Dramatic Elephant rescue

Every now and then I like to post wildlife stories from this beautiful continent of ours as opposed to the many biker "wild-life" stories that I usually post! This is a lovely story out of Zambia in an area called the "Kapani Lagoon" which like many areas in Central Africa is suffering with a particularly harsh dry spell. I received this story via email so I will quote;

Most conservationists believe that man should not meddle with the natural order and that nature should be allowed to run its course, no matter how grim or cruel. However every rule has an exception and when members of the South Luangwa Conservation Society, attracted by their screams, came across a baby elephant trapped in the rapidly drying mud of the Kapani Lagoon, along with its mother who had tried to save it, they knew that they could not stand by and with the assistance of the Wildlife Authority, they attempted a difficult and dangerous rescue.

The frantic herd members were desparately trying to help the baby and its mother who were screaming in terror. The baby had become stuck first and the mother tried to help and became stuck herself.

They had no hope at all of getting free and the mud was rapidly drying.

Carefully avoiding the mother's flailing trunk the team managed to get a rope around the baby elephant.

With the whole team pulling they begin to drag the baby out of the cloying mud.

Slowly and painstakingly, being careful not to injure the baby, they manage to drag it from the mud.

But it wont leave its mother's side and struggles back into the mud!

Again the team manages to pull the young elephant out of the mud.

But again, and in spite of members shouting and waving their arms, the baby again returns to its mother's side.

This time they drag it further away from the mud hole hoping that it will run away.

Luckily a call from a cousin in the herd convinces the baby elephant to join them, now the team can turn their attention to the mother.

With much difficulty they manage to get a rope around the huge, rapidly tiring beast.

Using a tractor they slowly begin to pull, not knowing if they were going to be able to get her out.

She seems to sense that she is almost free, with the team shouting encouragement "Come on Mama, come on, you can do it!" she struggles to free herself.

Almost there, she was obviously exhausted but could sense freedom.

Success! Weak and wobbly she hurried off to join the herd and her baby.

The happy team members drink to their success on the Kapani deck after a very long, exhausting but extremely rewarding day. Congratulations on a job well done, they could not have left those Elephants to their fate.

After that beautiful story I will leave you with a picture showing how Elephants scratch their nuts;

Use a hired car when you visit game reserves!

Breakfast Run with the Meeulanders

Sunday morning, the weather looked great and still Janet wanted to stay home; "You go on the breakfast run, I want to stay here for the day and just relax." I wasn't sure at first, at least she didn't say; "It's fine, just go!" I edged around a bit, I reminded her that she had the option to come with me on the Meeulanders breakfast run to Maestro's restaurant on Woodbridge Island.

"I know," she said, "It's fine, just go." Uh oh!

Eventually reassured that I was not in trouble I left Janet happily involved in her beauty products and got the big red machine out onto the west coast road, the usual meeting place was at the Engen One- stop and Frank had said that he would be there early for a cup of coffee before the ride.

This was a Meeulanders MCC ride and although I am not a member I have ridden with them often, they are a good bunch of people and a very active club and I enjoy riding with them.

Frank was not there when I arrived, several members were already there but by the time I had finished my cup of famous Wimpy coffee he had still not arrived and I began to think that he had had too much of a good time the night before.

Steven arrived on his very nice cruiser, we have spent time together at some of the rallies, in particular the Buffalo rally in Mossel bay, a solid guy.

Willie Goosen arrives on his very nice K1300, another good guy to have on rallies, he keeps the party going.

09h20 eventually Frank arrives, looking very much the worse for wear, "Oh no I had a late night at the pub last night, you know what I'm saying!" I had expected that he would not be showing up for the ride but he lit his normal cigarette and seemed to be ok.

Div, the President and Frank the Road Captain have a discussion just before the ride and shrotly thereafter some twenty people on thirteen bikes pulled out onto the west coast road.

Janet and I don't do much group riding, we prefer to ride alone but every now and then I ride with the Meeulanders and really enjoy their disciplined runs, they immediately fall into the staggered formation which we all know is the safest way for a group of bikes to ride, if you can see the face of the rider infront of you in his mirror then you know that he can see you.

As we thundered south in tight formation there was one sublime moment which I will always remember, I was riding at the back of the bunch with only Frank behind me and suddenly I saw a group of lights approaching from the front, it was another group of riders heading north and for one brief period in the inexorable march of time that small stretch of road was suddenly full of bikers! We raised a hand in greeting, acknowledging the bond and just as suddenly that moment was past but it had been an extremely cool moment and I was happy that I was there, I was aware of my place on the road, my position in the group and how lucky I was to be there at that time.

Riding in a staggered formation group is all well and good when you are riding out in the country but as you approach the Urban sprawl and the traffic congestion the group tends to get split up, especially at the traffic light intersections. Not so on this occasion! The traffic lights either stopped us all or let us all through and we arrived at the Maestro's restaurant car park together.

We soon disrobed, shucked out heavy clothing and went in search of sustenance....and breakfast!

The buffet was excellent, really good value for money but from the breakfast tickets that were issued and signed off as you collected your plate I gathered that you could not go back for seconds, as is usual at a buffet.

Let me hasten to add that the variety of the  food was excellent and abundant and under normal circumstances seconds would not be needed but a buffet is advertised and usually you can go back for more.

Just look at this; there were two slices of French Toast buried under that scrambled egg! A really great breakfast washed down with a couple of cold Castles.

The view from the deck outside the restaurant is difficult to beat and we stood around for a while finishing our beers before the ride home. That breakfast was a bargain for R60, I didn't want to go back for more after finishing what I had piled on my plate, maybe that's the way it works.

A good fast ride back along the R27 found us all at the Phoenix bar for last drinks, what a sad time!

Frank and I have to find ourselves another place to play pool on a Friday afternoon but hopefully the Phoenix can again rise from the ashes!

Meeulanders Mcc dart run

The very active Meeulanders Motorcycle Club recently held their annual "Dart Run" in the local area, the bunch rides around to different venues where each person throws one dart at a board and at the end of the run, usually at a hotel, the results are tallied and the winner gets a prize. Much the same as a Poker run, it usually ends up as a party at the end venue and everyone sleeps over. We unfortunately were not able to take part as we had other commitments but from stories I have heard and photos I have recently received, it was a party of note!

This very festive looking place is at the "Wielhuis" (Wheelhouse) pub in Velddrif, one of the darts was thrown during this visit as well as at places such as the hotel in Hopefield and also at "Vlakvarkgat" which is a very difficult word to interpret, let alone to say! It means something like; Bushpig or Warthog hole, and is a restaurant/pub on the R27 between Langebaan and Saldanha.

The ride culminated at the Saint Helena Bay hotel where the last dart was thrown, the results tallied and the party raged and as usual my old riding buddy Frank was the last man standing!

This (not unusual) sight greeted the people in the foyer of the hotel as they came down for breakfast the next morning. Apparently the hotel manager became anxious that other people arriving might be put off by the sight so Monica woke Frank up to get some breakfast.

It's a pity that I wasn't there because I could have told the manager what the magic words are, when you want to get rid of Frank it's no good being polite, you have to say to him; "Frank, fuck off now." and he does. Frank always pays for one of the rooms but seldom uses it, more often than not he is found in the same type of uncomfortable sleeping arrangement.

It seems like it was a good party, though on a sad note Shawn of the "Kreefsmokkelars" broke his leg in an accident during the ride on Saturday, we all wish him a speedy recovery and back on the road soon.

The Day of the Dead

Saturday dawned cold and gray, heavy water-logged clouds threatened to ruin our ride down to Capetown. The weather site forecast a thirty percent chance of only 3mm of rain, that's a seventy percent chance of no rain to me and as it got later in the morning it did look a bit better, we were to meet at the Phoenix bar at 10h30 and as I saddled up and got the big red maching rolling I was feeling more confident, what the hell if you're a biker you ride in crap sometimes!

"The Day of the Dead", a somewhat ominous sounding funday was being held at the Killarney race track to raise funds for the families of fallen brothers, such a worthy cause induced several of the west coast bikers to attend, I was first to arrive at the gathering point as usual.

I didn't have to wait long for my riding buddy Frank to arrive on his FJR, but still the bar was not open!

About 09h45 Danny arrived on his broken GSXR, you can see the broken left side fairing, he hit a buck on his way home after closing the bar late at night and it smashed the fairing, he was very lucky not to have gone down. He hitched a ride down to Capetown on Frank's bike, he can only do local rides until he replaces the fairing.

Danny opened the bar and we waited for the other riders to gather, it wasn't long (time enough for only one beer) before we were ready to go.

Seven of us on five bikes left just after 11h00 for the ride down the R27, it was cold when we left but the weather improved, Capetown had it's rain earlier and as we headed south we could see a large area of blue sky opening up ahead. By the time we pulled into the parking area outisde the Viper Lounge it was a lovely day if still a bit cool.

The Viper Lounge was bustling, it seemed that many bikers had the same idea as us and we wandered in to get a beer and greet friends and brothers. We had a breakfast to oil our stomachs for the afternoon that lay ahead and gradually by 14h00 the bikers started heading over to the race track.

As we were leaving this really nice Suzuki Bandit 1200S caught my eye, it was obviously lovingly looked after with lots of chrome and polished stainless steel, maybe I just have a thing for red motorbikes?

Over at the Western Province Motor Clubhouse the jol was already on the go and there were many familiar people that we regularly see at these type of events and at local rallies, it was like walking into a room full of old friends.

The banners of the four clubs sponsoring the event were proudly displayed and the party raged through the afternoon, there was a live band alternated by a disco blaring out rock classics and the number of revellers swelled as the afternoon progressed.

That's one of our local brothers, Alex Vermeulen enjoying himself and other west coast brothers arrived throughout the afternoon;

Frank bending the ears of "Van" and his lovely lady Isla.

We briefly sought refuge in Dalton's caravan restaurant where we found Daan and Beverley already enjoying his fare, Dalton's is a favourite place at the rallies and is often a gathering place where conversation and general partying last well into the night.
Not for me this time though, I had a long ride home and even as I left after a very enjoyable afternoon there were many more bikers arriving. I hope that the fundraiser was a success, it certainly was in terms of enjoyment.
I had a lovely fast ride home with a slight wind behind me and cars moving over ahead of me, what could be better? A breakfast run with the Meeulanders Motorcycle Club the next day was something to look farward to, I just love the biker lifestyle!

Swiss Deli and Bistro again and another Sunday pot

Our friends Rene' and Bronwyn joined us for the weekend and as the weather was good we decided to go back out to the Swiss Deli and Bistro in Saint Helena Bay for lunch. The owner Daniel had been generous enough to sponsor a meal for two to the value of R250 as one of the prizes on our recent Polar Bear run so we would only have to pay for two of the meals - bargain!

The last time we were there it was mid summer and the place was sweltering in the mid 40's, this time it was a lot more comfortable. After browsing the menu for a while we selected our starters;

I went for the mussels in a creamy wine sauce, in spite of the fact that I work on a mussel farm and can have mussels whenever I want I like to taste how other people prepare them and Daniel's dish was a winner! First of all it was a generous portion, I think there were eight mussels and the sauce was delicious, I had no trouble polishing the whole lot off.

Bronx went for the fried calamari strips which she declared were tender and succulent, both Janet and Rene' had chicken livers peri peri which were delicious and too much to eat as a starter, they could have been a main meal!

My main course was pork schnitzel with speatzle (spelling?), it was delicious with little dumplings and I had no trouble finishing the whole lot.

Rene' had kessler chops with potatoes which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Bronx enjoyed her schnitzel with roesti (and again I apologise if the spelling is wrong, I should have copied the menu.)

The food is great, it is rich and the portions are generous. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone, however they are unlicensed and they do not take credit cards - they take cash or cheques! Hands up anyone who writes cheques these days! Our bill came to R495 without the gratuity, that's about R125 per person for an excellent starter and a main course, good value in my book - give Daniel a call on 0767985182 and tell him I sent you.
Sunday dawned bright and warm, just perfect for a lamb potjie! I know that I have written about lamb potjies before, but please stay with me on this, they are all different.

If you have been reading my stuff you'll know that I like to line up my ingredients; choice lamb, yellow peppers, chopped onions, white onion soup powder and tomato paste, fresh herbs (or 'erbs as my American friends say, how do you pronounce "Herb Alpert" the old musician; "Howsit Erb?") but I digress, four green chilies (chillis/chilis/chillees) chopped, one tin of butter beans, chopped butternut squash, potatoes and button mushrooms.

In the trusty old three legged pot first brown the meat in a little bit of cooking oil stirring constantly, when it is nicely browned remove and set aside.

What you are left with now is the oil and some lovely juices from the meat, chuck in the chopped onions, peppers and garlic and fry them until they are soft and translucent and then throw the meat back in and give the whole lot a good stir.

It is at this point that I usually add my stock and with this pot I made it with the "Thick white onion soup powder" and the tomato paste stirred into a good cup of dry red wine, I also added a cone of salt, a good "grind" of pepper and my 'erbs and spices.

 This is the time when the potatoes, butternut and butter beans go in, pour in half a Castle Lager (drink the other half), put the lid on the pot and leave it to simmer for an hour, the mushrooms go in right at the end after you have checked to see if the meat is cooked.

Janet made a lovely sweetcorn souffle' and we served it up with ciabatta, exploding tomatoes and black olives, what a lovely meal.

Our friends enjoyed it, or at least they said that they did!
Friday afternoon I am playing pool at the Phoenix bar again and then Saturday Frank and I head south for the "Day of the dead" dayjol at the Killarney racetrack so I will let you know how that turns out, in the meantime stay on two wheels.