BootsnAll Travel Blogs

OK, lots to write as its been a while since I got internet access:

I left Tuli and spent a day in Johannesburg (Joburg) with a guy called Will who is also on his way to GC. We had a tour around Joburg to while away the day…and visited Soweto (SOuth WEstern TOwnship) which was pretty dire: imagine a corrugated shack worse than you see on most allotments in England, and you have someones home!…they all seemed pretty happy considering though

Next day and a one hour flight to Kimberley where we met Trudie….who – in the middle of a discussion on the merits of women drivers- managed to drive the car over a block of metal in the road, splitting the fuel tank !..luckily we hadnt much further to go to meet Jan who took us the 1 hour drive to Jan Kempdorp…and ‘home’for the next 6 weeks…except it aint often home as the GC team moves around the counrty a lot from farm to farm.

Basically the team catches and buys animals from farms for sale to other farms, generally

Catching is done by building a ‘funnel’of tarpaulin curtains into which the animals are herded/shepherded by Aijtie (”Aykie’) in his R22 chopper: as the animals pass through the ‘funnel’ (or Boma) curtains are pulled behind the animals driving them fuirther in adn stopping them from turning around; finally they are driven through a metal ramp into the back of one of the 3 trucks the team use.

Our job is to close the curtains behind the animals as the chopper drives them thru…depending n which curtain you are on, you can get right up close to the animals

on our first day we caught Waterbuck, Zebra and Blue Wildebeest on Ryans farm in the Kalahari – his is a beautiful farm with deer roaming in a pasture right outside our rooms !…and we had the BIGGEST steak ive EVER seen…it must have been 60mm thick and the size of a tea plate too….nice!

After that I managed to get a number of muscle injuries – apparently its age (thanks Lisa) – one of them was a groin strain I got as I climbed back out of a truck after grappling with Blesbok (putting plastic pipes over their horns to prevent injuries)

the next day was my first flight in the (or any) chopper..which was nice. We also spent soe of the day darting black wildebeest and Kudu bulls – great fun: basically a fella hangs out of the chopper and darts the animals, then we chase after the animal, in pick-up trucks (or ‘backies’ ) till it falls (literally) asleep, then you race to it, and carry it into the truck and race back to the main trucks where an antidote to the sedative is given…lots of fun careering around in the bakkies and actually touching/carrying the animals.

Also a lot of fun is catching Springbok: its done in the bomas still, but at the narrow end, nets are hung which the springbok spring (see wot I done there?) into, then we have to run in and grab the bok by their legs and keep them till they are injected with a sedative, then carry them onto the truck!…very exciting (I managed to get my hand impaled on one oif their horns after someone lost their grip n it and it made a dash for freedom – dont worry, I’ll live.

Weve also had snow!!!!!…yep in Africa!..its like REALLY cold in the mornings and evenings….thermal weather!…and there aint no heating in the house in JK either – only I could go to Africa and get cold!

well….Banff is like a proper town compared to Jasper (which feels kinda more of a community)
the hostel is really nice – more like a hotel than a hostel – complete with cafe an bar …which is nice ;^)
the walks are more tourist than up in Jasper…I climbed Sulphur mountain – took 1 hour 11 minutes…I thought I was gonna be the first one to walk up that day – until a 50yr old fella came RUNNING past me! ….on the plus side he’s busy training for a himalayan climb..so I dont feel so bad about him beating me. the trip down was via gondola….but that was like MEGA pricey (the Jasper ride is free to come down)
I toured the caves and springs which were the origins of the town, also visited the Hoodoos – these are pillars of sandy rock whcih have been eroded into weird shapes over the years.
Fave place around here is Two Jack lake…its a nice lake with Mount Rundle as the backdrop. Very peaceful place and not too heavily visited either (apart from one day when it was taken over by some canadian scuba divers – boy! those guys know how to travel: big trucks towing trailers with EVERY possile camping/bbq/scuba accessory possible!
Minnewanka (careful) lake is OK, but its been dammed to raise its level so it feels a bit manufactured. Johnston Canyon was a nice walk: the lower falls are full of old people so they get a bit busy, but as you continue climbing, the numbers drop and the scenery improves until you reavh the upper falls which are pretty damn kewl. Above that agian, is the ‘inkpots’ which are natural springs bubbling into indentations in the ground – theyre pretty good, but the backdrop of the mountains is fab!
Ive been driving the Bow valley parkway each evening to try and see some more animals – you know, like in Moose Meadows: nowt. not a thing – apart froma a roadkill squirrel!
On the day I drove up to Lake Louise, i walked up Castle Mountain lookout – excellent views across the valley to Storm mountain etc. I met an elderly Virginian couple there (Chuck & Adella): really nice people, they’ve even invited me over to their place, should I been around that area (though I prolly wont be)….nice people
After Castle Mountain I drove into B.C. to the Kootenay park and walked up to Stanley Glacier – its was OK, but Ive seen better. Interesting thing was the forest there was decimated in a forest fire, so the trees are mainly blackened and dead…….oh, the fire was in 1968!!!! (how long does it take for a forest to recover???????)