louis

Remniscent of cowboys in the US Wild West. This 'road' runs between various sections of the farm. Just over the hill the road opens up into the main residential section. To the left here is another residential section for guests. To the right is the start of a huge game section. A short way behind me, the 'road' opens into a rather large cattle section of the farm. The hill itself is a dune that would be very old, like more than two thousand years.

A cattle herder is taking some cattle to the main residential section. The three guys on the horses are bushmen that work on the farm. Apart from the owner, there are about 5 families of bushmen people living on the farm. The horses are endurance horses. The riders and us (on a light truck) are off to persuade a hartebeest bull (Alcelaphus caama) to leave the cattle section and join some hartebeest females in the game camp. He came from elsewhere and it would be good for the hartebeest population on this farm, if he could join the females in residence. Since the hartebeest is a wild antelope, the guys are excellent trackers and the horses will easily stay with it, while they drive the bull to the game section. It would be better to stick to the various roads and tracks with the truck.

To me, the interesting part is that they use two-way radios to stay in contact.  Something went wrong with this method of comms, so they started phoning each other, using their mobiles. Which is one of the reasons why each family head has a mobile provided by the farmer. Because the farm is quite flat, there is no problem with the mobile signal.

The operation was a success as the hartebeest bull ended up in the right section and did seem to get wind of the females. For a short while there, I was a pimp.

I will be away to Botswana to do some volunteer work there. My expected absence will be three weeks. But I do take my camera along.