Mosselbay - the Botlierskop Private Game Reserve on the Little Brak River

South Africa/ Day 5 - 26.8.2016

The night was good on the heating blanket.

During our morning coffee on the terrace, we had visits from many different colorful birds and - I believe - Kudus. There were two Kudu boys fighting and several girls and kids chewing away. We found it all wonderfully exciting.

For breakfast, there was tomato jam. Interesting, but I wouldn't have recognized it. The sun was shining, we had a wonderful view from our breakfast table in the lodge of the wonderful nature of the resort.

The horseback riding after breakfast was so beautiful and relaxed that we regretted only booking one hour instead of two. JC was a bit worried beforehand because he had never been on a horse before and because he felt sorry for his horse. His horse was named Cassedy and was as calm as could be. Our guide explained to us how to control the horses through the terrain, and once again our Saudi Arabian couple joined us. We rode through the grounds, past rhinos, zebras, and antelopes - we felt very close to the animals and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

The rest of the day we walked through the camp, watched animals, chatted with a South African couple who were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary here, lay on the terrace, read, and enticed monkeys and birds to come near us with apples. The monkeys are cheeky, you can't leave the tents open because they would go in and wreck everything, but when you're there, they're scared and don't dare to grab a piece of apple from the railing. They just look over from the tree or down from the tent roof. Well, one of them did dare and stuffed the apple pieces into its mouth as if it was about to starve.

By the way, we had to find out that wild ducks worldwide suffer from attention deficit disorder, which they must prove twice a day by senseless and loud shouting.

What also surprised me was that South Africans waste so much electricity. The heating blankets stay on all day, the air conditioning blasts at 30 degrees!!! In the tent! Open! Well, as an East German, I know that. When I visited my aunt in West Berlin for the first time in the late 80s and she asked me not to use so much hot water in the bathtub, I was also surprised. I didn't know that. But by now I'm so assimilated that I reflexively want to save electricity.

Before dinner, I treated myself to an Amarula on ice, JC had an Amstel beer, and together we watched the sunset over the resort. And without a jacket! Our four weather apps confirmed our feeling of a temperature increase and promised 30 degrees for the following day.

After the 5-course meal, in which I tried several antelopes again and found springbok to be the most delicious, we drummed by the fire and this time learned the 5 to 3, 5 to 4, and 5 to 5 rhythms until our hands hurt.

Meanwhile, the wife of the South African couple who had been married for 10 years told me about their farm, where they live in a large family, breed sheep for meat, and antelopes for hunters. Unfortunately, she lamented, the income is very low due to the dry summers/winters because they have to buy feed and the jackals kill so many sheep. They are not allowed to set traps because of environmental regulations. She also told me their story of how they met (her husband is the brother of her doctor, who set them up), about their two children (who were staying with their grandparents during our drumming... because of the wedding anniversary and all) and about her job in a government agency. She also informed me that about 10 different languages are spoken in South Africa and English is the second language that almost everyone learns in school. However, her children, although only Afrikaans is spoken at home, can already speak a little English because radio and television are almost exclusively in English.

We enjoyed our last evening in this amazingly beautiful resort.

See you soon...
Tatjana

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