Where have the last 4 weeks gone? Campfire has been a totally different experience to Livingstone and I've met some more truly unique and amazing people.
Suegnette, Letitia, Adele and Bea are blessed to live and work in such a wonderful environment.
Thanks to them and Brass, Mark, Rita and her girls, Tanya, Tracey Matt and Rick who have all made my time with them such a memorable experience. Must not forget Sash, Bushveld and little lola (the dogs) who have sat patiently at the food table waiting for a mere scrap - same as Trigger and Buster really. But I won't miss the vervet monkeys who got more and more cheeky about taking food as you opened a cupboard door.
I'll miss Maria's singing and Bushveld chasing the gardeners at 7am
I think I'll be removing thorns from my body for several weeks to come. Hopefully one day I'll return to Campfire and check out how successful the work I shared with the other volunteers has made.
Karen/Yas - Yes this is still me - it's quite liberating not having to dress up or put make up and the high heels on. You should try it. I know Yas would love the moments in time
Am now in Joburg for the night and a touch of luxury before I move on to Sri Lanka.
I'll sign out now and will hopefully be touch soon
Love you Ceri and Dave and my Mam and all my family and friends too!!!!
Take Care. Sue xx
Friday, 30 May 2008
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Time running out
People of Campfire
Thought I’d put a few lines down about the characters of Campfire.
Suegnette is the mum and has been away on holiday for the last 2 weeks. She is an amazing cook and tonight she made a beef stew and a potato and bean stew with rice and vegetable fritters, followed by apple pie and custard. It was superb. She’s a remarkable lady who’s been trying to hold things together since Tinus died last year.
Adele and Letitia are the 2 daughters and have both been married and have 2 children but now live with their respective partners – Bee and Sam. They have taken over from their dad and as Letitia puts it - She works hard and plays hard.
Maria is the lady who does the cleaning, and washing and she sings all the time – we think she doesn’t even realise she’s doing it. She will be 70 soon and is a real ‘Del-boy’. She’s always having people call to buy ‘things’ from her. She sells anything from cigarettes to air time
Uncle Tinus arrived this week to check that the camp is in good order. He’s of the old school that believes women cannot possibly keep the farm up to date and needs a man to oversee everything. I’ll give him his due though, he had a stroke 2 months ago and is having to cope with having to slow down. He arrived on Sunday and was out on Monday laying concrete on one of the roads. So Rubes there’s a prospective hubby here for you
Tuesday Afternoon with the Reptiles
Didn’t plan on doing this activity but went to the Reptile Park this afternoon and am so glad that I did.
We had a talk about the different types of snakes and their fangs and venom. We were then shown around the park and got the opportunity to:
• Feed some of the lizards
• Hold the bearded dragon lizard
• Held a scorpion and let it walk on my face
• Held a Golden Brown baboon spider which is a very rare one (looks like a tarantula)
• Got close up to a Baum Slung snake which is the most deadly in Africa – one drop of it’s venom can kill 12 people
• Got close to a cobra and puff adder
• Held a small python and then a 15 kg one too.
I’ve put some more photos on skydrive for you to see what I got up to.
Tomorrow I ‘walk with the wild’ so watch this space
Wednesday Morning with the Lions
Up and out by 5.30 today to ‘Walk with the Wild’
We went to a nearby lodge where they have a leopard and lion breeding project. We walked with a lion cub called Achilla and the Labrador dog called Prince who thinks it’s Achilla’s mum. We didn’t see too much game on the walk – only the tame Jackal who hangs around the lodge, and some buffalo but the breakfast we had on our return more than made up for it. There was all kinds of tropical fruit, fresh strawberry muffins, toast porridge, yoghurts and fruit juices followed by bacon and eggs with mushrooms fried with cream plus loads of fresh coffee. I could have stayed there all morning and just ate the muffins.
Afterward we went to see the Leopard and Lion breeding project and saw the lions and their cubs in their natural habitat. We were in the buckie so were able to get up really close and were even lucky enough to see them being fed. Expect more pics on the skydrive.
Only one and half days left here so soon I’ll be off to Sri Lanka for the next leg of the journey. I will still try and keep the blog up to date but may not be able to upload photos as often.
Hopefully I’ll get to do one more blog before I leave but if not I will as soon as I can.
Bye for now - Sue.xx
Thought I’d put a few lines down about the characters of Campfire.
Suegnette is the mum and has been away on holiday for the last 2 weeks. She is an amazing cook and tonight she made a beef stew and a potato and bean stew with rice and vegetable fritters, followed by apple pie and custard. It was superb. She’s a remarkable lady who’s been trying to hold things together since Tinus died last year.
Adele and Letitia are the 2 daughters and have both been married and have 2 children but now live with their respective partners – Bee and Sam. They have taken over from their dad and as Letitia puts it - She works hard and plays hard.
Maria is the lady who does the cleaning, and washing and she sings all the time – we think she doesn’t even realise she’s doing it. She will be 70 soon and is a real ‘Del-boy’. She’s always having people call to buy ‘things’ from her. She sells anything from cigarettes to air time
Uncle Tinus arrived this week to check that the camp is in good order. He’s of the old school that believes women cannot possibly keep the farm up to date and needs a man to oversee everything. I’ll give him his due though, he had a stroke 2 months ago and is having to cope with having to slow down. He arrived on Sunday and was out on Monday laying concrete on one of the roads. So Rubes there’s a prospective hubby here for you
Tuesday Afternoon with the Reptiles
Didn’t plan on doing this activity but went to the Reptile Park this afternoon and am so glad that I did.
We had a talk about the different types of snakes and their fangs and venom. We were then shown around the park and got the opportunity to:
• Feed some of the lizards
• Hold the bearded dragon lizard
• Held a scorpion and let it walk on my face
• Held a Golden Brown baboon spider which is a very rare one (looks like a tarantula)
• Got close up to a Baum Slung snake which is the most deadly in Africa – one drop of it’s venom can kill 12 people
• Got close to a cobra and puff adder
• Held a small python and then a 15 kg one too.
I’ve put some more photos on skydrive for you to see what I got up to.
Tomorrow I ‘walk with the wild’ so watch this space
Wednesday Morning with the Lions
Up and out by 5.30 today to ‘Walk with the Wild’
We went to a nearby lodge where they have a leopard and lion breeding project. We walked with a lion cub called Achilla and the Labrador dog called Prince who thinks it’s Achilla’s mum. We didn’t see too much game on the walk – only the tame Jackal who hangs around the lodge, and some buffalo but the breakfast we had on our return more than made up for it. There was all kinds of tropical fruit, fresh strawberry muffins, toast porridge, yoghurts and fruit juices followed by bacon and eggs with mushrooms fried with cream plus loads of fresh coffee. I could have stayed there all morning and just ate the muffins.
Afterward we went to see the Leopard and Lion breeding project and saw the lions and their cubs in their natural habitat. We were in the buckie so were able to get up really close and were even lucky enough to see them being fed. Expect more pics on the skydrive.
Only one and half days left here so soon I’ll be off to Sri Lanka for the next leg of the journey. I will still try and keep the blog up to date but may not be able to upload photos as often.
Hopefully I’ll get to do one more blog before I leave but if not I will as soon as I can.
Bye for now - Sue.xx
Monday, 26 May 2008
Thanks for all the comments
Hi All
Just wanted to say thank you for all your comments (you too Trish - I got yours too. It's great knowing that my blog is being read.
Today we saw over 10 giraffes at the waterhole - I said I wasn't going to take any more pics of giraffes but seeing them drink is amazing - they have to position themselves so carefully and it's when they are at their most vulnerable. We also saw 3 zebras and 3 Kudu too. It's the most we've seen at any one time
Tomorrow I may be going to a reptile course where we can handle snakes and spiders - not convinced myself to go yet - we'll see.
Will write more tomorrow if the internet is still working. Love you. xx
Just wanted to say thank you for all your comments (you too Trish - I got yours too. It's great knowing that my blog is being read.
Today we saw over 10 giraffes at the waterhole - I said I wasn't going to take any more pics of giraffes but seeing them drink is amazing - they have to position themselves so carefully and it's when they are at their most vulnerable. We also saw 3 zebras and 3 Kudu too. It's the most we've seen at any one time
Tomorrow I may be going to a reptile course where we can handle snakes and spiders - not convinced myself to go yet - we'll see.
Will write more tomorrow if the internet is still working. Love you. xx
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