Summertime….

“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the winter” – Henry David Thoreau

The relentless heat and humidity of the long South African summer is now officially with us. From first light one is faced with the almost overbearing temperatures, a harbinger of what the rest of the day will be like. Up on the Highveld we hope for some respite with an afternoon thunderstorm. All too often the dark steel grey clouds that promise relief simply move on, as if the heavens are just marketing what rain might looks like.

For the hunter this time of the year is when you are longing for the softness and colour change that heralds the onset of our winter. Cold weather means hunting, and the appropriate preparations thereof. What summertime means however is growth; from the francolin scratching for sustenance, to the transformation of a gangly legged new-born antelope to a trophy ram. The austere winter landscape becomes a tapestry of shades of verdant green. Parched ponds are once again teeming with life and rutted, dry and dusty roads become quagmires for your next 4X4 challenge.

I think as one becomes older so the cold weather months lose their appeal, a warm lazy day in the sun having remedial  powers very often not found in  medication. As much as I personally enjoy the invigorating temperatures of a blustery August day, as the saying goes

“For everything a season”