The day started out with breakfast at Fransoice and Aurelia's farm. We had breakfast sandwiches and juice/coffee/tea. Wrangling up some deer like animals was one of our tasks for the day. The animals we were wrangling up were being sold to a farmer, so we needed to round up the 5 that were being sold. Needless to say, we wrangled up 1, and then left it to the farm hands to wrangle up the other 4 while we moved on to other things.
To capture the animal, the herd had to be chased to a corner area. Once they were grouped against the fenced area, we formed a line with a net. The animal was chased towards the net and captured with only the net between us capturers and the charging animal. I was glad that the animal did not make a dash into the part of the net I was holding. When it leapt into the net, the people that were on the net where the animal jumped into were yelling and jumping back from the excitment/scariness. I think it was Max who tackled the animal and held it down, so that it could be loaded into the pen, and eventually the trailer.
A visit was paid to Fransoice's trophy room, an impressive collection of African animals he has hunted (seemed to be 15-20 different trophied animals in the room). The giraffe is the highlight of Fransoice's trophies, and he is in the midst of building a large trophy room with vaulted ceilings, so the giraffe can be displayed to scale, in regards to its height.
Shooting lessons were another activity of the day. We had a target we were shooting at. The person with the best shot on the target got to go out on the land and shoot an animal. I held my own, with the best shot through the first few rounds of shooters. My shot was eventually surpassed by a better shot, although I was still glad I could say I actually hit the target. I was nervous right before I pulled the trigger, not really knowing what to expect, as far as force, noise etc. When I did pull the trigger, I was surprised at the volume of the sound of the gunshot. It messed with my hearing for a few minutes, but was nothing major. Shooting was a positive experience, and something I would try again.
A lot of time was spent cruising around in the back of the truck, checking out what was on the land, and going between the two farms. Bumping around the mountains with about 15 of us in the back of a truck was an adventure in itself!
The region where we were for the weekend was absolutely beautiful. There really is a lot to be said for how relaxing and freeing it is to be out on the open land.
After a lunch of sandwiches, homemade desserts and tea/coffee, Winnie and Aurelia took us out hiking up one of the mountains. It was a really nice afternoon, and felt great to be out moving around in the sun. The first male and female hikers to the top of the mountain got a prize, which I can assure you I was not the winner of! I had to hike back a bit from the front line of the race and catch people in case they tumbled back down the mountain.....ahahahahahaha
After our hike, we went back to Fransoice and Winnie's farm to relax, watch rugby and sit outside conversing. Supper was another scrumptious spread, again leaving us feeling like it was Thanksgiving. Steak with homemade mushroom sauce was definitely enjoyed by all of us, who do not regularily dine on steak in Annie's Cove.
After supper, we loaded up into the truck and went on a nightime game drive, looking for animals. While we did not see much on the drive (we didn't stay very quiet, which probably didn't help much), it was an enjoyable way to end a good day.
Sunday morning we had breakfast at Manus and Winnie's. We had breakfast sandwiches and juice/tea/coffee. After breakfast we loaded into the truck with Manus and went out to hike down to the river that runs through Manus's farm. The area which we swam runs between two really large rock structures, so it was really scenic. The water was freezing, a temperature I barely adjusted to while swimming through the water! It was warm outside though, so I had no problems warming up once I got out of the water.
After our hike/river adventure, we loaded up the shuttle and started our trek back to Port Elizabeth. The weekend was really enjoyable, made so awesome because of the gracious and welcoming hosts we had. It was really great to spend sometime out in the mountains, in good company, getting a taste of the family experiences that we all miss at moments during our time abroad. Thank you Manus, Winnie, Fransoice and Aurelia for a great South African farm experience!
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