Hello, Bonjour and Salibonani from Cawston Wildlife Estate, Northern Matabeleland where I help for about 2,5 months with the horses. The Cawston family is still growing and a second little foal was born, which we were waiting for the last couple of days. It’s a very cute and healthy little male with dark brown fur and a white star on his face. He runs around with our little female foal that was born almost 2 weeks ago (see this post) and the other donkey babies.
Little baby female donkey
KT is now 2 weeks old already
We just finished one horse safari on Cawston Wildlife Estate and started a new one. It’s always fun times even though it can get quite hectic. This will be my last safari in Cawston where I help Ridezimbabwe to operate the bush rides before I will head southwards to Matopos National Park.
Getting ready for an amazing bush ride
Off to work
Herd of gorgeous eland antelope
Unfortunately, I still struggle with my tick bite fever that has just possibly turned out to be a spiderbite according to my second visit to the doctor. It’s actually really confusing to me what it is and how to treat it. However, I really hope it’s going to get better just now, which can be basically everything between a couple of days and some months. I really want to go out on outrides in the bush and join the safaris for my last few days in beautiful Zimbabwe.
Ridezimbabwe team
Everything in Africa bites, but the safari bug is worst of all!
Brian Jackman
Meanwhile, I had the possibility to join two hunts, one for an impala and one for a zebra that was needed for lion bait. We never found an impala on that one day, but I enjoyed walking through the tick bushes, where I got caught up in the thorns every now and then. Whereas the zebra hunt was very quick and successful. We started first thing in the morning just when the sun was rising over the horizon showing off with the most lovely orange colored sky. We stalked a herd of zebras for a short time but they noticed us and ran away. So we drove to another spot, where we saw zebras just in front of the car. The shooting was so quick, I couldn’t even take a picture. Afterwards, we had to load the zebra on the truck and we drove straight back to the butchery. The job was done by early morning so there was plenty of time left to cuddle with all the foals.
Perfect start into the new working day
Trying to find impalas
Following the zebra tracks
I spent my first Friday night in town and got to experience the Bulawayo bars, which was lots of fun. As there was a power cut that day, we were dependent on the generators and hopped from one bar to another and back again to the first place. Funny enough we started and ended in one place that I saw when I had just started my Zimbabwean journey as it was a bar in front of the stables, where I helped with the donkeys and rescued horses. It turns out that Zimbabwe and it’s community is smaller than I thought.
Tin Cup bar during the day in front of the stables
Tin Cup bar during the night
The next morning, I got to experience the real city vibes of Bulawayo as I went to the bend over market, where you can basically buy everything from clothes to make-up. It was very interesting to see this kind of African flee market. However, I am very happy to have left the city and be back in the bush!
The bend over market
My new lessons learned while helping at Cawston Wildlife Estate:
- You can be bitten by plenty animals in the bush, but it’s still the most lovely place to be.
- Going on a hunt can be a very quick job.
- Bars in town close whenever the generator will be switched off.
Cheers to wandering the world and the wonders of our lives, hope to see you soon – bye bye, salut and lisale kuhle ∞