Firebird
AH legend
I was only teasing when I asked my PH’s wife Brittany if they didn’t have enough spekboom on their property and needed more. She came back with a wry smile and quick jab back at me “it’s the only thing we could get to grow here!” I know it was a joke and she knows it was a joke. I appreciated that someone had taken the time to plant them in decorative pots on the covered patio. They added a nice touch to immediate area. I appreciated the banter as well as the woman’s touch in an otherwise manly hunting lodge-if that can be an apt description. Why else would there be buffalo skulls hung on the walls surrounding the pool area?! And there are plenty of other plants that thrive here-addo thorn is abundant! I particularly love the wild Bougainvillea flowers on the driveway on the way in and the aloe plants in full spectacle this time of the year that bloom around the “fire pit.” They attract insects which in turn bring the fork tailed drongos and the weaver birds and the sun birds among others. They are familiar to me and I love to see them again and run amok with my camera in the yard.
One night standing around the elevated altar that makes a special gathering place, one of the ph’s-Don (a member here) asked if I could hear the scops owl. Listening intently beyond my deafness, I could in fact hear the lovely nighttime chirrings of the minute scops. Don produced a spotlight and we not only located the tiny crooner but by the miracle that is “my cell phone” we recorded him in high definition, both sound and video.
It’s one of a thousand memories that make a place special and things you look forward to seeing time and time again.
There is a brown hooded kingfisher that lives on the same branch and has since I started coming here in 2018. Yeah I know it could be a different one, but in my heart I know it’s the same one. . . The very same one that flew into the glass door one time and has never actually left the property since that day.
I’ll credit the Dropkick Murphys for the quote but I don’t think they are the original authors. We spent some nights at the camps fire but the patio seemed to be the most used social gathering spot. The warm glow of the hardwood chunks as they burned to glowing embers that would cook our evening meat. We ate everything we could think of-One night I said I couldn’t remeber if I had eaten zebra and a night or two later we had zebra. Game meat was always available but also usually chicken or pork or beef and lamb were there in case you were nervous to try the wildebeest or buffalo or whatever. We had some of what we shot but most the meat came from previous hunters. It was hung and aged and and sometimes marinated and always delicious. Hunting with a family that own a butchery lends itself to a variety of properly cooked meat every night. A visiting Australian hunter asked for pap-something he had heard about and was keen to try. Australians will try anything as you well know! We had it for dinner one night and the next day it was an option at breakfast. I ate and enjoyed it fine both ways. In addition to meat cooked over a real fire, there were vegetables and casseroles and bread cooked in the kitchen by Tosh and Bongi and it’s only fair to mention we had dessert every night. I dont know how much of my English drawl the ladies understand, but they always have a big smile and are busy keeping me happy. I remember last time I was here and they sang happy birthday to me and had some little gifts they wanted to share. It warms my heart, feeds the soul-just as the Malva pudding and peppermint tart do!
After dinner drinks are served, coffee, espresso, soda for me and ph Don as an on demand bar tender. It extends social hour into the night. As the days would roll on, we ended the nights earlier and with more water as we got worn down from the hours and miles spent hunting.
A great place to share stories, pictures, have drinks and warm your yourself, inside and out.
I like breakfast. Every morning there were eggs cooked one way or another. South African bacon which is awesome and sometimes cheese grillers which are better than awesome, or sausage or something along those lines. Also Wik, an owner and Ph likes coffee (or espresso, both abundant) and a small breakfast. I often ended with toast and jam or the little hard cookie biscuits or rusks of which I am a huge fan. I am also a fiend for the deviant oat crunchies-I ate all of them. In the entire camp. There are none left. I ate them. Often at night I ate them with cold water from my well stocked private fridge in my private chalet. There is a coffee maker and coffe stuff in that chalet if you feel the need. There is also yogurt and cereals and fruits and things available in the lodge to start the day. And boiled eggs available for lunch along with sandwiches and chips and soda or water-and candy bars which I’ve only found here-5 stars and Chrinchies for dessert at lunch. I got blamed for fanning the flames of Wiks sweet tooth and proudly stand guilty as charged! And always fresh oranges! I love fresh oranges in July!
A fun side trip we drove past the orchard where they grow and sell oranges-simply beautiful.
