Having gone to bed a broken man, I woke this morning extremely stiff and struggled to get myself to the toilet, but decided to hop in the shower immediately after and soak my bones and muscles under some flowing hot water. It seemed to help, well, mostly. My hips and left groin were still tender, but I’d live.
I was collected by Esme and taken into the mountains to Lyon Lodge for breakfast, before being dropped back in town to do my shopping for the few days ahead and rest some more while she handled her tasks for the day. We met up again in town and I accompanied her a little, chatting away and passing time… until my 2 pm appointment with Casper for my game drive.
I handled some business while I waited and am happy to announce that Elliott International will be assisting me by getting Tootsie and my new bicycle from Johannesburg to Cape Town for me – thanks guys, it’s greatly appreciated!
Casper collected me at the guesthouse and we headed off to the farm outside of town, to switch vehicles… a Land Cruiser would be far more suitable for what we were about to take on. And then, Casper was asked to bring back a zebra. Huh!? Sure, why not… shall we bring back a wildebees while at it? Oh, yes… one of those too please… great!
Within minutes of leaving the house we were spotting game all over the place… zebra, warthog, wildebees, buffalo, rooibok, kudu… you name it. The only thing not on this farm are elephant and lion… but sadly we didn’t get to the see the rhino or leopards.
We tried with a few groups of zebra, but they were all a little to sharp and fled the moment the 4×4 stopped. They knew something was up. But, after visting the dam and chilling with a group of 11 giraffe, we tracked some zebra for some time and were soon close enough for Casper to take a shot… with them standing still.
He took the shot before I was fully settled and it felt like he’d shot me in my right ear. But, with the adrenalin running after a bit of a chase the zebra kept going… so we chased some more and Casper took another shot… it was a good shot, but this was one tough zebra and he was not going to let a small piece of metal get the better of him. We could, however, see that he wouldn’t be vertical for long.
Casper decided to go for the head shot and put the next bullet through the brain, dropping the zebra instantly. We hooked up the zebra and winched it onto the 4×4, before heading back to the house. Silly me had my left leg out the side to try keep it straight and very nearly caught a puffadder that was doing everything in its power to avoid being squished. Sjoe… that was close (for both of us).
The zebra skin will be going to a customer in Cape Town, while the meat will be used by the farmer on the next farm to feed his cheetah cub.
Casper dropped me back at the guesthouse and I started prepping for departure, and then Esme arrived with dinner. Yummy!
Now it’s bed time, as I have 35 km to go tomorrow to a farm next to Marakele National Park.
