WANDERING FEET

The majority of these photos were taken by my partner, Linda Rosenlof. She uses a NIKON D3000 and takes some amazing wildlife photos. Look at yessy.com for her photo gallery. I use a little Fuji

Finepix, which is great for what I need. I have been a video user for many years and have brought a new meaning to the word "footage". I keep forgetting to switch the video off so have lots of footage of my feet in many places all over the world. USA, Australia, Sweden, Africa!!! So if you see a pair of feet like the ones above, they are probably me, so no to worry, I forgot to switch off again.

Which is unusual as my brain seems to be switched off most of the time. I keep losing things, my brain was first. I lost my wallet 3 times in the last 6 months, Found it myself twice and the third time was in Disneyworld, where I left it on a ride. It was handed in, with nothing taken. Maybe Disney brings out the best in people, Thanks to the person who handed it over, my life was in there. Credit card, ID, It would have been easier to be born again than re apply for everything in there.

Always in Trouble

I always seem to get into trouble with one animal or the other. Here a giant grizzly grabbed me and Linda tried to help. I Managed to fight him off with my leatherman but more trouble was lurking behind me. Look at the very ferocious whateveritis waiting to pounce. Even the sign behind me screamed Danger

Strange Creature

I have worked with Wildlife for 35 years but it is the first time I've come across one of these. he didn't look dangerous.

Pushing My Luck

This what I do for a living!!!!!!!!!! Pushing my luck with this lot though! Luckily with cheetah their bark? is worse than their bite. I was fortunate, they only pulled one leg off. I manage.

What Happens When Things Go Wrong

This is what happens when communication between people is not 100%. I got whacked by a cheetah and luckily it missed my eyes.

Cheetah Training

Trying to train cheetah is not easy. They are not the brightest of animals, but typical cats. They know what you want to do but make it difficult for you. This time it half worked!!

Cheetah Friend

This is my Big Girl. One of my favorite cheetahs

African Sunsets

In Africa many people comment on the magnificent sunsets we have. Which is true, every night the sunsets are brilliant and different. One of the reasons the sunsets are so good on the Highveld at the moment is the amount of veld fires. Fires sometimes deliberately set alight, some by mistake and others through negligence such as throwing cigarette butts into grass. We have so many fires that it is changing the face of South Africa. A fire once every 4 years is probably good, it clears debris and allows new growth. Some systems, such as the Fynbos in the Cape, need fire to continue but fires every year destroy young trees. Soon there will only be grasslands. Watch what you are doing, whether it is burning garbage or throwing cigarettes away.

Namibia to South Africa

After our stay in Namibia at CCF we took the Kalahari Highway from Okahandja to Pretoria (South Africa) 2000kms. It was an amazing drive leaving the impressive Waterberg Plateau, driving through the central Kalahari of Botswana. This road links Walvis Bay in Namibia to Maputo in Mozambique. About 4000kms west coast to east coast. Not a road to be driving at night, so we stopped off in Ghanzi, on the edge of the Kalahari desert. 2 days later we were back in Pretoria. This is what happens at night on the Trans Kalahari. This cow was much more use to the natural wildlife than mine was!!!!! It had obviously been killed by a passing truck. There are whole herds of livestock wandering the roads. This includes a lot of wildlife and a large Kudu can do as much damage to your vehicle as a cow can.

Travelling Africa

Before we had the accident with my car Linda and I did a fair bit of travelling in Southern Africa. In 2 months we did Pretoria (South Africa) to Cape town (South Africa). 1500 kilometres. Cape Town to Okahandja (Namibia) 2000km to help out at CCF (The Cheetah Conservation Fund) for a month. The CCF is founded by Dr Laurie Marker, an amazing woman who's life is dedicated to saving cheetahs. Cheetahs are disappearing quickly and Namibia has the largest cheetah population in the world. But there are always problems somewhere, this is where CCF comes in. helping injured cheetahs, relocating them when healed. Educating farmers and local people on the habits and ways of cheetahs. During our stay there we also celebrated Namibia's Independence day.

Me and a buddy

As you see from the one picture I am with one of my favourite people. Donald Duck. I was in Disneyworld and din't see him, except in the parade. I went to Disneyland a few years later and din't see him, except in the parade. So I went to public relations and complained. I think the woman thought I was out of Looney Tunes and tried to explain that Donald was not as popular as Mickey. And I told her how true, where the mouse gets a truck on the Parade big D has to walk at the back. Not good after 50 years of service. Luckily for the lady he did pitch up at the square, followed by about 30 kids. Didn't take me long to get rid of the kids, sorry children, I hope you are getting better. I got my photo with Donald and my friends have it on video. I was in disneyworld just a month ago and i see they have taken my complaints to heart. I met Donald easily. He had a truck of his own. Good one Donald. And I saw the lady at public relations peeping through a crack in the door at me. It's okay lady, I'm happy

Follow up to meeting with cow.

The same night were returning home we passed another accident a few kilometres down the road. The police and ambulaces were there so we did not stop. At out accident people stopped and called the police for us. Our car was standing in the middle of the road with lights and hazards on. The dead cow was about 50 metres behind us, also in the middle of the road. From a distance we could hear a speeding car with lights flashing and sirens wailing. We tried to slow him down but he sped past at about 150kph and ran straight into the cow, up and over onto another car standing at the side! I don't know if they had Fords or airbags but they were surely in a worse predicament then we were. And the poor guy sitting alongside the road, having nothing to do with anything gets his car crashed. All he was doing was waiting on everyone going so he could cut up the cow and go home with it! It's tough in Africa

Don't mess with cows

Africa still has many unfenced roads so they put signs up saying, "unfenced road. Beware of cattle"

Okay I can read that but can the cows?? They should have a sign up on their side saying, "unfenced road. Beware of cars". I discovered that cars and cows don't get on together. Coming home at night on an unfenced, but signed road I met a BIG cow! I was doing about 100kph, the cow was standing in the middle of the road. Why not, he didn't have a sign on his side. Thank goodness for my Ford Focus. This car was my pride and joy and with a lesser car I probably would not be here. The front crumpled and airbags went off. My partner Linda and I walked out without a scratch. Thank you Mr Ford. Thank you Mr Airbag.