23/06/2008
Time Area and details of animal Weather: Sunny
Min temp: 06°C
Max temp: 20°C
07:30 Report
08:00 Went to Colenso to fetch the Handyman
08:45 Went in to Ladysmith to get a jigsaw and parts for the toilet and bits and pieces
for fixing the house and lodge
12:00 Saw 12 Giraffes on the main road at the stream leading to Tugela river
12:30 Went to the pond at the foot of the mountain, only saw 1 Grey Heron
13:00 Helped the handyman with the toilet to put another valve and float in
13:30 Went up to Mount Sully, saw 5 Zebras on the road leading up the mountain
14:00 Saw 2 Mountain Reedbuck just as I got to the top
15:15 Going down at the back near the N3 highway I saw 5 Kudu cows
15:30 Checked the prickly pears where I found the Prickly Pear Moths; looks like they
are attacking the prickly pears nicely
16:00 Took Handyman home
16:45 Home
24/06/2008
Time Area and details of animal Weather: Sunny
Min temp: 04°C
Max temp: 18°C
07:30 Report
08:00 Fetched Handyman
08:45 Went to ryefield to see which animals arrive there first
09:25 At the ryefield, some Impalas were on the field already and the 3 Blesbok were
making their way there, followed by another group of Impala and 24 Waterbuck,
no sign of the warthogs yet
10:00 Went back to the house to help the handyman with the office door that is stuck
10:30 Helped Mandla with his report
11:00 Went to Geluk to see if I could find the Wildebeest
11:30 Could not find them so I went to Vertrek to look for them there
12:30 Still could not find them, but I did see a group of 9 Kudus
13:00 Went to a neighboring farm to pick up a metal detector that I will use to see
what kind of artefacts I may find on the farm
14:30 Got home and went to Geluk to burn firebreaks, the grass is still a bit wet to burn
but we did manage to burn a little bit
16:00 Took handyman home
16:45 Home
25/06/2008
Time Area and details of animal Weather: Sunny
Min temp: 05°C
Max temp: 21°C
07:30 Report
08:30 Fetched Handyman in Colenso
09:30 Went to the ryefield to check on all the animals there, the usual were there - Groups of Impala, 3 Blesbok, 2 Warthogs and 24 Waterbuck
10:30 Went up to the lodge with the handyman, fixed the one leaky tap and the door that was stuck
11:30 Went home to check on the Prickly Pear Moths, they are still in their larvae form
and as soon as they turn into moths I will release some in Prickly Pear infested
areas
12:30 Went to the N3 Highway at the back to fetch two guys to help with the container
for the radio
13:30 Container arrived at Geluk farm, we offloaded it onto a trailer and secured it so
that it wont fall off if we transport it, that took a while to do, we will take it up the
mountain tomorrow
15:45 Took the container to Gevonden farm
16:30 Took staff back
17:15 Home
26/06/2008
Time Area and details of animal Weather: Sunny
Min temp: 05°C
Max temp: 22°C
07:30 Report
08:30 Got ready to take the Container up the mountain, we double checked everything
and fixed all the stuff that needed fixing
09:30 Started to make our way up the mountain with the container
10:40 At the steep part of the mountain we put the Land Cruiser in front of the tractor
and trailer so that we can have more traction going up, but that did not work
because the cruiser did not have enough traction and the chain got loose and the tractor and trailer slid backwards and jackknifed halfway up the steep section, luckily no one got hurt. Now we had to make a plan to get it all sorted out.
12:00 We borrowed another tractor from a neighbor that was also four wheel drive as
ours and he had to drive all the to the back and up the mountain from the other
side and reverse down the hill to get to the container.
13:15 We connected the two tractors with chains and started the climb to the top, went
very slowly, but we got the container on top
14:15 Took the container to the place where the mast for the radios will be
15:25 Offloaded the container with the help of the TLB Dozer.
16:30 Home
27/06/2008
Time Area and details of animal Weather: Sunny
Min temp: 04°C
Max temp: 20°C
07:30 Report
08:30 Went up the mountain to check on the Blesbok
09:30 Saw 7 blesbok on top of the mountain
09:40 Went down the back of the mountain
10:00 Saw 3 kudu cows just as I reached the bottom at the other side
10:30 Went to the lodge to check on the dam there, still got some water and I saw 2
warthogs there
11:30 Went to the ryefield to check on all the animals there, saw 7 blesbok, 24
waterbuck and 76 Impala and 4 warthogs
12:30 Went to the back at the N3 Highway where they are burning firebreaks
13:00 They burned about 2 km along the highway
13:40 Went down to the river to get the river pump out so that we can see what is
wrong with it, because it’s not pumping the water to the dams
14:40 Got the pump out of the freezing cold Tugela waters and took it to the house
15:00 Went to Vertrek to look for the blue wildebeest
15:30 Could not find them but saw 7 kudus along the way
16:30 Home
