Horseback Safari

There are some South African experiences I hear or read about that I store in my memory vault until the right person comes to visit for whom it would be a perfect match. Such an experience was the Ant Collection of Ant's Nest and Ant's Hill in the Waterberg.

Jill riding in Northern Ireland

They were just waiting for my niece Jill to come visit from Colorado. Jill is an equestrienne who has been riding since she was about three years old and the Ant Collection offers the best horseback riding safaris in South Africa.

Jill watches Alyssa ride her horse in Colts Neck, NJ

(So is my niece Alyssa, so pay attention Aly! I want to take you to Ant's Nest too someday!)

me in Bryce Canyon, Utah

Needless to say both of them are much better riders than me. I didn't start riding until my sophomore year in high school and I really enjoyed it until a freakish accident occurred in college involving the mare I was riding and her newborn foal. The little tyke got loose, mama horse got spooked, and I got thrown. 25 stitches later I didn't get back on a horse again until adulthood and by then it was too late. I never regained my confidence on horseback. After that, I only got on a horse for guided trail rides under the most supervised of conditions.

So I must admit I was a little nervous about taking on a serious horseback safari in South Africa with wild animals roaming about, but I knew Jill would love it so I put aside my fears and got back in the saddle one more time.

Jill brought all her own riding equipment to SA

We had to fill out a lengthy riding questionnaires in advance for Ant's Hill to determine our riding ability. (I was brutally honest.) The stables at Ant's Hill used our responses to customize our experience, making it a perfect fit for both Jill and I.

There were four other riders staying at Ant's Nest with us. Two Brits and two Canadians, all expert riders. They had their own guides and went out on horseback as their own group. That left Jill and I and two more guides for our private horseback safaris.

Most of the time the four of us stayed together and rode at a leisurely pace. We were first and foremost there to see African animals on safari after all!

But whenever Jill got bored with just walking and cantering along with me, she and Moses, our lead guide, would go off into the open bush and get up a good gallop. Then they would join back up with us a little further down the trail. Everyone was happy!

Jill and her giraffe

You are able to get amazingly close to the animals on horseback and they were not at all bothered by our proximity.

me and my rhinos

well-deserved sundowners

... and a well-earned massage in the lapa!

 We love Ant's Nest!

Elephant & Giraffe Hair Jewelry

vintage giraffe hair earrings

Along with a treasure trove of vintage ivory and tortoise shell jewelry - which I plan to destroy once I return to the US and therefore will never wear again - I also collect elephant and giraffe hair jewelry. Purchased from a reputable dealer, I do not believe either animal is harmed in any way in order to make jewelry from their tail hair so I feel it is still okay for me to buy and own it. Gosh I hope so anyway!

I bought my first elephant hair bracelets in Africa in 1979 and I wore them for years. Later I collected antique Victorian pieces made with both giraffe and elephant hair that have stood the test of time. Like these 9K gold earrings which I bought at the Chelsea Antique Market in NY - probably made here in South Africa - with giraffe hair inserts and rock art cut-outs of Bushman hunters stalking giraffes.

vintage elephant hair jewelry

Or these Victorian elephant hair and gold bangles and a matching ring which I bought in an antique shop in London. 

contemporary elephant and giraffe hair jewelry

Since moving to South Africa, I have added to my vintage collection with several newer pieces. Like these simple woven elephant and giraffe hair bracelets purchased from the African Craft Market and my elephant hair bracelets and earrings set in silver from jewelry shops in Cape Town. 

an all silver version

People here believe that elephant hair bracelets bring them luck. They also think that whoever wears this kind of bracelet will be blessed with health, love, prosperity and progress.

The legend of African hair bracelet dates back to between 1200 and 1500 years ago where it was believed that people who wore this hair bracelet were protected against misfortunes, harm, and illnesses. People in Africa believe that an elephant is the connecting factor between heaven and earth.

The elephant hair bracelet usually has either two or four knots. The two knots of an elephant hair bracelet represent the balance between nature and earth. The knots of the four knot elephant hair bracelet signifies the four elements of nature, namely fire, sun, water, and wind. The four strands of elephant hairs which pass through the knots symbolize the seasons of a year.

The movements from the knots along the cord shows the forces involving nature and represents continual evolution. As a result, it is believed that the movement helps bring strength, good luck, and fortune to the actual wearer.

Whatever. I just think they are lovely!

Walking with the Rand Hunt Hounds

Friends of the Rand Hunt can take part in their Sunday morning winter hound walks.  

Vince and I are Friends of the Rand Hunt and Lou & Serge are dachshunds and therefore hound-friends of the Rand Hunt hounds. So off we went to the Inanda Club Country base in Kyalami to go walking with our friends.

The main purpose of opening up the walks to friends on Sunday morning is to raise money to benefit the upkeep of the Rand Hunt hounds. They charge a nominal (R50) donation per person to take part in the walk. Hounds are free.

 

four of the hounds

making friends before the sounding of the hunting horn

"tally-ho"

off we go

off leash

It was about a two hour walk over well-trodden bridal paths and open veld. This was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the outdoors with Lou & Serge and to get to know some of the Rand Hunt hounds.

Father's Day Spa Indulgance in Joburg

Vince had organized a super day of pampering for me as a Mother's Day gift in Cape Town this year. Turnabout is fair play. Back at you Daddy!

Sorbet's new men's spa Sorbet Man just opened in Sandton City so I made a few appointments for Vince today for some man pampering.

Sorbet Man has a full menu of treatments just for men. Hair and shave. Massages. Facials, waxing and threading. Manly manicures and pedicures.

I've planned a manicure for Vince - he likes to have his hands guitar-ready; a pedicure - ignored and unattended feet are gross; and an exfoliating facial - 'cause it's so dry in Joburg.

Happy Father's Day!

Green buildings

We had been watching it being built for months now and finally the new upcycled shopping mall in Melville was ready for a soft opening this weekend. 27Boxes is a retail park designed for boutique style stores where artists, designers and crafts people can display and sell their custom works of art.

Fabricated entirely from shipping containers, 27Boxes is the first project of its kind in South Africa. The design combines shipping containers, garden plants and rolling lawns, together with other brick and concrete elements for a richly different look and feel.

27Boxes takes its design inspiration from shipping container developments in Europe such as Boxpark in London as well as earlier ground-breaking industrial design buildings such as the George Pompidou Centre in Paris.

There are two main shopping floors with a covered rooftop parking lot which looks like it would be a great place for a weekend organic food market.

Only about a quarter of the shops were open for business this inaugural weekend, but there was construction still going on all over the place and we saw many other shop keepers hanging their shingles and stocking up in anticipation of launching soon. And to allow for the anticipated traffic, underneath 27Boxes are 270 secure parking spaces!

And look what's coming - Philly cheese steaks!

Speaking of innovative building design, Vince just moved into the new IBM offices at 90 Grayston in the Sandton CBD. This four-star Green rated development features innovative technologies which minimise the buildings environmental impact. Passive design principles have been applied, along with active technologies such as harvested rainfall for flush toilets, the use of ammonia chillers for air conditioning and elevators equipped with energy-saving ReGen drives.

Other innovative features include intelligent blinds equipped with sensors that track the movement of the sun, adjusting the blinds accordingly, as well as LED backlighting of the glazed façade at nighttime. 

At least all the construction delays and overhead cranes dotting the sky-scape are resulting in some interesting and innovative buildings around Sandton. Maybe that will provide a little consolation next time I'm stuck in traffic.

Virunga

South Africa’s premier documentary film festival "Encounters" is happening this week in various venues across Cape Town and Johannesburg. It gave me a chance to see the celebrated documentary Virunga on the big screen.

I am happy because Virunga is a big screen-sized documentary. Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara were nominated for Best Documentary Feature for their film at the 2015 Academy Awards. It lost to CitizenFour, the Laura Poitras documentary about the Snowden affair (which is also playing as part of the Film Festival by the way), but that didn't matter to me. After trekking to see the mountain gorillas in neighboring Rwanda last year, I still really wanted to see this compelling film in the cinema.

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the oldest national park in Africa containing 1/3 of the Virunga Mountain chain, volcanoes which run along the northern border of Rwanda, the DRC and Uganda.

As a World Heritage site, Virunga National Park serves as the home and ostensible refuge for groups of endangered mountain gorillas. But years of civil war, poachers, tremendous instability in the region and the discovery of oil beneath the park have combined to threaten both the gorillas and the dedicated wildlife conservationists who fight to protect them.

Virunga is a documentary with clear good guys and bad guys. The good guys, the Virunga Park rangers and conservationists. The bad guys, the UK based international oil and gas exploration and production company, SOCO and their Congolese thugs, the M23 rebels.  

"Viewers are introduced to optimistic middle-aged park ranger, Andre Buama, spending his days caring for orphaned gorillas; reflective station chief Rodrigue Katembo, risking his life in the bush while covertly exposing high-level Congolese government corruption; soft-spoken son of Belgian royalty Emmanuel de Merode, devoting himself to upholding the law as director of an increasingly volatile environment; and young French journalist Melanie Gouby, on a mission to uncover the operations of a British registered oil company in its attempts to secure exploitation rights in the region.

While the film does not reveal every subtle nuance contributing to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s dire state, it does an excellent job of centering on a microcosmic issue that is reminiscent of what is the norm for much of Africa. It is a land that in many ways is still suffering from the aftershock of imperial players like King Leopold II, as emphasized during a scene whereupon a SOCO employee is secretly recorded claiming that Congo should be recolonized by outsiders if it is to have any chance of socioeconomic success. This theme is perhaps central to the argument that the road to a bright future continues eluding the grasp of many African people due in large part to continued outsider influence and control." - Africa Geographic

It was a really tough film to watch. I knew what I was in for after a year of attending Monday morning meeting at African Parks and listening to Leon, the African Parks Operations Director, relate the travails in his Congolese parks, Odzala-Kokoua in Congo and Garamba in the DRC. There is a war going on! But still it is hard to come away from watching the film with any sense of hope whatsoever.

The gorillas are merely collateral damage in an all-out war for natural resources, power and money. But before I start succumbing to any white oppressor guilt, I have to say the Congolese mercenaries and rebels are just as guilty of greed and tribal xenophobia against their fellow countrymen. The gorillas deserve better but so do the Congolese people. They all deserve to live in peace in a balanced natural environment free from oppression and genocide.


Encounters  runs through June 14 so you still have time to check it out.

When life gives you lemons, ...

Lou inspects the lemon crop

.. make Limoncello! And that's just what we did.

We had a bumper crop of lemons this year at Valley Lodge so we picked a bushel.

Along with Limoncello, we also made several bottles of Preserved Lemon or Lemon Pickle, a condiment that is common in North African, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines. Preserved Lemon is the key ingredient in many Moroccan dishes such as tagines. 

And the pickled pulp and juice can be used in Bloody Marys where they supposedly combine well with horseradish. Can't wait to try that!