Drank unctuous red wine and ate aromatic red bean curry last night. Lucille, a PHD student from France, arrived with our friend and scientist colleague, Peter Lindsay, to spend the night. She came bearing a bottle of Clos Saint-Martin, Madiran 2008, which we opened and savoured, accompanied by red sugar beans simmered all day on the open fire, spiced with mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves….accompanied by my ‘famous’ samp and some roti flatbreads.
Lions had continued shouting all afternoon yesterday, perhaps on a kill nearby, but then last night were silent, much to Lucille’s frustration-this being her first visit to Southern Africa.
Four Redwing starling chicks, ready to face the big world, flapped and jumped around our bedroom all night, their nest in our beams abandoned. This morning the noisy and messy little creatures flew the coop and disappeared happily with mum and dad, leaving us to wake up to a quiet early morning coffee. Peace…but not for long…discovered a LARGE Boomslang curled in my bookshelf, below the deserted nest, anticipating a meal of baby bird.

Lin Barrie photograph
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About wineandwilddogs
Lin Barrie
The Save Valley Conservancy stretches along the upper reaches of the great Save River in the south east of Zimbabwe. The Gonarezhou National Park laps against the southern banks of the Save River and between these two nestles the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve. These three celebrated wildlife areas form part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, (GLTFCA)- a unique wilderness jewel which is home to the “Big Five” (endangered Black and White rhinos, elephants, buffalo, lion, leopard) and the ”Little Six” (Klipspringer, Suni, Duiker, Steenbok, Sharpe's Grysbok and Oribi). Endangered African wild dogs, Cheetah, Brown hyena, Bat-eared foxes and a host of special birds and plants contribute to the immense variety of this ecosystem. Communities around the GLTFCA contribute to innovative partnerships with National Parks and the private sector, forming a sound base on which to manage social, economic and environmental issues.
This is home to artist and writer Lin Barrie and her life partner, conservationist Clive Stockil.
Expressing her hopes, fears and love for this special ecosystem with oil paints on canvas, Lin Barrie believes that the essence of a landscape, person or animal, can only truly be captured by direct observation.
Lin Barrie states: “Through my art, and my writing, I feel an intimate connection with the natural world, and from my extensive field sketches of wild animals, people and landscapes, I create larger works on canvas.
Lin's work is in various public and private collections in South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Australia, England, Canada, Sweden and the United States of America. She is represented by galleries in South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, Kenya and Florida, USA.
What wonderful things you do! Love your paintings …. it is so important to help where nature cannot help itself …. keep up the good work 🙂
thank you Belinda!
Scary snake!