I missed the baboons! It seems baboons came to frollick outside the school yesterday. The kiddies tried to tell me and, because I don’t understand a word they say, I told them to sit down and do their work.
Poor Bully (the great big dog) got attacked by elands last night. Elands have long horns and Bully decided to pick a fight with one of them as it came walking through the yard. It seems being a bully really doesn’t pay off!
Really there is nothing around here that will hurt you unless you pick a fight with it. Most of the animals will defend themselves. When I go walking I wear by clodhopping boots so that any creatures will hear me a mile away and they won’t think I’ve snuck up on them.
The owner told me of a lost archaeological site somewhere on the farm. There is a game that is played all around Africa that is usually made out of wood with cups carved into it. There are two lines of 8 cups running parallel. You take pebbles and move the pebbles from one cup to the next. I’m not sure of the rules, but it is very strategic. Each country has a different name for the game.
Somewhere along the riverbed these game cups have been carved into the stone. Someone found then about 20 years ago and said there were so many that they called the site “little Las Vegas”. They could never find the site again. Maybe the sands had shifted along the river bed to cover it up. It might be fun to go and look for it.
The owner also gave me a document on “human development” that was written by a past volunteer which shows how the development of the farm, the new (relative) prosperity and the use of technology by the farm workers has effected their culture. One point was that the introduction of television has made it so the younger generation is no longer taught the traditional Damara games. I seem to have a captive audience with the kiddies. Maybe I’ll see if I can get one of the older folks to help me reintroduce these games.
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