We really learn to appreciate the small things in life when they are ripped from your life!

This week, on Monday, we were “allowed” to buy liquor. And although we have been fortunate in that Mick and Debbie had (notice the word “had”) a hidden collection of liquor, it was a treat to go to the bottle store and buy gin and beer and cider. And then to sit on the veranda that evening, sipping on my G&T, made with Durban 031 gin (the first South African distillery I wrote about), was such a treat, knowing that I didn’t have to measure SO carefully, to make it last.

It wasn’t just that. With “exercise” times removed and all the stores being open, it almost feels normal again. Whatever normal is! But for the most part, at least in this area, people are wearing masks and attempting to keep social distancing. Now I don’t have to rush out into the cold in the early mornings to be home by 9. I can wait until it warms up a bit.

Apparently, there will be some internal flights in a couple of weeks but no international yet. And I haven’t been able to ascertain whether I would have to go in to 14 isolation when I get back. So it’s all still a “wait and see”.

An interesting development is the high court has ruled that Levels 4 and 3 are illegal! We’re on Level 3 now. And that the government body in charge of the illogical rules and regulations has 14 days to correct them so they don’t infringe on our constitutional rights! We’ll have to wait and see what happens!

Bundu Bashing

Although we aren’t supposed to socialize, our lives are expanding a bit.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon out in the bush, “bundu bashing.”

Bit of a long story but I have volunteered to help with the Ashburton Aloe Festival, to take it virtual. I did not volunteer to build the site or anything that intense, but one of things I am doing is writing about the Lower Mpushini Valley Conservancy’s park warden named Hardlife. He took me out into the Conservancy yesterday and taught me a lot about the area and about the animal poaching he is responsible for stopping. The poachers go after the zebra for their skins, wildebeest for the meat and other animals for food as well.

The Conservancy is a Protected Environment under the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Stewardship Programme and is home to Leopard, Black-backed Jackal, various Mongoose and other predators. I had no idea there were leopards in the area and one of the first things Hardlife told me is to look up when you walk under trees as they sit up there, waiting! Then jump down onto your back and grab your neck!

Fortunately, it was mid-day and the animals were hiding!

Hardlife was kind to me, and we only walked through the bush in a vast flat area! It was very hot, so we weren’t hiking up hills and down dales. But we still walked through a range of different vegetation and he showed me how and where the poachers set snares and how he finds them. With his trained eyes, he sees things that I couldn’t make out! Small indications that an animal - or human - had been there. He identified the skeleton of a young zebra and identified hoof marks on the dusty trails.

And to end the hike, we drove back to my car on his quad bike!

Now the sun is going down, it’s almost mid-winter, but I am enjoying the last rays on the veranda before putting my winter woolies on as the temperature plummets.