The dreadful process of filling out forms…A zebra in a pool???…

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We’ve yet to have a single visit from a full-racked male kudu. They can only get into our garden by walking on the driveway when the bush is too dense. This young male could make it through the bush to stop for a visit during sundowners on the veranda.

We dread it each time we have to extend our visas, apply for permits, or apply online for any government-mandated process. Often, the forms are confusing, difficult to use, and don’t save partially completed forms. However, their website clearly states that returning users can easily find their partially completed forms. Ha! Not always the case.

Yesterday, we started the necessary process of applying for our e-visas for entry into Kenya on April 9th. On January 1, 2021, Kenya switched from the easy visa-upon-arrival process with a mandatory online application. With many of the questions translated from other languages, the questions in the form are often ambiguous and confusing.

A female kudu and a male impala were getting along well while eating pellets.

But, the worst part for us, mainly me, who will make both of our online applications, is now using a Chromebook instead of formerly using Windows. With Windows, all I had to do was find the appropriate travel documents in a folder on my desktop, and we’d be good to go.

It’s not so easy with a Chromebook, regardless of how and where I save documents, to easily find them to grab and attach to an uploader in an online application. I know how to do this. But when saving the documents needed, such as airline tickets, hotel reservations, copies of passports, and decent headshot photos, those documents I properly saved are often missing, and I can’t “grab” to upload them into the form.

Impalas are very shy around humans. We’ve been surprised to see so many visiting our garden.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent no less than two hours in dire frustration in the 100F, 38C, heat, and humidity, and will have to go back and try again today. Just now, as we speak, I looked for the documents and found them where they should be in the “download” folder.

But, I do not doubt that when I start working on the form again, re-entering all I’ve already entered on ten pages, they won’t be there. We often wonder how less experienced users could get through this process. Often, they have to hire a company to do this for them at an additional cost over and above the US $102 ZAR 1558, the fee (for both of us) charged by Kenya.

Impalas stay at a distance from the veranda.

Oh, I can’t wait to get this done and behind us. Tom, a less experienced user of Chromebook’s weird nuances, will be able to re-enter his personal information, which was lost upon “save. Hopefully, after he re-enters it today, it will all be there for me to log into his Kenya visa account and upload the documents from there also.

Talk about sweating in this weather! It’s only 10:30 right now in Marloth Park, and it’s already 90F, 32C with high humidity, all of which is rising rapidly. It won’t be until after about 5:00 pm, 1700 hours, that we’ll feel the temperature drop slightly. Yesterday Tom read that the “wind chill” was 110F, 43.3C. We had no idea wind chill factors were considered for hot weather as well as for cold temperatures.

Adorable young male bushbuck checks out the grassy area in our garden, waiting for Tom, in the red shirt, to toss him a few pellets.

Last night, the air-con in our bedroom couldn’t keep up with the heat. It was also necessary to use one of the two standing fans in our bedroom, aimed directly at us. It never really cooled down much during the night. Even our wildlife friends stay away during the heat. They hunker down in the shade of the bush, close to water holes. It must be so hard for them.

Yesterday there was a Facebook story under Marloth Park Sighting Group that was mind-boggling as follows:

“ATTENTION POOL OWNERS: Last week Thursday, driving up Berghaan Rd, I was flagged down by a resident/visitor of a house with a newly built swimming pool. The gentleman was FRANTIC, and I soon learned that he was deaf, as is his partner, neither could speak either. Turning into the driveway, I was greeted by the sight of an adult zebra, in the pool, but exhausted, his neck and head out of the water, hanging over the side, as the gentleman, who was EXHAUSTED, and two young builders from the next-door house had managed to get zebra to the side of the pool. I don’t know how long it was going on before I arrived, but I jumped into action, looped my bakkie (a pickup truck) tow strap around zebra’s neck, and with the help of the builders, directed zebra around to the shallow end where it could stand, and where we could lead it to the steps. This worked!! Three minutes after I arrived, the zebra was out of the water and on its feet…..
Firstly, the pool was too deep for adult zebra to stand. Secondly, the pool should be fenced. Should it not just be common sense to fence a pool in a nature reserve?? Hate to think what would’ve happened had I not driven by when I did. Occupants of the house were inside, both deaf, with no idea about the drama outside. Luckily the builders were awake…”
Bushbucks have such adorable faces!
Fortunately, the zebra was rescued by the kind and creative people who immediately went into action. The zebra seemed fine and dashed off. And yes, there are pools at most houses in the bush, mainly splash pools used to cool off in hot weather, days like today, and few, if any, are fenced.
That’s a matter for another day. Fences are frowned upon in the bush, preventing the wildlife from freely foraging as they wander about the park. But, circumstances under which a wall may be sensible, providing safety for humans and animals alike.
Tiny is sitting in front of his favorite tree stump.
Our pool, yet to be used by us, is shallow, above ground, encased, and surrounded by a cement wall. It would be unlikely an animal could fall in without climbing over the fence, tricky to do at best. Plus, it’s shallow, as is the case of most splash pools in the bush. We’re thrilled to hear the zebra was safely rescued. Life in the bush has always been exciting and often unusual.
Have a lovely day.
Photo from one year ago today, March 10, 2020:
“Krishna’s Butterball (also known as Vaan Irai Kal and Krishna’s Gigantic Butterball) is a gigantic granite boulder that rests on a short incline in the historical coastal resort town Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu state of India. Since it is part of the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built during 7th- and 8th-century CE as Hindu religious monuments by the Pallava dynasty, it is a popular tourist attraction. It is listed as a protected national monument by the Archeological Survey of India. It is best viewed at sunrise from northwest to southeast or at sundown from northeast to southwest when the panorama is bathed in magical golden hues.” Our guide explained that at one time, centuries ago, the locals tried to move this boulder using elephants, but it wouldn’t budge. For more photos, please click here.