my zebras

Hi, my name is Jessica and I stalk zebras in my neighborhood. 

Take a moment to process what I just said: Jess and Mat have zebras in their neighborhood!!!! How cool is that?

One of my favorite parts of living in South Africa is that zebra, blesbok, wildebeest, and springbok roam freely around our golf estate. This means that I get to see/stalk these amazing animals every day. Zebras are the least timid of the animals, so we see them the most. Some have recently had babies, which are the cutest striped creatures of all time.  

Here are some of the most recent zebra (and zebra baby!) photos I have:

Love,

Jess & Mat

rhino update

1004.

1004 rhinos were poached in South Africa last year. That is nearly 3 per day! 343 poachers were arrested.

86.

86 rhinos were poached in South Africa in January. Yep, 86 in one month. 21 poachers have been arrested.

You might remember from my last rhino post that the illegal trade of their horns fuels poaching. Asian countries, primarily China and Vietnam, believe the horn has medicinal properties (i.e. a hangover cure) and pay a very high price to get the horns. However, the horns have no medicinal value and are actually similar to human fingernails. Just think: rhinos could be wiped out because of a ficticious hangover cure. So, so sad. The key to conservation is to decrease demand through education - by spreading the word that the rhino horn does not cure anything.

Have you seen this PSA that Price William, David Beckham and Yao Ming made? Note: this YouTube video link might not work on your iPhones and iPads because you need Flash, but it will on a normal computer. You can also search it on YouTube.

If you are interested in adopting a rhino or donating to the Save the Rhino conservation effort, here is a link to help you get started. DO IT!!!!!!  Save the Rhino donation link

Love,

Jess & Mat

H20

“Don’t drink our water!” was one of the first tips we received upon our arrival in Witbank, ZA. I’ll be honest; I didn’t realize how much of a giant pain in the ARSE it would be to avoid ingesting tap water. Think about it: washing dishes, cooking, bathing, and brushing your teeth…all of these routine tasks involve using water from the good ‘ole tap. Bad tap water meant that we had to completely adjust our water habits.

The reason I am sharing our bad water situation is because we have had several days of water that looks like this:

Methinks a pipe is broken. Hey, Witbank, this is NOT okay!!!!!

Now, here is a photo of what our normal “clean(ish)” tap water looks like – yellowish with a bit of an odor. This is also NOT okay but it's better than brown!!!!!

Aside from Witbank’s poor water quality, we experience many other water-related issues such as not having it. Yep, our Municipality will arbitrarily turn it off for no apparent reason. Sometimes for days. As I type this, I am desperately worried that I am jinxing myself and it will be turned off in the near future. Eeeeeek! Oh well, I am doing it for the sake of this little blog. :-)

Due to the gross water, we are forced to buy purified, clean drinking water a couple times a month – typically 145 Liters per trip. The clean water business is a lucrative one here in Witbank. Here is a photo of our water containers:

If you are planning to visit ZA in the future, don’t worry, the nasty water situation is not consistent across South Africa. It only affects a lucky handful of cities with broke Municipalities like ours.

So, next time you turn on your tap and see clean and clear water, think of us and be grateful you don’t have to worry about what specimens might be lurking in your glass.

Love,

Jess & Mat

MONKEYS!

We recently visited a monkey sanctuary called Bushbabies.  It is a strikingly beautiful place that is set up like their natural habitat - wild and open. No cages! We walked through a jungle-like scene as monkeys crossed our paths, jumped from tree-to-tree, stared at us and went about their daily routines. It was both peaceful and exciting at the same time.

This sanctuary acts as a respite for monkeys who have been in captivity for most of their lives – either in labs or as pets. All monkeys at Bushbabies are donated or rescued. Monkeys are difficult to care for and we learned they become particularly hard to handle when they reach sexual maturity. Thankfully, centers like this exist so these monkeys will not be abandoned and unable to care for themselves.

Being unable to release them in the wild once they are “domesticated,” the monkeys can roam freely here for the rest of their little monkey lives.

{mom & baby}

{ringtail lemurs from Madagascar}

{feeding tables with fruits and veggies}

{check out this guy's eyes}

{suspension bridge over the treetops}

{Matty being a monkey}

{ringtail lemur}

{to the right - ladders for the monkeys to climb up to main walkway. how cool!}

{another view of suspension bridge}

{monkeys hiding in the treetops}

Love,

Jess & Mat