It rained in the Bushveld!
My friend’s brother is a successful up-scale outfitter near Ellisras. He let us camp for free on his ranch past weekend, with some female animals going at bargain prices. My buddies use rifles. I tried my luck with the bow, but only managed to get shots at stuff that is not in my price league, like nyala and tsessebe bulls We camped under the stars – very romantic (nostalgic?) huh? I mean it was so nice out there – dunno how to say it, until ….
…. The heavens opened yesterday morning at about 2 am! Two inches before sun-up! Man, everything was wet in that camp.
That whole area is already a light lime green from the good showers 3 weeks ago, but now it is set for a good growth season. Similar reports come from almost all over Limpopo Province.
Good hunting for 2006.
Lochi.

Great news, Lochi! Hope you get good rains across southern Africa. It sounds like much of the northern parts of South Africa and most of Zimbabwe have been very dry. Best of luck for a wet , wet season!

Hi Lochi,
Sorry you did not get anything. Getting wet in the bush is good luck When do we challenge the bowhunters again with the only 2 wortwhile 4x4's

We must make a plan and do some hunting together.

Lochi,

How well don't I know the bitter end of a nostalgic camp under the stars when it starts raining in the middle of the night, after you've gone to bed with bright stars shining and no threat of rain! Last time I was caught in the middle of winter in the Kalahari, with no tent and very little to use as shelter. Awful! But still an experience to remember!


Here by me in the western Free State there were some showers, but generally it is still very dry. If it keeps on going like this it will not be a good waterfowl year in 2006!

Saw the first Orange River francolin chicks yesterday! Thats a good sign!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

In southern Africa, the rainy season is up to a good start in most of Zimbabwe as light to moderate rains (13-46 mm; 93-354% of normal) persisted over the northern and southern areas of the country. Lighter rains (3-16 mm; 10-69% of normal) fell in the southeastern sector as well as along the coastal areas of Mozambique and Madagascar. Isolated light to moderate rains (14-40 mm; 80-318% of normal) fell over local areas in northern Mozambique, southern Malawi, and most of Botswana. In South Africa, moderate to heavy rains (23-361 mm; 82-265% of normal) persisted over the Kwazulu/Natal province. The rains extended northward to cover the Transvaal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, and parts of the Free State province. Lighter rains (1-14 mm) fell in the western provinces. Satellite rainfall estimates indicated dry conditions over Namibia, while most of Angola and Zambia received moderate to heavy rains (25-100 mm). The rainfall estimates ranged between 10 and 25 mm across interior central Mozambique. Temperatures were generally 1 to 2 degrees C below normal across the region.