PETERHOUSE
NOSTALGIA
PETERHOUSE
NOSTALGIA
Once again we had a mixed group consisting of 15 Peterhouse Boys, 10 Nagle House girls and one girl from Marandellas High School. Unfortunately we found that we had a number of members who were more interested in the members of the opposite sex than in the work of the expedition. This had an adverse effect on our work.
We had gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that we would have a camp which could function in wet weather. In the event we need not have worried. We had a shower as we arrived and one just after we had packed up The weather was exceptionally dry and hot. We were forced to rise at first light and found that by 1100 it was too hot to operate. A swim, lunch and an hour's rest restored our energy so that we could go out in the late afternoon.
The collections were all reasonably successful without our finding anything which was particularly unusual. The farm we visited was a fairly typical area of lowveld bush and woodland. Along the river we found thickets and there were open areas which had been cleared for cropping or mining. The old mine shafts offered opportunities for collecting bats and swifts. The trailer being towed by the truck developed gearing trouble. The engineers led by Ken Nortje managed to change these in the field after we had managed to order a set of new bearings from Johannesburg. They also successfully repaired a number of other breakdowns including the master cylinder for the brakes of one of the landrovers. It was in great part due to their skill and efforts that we managed to get home on the Friday evening.
I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Philip Lategan for allowing us to visit their ranch and for all their hospitality while we were there. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Williams once again allowed us to use their home as a base and cheerfully put up with the invasion both on the way down and theway back. They also did a lot of organising prior to our arrival and we are most grateful for all their help. Once again we are indebted to many people and firms for help in mounting the expedition.
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