A drive in the countryside...come along via video

Apologies to readers of NTN for no news except for a funny goat story during the past two weeks. School started at Polytechnic, with a workshop for distance students. All of a sudden, life got busy. I'll blog about teaching soon. We haven't explored far into Namibia, yet, but are enjoying our small trips.

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:

It's been raining a lot near Windhoek, and the temperatures have been much cooler than when we arrived--still in the 70's and 80's. Other quick updates:

--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!

Goat behind bars for car theft

There are several papers for sale in Windhoek, in various languages with various viewpoints. As we drive Tristan to school and then on to Poly for me to go to work, we can buy a paper at several intersections for N$3 (about 30 cents, US). We purchase the Namibian, which is an independent paper (there is a government-backed paper called New Era) in English. Yesterday's top story is below, a report from Nigeria. Thought you might enjoy it! I've typed it word for word from the January 28, 2009 Namibian.

One interesting note--I tried to find "the photo" of the alleged criminal mastermind, and several internet sites purported to have the photo. But, they were all different goats and most were photos from the US (like a photo of a 4H goat project in Kentucky). You'll have to use your imagination, I guess. Just watch your car the next time you see a herd of goats...

Goat behind bars for car theft

LAGOS--Police in Nigeria are holding a goat handed to them by a vigilante group, which said it was a car thief who had used witchcraft to change shape.

In a front-page article on Friday, the VANGUARD, one of Nigeria's biggest daily newspapers said two men tried to steal a Mazda car two days earlier in Kwara State, with one suspect transforming himself into a goat as vigilantes cornered him.

A police spokesman in Kwara State has been quoted as saying that the 'armed robbery suspect' would remain in custody until investigations were over.

The VANGUARD newspaper has a picture of the goat and reports that police paraded it in front of journalists in the Kwara State capital Ilorin on Thursday. But that was denied by national police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu.

"The vigilante group arrested the goat and took it to the police, then they told the media." The next morning journalists turned up demanding to see the goat, he said. "But of course, goats can't commit crime."

Belief in black magic and the power to change shape is common in Nigeria, particularly in the far-flung rural areas. The BBC's Andrew Walker in Abuja says communities often rely on ill-educated and badly prepared vigilante squads to fill the gaps where police will not patrol at night.

Innocent Chukwuma of the justice reform group the Cleen Foundation, told BBC that many Nigerian police officers were poorly educated. "There are officers who don't even have a secondary school education, and the police have a big job to do in finding these people and getting rid of them."