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  1. #1

    Default Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    In this story a "blaasbalk" is mentioned. This is not the leather bellows on display in the Voortrekker monument museum, but a steel forging blower used by blacksmiths to heat metal for forging. It was made from cast iron and quite heavy - I would estimate about 50 kg. It was common on farms in the 1950s and 1960s. Apart from blacksmithing, it was also used to heat branding irons when branding cattle.


    blaasbalk2.jpg

    Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    I don't know how it came about that Koekemoer was hand-reared. Maybe he was orphaned by an out-of-season hunt, maybe his mother was killed by lions. Koekemoer was a blue wildebeest bull living on the farm Roodeplaten on the boundary of the Kruger National Park (KNP). The centre of Koekemoer's universe, was Judas, a farmhand of Shangaan descent, and the person who bottle fed him when he was young.

    My grandfather's cousin, Oom Gawie was trying to make a living farming with cattle on Roodeplaten. This area was still very untamed then - the boundary between the farm and the KNP was just a "kaplyn" a 3 m wide strip where the scrub and trees were removed.

    Some time in the early 1950s, Grandpa and Grandma went on a week's holiday in the KNP. At the end of the holiday, on their way back, they decided to visit Oom Gawie on Roodeplaten. The telephone line didn't go that far at the time, so the only way to find out if he was home, would be to go there physically.

    When they reached the farmstead, everything was very quiet, it seemed Oom Gawie was on holiday himself. Grandpa wanted to stick a note to the front door, to tell that they had been there. As Grandpa got out of the car, Grandma cautioned him to watch out for the wildebeest. "I have shot hundreds of wildebeest in Swaziland!" was his gruff reply.

    When Grandpa was halfway between the car and the door, Koekemoer appeared from around the corner. A blaasbalk stood nearby, and Grandpa thought it would help to have the blaasbalk between him and the wildebeest. He quickly manoeuvred to a position behind the blaasbalk. With a quick jerk of its head, it hooked the blaasbalk with its horn, and it went flying. There was no barrier left between them. As Koekemoer bore down on him, he grabbed the horns, to stay out of reach of the sharp tips. He was jerked this way and that, until he lost his footing and went down. Grandpa was in serious trouble.

    All this time Grandma was watching helplessly from the car. There was absolutely nothing she could do. There was no firearms in the car - civilians didn't EDC in the 1950s, and this wasn't a hunting trip. The only thing she could do was to blow the car's hooter. She hooted continuously.

    Just then Judas came around the corner: "Koeoemoerrrrrrrrrr!!" he shouted. Koekemoer immediately stopped his attack, got up from his elbows and trotted off. Judas helped Grandpa to his feet. Miraculously he was uninjured.

    I didn't hear this story from Grandpa, Grandma told me, and every time she told me, it seemed as if Grandpa's deafness was a bit worse than usual.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    Blou Wille Bliksem ( Blue thunder)

    Very good story just shows again they never become tame.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    Hand rearing orphaned wild animals is very tempting and normally seems like the right thing to do, speaking from experience, it almost always end in tears, or worse.

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    Default Re: Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    Worse as in biltong or droewors?

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    Default Re: Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    Well, sometimes, yes.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    Quote Originally Posted by Glockster View Post
    Worse as in biltong or droewors?
    Glockster, you are actually right in guessing Koekemoer's final destination.
    Grandma told me that he was turned into biltong not very long after the incident with Grandpa.
    She also told me that when skinning him, some .177 air rifle pellets where found under the skin on his rump.
    There was a "bywoner" family living on the farm at the time and it is suspected they took it on themselves to teach Koekemoer some manners.
    (But at such a time and place that Oom Gawie was not aware of it.)

    Koekemoer had more than one reason to be grumpy.

    WB

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Koekemoer the Blue Wildebeest

    Thanks for sharing Doc.

    I didn't hear this story from Grandpa, Grandma told me, and every time she told me, it seemed as if Grandpa's deafness was a bit worse than usual.
    Recent studies show that 1 out of every 3 liberals are just as dumb as the other 2

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