Santa Claus is coming to town

The lions were easily found on Friday, as they were out and about returning from their nocturnal wanderings. We went to count the black wildebeest and blesbok again and there are two wildebeest less than last week, so the lions appear to have made some successful kills and have been eating well.

We then went on to tackle some more alien vegetation - this time in the form of the Scottish thistle. They were growing near a reed bed and as I ventured in towards them, I was conscious that this was probably ideal territory for snakes. And most of the snakes in South Africa are poisonous, in varying degrees of scariness. So I entered slowly, stamping my feet and hitting the machete on the ground to advertise my presence and give them good notice to slither away. Half an hour later, I retreated unscathed except for some more blisters on my hands and cursing the Scots.

The next task was more exciting, albeit not completed successfully. We were due to dart the male lion in order to change its radio collar on Friday. We found the pair tucked cosily under some thicket, so we had to drive the land rover into the bush and rev the engine to try and flush them out. Fifteen minutes later we eventually coaxed them out, but by this time the pair were quite agitated and the vet decided to postpone it until they were more settled, which will now have to be next week.

After lunch, we returned to the orphanage. The reserve has set up a project where some of the local teenagers make bead bangles that are sold for R40 each (around 4 pounds). Of this, R10 goes to the person who made it, R10 goes towards the cost of the beads and the rest goes to the Isipho orphanage and the Amakhala foundation, which also supports other local charitable projects. The kids are pretty adept at making them and manage to produce far more than I can in the hour that we're there. Each bangle is tied to a card which explains the background and who the money goes to. It's a nice piece of marketing and appears to be a very successful concept.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to the craft centre on the reserve. This has some lovely pieces of sculpture and paintings that have been created by two of the reserve's co-owners. It's also where the bead bangles and other handmade jewellery get sold. The craft centre was the venue for a small concert given by some of the children who go to the Isipho Centre. The guys started by performing some traditional dances and chanting that the men would do to entertain themselves when they were working away at the mines. And then the girls joined in. They had been rehearsing at the orphanage in the last few weeks and were quite nervous when they saw the 25 or so people in the audience. Nevertheless, they put on a heart-warming show and it was a great way to help them build their self-esteem and confidence.

As if we hadn't packed in enough for one day, we then went on to a Christmas party at the local cricket club. It was a real family occasion with all the children there. This is the first Christmas that I have spent in a warm climate, so I found it somewhat incongruous to be listening to Christmas carols while there was a braai going on outside. We even had a visit from Santa Claus, but he didn't arrive on a sleigh - he arrived on a quad bike.