Far from the madding crowd

Michael - Thursday

This blog is courtesy of Aron Frankental, a very good friend and superb wildlife photographer. His other claim to fame is as a character in A Carrion Death where he became one of the murder victims. Well, a lot of characters suffered that fate in the book. It was nothing personal. He and Jenny decided to abandon the slings and arrows of Covid 19 in Johannesburg and spend lockdown at the bungalow we share in the Olifants River Game Reserve, which borders the famous Kruger National Park. They have been here for about two months now, lucky devils!

Waterbuck in the Olifants river in front of the bungalow

Stan and I decided that they had the right idea, and three weeks ago headed up here to join them. The only difficulty was getting permission to travel (finessed by the need to do "maintenance" at the bungalow), and the ban on the sale and transport of alcohol. Of course, we would never do anything illegal. Maybe we did bring rather more boxes of books for the shop here to sell than was absolutely necessary given the rather limited clientele. 

On patrol

Our timing was perfect. While Knysna and Cape Town have been experiencing cold and rainy weather, it's been mostly warm and pleasant here. Sometimes very warm. Wednesday reached 95 F.

It's amazing how quickly the whole Covid stress and rigmarole falls away. Here we need no masks, wash our hands as usual, and relax. The only difference is that we keep away from the other visitors more than usual. Fortunately, we now have a good internet connection at the bungalow courtesy of a radio link to the town of Phalaborwa to the north. So we have no withdrawal symptoms requiring frequent trips to the central office half an hour away

So much to learn!

Apart from the good company, food and wine, the main attraction here is the animals and birds, many of which come down to drink at the river that flows in front of the bungalow. Game drives through the surrounding wilderness areas yield all sorts of interesting sighting and experiences. I've taken some pictures with my cellphone, but Aron's professional ones are incomparably better. The one at the top is not from this trip, but it was taken here and won the Wild Planet Photo Magazine Leopard Day photo competition. 

Here's a selection of ones from this visit.

Long day

Elephant storming down the riverbank for a drink

African hunting dogs
Seems to be a small altercation about whose pool this is

White Fronted Bee eater sunning itself

A wake of vultures
Great title for a book!

Any questions?

Once again, Thanks to Aron for sharing these great pictures!

Geseënde Kersfees en 'n Voorspoedige Nuwe Jaar! (Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!)

Michael - Thursday

We have a tradition of spending Christmas and New Year in the bush at Olifants River Game Reserve with our friends Aron and Jenny Frankental. I’ve written about our bungalow before, and how being in the wilderness areas of Africa recharges batteries for me that seem to be running on empty by this time of the year. It’s also time for reflection on the year that is past – the ups and the downs.  There have been downs – some we have all shared in this turbulent world, and a few personal ones as well. But there have been so many ups also.

It’s been a great year for Kubu! Orenda – our great new British publisher which one year into its history is hitting the top selling mystery lists – released the new Kubu mystery in South Africa in July followed by an ebook in November.  Orenda has plans to reissue the complete series in the UK starting with Deadly Harvest in time for Crimesfest in Bristol in May, and A Death in the Family to coincide with the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing festival in Harrogate to which we have been invited in July. In November, A Death in the Family made a splash in the US when Minotaur released it there. Even if we can’t live on our royalties yet, we can at least cover our drinks. If we stick to tap water that is. And the next Kubu book is with both our editors. Of course, we’re awaiting their input with bated breath, but we’re already thinking about the Kubu after that, as well as various other projects. But those are topics for next year.

Back to the bush. Christmas here will have only one traditional aspect: we will cook a turkey, although probably it will be eaten cold in the evening. Some fruit cake and cream will follow or perhaps a cherry flambé. Tuesday was our first cool day which followed a spectacular electric storm all around us on Monday evening, but unfortunately missing our area since we really need the rain. The bush is drying quickly and the river is as low as it was in mid-winter.  These storms can be extremely localized. Last week we had 4 inches of rain – about a quarter of our summer season rainfall – measured at the main office, but hardly any fell outside the reserve – only about a ten mile radius. The bush was transformed after that with grass springing up overnight, and animals, who seem to just know where the rain fell, trekking in.

The days before Tuesday all reached 100 degrees and Monday hit 105 before the said storm. Not really conducive to the standard Christmas day lunch pig-out, so the festivities will be delayed until the evening. No doubt a few glasses of wine will be shared. (An odd phrase that; I’ve never willingly shared my glass with anyone!) And the moon – near full – will be glistening in the water of the river in front of us. Possibly it will light the way for a herd of elephant or buffalo to the water.

As for what we have already seen so far, let me show you through some more of Aron’s pictures. Water is the center of everything here at the moment; most of these pictures were taken along the river that flows in front of our bungalow. (All pictures copyright Aron Frankental.)

Buffalo coming down to drink opposite our bungalow

And heading off

This leopard settled for a pool from the rain

Thirsty herd

Drinking NOT from the river

Nyala

White rhino bull enjoying the river

Disturbed afternoon nap

Let me finish with a brain teaser. What do you do when on a narrow road with a sheer drop on your left, three elephants walking up behind you, an angry one approaching rapidly from the right and one in the road ahead? This is not a trick question. I had to find the answer yesterday!

I believe that this year all my cowriters on Murderiseverywhere will be celebrating the holidays in the northern hemisphere, so their Christmases will be much more traditional. I wish them all a joyful and white Christmas with family and good friends. Thanks Annamaria, Cara, Jorn, Sujata, Stan, Caro, Jeff, Susan and Zoe for your friendship and your words.

Happy Christmas to all readers wherever you are.  And as this is my last blog for 2015, I want to take the opportunity of wishing all of you everything you would wish for yourselves for 2016.

From the Desert

Stan is in Botswana enjoying a relaxing house boat ride on the Chobe River after a trip through Namibia and a pilgrimage to Tsodilo.  He was planning to post a blog on the trip from Maun last night, but the internet found the capitol of the Okavango Delta a bridge too far. No doubt we will hear about his experiences once he returns to digital civilisation. In the meanwhile I have been working on slide shows for our book tour and for the additional website that we are setting up for Death of the Mantis.  We would like readers of the book to have the opportunity to see some of the locations of the book for themselves, and to learn more about the environment and its people should they wish to do so.  Of course, the story stands on its own, but some readers might enjoy going a bit further into the Kalahari…

Aron Frankental is a great friend who is a superb photographer .  Until his recent retirement he practised as a doctor, but photography has always been a great passion for him.  He is responsible for the author photos on our books.  He has a wonderful eye for the natural world and has kindly allowed us to use some of his pictures on our new webpage.  I thought that in lieu of Stan’s travels, I would offer a preview today of the way Aron sees the Namaqualand and Kalahari deserts.

Crab spider

Incidentally, Aron has a bit part in A Carrion Death as a German geologist at Maboane Diamond mine.  I’m glad to say that, unlike his namesake in that book, Aron is in excellent health!

Sunset

Chanting Goshawk and young

On the move

Flowering succulents

Spreading pollen

Ground squirrel

Gemsbok on a calcrete ridge

A rare storm gathers over the Kalahari

Michael - Thursday

PS I almost forgot the winner of Best Aphorism: And the winner is our own Dan Waddell for:

Football is a game between two sides that lasts ninety minutes and at the end Germans win.

We'll be bringing you a copy of our book, Dan.  You can read it while the rest of us are having fun at Bouchercon!
Michael.