Sue and I spent Christmas day at their farm and returned the favour on New Years Eve here at Lifespring farm.
Baby Philipa, 7 months
Jeremy, Age 5 and Dominic Age 2
The beauty is, that it’s only a 1/2 hour bike ride through the bush to go for visits.
The 450 acre farm has approx. 1000 cattle, 250 ewes with 1.5 lambs per sheep, 200 breeding cattle (1.75 calves per cow) which provide meat sales for the local Quiksave.
They have 2 dogs Penny & Lela & their passion is horse-back riding with riding beauties named Silky & Midnight. I was able to go riding on Christmas day which was a true highlight!
Preparing the horses for a sunset ride!!
Last August, Andrew found some unusual footprint markings on his farm (called spooring) and sent photographs to his fellow South African hunter friend who confirmed that a lioness and her baby cub had walked through their farm and over towards our banana crops!!
Then, this past Saturday, Andrew's guards heard an animal cry and went to find an old bushbuck recently killed behind the farm, with 2 distinct pawprint markings on it's body. Photographs were forwarded once again and confirmed that the prints belonged to a leopard!
They were more excited about the Bushbuck as these antelope are rarely found in our area. Leopards travel great distances to hunt their prey and then move very quickly on to the next place. Andrew has sent the pelt down to Lusaka to be preserved as this skin coat is so beautiful and extra special due to the leopard claw markings on the hind and front chest area.
To think, Sue & I went all the way to South Luangwa to catch a glimpse of a leopard, with no luck and here was one right in our backyard!!!
This family were kicked off their farm in Zimbabwe, where they left many worldly possessions, packed what little they could, and set for Zambia where they’ve made their home these past 3 years. We can only pray good things for struggling Zim at this time…
No comments:
Post a Comment