The Rainy Season, Dog Poaching, and the Electric Fence

Sawobona!  Greetings from South Africa again.  Lots of little things to update you on.

First of all, the trip to Nigeria I was scheduled to take with Lynn, Marc D (both from Calgary) and Jackie (the pride of Nairobi) has been postponed.  The process of getting a Nigerian visa is more of a mystery than when Geraldo tried to find Al Capone’s vaults.  Plus, the outcome has been just as disappointing.  I need a South African visa (not just the three month entry permit I currently hold) in order to be considered for a Nigerian visa.  I applied for my SA visa a couple of weeks ago but haven’t received it yet.  Hence, we’ve run out of time.  Marc D is in a similar quandry.  So, we’ve postponed our trip until January.  I’m really keen to see the work going on in Nigeria as it’s quite a unique place in comparison to the other sub-Saharan countries Hands works in.

November sees us begin to move into summer here.  So far, the weather hasn’t changed too much, except for the blinding thunderstorms we’ve experienced.  They are like nothing I’ve seen before.  Massive flashes of lightning that go on for hours and thunder that shook my house the other night.  Plus rain that partially washes out the red clay roads here.  The “coming down in buckets” expression has never been more apt.  The 10 meter run from the bakkie I’m driving to the house left me looking like Axl Rose in the November Rain video. Temperatures have generally stayed in the low 30s, with some cooler days and the odd 40ish degree day.  But it’s definitely more humid now.  December and January is the height of summer (and the rainy season).  Not sure how I’m going to like it.

So, I mentioned earlier that I’m living up at an old tobacco farm.  The farm, like most property in South Africa, is completely surrounded by a high-tech electric fence (built on a deep cement foundation to prevent old school dig-and-crawl-under-a-fence thieves).  It has an electric gate complete with a code keypad on either side.  The other night, the motor for the gate got blown out by a lightning strike.  So, myself and the Muronzi family, who also live at the farm, have to manually open the gate and lock it with a chain and padlock.  Well, I was heading to church Sunday morning and went to close the gate behind me.  I brushed one of the wires and, for a split second, felt like I was Lou Ferrigno turning into the Incredible Hulk.  I was fine right away but it has definitely deterred me from any thoughts of becoming a burglar here.

So, speaking of the gate, I have an incredible, and somewhat gross (photo attached) story to tell you.  When Hands was given the farm a few years and people began living there, they purchased a baby Rottweiler named “Boo” (short for the si-Swati word for “beauty”.  When I moved up there three weeks ago, I found Boo to be slobbery, friendly mound of a dog.  I don’t know how great a guard dog she is because as soon as I would touch her, she’d roll onto her back, looking for some belly rubs.

Exactly two weeks ago, Boo went missing.  This was cause for concern for a few reasons.  First of all, Boo had never escaped before. Most people with bigger property have guard dogs. Sometimes thieves poison the dog before breaking in.  Boo was searched for high and low on the property and there was no sign of her.  The night she went missing we had a night watchman guard the place.  It was strange returning home each day without Boo running after the bakkie.  Plus, we have another, smaller dog named Johanna.  She was miserable the first few days Boo went missing.

So, after about a week, the search and rescue operation was called off and we resigned ourselves to losing Boo.  This was hardest on the Muronzis, who have lived with Boo at the farm for over two years.  Yesterday, a new Labrador-cross puppy was purchased in White River and spent her first night at the farm.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS A PHOTO THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU SQUEAMISH!

This morning I was woken just after 5:00 am with a knock at my door.  It was Liz, my neighbor.  She’d gotten up and found Boo sitting outside the gate.  After two weeks, Boo was back!!!  But that wasn’t all.  Boo’s neck had a massive, massive cut clear across it.  I mean, the wound was inches wide and not much less deep.  It was a bit disturbing.  I held her while Liz’s husband Weston bandaged her.  We speculated on what had happened.  Had someone tried to slit her throat?

Weston and Liz took Boo to the vet’s and she’s currently sleeping groggily at the farm with probably a triple digit number of stitches in her neck.  The vet said she had likely been snared.  Apparently, poachers use them in the area around the farm to catch wild animals, like impalas and zebras.  The vet commented that the wound had definitely been cleaned.  Weston speculated that maybe poachers found Boo in the snare, cleaned her up and let her go.  She likely couldn’t have survived in the snare for too long.  I feel for the poor girl.  It’s been a bizarre day, to say the least.

So, this weekend I’m going to catch my first South African PSL soccer game.  Mamelodi Sundowns from Pretoria and Bidvest Wits of Johannesburg face off in Nelspruit at Mbombela Stadium, which hosted World Cup games in June. I’m pumped!  Well, that’s about all for now.  Type at you again soon!