On Saturday, we took the morning to visit the oldest game farm in Namibia, according to their signage: Duerstenbrook. The name means "duck forest", and it was situated in a beautiful bend in a river, overlooking a valley. We'll put some photos on the Picasa link to show the scenery. This will be a video-laden blog for your enjoyment.
We traveled to Duerstenbrook with a fellow Fulbright family. They have 3 kids, and recently purchased a Land Rover. Of course, we are employing our massive field vehicle, Polly, our Toyota Corolla.
We left town bright and early, and arrive a bit after 9 for the morning cat feeding at Duerstenbrook. They have 2 leopards and 7 cheetahs in fenced enclosures. The kids all enjoyed seeing cats close-up.
Cheetahs are an interesting creature, with several adaptations that allow them to be efficient hunters. We have heard that cheetahs have a poor sense of smell (they don't track their prey--they kill it and eat it quickly, because other, bigger cats and hyenas will come chase them away) and that they are far-sighted--having excellent vision to see prey in the distance, but very poor sight close-up. We got some pretty good evidence of this during the feeding today--the tour driver tossed some meat that got hung up on a thorn in a tree, above the ground. The cat in the video is actually the third cat to try to find the meat. They could smell it 'somewhere', but could they see it? Could they find it? At one point, he looks right at it, and it swings right above his head. Take a look:
After the cat drive, we saw some 'wild' wildlife on the way back to the main road. We passed a pretty big herd of impalas that were enjoying the lush grass along the river:
The road to Duerstenbrook included an 18-km stretch of gravel, and most of it was very good. Because of high water across the main road, we were directed by small signs on a detour through some two-track pasture roads, through 4 gates, and forded the river at a better location. Even this crossing made us get out to check water depth to see if Polly could make it across. Of course, she could! We took this video on the way out:
--Tristan has a part in "Fiddler on the Roof" which will be put on by the International School's middle grades. He's the butcher. They only had 4 boys try out, so the lead male parts are played by girls--tradition! If I were a rich man, I'd buy you all plane tickets to come watch. I'm not sure of the production date, but it will be here soon (quickly go the days...). I'm not sure if it will be held at sunrise or sunset. OK, enough 'Fiddler' puns. Try to keep your balance...
--Tristan has started two sports at WIS (Windhoek Int'l School): track and field, and baseball. After only two practices, he represented WIS in the city track meet (private schools) in the shot put. He got 5th place. Baseball is a new sport at WIS--started by one of the Fulbright dads, who got a nice donation of gloves and other equipment from a Michigan little league team. Namibia is all about cricket, so baseball is new for most kids at WIS. Both sports practice once a week after school.
--We enjoyed an afternoon at the US Ambassador's house last weekend--she invited all Americans in Namibia to come chat and enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs and some American movie trivia games. There were about 80 folks there--and 650 Americans are in Namibia on 'extended stays' (longer than 3 months).
--Regular classes start this week at Polytechnic. I'm teaching a research methodology (research proposals and statistics) by distance to 4th year students and helping with a natural resource management course. We're going to draw up a management plan for a local game farm--introducing problem-based learning ideas.
--We got our first mail from the US--took a bit over 1.5 weeks from Iowa and Nebraska. Arrived just fine. It was a happy moment!
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