MAN'S INHUMANITY

I was alerted to the fact that there was a dead dolphin washed up on Golden Mile's stretch of beach in Britannia Bay. What I saw was in fact the evidence of some callous brute who had shot the creature.

I called MCM senior researcher Mike Meyer and, at his behest, had the carcass (of what he told me was a sub-adult common dolphin) moved to the deepfreeze of a friend until he could arrange for it to be collected (for DNA and further study).

This beautiful, innocent creature had likely been targeted by pelagic fishermen as it is wont to rush at the netful of fish being hauled aboard a fishing vessel.

Lee knelt down beside the body and stroking it murmured, "I've never touched a dolphin before".

Sad, eh?

WHO'S HAD A HARD DAY AT THE ORIFICE?

Robin and Sylvia Gibbs broke their long-standing tradition (seven years in a row) of spending the Easter weekend here at Dolphin B&B+S/C by choosing instead to travel to Kgalagadi National Park, but in their stead I hosted the stay of a most delightful family: Denise and Hannes Meyer and their daughter, Salome Hoogendijk and her husband Frits.
Other than the fact that they were just darned nice people, what made their stay stand out for me was one of these coincidences that is a reminder of how miniscule we are in the greater plan of things.
Having established that Salome is a dentist and Frits a maxilla-facial surgeon, both practising in Pretoria, I asked whether by any chance they knew my cousin Boetie who passed away tragically in 2009. Not only was the response positive but, when chatting to Hannes, who has a dental practice in Thabazimbi - is this keeping it in the family or wot? - Denise chips in to say that she and Boetie were in the same class at school together. You can't talk about anyone and it will get back to them!
Incidentally, I've seen some seriously good camera equipment in my time but their clobber was to-die-for, although let's give credit where it's due: I suspect it's their dedication to get that perfect shot rather than their Nikons that made the results of their work so extraordinary.