The One Horned Gemsbok!

[Michael Alexander]

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....

[georg ruf jr.]

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!!!!

[Michael Alexander]

Nope Georg, you got it wrong, like Michele said, it's a unibok!

:36_2_35:

[Clive Symes]

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 ) 

[Michael Alexander]

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!

[georg ruf jr.]

Looking at the bock again, I see that.....
:36_2_35:

[Michael Alexander]

Urbock
MeiBock.... suddenly all this bock talk is making me lus for a beer!

[georg ruf jr.]

Don't forget the Doppel-Bock. It's got more alcehol... haha
I think about 8%

[darryl weidemann]

theres a guy there in oranjemund his name is bernhard bok i think he is at least 70% alcohol

[Delia]

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?

[SandyB]

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 ...

[Michael Alexander]

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.....

[Florrie van Zyl (Muir)]

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.

[Delia]

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?

[SandyB]

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 ...