Finally an update of the recent events at Harnas.
The two most pleasant news are for shure the two new additions "Lost" and "Klippie"!
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Under the name of Lost is a young leopard girl that arrived at Harnas, while the family van der Merwe was in Germany. Marieta was already tempted to take the next flight home, to take over the feeding personally (a drop of milk in the lungs can be deadly) but thankfully the little one was kind enough to survive and to welcome her new stepmother healthy at her return!
Lost (somehow the "working-title" got stuck on her) came from the area around Okahanja and no one really knows, what she has been through in her young life, but Lost seems to have a fighters nature. She stumbled litterary in the farmers house, who brought her to the vet, where she got an infusion as she was completely dehydrated. After they had contacted Harnas, Frikkie went to collect her and ever since, she is mixing up life on the farm (and Marietas kitchen) as good as she can.
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The second- presumably - female newcomer is Klippie, a giraffe girl. She was also found by some neighbour farmers and apparently her mother didn't have milk and expelled her. As Klippie ("afrikaans" for "little stone" � what Frikkie was thinking when he gave her the name is not really known...) isn't behaving very cooperative when it comes to defining her sex, the brave volunteers, who want to get a view underneath her tail, are treated with kicks- therefore we still do have some reservations about her being female. (The shy- or should we say uptight?- behavour could be an indicator...)
Klippie is also the "face" of our brand new christmas-campaign.
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coockoo!
The giraffe couple that is living free in the game area has also had a little addition to their family! The "little one" has well survived the first three wees and we hope it will keep its health and will chase away potential preditors like cheetahs |
Four baby wilddogs have arrived at Harnas. They come from diffrent litters from the area of Otjiwarongo.
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Trust the lion, is becoming more and more a "real" lion, therefore he is disqualified from his regular walks. (Maybe he planned it all and prefers to walk through the bush just with Frikkie anyway ?!)
We are very sorry to inform you about three losses- one of the african wildcats- that was very popular with the working guests and was named "Mercury" as well as the tame meercat Tallulah have been victims of snakebites. We also had to say our goodbyes to Poppie one of the vervet monkeys. His adventurous nature led him into the caracal enclosure. We will always remember them, each of them was a very special character.
There have been quite many changes for the working guests too, as the new "volunteer-village" has been finished. As before parts of the workingguests used to live in the volunteerhouse or in the Wendys, now all the accomodations are located behind the farmhouse.
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There are wooden cottages, each with four places to sleep. Very special is the fact, that only two sides have walls, the other sides are completely covered with mosqitoenets and on the outside is a linnen coating that may be rolled up or down. Beside this marvelous "feeling of living in the bush" these cottages give the opportunity to be cooled by the wind without inviting all the mosquitoes too ... Males and females are accomodated in seperate cottages and each bed has its own cupboard for private things. Bedding and linnen are provided. The cottages are lockable, but not the cupboards- so all valuables may still be put into the safe.
The new Wendys are built on small posts to prevent the small digging subtenants from moving in and there is a community wash-room with hot showers and toilets.
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"Nicer doing a wee
in the bush" |
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The small village is completed with a view to a big waterhole and with its own kitchen- and diningarea. |
If anyone of the future volunteers is still wondering, wheather to bring a sleepingbag, helping to decide might be the question, if you'd like to spend a night with the three tame cheetahs...
More working guest reports in the brand new part 5 working guest diary!
Maybe you have noticed, that the information about the new farm have been taken out. The farmes are now completely seperated, in order to be able to have a better organisation. Therefore N/a´an ku se has now its own website(www.volunteersnamibia.com). N/ a´an ku se is managed by Marlice and Rudie van Vuuren, Marieta, Jo and Schalk van der Merwe are still on Harnas.
If you're still looking for a nice gift for your loved ones, we have some ideas- we can highly recommend the drawing art from the wildlife artist Annika Funke, not only has she drawn charming portraits of diffrent animals from Harnas (visitors of the charity had the chance to win one of her drawings at the lotterie) but is also talented in drawing pets. For further information have a look at her beautiful homepage www.closetoafrica.de |
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Further our Harnas calendar would make a good impression on your wall and if you have a favorite photo from Harnas it would be looking good on one of the bags, that you can see in our fan-shop too.
If you have followed the tv-series "Auf nach Afrika" and maybe have missed some parts or would like to see them again- the series is now on DVD available at Amazon. (Just have a look for "Auf nach Afrika", there are several edditions.)
Last but not least we want to establish a "community-christmas-adoption-campaign", that will be supported by a diffrent animal each year. The giraffe girl Klippie will start the business, she is looking for godfathers- and mothers for the year 2008.
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Everone who has made a donation to the german Harnas bank account until the 31st of december 07 (keyword "Klippie"), will be listed as godfather/- mother on a special site and will recieve a certificate about the participation in the campaign (up to 50 Euro for selfprinting, from 50 Euro on for Europe - 100 Euro worldwide on noble paper printed in one colour via mail- please email your adress to Astrid Behrendt.) You will find the details for the bank account here
We would be looking forward if many certificates would be found under the christmastrees!
If you're horrified by the hectic pre-christmas-time- just do it like Lost & buddies take a deep breath and let your soul float! In that respect: Have a relaxed Advent! |
