Otter Pleasure
Well, I'm back after a really long weekend ( thank you, as always to ESKOM for deciding to shut down all the power in the middle of a work week), so I got 2 more free days.
Since it was National Heritage Day on Friday, we decided to explore our natural heritage with a visit to the Southern Drakensberg. We left the booking a bit late (and forgot that it was school holidays), so after a whole mission, we discovered Penwarn Country Lodge, and thanks to a late cancellation managed to organise a room for the weekend.
So we joyfully set off on Thursday morning for a 6 hour trip to greener pastures. Unfortunately we forgot all our CD's at home, so we basically had a choice between static or RSG for most of the trip.
So, tired and hungry, we finally arrived at Underberg, only to drive around for another hour on dark and scary mountian dirt roads looking for the farm. What should have taken us 15 minutes, turned into an extra 80 km, because my friend got the directions wrong, and since there is allmost no cellphone reception in the mountains, we couldn't even phone for help.
But in the end, arrive we did, to a beautiful old sandstone barn, complete with real fireplaces and delectable mushroom soup.
Halfway through the meal though, I felt a movement next to my leg, and looked down to find Nimrod, a tame otter, trying to get onto my lap. Apparently he was attacked by dogs when he was only 2 weeks old, and then nursed back to health by Bruce and Peta (the owners of the farm). Now he spends one half of his time in the myriad of streams and dams on the farm, and the rest sleeping in under the couch cushions, playing with the guests or begging pork sausages from the kitchen.
Early the next morning, he came to visit us in our room after his morning swim, and proceeded to dry himself off on the carpet and fall asleep on our bed.
It is amazing how fond grew of him, even though I only knew him for 3 days, and I miss him allready.
Since it was National Heritage Day on Friday, we decided to explore our natural heritage with a visit to the Southern Drakensberg. We left the booking a bit late (and forgot that it was school holidays), so after a whole mission, we discovered Penwarn Country Lodge, and thanks to a late cancellation managed to organise a room for the weekend.
So we joyfully set off on Thursday morning for a 6 hour trip to greener pastures. Unfortunately we forgot all our CD's at home, so we basically had a choice between static or RSG for most of the trip.
So, tired and hungry, we finally arrived at Underberg, only to drive around for another hour on dark and scary mountian dirt roads looking for the farm. What should have taken us 15 minutes, turned into an extra 80 km, because my friend got the directions wrong, and since there is allmost no cellphone reception in the mountains, we couldn't even phone for help.
But in the end, arrive we did, to a beautiful old sandstone barn, complete with real fireplaces and delectable mushroom soup.
Halfway through the meal though, I felt a movement next to my leg, and looked down to find Nimrod, a tame otter, trying to get onto my lap. Apparently he was attacked by dogs when he was only 2 weeks old, and then nursed back to health by Bruce and Peta (the owners of the farm). Now he spends one half of his time in the myriad of streams and dams on the farm, and the rest sleeping in under the couch cushions, playing with the guests or begging pork sausages from the kitchen.
Early the next morning, he came to visit us in our room after his morning swim, and proceeded to dry himself off on the carpet and fall asleep on our bed.
It is amazing how fond grew of him, even though I only knew him for 3 days, and I miss him allready.
Labels: personal
posted by Onanymous at 1:16 am
2 Comments:
I LOVE otters! Your post is almost enough for me to put SA waaay higher on my list of places to see, just so I could go there! When visiting zoos, the otter enclosure is always the first thing I seek out, particularly with the intention of planning EVERYTHING around their feeding time.
I'm soooo jealous!
Sounds like a nice holiday, even the driving around in the dark...
I absolutely adore otters too. It was almost surreal to sit in front of a real fire with an otter sleeping on your lap.
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