… but there are zebras at the bottom of the garden. Forget fairies, at PheZulu Game Estate, when you buy your thatched adobe-simulated cottage, you’ll find not only zebra but wildebeest, giraffes and impala – and more hooves and horns than you can shake a stick at. Check out the PheZulu website and you will see why. And it’s here that Gideon is buying a property for himself and Elske, and one for his guests – including future FastCat buyers – to rent. After a leisurely breakfast, all three of us – Gideon, Dick and I – headed off to check the PheZulu site out once again. We’d previously seen it on our last trip out here, with Gideon and his brother Philip, but no work had begun on either property at that stage. Now, the builders have got as far as laying the foundations. When we last came it was at the close of day and as you can see from the shot in the post below this, there was a fabulous sunset. But that scene is something that will be there most nights for everyone lucky enough to stay at Gideon’s PheZulu guest house to see for themselves. I won’t rave on, but it really is that old cliche – a truly breathtaking view.
Afterwards, Gideon walked us to the entrance to the game park itself. Anyone staying at PheZulu will be able to do likewise, and once through the gate, can do as we did, and take a stroll across the tapestried undulating valleys and hills among the herds of wild animals. If you check out this blog’s photo gallery to the right of this page, you’ll find some shots of the zebra, the sunset view and a typical PheZulu house. It really is a little slice of Shangrila.
After we’d had our fill, we made our way back to the gate to walk up to the estate – only to find a very flustered wildebeest on the other side of it – the side we wanted to be. Somehow the dozy creature had got through the wire fencing and was now trapped in the corridor track back to the estate road. Wildebeests are not the smallest of animals and this one wasn’t feeling sociable, that was abundantly clear – so there was a prolonged moment or two of nervy stand-off before it snorted loudly, turned tail and cantered off – still in the direction we needed to go. Hell, but we were fearless! There’s obviously a little touch of the wild beast in modern Meredith, so we took the plunge and soldiered boldly on in its tracks. Fortunately, I think it must have sensed our resolve because after turning a couple of bends we heard a frantic skirmish as it scrambled up the steep scrubby banks that bordered the track corridor and although we could hear it thrashing around – eventually all went quiet and we didn’t see it again.
Keeping on the animal theme (and I’m sure you don’t really need to know this – or even want to – though I shall tell you anyway) but the feathered crones that make such a raucous racket morning and night – the ones I’ve mentioned in yesterday’s post – well, they’re not Hor-de-hors, or Hah-hahs, or any of the other hyphenated hooja-ma-flips I thought they were – no, they’re called Hadeda (pronounced Hah-di-dah). Not a lot of people know that … (said in best Michael Caine twang).
Betcha glad we’ve cleared that up. Now we can all sleep at night.
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