The Elephant, the Volkswagen and a Lesson in Manners…

Elephant vs. Volkswagen in His Own Garden

Ahhhh, beautiful morning!  Too bad about this headache, shouldn’t have had so much fermented Marula fruit yesterday… Getting too old for that sort of thing, I guess. Hmmm… Just have a quiet stroll down the road; see how the Mopani is coming along… Then down to the river for a splash…

What’s that sound?  A motor? Oh no, not again…these things are everywhere! But my own garden? Outrageous! Oh well, I’m not moving over, they’ll just have to wait… Click on a picture to enlarge.

Elephants have bad days too and long memories... It's better to be polite.

Animals Missing in Africa…The Aardwolf

My first encounter with an aardwolf happened at dusk on a lonely stretch of Cape road.  The animal was crossing the main highway and in the half-light, I wasn’t sure what I had seen.  In all the years we have spent in aardwolf country, this was a first. The quick impression was of a greyish colored animal and my instant thought was “big dog”! Fortunately M knew what we’d seen so I started to research this new (to me) animal.  I was very surprised to find out how striking the aardwolf’s markings actually are, given that first fleeting glimpse. OK, they spend a lot of their time underground so dust-covered also means dust-colored.  Like the Aardvark, the aardwolf isn’t actually in any danger of extinction; they are just unknown.

Aardwolf

 

As another one of the creatures seldom seen in Africa; the aardwolf, like many of these rarely seen animals, is mainly nocturnal and very shy.  The Afrikaans name means earth wolf because they use the abandoned underground burrows of other animals in which to sleep during the day. They only emerge at night to hunt Harvester Termites, their primary food source. 

Aardwolf at Night

 

The aardwolf is classified in the same family as hyenas, although without the strong jaws and fearsome teeth of the hyena, they usually eat insects, especially termites. With its long, sticky tongue, an aardwolf can eat as many as 200,000 to 300,000 termites (and a lot of ground) during a night. Part of the colony is always left to re-establish for future meals; a new twist to sustainable use. During winter, ants and other insects, like insect larvae and eggs of terrestrial birds, can form part of their diet although they can lose up to 25% of their total body mass during lean times.

Early Illustration

 

The aardwolf does look a bit like a dog, but has the same long front legs and short hind legs, characteristic of the hyena. Apart from this similarity in appearance, the aardwolf is much smaller and lighter than its cousin, weighing in at about fifty pounds (22 kgs) and standing about twenty inches (50 cms) tall at the shoulder. When frightened or threatened, the hairs of the body and mane stand erect, giving the impression of a much larger, fluffier animal.  I’m hoping that our planned trips into the field to gather more adventures for Wildmoz.com will give me a chance to see more of these hidden animals.

With Thanks to Wikipedia for the Images.

 

African Folktales...How the Leopard Got His Spots.

One day, Hyena, for no real reason other than his natural bad temper, put Tortoise up into the fork of a tall tree, where he could not get down. The leopard passed by and seeing Tortoise caught up in the tree, said to him “Do you also climb trees, Tortoise?"

Tortoise, who was very weary from his struggles said, "The hyena put me up here, and no matter how hard I try, I am unable to climb down." Leopard remarked, "Hyena is a bad lot," and so saying, took the tortoise out of the tree and placed him back on the ground.

Tired Tortoise

The Tortoise, out of gratitude for his rescue, said to Leopard "Let me make you beautiful” to which Leopard readily agreed. And Tortoise did so by painting him with spots, saying, as he worked, “Where your neighbor is good, be you also good.” Leopard, when Tortoise was finished, went off and all those he met admired him so much that they wanted to know "who has made you beautiful?”

Beautiful Leopard

This tells not only how the leopard got his spots, but why he’s a creature of the wild; for when the people hoeing their vegetables, saw him they exclaimed, "Oh! The beauty! Catch it and let us tie it up!" so Leopard fled into the bush, where he has remained ever since. The hyena too, met with his just deserts, and here's how it happened…

Scruffy Hyena

Leopard met Hyena on the path, who asked, 'Who beautified you?' Leopard answering, said 'It was the tortoise.' So the hyena said, 'Let him beautify me too,' and went away to the tortoise with the words, “Make me beautiful!” “Come,” said Tortoise, and began painting him saying, “Where your neighbor is a bad lot, be you too a bad lot!” Tortoise then said to Hyena, “Go to the place where the people are hoeing.” But at the sight of Hyena, they all cried “That's an evil thing! Kill! Kill! Kill!” Hyena turned tail and disappeared into the bush, saying, “I will smash the tortoise today wherever I find the little beast! Before I had only stuck him up in a tree-fork.” And he burst out at the spot, but found no sign of the tortoise, who had gone down a hole...

"So nowadays they laugh at a hyena in the villages.” You see, one evil follows upon another."

 

Grateful Thanks to Wikipedia for the Images

 

To Mothers Everywhere...With Love from Africa

For Mothers (and families) all over; some awwww pictures of typical African mothers.

Brand New

A mother's heart is a patchwork of love.  ~ Anon

Spot the Cub

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool mom. 

                                                  ~ Anon

Awww, Mom, Come on... Pleeeeeze

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.  ~ Jewish Proverb

Hey Mom!  Those Peepilz is Watching Us...

All mothers are working mothers.  ~ Anon

Nap Time

The mother of boys, works son-up to son-down.  ~ Anon

Baby Elephant Walk

A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done.  ~ Anon

Hey Mom! What's That?

Even a beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother.  ~ Moorish Proverb  

Psst Mom...They're Watching...Stop Already!

 

Mother is a verb, not a noun.  ~ Proverb

Happy Mother's Day - with love from CJ 

Traditional African Recipes - Ntomo Krakro

We have been chained to our computers, working on the new website, Wildmoz, set to launch soon. I’ll put the link up on the right in the next few days and you’ll be able to sign-up for notification when we go live! Posting here is going to be sporadic for a while but there are folktales, interesting animals, new adventures, bush stories and much more, coming up. 

Cooking for a Crowd

Here’s another traditional recipe I was shown when new to the role of a farmer’s wife.  Anna, who was from the Northern Sotho tribe, taught me how to make these and a variation, pumpkin fritters – an old Afrikaans favorite. Cooking is a great leveler; connecting with others over simmering pots of food eased my way into my new life. 

Traditional Raw Material - Sweet Potatoes

These traditional fried cakes are great with stews but they’re also yummy with a braai (BBQ). When made with sweet potatoes, the cakes are crumbed and fried for a savoury side dish.

If you are using pumpkin or butternut, the fritters are dusted with flour before frying.  These are served by themselves as a light supper or sweet dish and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  M’s favorite is a squeeze of lemon over the cinnamon sugar to sharpen the flavor. After much trial and error, I prefer butternut squash as it has a lower glycemic index and is firmer than pumpkin.

Ntomo Krakro - Sweet Potato Fritters

4 sweet potatoes or substitute - 4 – 5 Cups when cooked and mashed (2 lbs or 1 kg)

2 large eggs

1 T flour

2 T butter or fat, melted

1/4 tsp. salt

Water (or milk if preferred)

Bread crumbs for coating

Oil for frying

Peel your sweet potatoes, (yams, pumpkin or butternut) and cut into rough chunks. Boil or steam until soft and mash. Beat eggs with the flour, butter and salt and mix in the cooled, mashed vegetables; then add enough liquid to make a soft-ish dough. You want to be able to form the dough into flat cakes, a bit smaller and thinner than an English muffin.  If you like, you can dip the formed cakes into a beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs. This is traditionally done to the fritters when using sweet potatoes or yams. Leave this step out if using pumpkin or butternut and lightly dust the cakes with some flour before frying as follows: Fry in hot fat until golden brown and cooked through.

Drain well and serve hot.

Raw Materials - Butternut Squash

If made with pumpkin or butternut squash, serve with cinnamon sugar and lemon wedges as a light meal or sweet dish. Enjoy and don't let on they're vegetables...

               An empty belly is the best cook.  ~Estonian Proverb