Well, while I was on my way to take a snap of the parking area at the back of the school, this one horned gemsbok came walking out, he stopped, stared at me, I stopped, taking my camera out, he looked, walked towards me, less than three metres he stopped , posed, waited, I greeted him Good morning and enquired about the missing horn, he just gave a wry smile, I snapped the photo, and turned to walk to my car, he started to follow me to the car, I informed him that the space was limited and that my wife would not like those hoof prints over her little blue car, he nodded and then continued to walk eastwards down 11th ave------ dont you miss some things about this town...here are the snaps to show....
Fanstatic Mike. Great seeing new pics of om.
But, do you know what disapoints me? Missingb horn? You've got that wrong.
THAT'S A UNICORN!!!!
:ciupa1:
Nope Georg, you got it wrong, like Michele said, it's a unibok!
:36_2_35:
MIke,
During the years there have been a few of those with one horn, funny thing is that some times the horns are so symetrical that from the side even the two can seem to merge into one.
Before I left there was one Gemsbok that had a curled horn on the one side. ( KNOW IF ITS STILL AROUND )
Yep! Clive, that would be Curly, he's still AROUND, or at least he was about a month ago,
Yesterday Jaques Kemp drove to Rosh Pinah and passed a gemsbok with a horn in it's mouth, on closer inspection it was another gemsboks horn that this one had picked up and was chewing / rolling it in his mouth.... strange days!
:caldo1:
Looking at the bock again, I see that.....
:36_2_35:
Urbock
MeiBock.... suddenly all this bock talk is making me lus for a beer!
BierSuip
Don't forget the Doppel-Bock. It's got more alcehol... haha
I think about 8%
theres a guy there in oranjemund his name is bernhard bok i think he is at least 70% alcohol
Mike, i remember when i was a kid there was a smallish gemmie with 1 horn that everyone came to know as "Little One Horn" - he used to happily munch away on those grass verges that were in front of the old shopping centre without a care in the world for everybody going by. Anybody else remember him?
Who knows .. could be the same one .. being one horned they would be at a disadvantage in a group , most probably more so loners .. and " tamer " Mike .. good for you talking to him , I have always believed that the animal kingdom understands us more than we think or know ...
Sandy, it's a family thing, my father is renown for talking to the bee's! Now and again, I also have a wee chat to spiders that reside in my house, explaining to them why I have to relocate them to the garden.....and that'w when I'm sober.....
pls
My sister lived in those flats that they put the newly married couples into. The flats were in a |_| shape with grass in the centre. One night she heard something at the window, pulled on the blind, it shot up and she was staring straight into the eyes of a peeping tom Gemsbok. She got such a fright.
Me being a nature freak, that's one of the many things I miss big time about small town life, specially o'mund and it's uniqueness - living side by side with nature. I remember how we would tell our boarding school buddies about the gemmies walking around town, day and night, coming across them while walking home from the youth club at night and even when we showed them photos, they didn't believe us. thought we had touched up the photos.
my dad loved gardening and, can't remember exactly what the scenario was, but our garden gate got left open and he woke up/came home to nothing but stems left over from some flowers that he'd been lovingly nurturing. i could just picture the gemmie taking one chomp leaving nothing but empty stems.
Sandy, agree with you fully - animals are hugely under-estimated and definitely understand a lot more than we give them credit for. i've had a few scenarios with my cats which has proved that point. i have a conversation with them every afternoon when i get home from work - no coincidence that they answer me at the right time every time.
i was actually wondering if my "Little One Horn" could be the same one that Mike encountered - how long do they live? 'cos the time period i'm talking about was early 70's - could it the same one, he must've been a baby back then 'cos i remember he was small?
Delia we would have to read up on that one regarding lifespan ... glad to se the showing of talkers to the birds , bees and animal kingdom ... I talk to the birds in our garden ... they bring such joy ... we got whiteyes nesting they use my rainwater storage system as a bath in the morning and the evenings ,, they so happy .. do a bit of cleaning up on insects from the plants and then take some airplant as reward ( the rainwater system has a pump fountain circulating the water to keep it sweet .. closest to river water now ) so I sit in the garden and listen to their songs of joy ,, play a nice classical CD and they really get singing sometimes .. other one is we have an umbrella tree that produces huge bunches of berries .. the starlings and other birds feed there .. also very happy sounds .. sadly so I now cannot bring a new cat onto the property ..( had 12 at one stage ) when you have cats one finds the birds are frightened off .. so as much as I love cats I am giving the birds thir time ...
your garden sounds awesome Sandy - one of my favourite things in life is waking up to the birds - how can anyone have a bad day after that, the sweet sounds of nature introducing the new day. i live in a complex with a small postage stamp size garden which i love spending time in but in the courtyard there's a stunning big tree right outside my bedroom window which the birds love to congregate in. i hear them at dusk chattering away and i always imagine and believe that they're all catching up on their day, where they've been, what they've done, who they've seen. i still practise a ritual that my mom had all those years ago during my childhood in o'mund - feeding the birds with bread & fruit every day - we have a well maintainted courtyard in our complex with a large grassy area, lots of trees too - whenever any other tenants see bread on the lawn, they know it's me been at it again feeding the birds. i get such joy and pleasure seeing them feeding - i sit at my bedroom window and just watch them. brings such peace and calm to the soul. animals are directly in touch with the natural flow of life's energy.......if only humans lived out their lives the same way........ what a paradise it would be.............
At Mike
I liked your Gemsbok Pics but at the same time felt sorry, so here my version of it........howsthat as a xmas present ??? present
Hi oldman.
Wagging the dog again, hey?
laughpoint
now he's the king of gemsbok -
Damn, I knew I should have copyrighted that photo!......
hahhaa... good stuff Georg, just hope tribock logs onto the forum 2nite 2 c how much he has improved!
bighug
:36_2_35:
Sandy's garden is lurrverly beautiful...
Last Saturday, I took this photo of another twisted Gemsbok, relative of Unibok, introducing Curlybok at the Tank Park....
Seeing the pics that you took of the gemsbok and the park brought so many memories back for me and makes me want to return to the place where I was born. The houses/roads/fences etc in the background have not changed one iota. thnx for sharing the pics Mike. The gemsboks are beautiful creatures!! 23_11_61 . My dad can correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that he was chased in his land-rover once by one while driving in the desert image201
@ Jean - i also remember a story of some sort that my dad was also chased by a gemmie in his Landie - i don't know if it's my hazy memory playing tricks on me but i have memories that with my dad's case, the gemmie actually pierced the Landie's drivers door with the horn missing my dad's leg by an inch...............Lance, help me out here - am i imagining this story or did this really happen to dad?
I'm a firm believer in talking to Gemsboks and I can be often be seen talking to them when on my walks.... Gemsboks do not chase people if you are nice to them...... kinda like being nice to a leprechaun..... 23_146_26
Hi Delia...perhaps it was a story that I heard and it was your dad not mine ??!! The horn in the door rings bells. Mike, would they allow you close enough to touch?? Maybe after a few beers, eh? BierSuip
Jeanie, it must have been Ginger who was 'horned'. Not your dad. Have a very vague recollection it was Delia's dad. Her mum Stephanie will be able to clear this up.Love dad.
Mike, agree, gotta talk nicely to them - maybe this one was just having a bad hair day...........taking a flyer here but knowing my dad being the camera/photo freak he was, i wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to get a close up of the gemmie and gave it a fright or something causing it to charge, maybe it was a mommy with babies nearby.........i'll have to check the details with family members, maybe they know the proper story.
In the 70's there also was one gemsbok with a curled (saber like) horn. I remember he got caught in barbed wire fences once and had to be freed.
One night, just after TV started, I walked back from the Van Wyk's in E2/11 to our house. As I walked around one of the cypress trees that line the road, I came face to face with a gemsbok - I don't know who got scared the most, but I was the only one screaming! Not a very friendly painted face to walk into if you're about 9-10 years old and it's very dark! We of course ran away full speed in different directions, each believing we're being chased!
Lovely times!!!!
Thanks for the LOL Bertie - i can just picture it
laughpoint
Dee the story I recall was that the gemmie charged the Land Rover from the passenger's side, the horn penetrated the door and almost reached Dad, don't know whereabouts on the front seat he was sitting. Luckily there was no passenger. Bertie I also seem to recall a gemmie in the 70's with one of his horns which had grown sideways from his head as opposed to upwards. Can't remember his nickname, but I think he was given an Afrikaans nickname. Sandy we have a huge date palm tree in our garden which is home to many birds; starlings obviously, rock pigeons, ring neck doves, wagtails sometimes, cape weavers, etc. I agree it is lovely to hear and have them in your life, don't talk to them though, but I do give the juveniles a bollicking for not flying when I see them on the ground and maybe becoming cat or dog food. Our daughter and I actually sat and watched a weaver for about two hours one Sunday building his nest, stripping leaves from bulrushes growing in our garden. Educational for the kids as far as I'm concerned.
For me the laugh is the way they do the job of cleaning up a bit of scale etc .. meat ?/ and then rush and grab some airplant .. and off they go happy in the fact that they apid for their bit of nesting material .. with winter its quiet .. when th sun comes out and we get a warm day .. the starlings are busy eating the schlefera berries ( i must take pics ) .. but summer comes again soon and then they will be back in force making thier lovely sounds and appreciating what we have given them ..
@ Lance - Yes, we're talking about the same one. I think he was called "Ou kromhoring" or something to that effect. He was quite tame, and one of the older gemsbok gracing our parks.
thnx Boet - at least i know now it's not my fertile imagination running wild or me going senile............i have these hazy patches of memory from my childhood and sometimes wonder if they really did happen. reassuring to know i haven't quite left for la la land yet.............happy chappy
sorriso2
Bertie the name seems to ring a bell. As a lightey walking down the 7th Avenue alley (it was a long alley as I recall) at night, friends of mine and I encountered a gemsbok in the alley. Tell you what, we turned and ran hell for leather in the opposite direction obviously, contemplating jumping fences into gardens if he decided to chase us. Luckily he was a cool chap and most probably thought that his spot hadn't been threatened too much by our interference.
@ Lance - Talking about the alley - yes that one was a long one, totally different from the other alleys, with a lot of plants and trees hanging over the fences. We used to chase down it with our bicycles. If I remember correctly, there was a lemon tree which had nice thick-skinned lemons which we used to pick - they were delicious!