The One Horned Gemsbok!

Delia · December 14, 2007, 07:31:35 AM

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.............

georgswa (Georg Ruf) (RIP) · December 14, 2007, 08:16:41 AM

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

georg ruf jr. · December 14, 2007, 08:22:27 AM

Hi oldman.
Wagging the dog again, hey?

barb (Fry) · December 14, 2007, 08:30:04 AM

now he's the king of gemsbok -

Michael Alexander · December 14, 2007, 09:54:56 AM

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!

georg ruf jr. · December 14, 2007, 10:05:45 AM

:36_2_35:

Bev Coates (Now Walker) · January 05, 2008, 01:54:46 AM

Sandy's garden is lurrverly beautiful...

Michael Alexander · July 28, 2008, 06:30:22 PM

Last Saturday, I took this photo of another twisted Gemsbok, relative of Unibok, introducing Curlybok at the Tank Park....

Jean · July 29, 2008, 10:03:41 AM

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.

for sharing the pics Mike. The gemsboks are beautiful creatures!!

. 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

Delia · July 30, 2008, 06:18:13 AM

@ 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?

Michael Alexander · July 30, 2008, 07:37:17 AM

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.....

Jean · July 30, 2008, 10:27:03 AM

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?

Gordon Brown · July 30, 2008, 10:46:27 AM

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.

Delia · July 30, 2008, 11:42:06 AM

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.

Bertie Horak · July 30, 2008, 12:00:10 PM

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!!!!