Sammy immediately had a plan... He would run to the main house and get Brandy the Land Rover to come tow us out of our predicament. "Remember the slings..." I shouted, as he disappeared into the night...
It would have been a short run - maybe 800 yards or so - and I expected him to be back within 10 minutes at the most. But the minutes ticked by and when I checked my watch again more than 20 minutes had passed.
In Sammy's haste, he had forgotten to take a two-way radio with him, so I waited... and waited some more...
Finally I heard him shouting from the dark... "Mr Chris, Brandy won't start! I will go and get help from the neighbor!" Before I could reply, he was off again... I knew exactly why Brandy wouldn't start. She's an old girl and needs some loving attention so any attempt to start her in a hurry doesn't work. There was therefore just one option - get my butt out of my vehicle and make my way to Brandy myself...
This involved climbing over a game fence and walking through the muddy vlei (swamp) to the main house - which was not exactly how I had planned spending my Monday evening - but what had to get done, had to get done...
As I scaled the fence my one leg got stuck between two strands of wire and I found myself dangling from the fence like wet clothes on a washing line. Some uncomfortable moments later I managed to get myself untangled and I was now in the mud on the other side of the fence. Of course Sammy had taken my flashlight with him so with my cellphone as light source, I made my way towards the house.
Arriving there and after a quick prayer, I turned Brandy's ignition and voila - she started at the first turn. Her headlights weren't working but at least her engine was running, so I drove back to the Cruiser in the vlei - using my cellphone's flashlight to find my way.
We finally managed to pull the Cruiser out of the muddy mess she was in - just in time - because by now the Blesbuck was no longer a willing passenger. When we finally stopped at the gate to the camp he was to be released in, we figured out that the other Blesbuck breeding group had decided that's where they actually wanted to be. Sammy again had a plan. He would chase the Blesbuck out of the camp and close the gate before we would release the new addition to the Blesbok family in the same camp - so as to avoid another altercation between the new ram and the resident breeding ram.
By now I was running low on patience and energy, as was the Blesbuck on the back of the truck. He wanted to get off in a hurry and I needed to get into bed. It was way past midnight and we had started with this "recovery" project some 18 hours earlier!
Sammy, I said,
Enough is enough!
This Blesbuck gets off here
No matter how tough!
He's had all the chances,
He could be given by man,
But he chose to ignore us
And I don't give a damn!
Without further ado, the Blesbok was untied, his blindfold was taken off and he was released right there and then.
'Muddy', as the Blesbuck has since been named is no longer a breeding ram. He is, quite frankly the most expensive Blesbuck I've ever bought as I paid for eight and am left with one.
I hope he's happy, wherever he is right now. I know I am not.
THE END
