Who’s in the garden this morning?
- 11 warthogs – inc. Little, Tiny, Lonely Girl, Fred, and Ethel, Peter, Paul, Mary, and more
- 10 bushbucks – inc. Chewy, Thick Neck, Bad Leg, Spikey, Big Spikey, and others
- 9 kudus – inc. Bossy, Notches, Little Daddy, Youngsters, and others
- 2 wildebeest – inc. Broken Horn, Hal
- 23 helmeted guinea-fowl
- 2 Frank and The Misses
When Little and Tiny showed up this morning, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Now, we can only hope and pray they will be back later today day tomorrow, when the helicopter “rounding up the wildlife” will end at dark. If they can make it through the next 36 hours, along with all of our favorite kudu friends, who were the primary targets along with impalas, we can relax before we depart in a mere seven days.
If they make it, we do not doubt that within a week or two of our return, they’ll all be back to see us. However, we wonder as to the degree of reference that animals may possess of time passing. It didn’t take long for Little to find us after we hadn’t seen him in almost two years, in an entirely different location.
This morning I couldn’t help but coo over all of them, fearful that it might be the last time we see many of them. We can now hear the helicopters overhead, louder than yesterday. This is because they are closer to us. Yesterday, we only heard the sound in the early morning.
But, now, at almost 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs, the whirly sound of the helicopter’s rotors is hard to miss, leaving my heart aching each time the sound is closer. I know. This is beyond the control of anyone in Marloth Park. The municipality organized and executed the culling. Don’t get me started on this topic. As a visitor, I have no right to express my opinions on this process.
Nonetheless, it impacts everyone who lives in, visits, and loves Marloth Park. I can imagine the frustration of homeowners with holiday homes to rent, wondering if it will ultimately impact their ability to rent their properties with fewer animals in the park. Unfortunately, many seem to think we won’t even notice the difference. And perhaps, we won’t if our favorites are still here after Wednesday night.
Yesterday, we attended two parties, one at 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs and another at 5:30 pm, 1730 hrs, for friend Danie’s birthday! We had a fantastic evening with friends, which will be repeated today when we head to the Crocodile River to meet up with Rita and Gerhard for game viewing. Friend Don, whose earlier party we attended yesterday at 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs, will be joining us at the river and then for dinner at Jabula.
Tom is currently on the veranda, rebooking our return flight from Las Vegas to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/ Kruger while I am indoors wrapping up this post. There were so many animals and noisy birds in the garden I wasn’t able to focus. Instead, I was distracted by something funny or wonderful every few minutes!
Within the next few minutes, he’ll have wrapped up our July 24 flight, and we can rest easy. The company we’d used previously is trying to charge us a “passenger processing fee” of US $75, ZAR 1074 per person. We will take this up with our credit card company, who most likely will work it out for us. It wasn’t our choice to cancel the flight.
I have been so distracted with this culling thing, I’ve had a hard time focusing on today’s posts. Of course, I’ll check for errors, but surely, there will be many.
Have a great day!
Photo from one year ago today, June 22, 2020:
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| This must be a variety of cactus, spotted in Madeira Portugal in 2014. For more photos, please click here. |
Good morning, According to the culling process going on in our beloved Marloth Park. I am told they take out a number of Impala, Kudu and eventualy Giraffe. This time no Warthogs. So no worries about Tiny and Little for now.
Regards
Marja
,
Marja, how thoughtful of you to write and tell me this. I know culling is necessary but you obviously know attached we can be to our furry friends, even without ever touching them. We’d heard they would be capturing warthogs next using food lure with large pens. But, perhaps this information wasn’t accurate. I suppose time will tell. So kind of you to write.
Be well,
Jess & Tom