Indian spices that will be nice for my curries. The to main attractions were uShaka Marine World in Durban and Croc World just a few kilometers from where we stayed.

I will not upload any pictures to this blog post because they are already on the following sites:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/579549

http://community.webshots.com/user/tommy_javerfalk

Enjoy!

Escape to Chimp Eden

2009-12-27T06:28:00.000-08:00

I am a bit late with my blogging... I wanted to blog about our wonderful holiday at the South Coast of Natal, and I will still do that, but...!!!

Today we had a wonderful experience at the Chimp Eden, which is located only 10 km from our home. We booked a tour yesterday and was lucky because the director, Eugene Cussons, would be our tour guide. We is now well known all over the world due to the Animal Planet programs about his rehabilitation efforts for neglected and abused chimps. The program has been seen by more than 1 billion people!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_to_Chimp_Eden

We were also a small group of visitors and had a lot of opportunities to talk to him and ask questions. He actually showed how to communicate with the chimps, and I had a nice contact with young chimp who wanted to play with me! He followed me on his side of the fence, and as soon as I stopped he stopped too, and we had eye-contact. I made the sounds Eugene taught us, inviting to playful activity, and it really worked! Absolutely amazing....

Eugene at the left, and Ivan and Estian to the right.

Eugene and Leona

Eugene telling the how he started this project.

Some close-ups of one of the Chimps...

It was an awesome experience!!!!

A Crazy Christmas Eve...

2009-12-24T02:26:00.000-08:00

I really have to try to get a Christmas feeling, but it is difficult... It's very hot here, around +35. In the evening of 22 December our geyser burst... 150 liters of boiling water flushing out, but luckily there is a drain pipe diverting it to the outside, so we didn't have any water damage. And today we had a new geyser installed. Christmas Eve is not a public holiday here, everybody is working normal hours. So we were actually very lucky!

In the late morning I went downtown to buy Christmas gifts for Monday's, the gardener, kids. The whole town is crazy... Traffic is very wild, and the queues in the shops are very long. Bought some chips, sweets but mostly useful thing for their school work, like pens, scissors, rulers etc. etc.

Both Ivan and Estian are here now, and we have decided to have Hot Buffalo Chicken Wings for supper tonight. Not a typical Christmas dish, but we all love it, so why not?

Severe Storms...

2009-12-22T04:24:00.000-08:00

In the last 10 days there has been three severe storms affecting Nelspruit. Since we were away on holiday to the South Coast, we didn't experience the first two storms, but the third was two night ago, and it was bad... A lot of destruction in our garden... Some broad leaf plants having the leaves perforated by the big hail. But now it is nice weather, +34 at this moment...

Th very cute little boy of our neighbors picked up some of the hails, put it into their freezer and came over to show us. They are really golf ball sized!!! A lot of cars got heavily dented...

Holiday at the South Coast

2009-12-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

We have now been at Illovo Beach for five days. We are staying in a flat owned by one of our friends who stay in the same street as us in Nelspruit. Illovo beach is located about 40km south of Durban. The weather has been nice and warm, but with some rain every day. We are enjoying it very much! We have been to several beaches and when it has been raining we have been to a few very nice shopping centers/malls. Two days ago we visited Leona's sister and her husband who stay further south. We will be here for another four days before we go home.

The Warner Beach is a quiet beach.

Sitting on the rocks and enjoying the waves is very relaxing!

This sand sculpture we saw at the beach in Amanzimtoti, which is a much more busy beach with lots of younger people, surfers etc.

We left the beach around lunch time when it started to rain a bit. We went back to our flat and relaxed, but then, after 6pm the sky cleared up and we went for a walk just before sunset.

The South Coast is a LOVELYplace!!!

Suppers in South Africa (11)

2009-11-30T10:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had a very nice braai!!! Before I came to South Africa the first time, I heard that a braai is almost like a religion in South Africa. And I understand that ore and more for every year that I am staying here...

Whatever meat you put on the braai (in our case, the gas-braai), may it be beef, pork, lamb or chicken, it is such a wonderful quality of meat!

The traditional braai, with pap and sheeba, and some pumpkin or any other vegetables is just wonderful!

Tonight we had some very nice lamb steaks/chops, but for myself I had chosen a "man-size" T-bone steak! I think it was between 0.8-1.0 kg.... But I ate all of it... It took some time, but the soft meat and the fantastic flavors!!!!! And with a bottle of our own house wine... Chateau Augusta, which is a very nice Cabernet Sauvignion from the Cape. WOW!!!!

Correction!!!

2009-11-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

It was of course served with BEANS!!!!

Suppers in South Africa (10)

2009-11-26T02:34:00.000-08:00

These are some of my favorite dishes!!! Shame that one cannot upload the flavors... It tasted much better than it looks!

This is Chicken Schnitzels with Cous-Cous and a Honey-Mustard Sauce, served with beens... Yummy, Yummy!!!!

Pork Shanks... Cooked for 5 hours in the slow-cooker and then under the grill to make the rind crackling...

Served with a kind of Ratatouille and rosted potato wedges... Very nice indeed!!!

Not for Arachnophobiacs!

2009-11-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

A few days ago we found this spider in one of our bathrooms... After checking in my spider-book I think it is a Wall Spider, which is completely harmless to humans.

Stormy Weather

2009-11-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

Last week we had two really bad tropical storms. The first one on 10 November which was our 9th Anniversary. Very strong winds, a lot of thunder and lightnings and heavy rain. 44mm of rain in 20 minutes! The total precipitation was close to 100 mm over night. And three days later another storm with the same effects. It's good that the water reserves are filling up so we can irrigate our garden later this summer, but the immediate effect on the garden is not nice.

Parts of Nelspruit lost electricity for 18 hours. We only lost the lights in the upper part of our house, but since we were expecting guests we called an electrician on Saturday afternoon who was able to fix the lights.

Another Snake...

2009-11-10T01:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our Boerboel, Diva, was barking intensively and when Leona looked out through her sliding door she saw a snake's tail disappearing behind some bricks. She noticed the color which resembled the color of a Black Mamba. So she phoned the snake rescuers who arrived within a few minutes. It didn't take them long to catch the snake. However, it was not a Black Mamba, but a totally harmless Spotted Bush Snake, but it was at least twice the size of the previous snake of that kind we have seen! The snake is easy to identify if you can see the front 1/3 of it because of its characteristic spotted color, but the other 2/3 has about the same color as a Black Mamba.
Just in case it was a Black Mamba I was ready with my .38 revolver loaded with "snake shots". They look like miniature shoot-gun ammunition, containing a lot of small lead pellets. Luckily no shots fired. The Spotted Bush Snake is actually quite beautiful.

WOW!!!

2009-11-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received a puzzling email. I booked my flights to Sweden about 3 weeks ago, with Air France as usual. For the last 3 years it has been a Boing 777 which is a nice airplane.
The email told me that I have been re-booked. I checked the dates and times but couldn't find any changes... But then!!! I noticed that the flight was not on a 777, but changed to an Airbus A380! That will be very exciting!

A Selection of KNP pictures

2009-09-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

I took about 350 pictures during my KNP trip. Here are a few selected ones...

Portrait of a Steenbok

Baby Elephant Walk

Kudu

Ground Hornbill

Look at the eye-lashes!

Grey Heron

Reed Cormorant

Grey Heron

Cape Buffalo

Vultures

Vultures

Three Lions eating a Kudu

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena

Back from the KNP

2009-09-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a 3 day trip in the Kruger Park. Pictures will be posted within the next few days.

Suppers in South Africa(9)

2009-09-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

I had planned to go to the Kruger National Park for 2 nights, but I woke up this morning with a bad cold. At least not the swine flu! So I cancelled my reservation and will go there in two weeks.
Since I'm doing most of the cooking, I decided to make it easy. And the choice was beef patties. Served with some steamed veggies, rice and an easy gravy. The result was quite nice!

Suppers in South Africa(8)

2009-08-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had an Ox-tail stew. Started it yesterday to make the meat really soft and juicy.
It's a very rich stew... I bought 4½ kg of ox-tail yesterday, because the the time and effort needed is about the same as when making a smaller quantity.

By request... Here's the recipe for the "Hot Buffalo Chicken Wings":

Cut the wing-tips off
Split the rest of the wing in two pieces.
Prepare freshly ground black pepper and chili flakes.

Heat oil and butter in a cast iron pot. It should get really hot.
Fry the chicken wings for 3-5 minutes, in separate batches if it is a lot of wings!

When they are crispy and golden, put them on a baking tray.

Preheat the oven/grill at maximum heat.

Prepare a tomato sauce with some tabasco or other hot sauce.

Sprinkle/cover over the wings.

Let them grill/bake for 10-12 minutes.

Let your mouth and fingers enjoy them!

Third World Country

2009-08-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you really feel it... This country is part of the 3rd world. Last night when I had planned a nice Indian supper, with the whole tutti: poppadoms, a nice lamb curry and creamed Dal, we suddenly had a power outage that lasted for 3+ hours. We fetched some take-away, and the Indian food, half-way cooked, landed up in the fridge.
Today, when I took the food out to finish it, we were out of water!!! I have no idea how long that will last, but we at least had some water in the fridge, so the curry and rice is now on the stove.
We will see what happens...

Suppers in South Africa(7)

2009-08-12T01:43:00.000-07:00

Last night we had some guests and I had plans for some typical Swedish food... So, what must it be? I brought some nice stuff from Sweden last week, so it was not difficult!
We started with "sill-macka", after that another sandwich with "Gravad Lax" or "Gravid Lax" as I saw it on a menu board in Cap Town! And then the warm food: and what is more typical than Jansson's Frestelse? With anchovies from Sweden.
All three dishes were a great success... Nothing left! I Just wish that I had bought more anchovies in Sweden. No pictures taken because I was busy preparing and serving the food.

Suppers in South Africa(6)

2009-08-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

Last night we had one of my favorites: Hot Buffalo Chicken Wings. It's easy to make and has a lot of flavors. We enjoyed it with a green salad, but in the traditional American way it is served with celery sticks and a blue cheese mayo/yogurt sauce...

Lots of nice bones for the dogs!

Suppers in South Africa(5)

2009-08-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a classic dish. Beef Stroganoff made from Porterhouse Steaks. The sauce with sour cream is really fantastic! Served with rice and a salad. No picture tonight even though the color of the dish was very nice.

Suppers in South Africa(4)

2009-08-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a Braai... A very basic one but very nice.

We have a nice gas-braai that we bought two years ago, and we have used it VERY much! The advantage of a gas-braai is that you don't have a problem with smoke and soot. Many people argue that it is not the same quality, but I think that if it's used right, it gives fantastic results. You can control the temperature very easily, and you don't have the fatty smoke in your hair and clothes!

Some nice lamb chops on the grill...

The starch is "pap" which is made from coarse corn flour. The sauce is "sheba" which is a tomato sauce with some onion and spices. The veggies is Hubbard Pumpkin.

Everything set for a nice supper!

Suppers in South Africa(3)

2009-08-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had home-baked pizza. Very rich with a lot of toppings, like mozzarella, bacon, anchovies and oregano from our herb garden. The picture shows 1 of 4 pizzas! The left-overs will be nice for a Saturday brunch...

Suppers in South Africa (2)

2009-08-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

6 August

Lemon Chicken with cous-cous

This is one of my favorite dishes. It is a chicken dish that is adapted from a similar dish that I had as a lunch at the Westin Hotel in Boston, USA many years ago.

I use chicken thighs in stead of chicken breast fillets because the thighs are more juicy and have more flavor. Of course, this dish is especially nice if you can harvest the lemons from your own garden as I do!

2-3 chicken thighs per person is usually enough.
2-3 fresh lemons
Cous-Cous
Chicken Spice (Portuguese chicken spice or other)
Cooking oil and butter
Cinnamon
Maizena

I always give the chicken thighs a "bath" first... Who knows what hands have touched them??? Let them drip off, then sear them, skin down first, in a moderately hot pan in a mix of oil and butter. (I use a Russel/Hobb electrical pan). Sprinkle the spices on both side, then put a slice of lemon on each thigh. Turn down the heat from 10/12 to 6/12 and put a lid on the pan. Let it cook on this medium heat for 20-30 minutes.
In the meantime squash 1-2 lemons. Take away the pips. Then mix in about a tablespoon of Maizena.
Prepare the Cous-Cous using the package instructions. I always use an extra nob of butter and add cinnamon.
When the chicken thighs are cooked, put them in a separate preheated bowl. Add the lemon/Maizena mix in the pan to make a nice sauce, add some freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with some steamed vegetables... I love broccoli...

Suppers in South Africa

2009-08-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

More than 10 years ago, before visiting South Africa for the first time, I learned from a guy who had been in SA for quite some time "You cannot eat as nice food anywhere in the world as you do in South Africa". With 10+ years of experience, I have to agree!!!
The food prices have gone up during these 10 years, but when I am back in Europe I see that the rate of price increase is about the same as here.

With this blog post I will start a series of post about the suppers we are having, starting with yesterday's menu. The recipes are not 100% accurate, because most of my cooking is done without any recipe. Sometimes there will also be some pictures...

Supper 5 August

Cannelloni with Cabbage Salad

I make the cannelloni with a mince sauce and top it up with a bechamel sauce and grated cheese.
Since we have a herb garden with fresh oregano, it is a natural ingredient in the mince sauce.
I made the mince sauce the day before, and when it has been in the fridge over night it is much firmer and the pasta tubes can easily be filled with a stomping technique.
For 2 packages of Cannelloni tubes I use about - -
1½ kg of lean mince
3 chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cans of tomatoes
3 beef stock cubes
Salt, pepper, chili flakes to tast

To make the mince sauce really nice the minced beef and the onions have to be fried separately.

When everything is in the big pot, let it simmer on low temperature for 90-120 minutes.

The bechamel sauce needed it made from about 1 ltr of milk.

Enjoy!

Back in South Africa

2009-08-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in South Africa after 5 weeks in Sweden.The first week was really warm and nice, but the remaining 4 weeks was almost continuous rain. Absolutely terrible weather!

Leaving the Wonderful Winter in South Africa

2009-06-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will have to leave this wonderful place... Sigh.... Going to some work in Sweden. I hope that the weather will be at least a bit better than last time.

The winter season here is absolutely lovely! Almost every day, clear blue sky, sunny, and temperatures around +25 or higher, even if the mornings can sometimes be a bit chilly.

I went out today to drop a few TB:s in one of my Geocaching caches.
These pictures were taken at the cache spot.

I still love my Toyota Landcruiser Prado! Yesterday the remote wouldn't engage the central locking. It showed that one door was still open (which it wasn't). So, this morning I went to the Toyota service center, and they fixed it in 20 minutes, whithout charging anything. Fantastic service!

A Day in Hospital

2009-06-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

I had to go to the Private Hospital, Medi-Clinic Nelspruit (just 1.5km from home), at 3am because of a kidney stone...
A very nice experience as soon as the pains were gone. Had 2x CAT-scans, and was lying in bed for more than 12 hrs. Very nice service, nice food etc., but very boring. I watched the rugby match between the Springboks and the English lions. 26-21 in SA's favour!
Nice to be home again.

The Queen-Rose Trail Hike

2009-06-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

We are back from a very nice but demanding hike. The Queen-Rose Trail has been named as one of the most beautiful trails in South Africa. It consists of two legs:
1) From the Queen-Rose Hut along the Rose river to Makesh Hut (14 km)
2) From the Makesh Hut along the Queen river back to the Queen-Rose Hut (8 km).
We, a group of six people, went to the Q-R hut last Friday, had a very nice braai and slept well in the very well equipped hut.

At 8:45 am the next day we started the hike on the 1st leg of the trail.

Up, up, up for 2 km in a forestry plantation with beautiful pine trees.

When we were at the top op the trail we saw a big truck loading timbers. We passed it on the main track, but after 1 km we understood that we must have missed a turn. We walked back and found that the truck had run over the sign! That added 2 km to our hike...

We then had a very steep descent to Alvin's Fall, along the Roland's Ladder.

We had a short lunch break at the view point above the fall, and then went down to the Rose River.

From there it was downhill for several kilometers, so we expected it to be like a walk in the park. How wrong we were!!!!
The Rose River flows in a deep canyon, and the trail is very narrow, and includes 20+ river crossings. Most of them with a rope to hang on if we would slip on the wet stones...

After coming out of the canyon we had lovely views of the mountain ridges of the escarpment.

The sun was starting to set behind the high mountains, but we had at least 2 km ahead of us. The last kilometer, was probably the worst... Steep downhill on a narrow path with lots of small loose rocks, making it very easy to trip, especially when your legs are VERY tired!

We finally made it to the Makesh Hut, where we had a nice supper: Chicken Curry with rice.

No-one stayed up late that evening.
We will do the next leg some other time!!!

Why ban smokers and not fatties?

2009-05-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

I'm back in South Africa after 5 wks in the cold springtime in Sweden. We had a braai outside at 7pm and it was not feeling cold...
The trip was nice except for the long waiting hours at CDG in Paris. The 2E terminal is really boring. You would expect to be able to get some nice food in Paris, but all they offer is industrial food packed in plastic containers or wrapfilm. Not a decent restaurant to be seen...
Most airports are now prohibiting smoking... At least Arlanda airport has a small gas chamber, but in Paris there is no place for smokers. The reason for prohibiting smoking is probably based on two facts: 1) Smoking is not healthy. 2) Smokers cause discomfort for the people around you.
I have to agree to both of these facts... even though I am a smoker.
But...
On the shuttle from the airport in Johannesburg to Nelspruit I was sitting on the leftmost seat in the back row, and then an enormously fat lady (I would guess around 140 kg) took the seat next to me. When she landed on my right thigh I squeezed towards the window on my left, so she could at least touch the seat. I had to sit very contorted for a few hundred kilometers, but that was just the beginning!
During the last 100 km down the escarpment down the Schoemanskloof road, which has a lot of sharp turns, I really learned about G-forces!!!
That lady, holding on to the book she was reading, when the shuttle was doing 120km/h, put a pressure onto me that was probably around 200kg... That must compare to 1.5G, but it could have been more...
While feeling like a sardine in a tin, trying to fit in a walrus in the same tin, I was thinking:
What's the difference? See about smoking above... Point 1 and 2...
To be that obese is also not healthy... And it can cause discomfort for the people around you... So why not ban it... At least in public places or transportation...

Back to the Warm Winter

2009-05-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

Eish!!!
After 4+ weeks in the Swedish springtime, being cold every day, I will soon return to the nice winter in South Africa!
It's amazing how you get used to the subtropical climate in SA. I have learnt that the previous winter in Sweden was quite extreme, with severe cold and a lot of snow...
I cannot take that anymore. I haven't been in Sweden during the winter halfyear for several months, and have no clothes suitable for the winter. But when going to Sweden for a few weeks of work I thought it would be a nice springtime weather... But I have been cold every day except for perhaps 2-3 days!
But in five days I'll be on my way to the nice, beautiful South African winter!

Another Spitting Cobra

2009-04-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

This morning I had to rush to the Vet with Diva. Her eyes were very read and swollen. The Cobra yesterday could not have caused it, because when I took her and Rufus to the Vet for vaccination yesterday afternoon, there was no problem with her eyes. So there must have been another Cobra this morning. Luckily no permanent damage to her eyes!

More snakes...

2009-04-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

About 10 days ago I found a Mozambiquean Spitting Cobra on our driveway. Our gardener took it away with a rake, without injuring it.
Today my Diva(Boerboel bitch) spotted another Moz Spitting Cobra just outside our house. She was very excited and got as close as 15 cm from it, but luckily she was not spat on. While I went shopping Leona phoned a snake catcher, and when I came home he had already caught it so no pictures this time!

Some Thoughts at the End of Summer

2009-03-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

The warmest part of summer in the South African Lowveld is during December to February (inclusive). These months are also the time for most of the rainfall. It has been raining a lot and many very severe thunderstorms. We don’t have the long rainy season as in the tropical parts of the world, but it has been very hot and humid. The mid-day temperature is usually around +35, which is not too bad if it wasn’t for the high humidity.

Now, at the end of March, it’s usually in the upper 20’s, but of course MUCH warmer in the sun!

The summer here compared to the average Swedish summer has a lot of differences but also many similarities: The cloudiness , the rain and the thunderstorms are very much the same, but the temperature here is on average 20 degrees warmer. And we also don’t have the long daylight hours. In fact the winter here is more similar to an excellent Swedish summer: Almost every day we have sunshine from a clear blue sky, no rain, no thunder. Just a bit cold in the early morning hours, but a few hours after sunrise it’s usually around +25.

Yesterday we spent a few hours at the Riverside Mall, and had a nice lunch at the Mediterranean. I had a nice plate of sushi and sashimi. Absolutely delicious!

Some Animal Pictures from KNP

2009-03-14T03:03:00.000-07:00

During a 3 day trip in the KNP I usually take 200-500 photos. This time it was about 300. I have seen the "Big Five" several times. This time four of them, missing the leopard.

This picture shows one of the smallest elephant babies that I have seen! Very playful and extremely cute with its short trunk.

I saw 7 rhinos during the first day. They are quite impressive!

I saw a lot of beautiful birds, some of which I haven't seen before. However this African Fish Eagle overlooking the Sabie River is a very nice bird that I have seen many times.

Portrait of a crocodile in the Sunset Pool, just outside Lower Sabie Restcamp.

This Goose Hawk was posing for me on a gravel road.

When you see a lot of vultures like this, there is usually some predators having a feast nearby. I couldn't see it, so I just took some pictures of the waiting guests.

This beautiful bird is a Carmine Bee-eater. They are summer visitors in South Africa.

A Purple Heron posing for me!

These are Klipspringers, one of my favorite antelope. They are actually walking on their toe-nails and are always on top of some rocks. We have a few of them just outside our home in the Nelspruit Nature Reserve as well.

This is the quite common Purple Roller, with its wonderful colors. It does not have the lilac breast found in the Lilac Breasted Roller.

There are 100's of my KNP pictures at:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/560986454EnJrWA

Back in the KNP

2009-03-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in Satara Rest Camp, lovely place! First trip to the Park this year. Last year I made 6 trips. Weather was nice, not too hot, just 26 degrees and a bit overcast. Entered the Park at Malelane Gate, and just after 6-7 km there were three male lions around a dead buffalo. Big pile-up of cars of course! Just a few kilometers farther to the north I spotted a group of six rhinos!
Saw most of the usual animals. Another rhino appeared just 5 km south of Satara. Crossing the road. They are BIG!
Will post some pictures when back home.
Now I will have a nice Rump Steak braai and some nice SA red wine!

End of Freddie....

2009-02-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

Freddie was not doing well yesterday. He didn't want to eat and started to be dehydrated. We were very worried and tried to give him a bit more water. He passed away at 9pm yesterday. We did everything we could, but without success. We miss him a lot...

Freddie is Growing...

2009-02-26T01:45:00.000-08:00

Freddie asked for a night meal again at 3am, but we fead him with great pleasure!
He now opens his tiny mouth around the eye-dropper we use to feed him, so it's much easier to feed him now. I weighed him again this morning and he has gained another gram, so he's growing!!! Today's weight was 18g. Just like a human baby, he eats, sleeps and shits... But he very much likes to be stroked when he is awake.
This is so nice!!!!!

Animal Rescue

2009-02-25T02:07:00.000-08:00

Me and Leona very often watch the Animal Rescue on DStv, but never thought that we would have our own rescue mission! But now we're in it... I had to feed Freddie at 3am, when he signaled that he was hungry! Fortunately I could easily fall asleep after mission completed.
I weighed him again this morning: 17g, that's a weight increase of 6.25% since yesterday.
His progress is now followed by a lot of people, both locally and overseas.

Freddie is alive!

2009-02-24T00:57:00.001-08:00

Since our little baby squirrel survived the night we have given him a name: Freddie.
He is very lively and tells us when he's hungry. Today I weighed him: 16g. To our big joy he has also let something come out at the back end! All systems running...
In the formula I wrote "salt" but it should be sugar.

A New Baby...

2009-02-23T06:29:00.001-08:00

Yesterday our neighbors found two baby squirrels in their garden. One of them died during last night, but we took care of the other one this morning. After a phone call to the vet, we got a recipe for a milk formula, with milk, egg yolk, salt and water. It's a little boy. His eyes are not open yet, but he is quite lively! We feed him every 30 minutes. When he lies in a box with a "water bottle" to keep him warm, he squeaks, but now I have him in my breast pocket of my shirt, and he seems to be happy again. But I must stroke him a bit every now and then to keep him real happy.

Hopefully he will survive....

Another Black Mamba Post

2009-02-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

Don't get the impression that I'm obsessed with Black Mambas... It's rather a matter of fascination!
Almost a year ago when I was less than 2 meters from the Black Mamba in our garden I realize that I was very close to certain death. I have seen the Black Mamba after that, but then in the protection of my car.
The Black Mamba is definitely one of the world most dangerous snakes, but it is not the snake that kills the highest number of people. In Southern Africa the Mozambican Spitting Cobra (which we have had four times in our garden) kills many more humans. And the snake that kills even more people in the whole continent is the Puff Adder (which we have only encountered once in our garden)
The guy featured in this article, Carl Lötter, I have known for almost 8 years. The first time I met him he caught a Twig Snake (which is VERY deadly, but seldom attacking humans) in our garden.

Monkey Gland Sauce

2009-01-22T05:33:00.000-08:00

South Africans love to have a braai... In other countries it's known as a Barbeque or "Grilla".
The meat is usually beef, lamb chops, chicken or pork slices. It is served with "pap" which is a more or less stiff porridge made from ground maize, and shiba, which is a tomato based sauce.
But there are usually other sauces on the table and one of the most popular is the Monkey Gland Sauce! It may sound disgusting, but is VERY nice... Try it, I'm sure you'll like, especially with a nice rump steak!

Ingredients

* 1 large onion, finely chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, chopped and crushed
* 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
* 3-4 tablespoons oil
* 1/2 cup chutney (fruity)
* 1/2 cup tomato puree
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 2 tablespoons mild prepared mustard
* 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
* 3 tablespoons ketchup
* 5 tablespoons port wine or muscadel wine
* 1/3 cup chicken broth (chicken stock or meat stock)
* 2 tablespoons red wine
* salt
* black pepper

Directions

1.
Fry the onions, garlic and ginger in the oil until the onions are translucent.
2.
Add the rest of the ingredients and let cook over fairly high heat for about 7 - 10 minutes, stirring often.
3.
Taste for seasoning: you might want to add 1/2 teaspoon sugar, enough salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
4.
Can be served hot or cold with any roasted or grilled beef.
5.
The sauce will last 2 weeks in the fridge and can be frozen.

Some Thoughts after 2008 (3)

2009-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

3 -- The Blue Light motorcade scandals

The flashing blue lights on cars is in most countries used only on emergency vehicles, and then only when absolutely needed, and not in a way that could cause dangers for other vehicles. In South Africa it is also used for VIP's transport, usually in the fast lane and at speeds far above the speed limits! There has been a number of incidents, but one happened a few months ago, that is really scandalous!

A car travelling from Pietermaritsburg towards Durban Was shot at, because the driver of the vehicle didn't give way immediately, which was impossible at that moment because a big truck was in the other lane. When he did give way a VIP guard shot two rounds, one of which made one of his front tyres flat. He lost controll of his car an collided with another car coming from the opposite direction. 8 people injured...

The VIP car didn't even have a VIP inside... They were speeding because they were a bit late to pick up the MEC (Social Welfare). This is worse than the Old Wild West!

And at the beginning of 2009 the President's modorcade was involved in another incident near Johannesburg. A guy was shot in his arm by a VIP guard. There happened to be a TV-crew from SABC at the scene. Their footage was confiscated... It has now been handed back to SABC and the case is under investigation.

Some thoughts after 2008 (2)

2009-01-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

2 -- The political turmoil in South Africa

The ANC has been the majority party in South Africa for more than a decade. There are at least a dozen opposition parties, most of them only having a few hundred thousand votes in the last elections. Only DA (Democratic Alliance) got more than a million votes. At the end of 2007 the ANC held a convention in Polokwane where they elected Jacob Zuma as president of the ANC, which actually meant that the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, didn't have the support of his party anymore. In September 2008 he was removed from his office by ANC, but Jacob Zuma couldn't step in as the country's President, since he is not a Member of the Parliament. There is a strong part of ANC wanting mr Zuma as the next President of SA, to the extent that Julius Malema, head of the ANCYL (ANC Youth League), publicly stated that he "will kill for Zuma". I think very many people were alarmed by that, and also by the fact that Zuma didn't reproach Malema for that statement.

Not long after mr Mbeki stepped down many of his former high-rank supporters resigned from their positions and started a new party: COPE, Congress of the People. I think that is a big step towards a real democracy in this country. During the last few months many hundreds of top-level people have resigned and joined COPE to the dismay of ANC.

Elections will probably be in April this year and it will be a thriller!!!

And on top of that, the SCA (Supreme Court of Appeal) overturned a lower court's decision to stop the legal proceedings against Jacob Zuma for corruption, fraud, raketeering and money-laundring. Zuma and his legal team have been busy for several years with legal technicalities and appeals to save him from having go to court. But now it seems as if he will finally have to. According to the Common Law, everybody is innocent until a court of law has pronounced him guilty. But why not rather go to court and let the court and clear your name if you are innocent?

Some thoughts after 2008

2009-01-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

There are a few things that I will rember from 2008:

1) Discovering the power of GPS and using it for Geocaching
2) The political turmoil in South Africa
3) The "Blue Light" motorcade scandals

1 -- The power and pleasure of GPS
I gave myself a Garmin Nuvi 200 as a Christmas gift in 2007, but really understood its capcity in mid-January 2008 when we went to Johannesburg for an Elton John consert. Joburg is a 6 million city with very heavy traffic. Our destination was in Randburg, west of Joburg. We were on the eastern side of Joburg when a terrible thunderstorm with extremely heavy rain hit us. Visibility was less than 25 meters. You have to have your eyes fixed on the rear lights of the car in front of you, so you have no chance to look for road-signs. But "Sally" was giving us voice directions, and we arrived at the B&B without any problems.
In June I bought a Garmin Garmap 60CSx which is a handheld GPSr suitable for hiking and other activities (not just for driving directions). It had an icon for Geocaching in the dispkay, so I Googled Geocaching, and found out about this wonderful activity! When doing some work in Sweden during July-August I found my first 18 caches, and when back in South Africa started serious Geocaching.
In November I had a problem with the 60CSx... My PC and Laptop couldn't "see" it. I felt a bit desperate about that, but quickly found a solution: I bought the newest Garmin device, the Oregon 300. It is also a handheld GPSr (but of course with a sucction cup mount for the car). The Oregon 300 is designed for "paperless" Geocaching. Wonderful gadget!!!

To be continued

Christmas in Tropical Heat

2008-12-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

I will soon experience my 9th Christmas in South Africa and will try to give you some ideas about how it is.

My definition of the important attributes for a Swedish Christmas:

Snow, cold and darkness except for all the candlelights
The smell och the Christmas tree and the acrid smell of burning "tomtebloss"
Disney's Christmas program on TV
The owen-roasted ham and "dopp-i-grytan" with M:s potato sallad
"Inlagd sill" and "flätbröd"
Pickled ox tongue

I have here just two of the items: darkness (at least after 8pm) and the pickled tongue. I could of course bake the "flätbröd" if I had the recipe... All the rest is impossible to get here!
The ham is available as Gammon, but then it is smoked, probably as a heritage from the English and Dutch sailing around the Cape, as the smoked ham keeps longer than just the cured ham.
The spruce we used for a Christmas tree is simply nowhere to be found.
My first Christmas here, in 2000, I made a turkey. But not in the oven, but on a charcoal Weber. Quite an adventure, but it was successful.
Another big difference is that Christmas here is just 25 December.

I'm not sure what we will have for Christmas this year... Perhaps just salads and cold meat like smoked ham, salami and pastrami. The heavy swedish Christmas food, like roasted porkbelly and rice porridge is simply not the right food to have when it's 30-35 degrees warm!

We will most certainly have some nice home baked bread. I bake a lot of bread here. If I get the recipe we might have "flätbröd"!

In summary: it is quite difficult to have the traditional Swedish Christmas feeling...
I will post some pictures during or after Christmas.

Fat and funny...

2008-10-30T00:09:00.000-07:00

For a long time I have been wondering if the political leaders of this country are leaders because they are fat, or if they are fat because they are leaders. What happened on live TV a few days ago and the newspaper comments below makes the question even more interesting!

Watch the video clip first, then read the newspaper clip!

Geocaching News

2008-10-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

During the last two weeks I have been quite busy with geocaching... The last weekend in September we participated in a Geocaching Event: The Gorgeous Gorge. Found 10 caches that day, and met a lot of nice people, and of course a nice braai in the evening!
Last Friday I was out the whole day with Fish Eagle and his wife. Found 11 caches in one day, one of them my 2nd FTF (first to find).

An archeological site

A cheese factory in the middle of nowhere, but they really know how to make nice cheese!

Day before yesterday I was out with Gerrit, my brother-in-law. We went to Barberton where I hid my first cache, and found 6 that day. It involved some off-road driving.

A cold beer is very nice in the hot weather!

The jacaranda trees blossoming in Barberton.

Today I hid my 2nd cache in the Nelspruit Nature Reserve. Out dogs loved the outing!
There will be more!

Kaapsehoop

2008-09-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a nice walk at Kaapsehoop together with Fish Eagle (Andy and Lindy) and found four Geocaches. In the Geocaching world, Fish Eagle is the "Emperor" of Africa, as he is the Cache Reviewer for Groundspeak for the whole continent of Africa!

The weather was excellent, and we finsihed the day with some nice pancakes at the Pan&Koek.

Back from the KNP

2008-09-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Back home after a 4 day trip in the KNP. The temperature dropped from lower 40's to +17 over-night. And today also some rain which is very welcome.
I saw two species of antilope that I haven't seen before: Nyala and Sable antilope!
Pictures of them are published on www.webshots.com.
http://travel.webshots.com/album/560986454EnJrWA
The new pictures are at the end of that album.

Another hot day...

2008-09-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm still in the KNP. Did see a few lions and of course the usual menagerie... Only new animalon my list was a few nyala close to the road. Beautiful antilope! Found a lot of Geocaches today! Great fun!

In the KNP

2008-09-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

After two days in extremely hot weather for this time of year(+43 yesterday and a dew degrees less today) I have found 10 Geocaches, and seen a lot of animals. Met some nice people along the route. I'm now in Skukuza Camp. Tomorrow I'll make a tour in the southern part of KNP. No pics processed so far, but they will come up in a few days.

A New Hobby

2008-09-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

During the last 4 weeks I have learnt about Geocaching. There was obviously a feature on swedish television about that in Packat&Klart 2 years ago, but I didn't see that program. I got to know it when I bought my hand-held GPSr, a Garmin 60CSx. There are about 650.000 caches hidden around the world, and they are listed on www.geocaching.com . I started in Leksand and found 18 caches, some of them with great help from Plano.
Now in South Africa I have found 6 more caches during the first week! Tomorrow I'm going to the Kruger Park again, and geocaching will add another dimension of the time spent in the park. I will be there for 4 days, hoping to see a lot of nice animals, and possibly discovering a few caches.

Finally Home Again!!!

2008-08-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

Long time no blogging...
After some time overseas, I'm finally home again. During my weeks abroad I did enjoy my 10th anniversary as a cruising driver at Classic Car Week in Rättvik. I posted some 2 dozen new pics at Webshots http://rides.webshots.com/album/560898566bZfgxh

This album right now had a 6.500+ views! 2nd most popular of my albums at Webshots.com.
The total number of views is now 60.000+.
Check it out at http://community.webshots.com/user/tommy_javerfalk

At Paris CDG airport there was a suspected bomb threat, and the police and some military guys cleared the place in a few minutes. It was a small black bag that someone had forgotten, containing no bomb, so everything was back to normal after about 15 minutes! But it was a bit scary anyway...

About an hour later when I went through security before boarding to Johannesburg, my carry on luggage raised suspicions... as always! I had to unpack it, taking away all electronic stuff like an external Hard Disk, a GPSr etc. etc. But it came out from the X-ray machine and the security was not happy about it...

So I had to unpack it again... Finally they asked me if I kept a scissors in the bag, and then I remembered that I put a set of surgical instruments (scissors, clamps, surgical knife handles without a blade). But fortunately my stethoscope was also there, so they asked me if I am a medical doctor. They wanted me to show proof of that, which I couldn't find. Thought it was in the big suitcase. But luckily they let my instruments through anyway, which I think was quite exceptional! They probably thought that a person planning to high-jack an airplane wouldn't have a stethoscope!

No pictures this time, but there will be more pictures soon!

Concert in the Botanical Garden of Nelspruit

2008-06-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today, the last day of the 2008 Innibos Festival in Nelspruit, we enjoyed
a concert in the Botanical Gardens. It must have been at least a couple of
thousands in the audience, most of them with nice food and drink!
Me and Leona were there with out best friends, Annelie and Robert, and
some relatives of theirs.

This actually is in Mid-winter here!!!

Many different performing artists, but my favourites are the Soweto String Quartet

We had a lot of nice food and drink that wse enjoyed during the 2 hr concert...

Adele and the famous opera singer Kevin Leo

Some Prado Adventures

2008-06-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

A week ago I was in the Kruger National Park for three days, enjoying the comfort of my new car.
Especially the 2nd day was quite fantastic, seeing all the Big 5 in one single day, and not just one of each: 2 leopards, 30+ lions, 3 rhinos, and lots and lots of elephants and buffalos.

Today me and Leona went to the Barberton Nature Reserve for some off-road exercise.
We actually covered all the tracks in about 4 hours. Great experience!

To drive off-road in the bushveld gives me a strong feeling of the REAL Africa!

Long time no posts...

2008-06-05T01:49:00.000-07:00

Back in South Africa after 6 weeks of work in Sweden. I actually came home 2½ week ago, but has been quite busy. Among other things, I bought a new car a week ago.

It's a lovely car, a Toyota Prado, with a 4L V6 petrol engine, delivering 179kW= 240 hp. 4x4 with a LOT of extras built in.

I read a lot of newspapers, and the clip below is one of the best letters to the editor I've seen in a long time.

Another Snake... This time IN our house!

2008-03-24T14:11:00.001-07:00

Tonight we had another snake, this time in Leona's study. We called Hi-Tech, our amazing security company and within a few minutes they came and caught the snake!
This time it was a quite harmless Brown House Snake. But it was nice to have it taken away!

An Amazing Video from the KNP

2008-03-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

Only today did I find this marvelous video clip on YouTube. Hopefully I will experience something like that for real...

Back from the Kruger National Park

2008-03-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a 6 day trip in the KNP. I went all the way up to Shingwedzi Camp. The total mileage was 1300km, and I took 1300 pictures! The best have been uploaded to http://community.webshots.com/user/tommy_javerfalk
The previous pictures in that album are at the top, so one has to go down a few pages to see the new ones.

More about Black Mambas...

2008-03-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

We didn't see "our" Black Mamba again. But it might still be there...
This newspaper article can be an indication of how bad they are.

VerveEarth

2008-03-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

I was invited to VerveEarth. Seems to be a very nice idea. So here I am now!

Black Mamba

2008-02-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we saw a Black Mamba in a corner outside our house. We called for help, but the snake escaped up the wall and under the tiles of the roof... So, now we have a Black Mamba "under our roof" litterally speaking! The snake expert told us it has probably been there for several months, but they are so shy that we haven't seen it until now.
The snake catching will continue tomorrow morning.

A Nice Birthday!

2008-02-18T05:17:00.001-08:00

We spent the weekend in the KNP.
First night at Lower Sabie Rest Camp, the second night at Satara.

We had a very relaxing time, enjoying the beautiful camps, but also the traveling through the park, even though it was VERY hot!

Photographically it was very successful, even though we did not see any "big cats".

This Klipspringer was like a statue!

A Lilac Breasted Roller

Watch my eyelashes!

A Grey Heron at the Sunset Dam close to Lower Sabie

Hippo at the Sunset Dam

Electrical power disaster, Corruption etc.

2008-01-31T11:33:00.000-08:00

For the last few weeks South Africa has had a lot of power outages, called "load shedding". The power is shut down 2-3 hrs/day, affecting industies, domestic users and traffic control (the so called robots, a.k.a. traffic lights, are out). The problem is caused by a governmental failure in planning 10 years ago, but no-one wants to take responsiblity for the catastrophic situation.

This is now added to the other major problems of this country: corruption, crime, HIV/AIDS, unemployment and poverty.

But it's still a nice and beautiful country, but where will it end... Like Zimbabwe?

A Weekend in Johannesburg

2008-01-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

We just now came home from a very nice weekend in Johannesburg. We had found a nice place to stay in Randburg, which is one of the nicest parts of Johannesburg. It was a self-catering cottage, with a loft bedroom. Beautiful rustic interior decoration, and a nice garden.

The main reason for the trip was a concert with Elton John at the Coca Cola Dome, just a few kilometers from where we stayed. The Dome is the biggest of its kind in Africa, and was really PACKED! The concert was VERY nice, especially when he played his "classics", like Yellow Brick Road, Daniel, Your Song and the theme from the Lion King!

We also went to the Oriental Plaza. I was a bit disappointed because I had expected some chinese shops, but it was only Indian-Pakistani shops, selling clothes, materials and shoes!

We did a lot of shopping at different Malls! We also went to Hartebeespoort Dam which is one of the biggest dams in South Africa.

I think the Dam Wall has a beauty of its own. Almost like old bridges in Europe...

We also went to the Cameleon Village, at the northenmost tip of the dam. There was the biggest curio shop I have ever seen!

It's very nice to be home again!!!

A Reptile Encounter

2008-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Tonight around 7pm our lovely Boerboel bitch Diva took a stand at a cornwer of our house, and barked a hell of a lot. She never barks like that for no reason... With a flash-lite we discovered a darkish snake. Could be a Black Mamba, but more likely a Mozambiquean Spitting Cobra.

We called the "Reptile Recovery" guys, and they arrived within 5 minutes, and quickly determined that it was a Cobra, not a Mamba.
We followed the capture of the snake, and how wonderfully these guys handled the whole situation!

One has to know that the Mozambiquean Spitting Cobra is responsible for more deaths from snake bite than any other snake in Southern Africa, even though the Black Mamba is much more feared because of its aggressivity. (But the snake killing most people in the whole continent of Africa is actually the Puff Adder, which is not aggressive at all, unless you "step" on it. We had one of those at our front door less than two years ago.)

Less than 10 years ago, I would have shit my pants in a situation like this, but you get used to it. And the best way to control your emergency reactions is to know more about snakes, which is what I have done.
But it still was a kind of an adventure!
The 4th Moz Spitting Cobra in or around our house...

A Beautiful Vista Point

2007-12-31T03:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to Kaapsehoop, about 28km south-west of Nelspruit. There is a nice trail through beautiful rock formations, up to a vista point with a fantastic view!

by tommy_javerfalk Many more pictures at this link!

Some VERY thirsty dogs!

Racism

2007-12-23T02:21:00.000-08:00

Very interesting reading!!
Perhaps we should get rid of the term 'racist' all together and just
live our lives...

Michael Richards better known as Kramer from tv's Seinfeld. This
was his defense speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy
act. He makes some very interesting points.
Proud To Be White

Someone finally said it.
How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans,
Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction.
You Call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,'
'Whitey,' 'Caveman' ... and that's OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head,
Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink ...
You call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you,
so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You have the United Negro College Fund.
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah.
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP.
You have BET.
If we had WET (White Entertainment Television) we'd be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month , we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance'
OUR lives we'd be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber
of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.
Wonder who pays for that?
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American
pageant, but any colour can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students
scholarships you know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges
in the US. Yet if there were 'White colleges' THAT
would be a racist college.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were
marching for your race and rights. If we marched for
our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and
you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce
our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a
white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats
up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a
threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud.
But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists?

There is nothing improper about this e-mail.
Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on.

Joke of the Day

2007-12-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

A Zulu man, a Sotho man and a Venda man were all talking about their

teenage daughters.

The Venda says, "A waz loooking for samethink in my daughta's room the

ada day and found a packet of cigarettes. I was really shocked, no! I

didant even know she smoked...

The Sotho man says, "That's naathing. I was loooking for somethink in my

daughta's room the ada day when I came across a full bottal of Vodka.

I was really shocked, yes. I didant even know she drank...houw"

Then the Zulu man speaks up. "Both of you guys've got nathing to worry

about. I was loooking for samethink in my daughta's room The ada day and

I found a packet of condoms.

"Seriaaasss?"

"Seriaaasss!"

"I was really shocked, ne... I didant even know she had the penas."

Eish...

Crime and Politics

2007-12-10T00:58:00.000-08:00

The crime situation in South Africa is well known all around the world, and it seems as if the government is unable to do very much to improve it. Perhaps one reason is that too much energy is used for the internal problems of ANC. And mr Mbeki has possibly been too much involved with "silent diplomacy" in other african countries, causing him to be a bit invisible in his own country.
The populistic candidate for chairmanship of ANC, and of course with ambition to become the next president of South Africa, has been suspected of severe corruption, also admitted to have had "unsafe sex" with a HIV-positive female has explained that he took a shower afterwards! What a brilliant solution to one of the most serious problems of this country!
The political opion of the "maybe" new president, combined with the advise from the present Minister of Health, a.k.a. Mrs Beetroot, is absolutely unbelievable!

Joke of the Month

2007-12-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Trevor Manual were flying together in the
President's jet. Thabo Mbeki suddenly said: "You know what. I can throw R500 out of this window and make someone happy. Jacob Zuma said: "I can throw 5 X R100 notes out of the window and I till make 5 people unbelievably happy. Trevor Manual said : "I can throw 10 X R50 notes out of the window
and make 10 people very very happy.

The one pilot looks at the other and says: "Listen to those 3
showoffs at the back...I can throw all 3 of them out of the window and
I will make the whole country happy.

A summer clip...

2007-11-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

We haven't had any snakes in our garden for more than 1 year, but we are always weary of the risks. You learn to live with it...

Some Clips...

2007-11-30T07:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder who is responsible for a criminal act... The victim or the criminal?

Some Interesting Newspaper Clips

2007-11-28T01:44:00.000-08:00

I have decided to put some interesting newspaper clips in my blog.

These two are really exciting since they are written by black journalists!

Click on the clip to download a readable picture!

In the second clip, the word "vetgat" is Afrikaans for "fat-ass"!

The New Stoep/Lapa (6)

2007-10-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

At last...
Finished on 19 October, except for some very small details. And prepared for the "official" opening party. The furniture was delivered on Thursday afternoon, and the Magnum bottle of "champagne" is being chilled.

Ockie who has 40 years of experience building lapas and wooden decks!
Me, Robert and Raymond who is the contractor.

The New Stoep/Lapa (5)

2007-10-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

The roof is getting finished, with a layer of insulation that reduces the heat from the sun by 65%.
In a few days everything will be completed.

The New Stoep/Lapa (4)

2007-10-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

Building is progressing almost as planned. The rain showers the last few days have delayed the building of the roof, but today it started!

It will only be a few more days until everything is finished. It will be a great Lapa!

The New Stoep/Lapa (3)

2007-10-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

The work goes on...
We now have a finished deck, work on the railing is in progress, and the timber structure for the roof is being erected. It will be a marvellous place! I already bought the gas braai (barbeque) that we will use. The temperature is +29 today, so it will be wonderful to have a shady place outside, especially during the hot summer months of December through February.

The New Stoep/Lapa (2)

2007-10-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

Work is progressing! We now have a deck to sit on even though it's not finished yet. The railing is now coming up. It will be great!!!

To be continued....

The New Stoep/Lapa

2007-09-22T10:40:00.001-07:00

This is how "the Old" stoep was looking... A bit too small and no roof, just the umbrella.
But now we are in the process of extending it to 30+ sqm, and with thatched roof as well.

It will be built with a lot of nice timber, all treated to resist the heat and humidity.
The building has now been going on for 4 days. Next week we will have the decking in place,
and then the roof will be built, and finally the rails. All made of wood.

To be continued....

The Orchid Show

2007-09-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

Back in South Africa...
A week ago there was an Orchid Show at one of the nurseries. I took some pictures that look quite nice! And several weeks ago, while still in Sweden, I took some flower close-ups that I want to show as well. Enjoy!

Classic Car Week

2007-08-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog...

Back in Sweden for a few weeks during what is supposed to be summer... Cold, raining and often quite windy. Not much of a summer for me!

BUT!!! One of the absolute highlights of the swedish summer in Dalarna for the last 8 years has been the Classic Car Week in Rättvik, and so also this year! On the Tuesday evening of CCW the cruising is the most spectacular event, with around 1000 veteran cars driving through the small town of Rättvik. I have been driving my buddy's Chevrolet El Camino '74 for 6 cruising runs, and one year his brother Ford Mustang from the late 60's.

But this year my buddy Göran had a "new" car: an Oldsmobile Cutlass from 1975. It's a "big block" car, with an engine delivering about 350 horsepowers!!! Automatic... lots of sheet metal, nice emerald green!!! Unfortunately I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I will post that later.

Below are some cars from the cruise...

Bel Air... similar but not exactly the same... The first one has a glass roof-top...

A Cadillac 1941... It sure needs some body paint work, but it was one of the real old-timers of the show!!!

Not all veteran cars are bulky!!! A real Mini...

Some of the cars are "homebrews"... I'm not sure about the origin of this one...

Another homebrew... with beautiful paintwork!!!!

Another nice paint job...

Rättvik is a small town, but there should really be enough space for everyone... not having to park your cars this tightly....

Innibos Festival

2007-07-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

Last Week of June -- Innibos Festival

For a few years now, the last week of June has featured the Innibos Festival. An Art show, and also a lot of performing artists, and a very nice variety of "flee market" stalls.

The top musical show was on Saturday evening, with the British band "Smokie" as the top group. Who doesn't remember "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Living Next Door to Alice"....

The size of the festival has grown every year, and it is attracting more and more visitors.

These pictures are taken the first day, and at daytime.... On Saturday evening it was really PACKED!!! Almost impossible to move in the crowd...

But if one eats and drinks... there has to be some "Baja-Majas".... Lots of them!!!!

Today, on Sunday we relaxed a bit at the Montana Nursery.

More Pictures uploaded...

2007-06-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on pictures taken at the Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, at the new year of 2002. They have been uploaded to Webshots.com. Some of the most beautiful mountains I have seen, and I have seen a LOT of beautiful mountain ranges.

After that I worked on pictures taken when we had a short vacation at the Barra Lodge, Inhambane, Mozambique. Probably the nicest beach that I have ever enjoyed, and I have a LOT of experience of nice beaches all around the world! Chrystal clear warm water, almost white sand, and no crowds...

http://community.webshots.com/user/tommy_javerfalk?vhost=community

They are also available in a different format on my home page

www.swesar.com

Lots of Pictures...

2007-06-25T07:35:00.001-07:00

The last few days I've been doing a lot of work with pictures that are in my archive on the PC. Some have been published on Webshots.com and others on my own website.

I found a nice picture on my daughter's blog, and played around a bit with it in Photoshop. Always a lot of fun!

My latest album on Webshots features a lot of flowers in our garden. The second latest is more KNP pictures.

My plans are to also make an album with pics from Inhamane in Mozambique, and from The Drakensberg in KZN.

Enjoy! All comments are welcome...

Kruger National Park

2007-06-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

This should be a link to some more pictures from the Game Reserve that I uploaded to Webshots.com
The slideshow is not that great, rather use the link below to the original site.

Kruger National Park #2

Special Request...

2007-06-18T04:21:00.001-07:00

The most cuddly dog in the world... Rufus!!!

I took this picture today specially for my daughter Anneli, who fell in love with Rufus while visiting me in South Africa a year ago.

Flower Close-ups

2007-06-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Some more close-up pictures of flowers in our garden...

Our hibiscuses blossom almost around the year. We have seven hibiscuses of different color. Two of them double, the rest single flower.

Double-click for Hi-Res...

Computer Art Flowers...

2007-06-17T05:46:00.001-07:00

Flowers have become a very important part of my life. I was never really interested in gardening, perhaps because of the difficulties with the climate in Sweden. But it's different here! Lots of flowering plants, even trees, although it's winter. I like to take photographs of nice flowers, and sometimes I play around a bit with the pics on my PC. This first pic is an aloe that many people have in their gardens, but it also grows wild.

When running the picture trough Photoshop, using some filters and tricks, the result can be like this:

This picture is part of a photograph of a Hibiscus flower in our garden. I just deleted everything but the petals, and manipulated the colors a bit.

This Strelitzia picture was also taken in our garden. It is really a photograph, but it has been heavily manipulated to make it look as a water color painting. I think I succeeded quite well with this one!
All the pictures are clickable to view them in hi-resolution.

Kruger National Park

2007-06-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

We stayed at Skukuza Camp for two nights. Skukuza is situated at the Sabie River and is the main camp of the KNP. It also is the center for the research and the vet services.
The Sabie River in the morning sunlight.

Almost the same location at sunset.

One of the nicest spottings were these 21 elephants at a water hole. The baby elephants are so cute! They drank a lot of water, but when the matriarch had enough, they all followed her, and in a couple of minutes all of them were gone.
We saw just two lions, a male and a lioness. I can not publish the lion pornography pictures without their consent!

Zebras have always been one of my favourite animals in photographs. Three nice butts, so similar, but yet unique!

One of the most spectacular views we saw was a herd of 1000+ zebras. Zebras just about 20 meters from us, and all the way to the horizon!

My favourite antelope is the Kudu. This bull in a nice setting was really posing for us!

This Iguana was more than 1½ meter long!

Kruger National Park

2007-06-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today we came back from a trip to the Kruger National Park, or "the Game Reserve" as we usually call it. Staying for two nights at Skukuza Camp, we had a lovely time. The ADSL has been quite bad during the afternoon, so I will probably have to make some more posts tomorrow.
As usual we saw a lot of nice animals, and I used my new super-nice Canon lens!

Hiking in winter

2007-06-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

The Uitsoek Hiking Trail Camp.

We are back from a weekend (2 nights) hike in the escarpment. It's a wonderful experience to hike in South Africa in the winter. Quite cold during the night, but one or two hours after sunrise it's very nice and warm, this weekend around +25!

The hike we made in March happened to coincide with the warmest day at that time of year in this part of Africa in many decades, with mid-day temperature of +40! But this time it was just VERY nice...

We left on Friday afternoon, and arrived at the Uitsoek Hut, about 50 km from Nelspruit, just before sunset. We had a very nice braai in the evening, that Garrit, my brother-in-law, and Marie arranged with all their expertise.

After a good night's sleep in our sleeping bags in the hut we were ready for the first hike on Saturday morning. I took some nice pictures of the view from the hut.
The trail is about 11 km long, and it has a rating of "Moderately Difficult", which is probably about 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. Our destination was the Bakkraans Waterfall. The whole hike took about 6 hours! It's definately not as walking on a sidewalk in town... You have to watch every step. But there is also very much to look at... nice flowers, beautiful trees, and even some monkeys...

In the evening we had a nice lamb curry that Robert and Annelie cooked on an open fire. Everybody went to bed quite early and slept for 10-11 hours!
In the morning it was time for a big breakfast that me and Leona cooked. Lots of stirfried veggies, and bacon and scrambled eggs.
After that it was time for the second trail. And then return to Nelspruit... A fantastic weekend! All the nice flowers... not a single mosquito... not even a snake... just one spider, a couple of monkeys and lots of nice birds!
To hike here in winter... wearing nothing but shorts and a short-sleeved shirt/T-shirt, is really wonderful.

Protea flowers

Aloe flowers