We have finally been given the go ahead on our heritage settlement proposal, so Nick persuaded Amandla Construction who are completing the tar road from Veldrif to Elands Bay, to bring a huge front end loader and level our piece of land!
Petrus from Springbok drove the loader, overseen by Piet, who builds roads all over Africa, with Nick & me trying to get Petrus to put the heaps of sand in the right places, a very dusty business in the sun and wind.
Halfway through the loader ran out of diesel, and as it was Sunday work ground to a halt, the diesel being locked in the stores, and the loader’s tank being double locked to prevent fuel theft.
Nick and I sat for a while to look at the partially completed site and try and visualize where trees and ponds could go. When the heat became too much I set off towards the bakkie and found an enormous mole snake coming along to see what all the action was about. Poor snake, Nick captured “her” on film moving soil, using her head bent at an angle and making an emergency burrow to get away from us. “She” is now resident in the corner of our future garden and we hope she stays with us.
This is definitely snake country; Nick inadvertantly crushed the most beautiful speckled spotty snake, when he moved one of his wood working benches, so we have kept the body in the hopes of identifying this unknown snake; I was watering a dying pelargonium which lives in an old tree trunk and out came a black and yellow striped (longtitudinal stripes) snake who seemed just to want to get away from the water, now we know they are there and we take care to look out for them.
Back at De Vlei, Nick found a tiny insect eating bat nearly drowned in the slimy swimming pool, Tiger Lily trapped a field mouse behind the bookcase in the middle of the night and I found a gecko stuck in one of the baths, the gecko now resides under my African violets and lives on “miggies”.
Last night Nick went outside to irrigate the lawn and when he got back into bed felt something tickling his leg!
There on his shin was the tiniest gecko I have ever seen, about 20mm long and very cute indeed, he was reluctant to leave my finger and we were anxious not to hurt him, but he finally set off into the night, brave hunting gecko, less than an inch long!
Meantime we continue to find more new birds and I am keeping a list as the variety is amazing, they also seem tamer than the birds in the south; sunbirds and wit oegies move about in the creeper 4 feet above us while we sit at the table on the verandah.
I have found a few more birds, a Black shouldered kite with a mouse in his beak sitting on a phone line, a crowned plover and a family of Cape francolins in the field below the house, and a Bokmakirie who frequents the manitokas. My ambition now is to get a really good bird book and a pair of fine binoculars.
We have had supper at the only restaurant in Elands Bay, the floor is sand and the seating is circular wooden chairs from old barber shops! The food is pretty good and the atmosphere most relaxed, they have a video shop in one corner much to our delight, and a local artist’s display in another. Nick declares we should start painting masterpieces forthwith and get our works up in Elands Bay!!!, we could make a killing in the flower season.
16th March
Today I found a tortoise in the road near Leipoldtville and on the way back a mongoose ran almost under my wheels, obliging me to really test Ladybird’s brakes, one lucky mongoose, and one impressed driver.
Now a Grey heron is sitting out on the new roadway down to the vlei, and groups of Cape sparrows sit on the fence outside my office and distract me from my work.
17th March
The day began with promising grey clouds which burnt off and later the sea mist rolled in up the estuary, in the afternoon when I went to walk Sam along the beach there were fine cirrus clouds high up in the south west and I hoped this could mean rain!
I saw 3 beautiful Greater flamingoes flying over the sea, I am sure they were wondering where their favourite vlei had gone. it is drier now than in living memory, this is frightening in its implications.
By sunset we had a wonderful display of golden clouds and these grew very dark and the wind came in from the south west in those gusts which tell of rain!
When darkness fell the lightning began, great sheet lightning which came closer and closer and then the thunder started, Sam was very nervous and I was very pleased, and I started counting the time between the lightning and the thunder, 1 elephant, 2 elephant, and so on.
We got to 3 elephants and the thunder was just about overhead, and down the rain came, what a relief after the dry air and dust, more storms please!
18th March
I am not sure how much rain fell but enough for everything to be damp this morning, this means the tortoises will be out on the roads just in time to be killed by the Friday traffic heading out of town.
I have seen so many creatures squashed on the road, jackals, a rabbit, and a cat with a striped tail, a genet perhaps? Nothing I can do about this except be careful myself.
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