Hello from South Africa

September 22, 2015

Hello from South Africa

Yes, we finally made it! The visa arrived just in time for our second booking (let’s not talk about that first booking) and although we still don’t know why it took so long we are happy to forget about it and move on to the good stuff.

We are currently living on a dairy / beef farm somewhere called Underberg, not too far from Pietermarziburg. If you are not sure where that is, it is right here:

The day we arrived it was pouring with rain. Farmers were delighted but for us it was quite a shock to be in a cold and wet place. (Dare I say it, it reminded me of London). Luckily, it didn’t rain enough to keep us off the polo field and we were delighted to discover three beautiful polo pitches just for us to practice on!

After spending so much time on the small Mongol ponies it felt very, very bizarre to be back on a ‘normal’ size horse, especially while climbing off or on. As I jumped off I thought the ground would never come.

The best bit about being on a dairy farm (well, actually the two best bits) are to have deliciously fresh full cream milk every day - an unlimited amount of it - and lots of baby cows running around. I never realised how cute a one or two day old calf looked. Talking of what I know and don’t know, I have learned that cows hide their calves after they are born and only come back to feed them. The calves won’t move, even if a predator comes, until the mum comes back. I think this happens during a few days until the calf can keep up with his mum. The stuff you learn, I tell you.

We went for a long outback ride on the farm today and came across two antelopes that were soaking in the sun after several days of rain. We also met a snake with a bright yellow neck. He was not very happy about being disrupted by our horses but fortunately he didn’t bite any of them. Apparently, it is actually very rare to see a snake around here but I don’t want to know what would have happened if that were the case. Brrrrrr…