On the morning of 15 November 2022, the My Wildlife SA team consisting of Susan as driver and Marcél as assistant leaves the Thabazimbi base to load 5 White Flank Ewes at Phala Phala at the request of Mr. Charl du Toit from Silent Valley Stud Game Breeders.
Upon our arrival at Mr. Ramaphosa’s farm at 07:00, we are warmly welcomed by Salome, we are informed that they were still loading the last few Blesbokke…
At 08:00 we were at the boma: The Veterinarian for the day is Dr. Dawid Snyman and he confirmed that the ewes are all in lamb with with a 27″ White Flank ram named “Pushback.”
At 08:27 Dr. Snyman informed us that only 3 of the 5 ewes he darted are pregnant and goes back to the boma to dart 2 others. By 08:51 the Ewes were loaded into Bulwa. The Ewes are checked, dipped, and woken up. After a last look, the team thanked everyone present and left for Bulge River.
Susan kept the team at Silent Valley Stud Game Breeders informed of their progress. At 11:48 we informed Nico that they were at the gate, and he informed us that they were still on the other side of the mountain…
12:15 We were escorted to the camp where the ewes were to be offloaded and waited for Nico and Jannie who were on their way from unloading a buffalo. We switch over to the Land Cruiser due to the steap hill and sandy road and soon we are back on the move! Many hands…little work! We open the doors and the Ewes jumped out nicely! No problems with unloading or on the road!
We thank the Silent Valley Stud Game Breeders team for their help and hassle-free offloading and leave the farm and returned to the Thabazimbi Base at 15:00.