Day 24 - The Visitor

Lockdown Day 24 - For the last few days this grey duiker has been visiting us every morning. With the peace and quietness from the lock down conditions it is awesome to see the animals coming back. Further along the ridge we are getting video reports of jackels in broad daylight reclaiming the veld and more sinister is that leopard spoor have been found.

Black out the Sun

Eish, with the dismal performance of our national rugby team, the Springbucks, against the All Blacks, what more is there to say?

Anyways this Monday seems like I am in cruise mode, not that I have a lot of work, but after last week’s 14 hour days just to get my reports out in a week and a blog over the weekend, this week seems tame. And this week started off with springbucks grazing peacefully near the newly erected solar carport just outside my office while thick black smoke rises from the city, blacking out the sun, as students burn down the universities. Double eish!

Smiling Klipspringer

As usual for the first week of the month, it is hectic. Unmoveable deadlines are looming like a giant tidal wave that is poised to break on my shores. The debris of my personal issues are mixed up in the water and if I am not careful I will get hurt badly. To avoid some of those debris, I had to rush from work across town to Benoni to get a copy of my settlement agreement that is in file because the lawyers wouldn’t accept the copy I gave them only to find the document in file is exactly the same as the one I gave the lawyers down to the court stamp. Only difference was the original on file had the judge’s scribal on it stating that it is Annexure C. Just keep swimming Jerome, just keep going.

Oh well at the end of hump day I shuffled my way to my pick-up, headachy, and a little concerned of all the work that I still have to do by Friday and saw this pair of Klipspringers in the garden. The nearest buck looked up at me and smiled. That is all I needed as things of this world just melted away. Everything will be alright. I now know my name!

As the Deer Pants

The end of this Monday comes as a relief, my work is in. The stress is over, for now. The hidden agenda of the powers that be is still there threating, so much so that it is breaking the moral but all I can do is yield it over to the one who is my strength, my shield.

Leaving exhausted from the last four weeks, I spotted this deer, a duiker drinking from the sprinkler system. At first I took a photo but it needed something more, hence the video. This scene reminded me of YP which was held on Friday evenings and a chorus that we used to sing way back in my youth. Something along the lines of “As a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you”.

My soul is exhausted, and it longs to come to the water. Oh just to lay down at the feet of God.

I see you

Maybe if I stand real still, he won’t see me. Oh darn, he has seen me and now he wants to take some photographs. The privacy in this eco park is not what it used to be.

Yes there I was head down, ploughing through the reports that I have being compiling and I look up and gaze out of my Mogale Business Park office window into the late afternoon winter’s sun. And with a twitch of a Duiker’s whiskers, I saw grey duiker in the under growth.

I see you little one!

Sigh, consider the little bucks, how they don’t worry about what to wear or where their next meal will come from, yet God has even this little creature under its care. Sigh I think it is time to pack up and call it a day.

Slog Break

This week has not being a good one so for with work just merging into one big mess. Oh well it is just one foot in front of the other and aim for that bed-gasm when your head hits that pillow at the end of the day.

To break up the slog, one has to just push the mouse and keyboard to one side, get up, step out of the office, and take a walk on the wild side. Even the Springbuck are relaxing during lunch time. Time to follow their example and soak up the sun, recharging my batteries before heading back inside.

Between the Hedges

The rain has set in and at times the downpours have been horrendous. In the lull of the rain, I took a walk to find something different to photograph for the day other than poor Johnny the Crowned Crane who has been standing in the rain outside my window begging for me to come out and play.

There was water everywhere, duh it has been raining, and in between the hedge rows I found three duiker, two females and this somewhat smaller yet majestic male.

Monday Sleep In

It has been raining gently through the night and who wants to wake up on a Monday morning. Well defiantly not me and the same goes to these two Klipspringers on the lawn in from of my office.

No ways this soft grass is just way too comfortable.

Skinny Klipspringer

What’s the skinny on the Klipspringers? Well we had a breeding pair of Klipspringers here at Mogale Business Park but sadly the male was killed last year after being hit by a car. Luckily before his sad end, he had managed to impregnate the female Klipspringer and a baby was born in April this year which we called JZ due to a VIP visit the very next day.

Last month new klipspringers arrived but were kept in an enclosed boma for acclimatisation. And now they have been set free into the park. So today I saw them exploring around my office, another male and female. They seem a little skittish still and although slightly bigger than our current female, both look a little skinny, don't you think? What the doctor has ordered is time to adjust and of course some fattening up on lush fodder.

Steenbok

I have heard about some steenbokke in the Mogale Business Park but never saw any signs of this solitary buck that I got to a state that this was just a myth, well until today that is.

Yes while out and about on my lunch break, taking in the fresh air and keeping close to the cool shades during the searing mid-day sun, I saw my first MBP Steenbok.

Frozen in my tracks as not spook the little steenbokkie, I slowly reached for my cell phone and took some photos as proof that this buck does exist in the office park. This was sure a fortunate sight, as during the heat of the day, especially this week’s heat wave, small bucks tend to rest under foliage, and being a small buck they would be very elusive in the shade.

Three Babies

Finally I managed to get a photograph of all three baby springbucks in one photo. These three were born just over a week ago and have been rather shy compared to last season’s babies which were springy and bouncing everywhere as baby springbucks tend to do.

They are Watching

Wherever you walk in Mogale Business Park, someone or something is always watching you. Yes they are watching.

This afternoon I was feeling drained and I was starting to micro sleep at my desk. Strange as I am getting enough sleep so I hope I am not coming down with a nasty bug. Energy! I seek energy so I decided the best was to take a walk into the lovely gardens outside my office to get some fresh air into lungs. Breathe!

While strolling, enjoying the beautiful surrounds, some small movement caught my eye. Maybe it was a new baby springbok hiding in the undergrowth as three new springboks have been born this week. But this time something else was watching me. Both this tiny duiker and I were frozen on the spot. Yes not even a meter from me was the smallest duiker I have ever seen, not even 20cm tall. Wow, she was as big as my smallest Italian Greyhound, Jade. Oh I am sure Jade would love to play with this little buck.

Harro Spling Boks

After a disastrous start to the Rugby World Cup tournament by our team, the Springbokke, who lost to Japan’s Cherry Blossoms, it was time to go smell the roses, no sorry the cherry blossoms. But who we trying to kid, as the cherry is dropped and the Japanese team is now called the Brave Blossoms.

Questions abound as the once proud Springbok team becomes the joke of the world. And believe me sushi jokes with a dash of springbucks are aplenty all of a sudden. How can a team ranked third in the world get beaten by a team ranked 13th and who has ever only won one first class game before. Were we ever good enough with defeat after defeat from the hands of lower teams this season? Was the coach Heineke Meyer ever the right coach in the first place?

Oh well we can all scream from the side lines but how can we criticise without wearing their rugby togs. Well back to the baby springbuck that was born a week ago. I still haven’t got a perfect photo of him/her yet but perseverance is the name of the game.

Size does Matter

Last week I had a klipspringer come to my office and admired herself in the reflection of the glass sliding door. It is hard to judge her size unless you know that the tiles she is standing on is 50x50cm.

On the way home after work, I saw our little Klipspringer on a wall gazing over the boundary fence. It was a perfect shot showing the size difference, even though the angle and distance apart give an illusion that my Vespa is much bigger. Size does matter.

By the time I got near home, the sun was setting and a row of small fluffy clouds caused the light to fan out in a sort of Japanese Rising Sun flag affect. So beautiful that I had to stop and take more photos for the day. Utsukushī hi.

Go Bokke!

Okay stop the bus, let’s start this week all over again on a new page. After my downer of a day yesterday, today was a new birth, quite literary.

I had just popped out of the office to renew my Vespa licence when Ella sent me the very top image. A new baby springbuck has just being born with the little one still on wobbly legs. I rushed back and found the young’un under a bush hiding from predators. Interesting as it was a black springbuck and its mommy was a normal coloured springbuck.

Well timing is perfect as this Friday the Rugby World Cup kicks off with England against Fiji whereas on Saturday our team the Springboks tackle the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. Go Bokke!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Towards the end of the day, a Klipspringer decided enough was enough, forget the bees and the butterflies, "I too want some yummy nectar too". The small hedges just outside my window is in full bloom, with the bees getting intoxicated from pollen of the tiny white flowers.

My office windows are cover in a dark one way film which from the outside, it has a mirror effect. So armed with my cellphone, I was in a perfect position to admire this beautiful little buck which stood only a half a metre high. So close with only a glass pane between us, I could even see her individual eye lashes as she admired herself in the mirror.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" It must be the klipspringer who has been snorting white flowers as seen by the petals on her nose.

Something Moved

Around mid-day, while out and about in the Mogale Business Park, I saw something move in the undergrowth. Armed with only my cellphone, I crept forward and was awarded to seeing this small beautiful Duiker. As most duikers are, this small buck was just over 30cm tall, in laymen’s terms about a ruler high. Duikers are very shy and elusive animals, so I felt blessed to be this close to this tiny buck.

All Grown Up

Oh my, we are all growing up so fast. JZ the baby Klipspringer was born a few months back on the 10 April and look at her now, nearly the size of her mother.

Since the day she was born there has been very few sightings of her, well until today, when she walked out boldly from the undergrowth following her mother on search for tasty green grass and shrubs.

JZ in the House

I am pleased to announce a new baby Klipspringer which was born late this afternoon between my office and the Imbizo building at Mogale Business Park. And I have decided to call the wee little thing JZ.

JZ’s mother, sure had it hard, her last baby drowned about a year ago and the worst part was that her partner died when struck by a car about six months ago. She is now the only Klipspringer left in the park well until now.

The gestation period of a Klipspringer is about 214 days which is about 7 months ago. Well I am very pleased for mommy and her new baby.

Days like These

With the days getting shorter, all the animals are getting prepared for winter. The bees are stocking up on honey while the bushbuck are fattening up for the lean months. It is days like these, that stretch out the month. Life goes on even when it starts to blur around my peripheral.

And today has been one of those days that should have had a warning label. On days like this, it is okay if I quietly sit in the garden, watch the bees and the birds go by and just simply breathe.