you are the best

The most faithful and unconditional love must be from a dog. 
When our son with his wife and two daughters came for a visit our female dog(- that is bitch - ) fell in love with Stephanie on first sight.  
That photo says it all : "I have eyes only for you." 
It was the first time this dog met her and the dog was her companion all the time during the visit.

This dog is a foxhound not for fun-hunting but they patrol the sheep farms against foxes. 

Happiness is ... 
Spending quality time with the grand children from Namibia.

Now who said it is difficult to spend quality time
with the youth.  

Everybody is as happy as could be.

Nico, sitting behind Grandpa, finished his first year
at the university.  The game he is playing (on Grandpa's 
comper) is the same game which he played before 
he started school.  The computers are not quite as 
old as that,  even though the kids think they are ancient.

PS. I would like to point out  that the kids have
not yet scored higher than Grandpa on tetris !
How is that - for old bones.

You are welcome to use the self service facility for a free car wash in Oshakati - as long as the stock lasts. Drive around the sign until you are satisfied that your car is clean.

The car wash proved to be popular even with heavy vehicles

Now serious.  This was one of the many floods after good rains in the Oshakati area.  People get used to it.  They make do for a few days and all is back to normal again.

Yet another green year for Namibia. What is the world coming to?
Never mind to answer, we do not mind.... or maybe we should start thinking to buy a farm in the desert for the grandchildren.
Photo below is Kambi the tame kudu doe on the guestfarm Elisenheim near Windhoek

The whole of Namibia is green and wet - south, east, north and west.

We traveled from the Western Cape in the RSA, through Namaqualand and soon after we crossed the border into Namibia there were pools of water as well as the green new grass.  An exhilarating sight for the farmers.

Kambi the kudu doe from Namibia tragic news
The little calf did not make it.

...... everybody involved in trying to
save the little calf's life is mourning the loss.

It is hard to believe how attached a person can get to an animal.


Liebe Grüße,

Christina

The adventure of Kambi the kudu and her calf. This is a rough translation of the letter written by Christine the owner and foster mother of Kambi on the guest farm Elisenheim.  All photos by Christine.
Here is the latest news regarding the happenings on Elisenheim. We thank the Lord that our Kambi is once again back home with us.
After we found the little calf we searched the whole day and hoped anxiously that Kambi would return home.
This is what happened.

Shortly after the birth of the calf a leopard must have smelled the birth.
According to the tracks Kambi and the calf was on their way home with the leopard close on their heels(hooves).
The moment when the leopard confronted them Kambi ran. She is not fit due to the lazy life she leads around the house. The deep tracks shows that she was running with the leopard chasing her.
In the meantime the little calf staggered down the mountain and crawled under a bush not far from the farm house.
Kambi succeeded to diverge the attention of the leopard away from the calf. The deep scratch marks on her shows that she ran blindly through the thorn bushes.
During their search on the mountain the next morning, Andreas and the farm workers found the place where the calf was born. Andreas heard a rustling sound in the bush and found the calf which they brought home immediatly.
That night at around 1:00 the night watchman saw Kambi drinking water in the swimming pool. The next morning she was at her ususal place at the back door where she eats her breakfast. We put her with the calf in a stable but that did not suite her and she refused to let the calf drink. The little one tried but tired out and gave up. It was important for the calf to drink some colostrum so I fed Kambi while Andreas milked her. It seemed somewhat comical to milk a kudu but it was worth it as the little calf drank the milk.

We have an efficient qualified vet(wild animals) in Windhoek, Dr. Tubising, where I bought the necessary vitamins to add to the calf's diet. He told us that it is normal when a wild animal (in this case Kambi) was raised with a bottle the mother instinct does not develope properly.
Kambi did not chase the calf away and she licked the calf while he drank his bottle (maybe jealous) but otherwise she just went her way.

I am grateful that the bitch Jolly loves and cares for the calf. The dog lies next to the calf and licks him clean. So cute.

Yesterday morning the calf rained wet. We rubbed her dry and brought her on the veranda but he shivered so much he could not drink. I heated 2 corn-sachets (the type that must be heated in the micro) and put it next to the calf with another blanket over him. The cats were there quick enough, to enjoy the warmth of course.

It is a pleasure to see how the dogs and cats cared for calf. I can watch them for hours.
I am so grateful that the leopard dit not kill the calf (I am his mother), it is horrible to think about it.
I would like to thank my friend Anke for the luzern that she brought immediatly so that Kambi could produce milk. Very nice of you Anke.
Thank you to all of you for the messages and support
Christina und Andreas
Liebe Grüße,
Christina

Kambi the Kudu (koedoe) doe at home in the Elisenheim guest farm outside Windhoek, Namibia. It would be best to go to the for more informationa and to see the farm.
Kambi was As you can see on these happy photos all the animals are in top condition. Loved and cared for by people who care for animals and people.
Cats form a bond with horses which is a win situation all round when the cats keep vermin away while they get an easy meal catching the rats and mice that come to feed with the horses. However it seems that the cats formed an even stronger bond with the Kudu doe. Kambi is much more exciting than the horses, for instance she shares the cats' interests in watching the human beings.

With a "good morning" from Kambi and her cat friends every day is a good day.
What a lovely scene to start the day.
Photo above: Kudu doe Kambi with her cat friend Mummel
Photo below: Kambi with cat friend Peet

Kambi must have extra charm as she is so popular with cats and dogs that she does not have a moment, day or night, where she is alone - that is not even including her human friends.

Kambi the Kudu doe never sleeps alone.

An invasion or more likely a visit by sunspiders.
I was busy on the computer when I heard a rustling in the papers next to the computer and moving my eyes over I looked smack into this face not even a mother can get used to.
This spider belong to a separate group of arachnids called solifugids (sun spiders or Solfugidae). They are not poisonous and at home in dry countries from South Africa up to Asia and beyond.
We like our creepy-crawlies and even though I know that this spider known here as the roman (or sun spider) is not poisonous, I could not help to cry out and pull my legs onto the chair.

I got my wits back as these spiders are extremely fast and long gone before I even caught my breath. I made my way to Rudi to tell him the news when he smiled and pointed to a smaller one running along the wall. We counted four different sizes so there were at least four.
This is an invasion. We are lucky to see one at a time in Namibia, lived here for years and years and suddenly we have them all around.
We saw at least one every night for about ten days. Then they were gone. It is now six+ months later and we did not see one again.
I was wondering. Could it be that the silkworms attracted them? But then the silkworms were still around at different stages of development for more than a month and I could not notice that many of them were missing. A few I would not notice I acknowledge that.
The spiders were a treat so they are welcome if they took some worms.