It still saddens me to write this.

My husband's brother Benjamin Osmers passed away last year on a wednesday afternoon September 28th 2016 in a tragic helicopter accident.

The proceedings of that  faithful day still sends chills through my spine.

Charl's family owns a helicopter business which his father started and so everybody in the family are well rounded pilots.

Especially his brother, whom in a very short amount of time became very renowed. 

His workmanship and professionalism where unmatched!

He was born to be a pilot!

He did an astounding amount of work up in northern Mozambique, counteracting the highly fought battle that we know as poaching.

Nearly half of Mozambique's elephant population has been killed only for their ivory in the past five years. A dramatic 48% decline in elephant numbers, from just over 20 000 to an estimated 10 300.

And he was there on the front line. 

With the poachers always armed and ready for fire this was not a job for the faint hearted.

He was a brave soul and contributed immensely towards conservation, and he is missed dearly everyday.

On the faithful day of that wednesday on September 28th 2016, the conducted the finale phase of a game count on a farm not to far from here.

Game counts are conducted each year by most farms to get an estimate of the wildlife numbers. 

This information assist with management plans, as each farm has a certain carrying capacity for wildlife which is best not to over take. To keep a healthy balance and to take care of your property.

This game count lasted for about three days.

The game count was finalized and he was ready to head home to his beautiful family, his wife Susan, eldest Elih Benjamin and youngest son Jordan Jacob. His family was everything to him.

He and the fellow busy commenting his commercial pilot licensing hours Gerdus Korb took off.

It was about 5mins after take off were they heard a loud bang from the engine and it was only a few faithful second when they hit the ground in full flight. 

The helicopter immediately caught fire and in a few minutes the helicopter was incinerated.

By some miracle Gerdus could phone Charl's father. Charl and Roux (a fellow family friend) flew over to the accident scene as fast as they could and Charl's father, mother and Susan drove to the hospital.

Gerdus managed to escape the wreckage but Benjamin's post mortem declared he was dead on impact.

His legacy will life on forever.

He was a father a brother a son and a husband.

This picture was taken up in Northern Mozambique. Two beautiful elephant tusks they managed to save from poachers.

Benjamin on the right with the hat and the faithful Bell Jet Ranger he lost his life with.

Take Care.

I will describe myself as a very avid horse rider! Nothing can compare to my love for horses and just being outdoors.

After loosing my endurance horse last year I kind of lost my "avidness" if I can even call it that...

He was my world, he would always give me his absolute all!! An oh man did I see an amazing future ahead for us. And I am still sad, I still wish he was here and that I was able to compete with him.

There is not a time that goes past when I think of him that I don't get teary eyed, and yes I am sitting in front of the computer, watching the sun rise with a tear in my eye.

And saying this, I have neglected my other endurance horse just because we did not have the bond that Samurai and I have.

And ultimately when I did my first endurance race for the year, the picture far below I did not prepare and condition my horse well enough for a 80km. And when I finished this race I said to myself "how selfish and petty do you want to because if this is going to be your attitude you might as well leave everything!"

 We have another race coming up at the end of May and my sister has been such an angel in helping me prepare my two horses. I followed my conditioning and exercise schedule like I always did if not even better now.

It gave me a new burst of life an excitement and from here on out I am only looking forward. That which have happend in the past we can only grow stronger. And never take anything for granted that we still have in this present life that is just as good.

Now we are taking three horses to this endurance ride and I am yet again excited beyond measure!!

The horse in the top is an Arab x - Stonecroft Sun Jewel.

The on down below is a pure bred Arab - Mekadesh Zunata.

We will be off later this morning for another conditioning session.

For all of my non horsey friends here are some explanation of terms;

1. Conditioning: Working the horse to become strong enough to compete endurance rides without damage.

2.Ecercise: The level of work that does not stress the horse. It just maintains the fitness.

Take Care.

Hi Everyone.

I would like to formally introduce myself as the writer of the blog, as I have not done so, since I have been writing these posts.

My name is Jessica Osmers, I am 24 years old and I am married to a phenomenal husband, Charl Osmers. We live on a 200ha private game reserve the Northern part of South-Africa in the Limpopo Province, bordering Kruger National Park.

We live on this farm with my in laws, a million dogs and the most exquisite wildlife your eyes will ever see. My father in law dedicates his life to wildlife conservation and my beautiful mother in law is the foundation that keeps everybody together. 

And with this blog I will be taking you guys through the most entertaining and fun filled adventures of your lives.

So buckle up and stay tuned....

Take Care.

 

Unexpected passing of my best friend and endurance horse, Kitima Samurai.

Tears fill up my eyes and my heart shoots up to my throat every time I think of him. Today 9 days ago my boy was put down due to sever edema on his brain. This was caused by a case of Babesia Equi. He was taken to one of the local Veterinary Hospitals where he stayed under 24 hour observation for 16 days. Those where the worst 16 days of my life. When he arrived there, blood was immediately drawn to be sent away for analysis to be 100% sure of his diagnosis and the treatment began. The sad thing is that those virus blood test sometimes take up to three weeks to be completed and most horses pass before then because it ultimately just takes too long for the results to be finalized and delivered. Every second day he had high temperature spikes which was a set back. Just when we think we have some positive results he has another set back. So it continued for 10 days when we finally had the virus results back which stated that he had Babesia Equi. The Veterinarian treated him with different medication and nevertheless he had such a positive come back for 3 days. I was so happy that I might have my boy back home with me in just a few days. But that evening everything spiraled out of control. He fell around in his stable and his temperature spiked again, he did not register to voices or movement and she explained the edema has caused this. She stayed with him throught the entire night just to see him worsening. And we finally decided we can't let him go through this any more. This was the absolute worst decision I have had to made in my entire life. He was put down that night. I am a true believer in our Heavenly Father and I know He has greater things in store for us and I believe that with all my heart. It takes time to process somethings like this and it is how you rise above your circumstances that determines who you are. I will have a emptiness in my heart for some time to come and his stable will be empty without his beautiful face looking out to me. He gave me so much joy, laughter and anxiety on the endurance field that I will never exchange for anything and those memories will be cherished and they will be forever etched into my heart. And that is what I want to remember of him

 He was one of the best gifts that I have ever been blessed with in my life. 

Love you forever my special boy.

3/09/2016

June 2016 Wildlife Veterinary course. Volunteers helping to save South-Africa's White Rhino.

Our Wildlife Veterinary course for June 2016 just came to an end. What an exciting and unforgettable experience it was. We had Veterinary students from the UK and Scotland and what a wonderful bunch of upcoming Veterinarians they are going to be. 

The highlight of the course was the Rhino de-horning for their own protection from poachers as the trade in Rhino horn is escalating into a snowball effect. We are uncertain of the future of our beautiful animals but let us all hope and pray there is an upcoming solution that everybody will be satisfied with. When this will ever happen is unsure. We have gotten so accustomed to Rhinos not having any horns, seeing them with horn is a sight for sore eyes. A Rhino bull horn can grow as much as  a kilogram per year and a rhino cow up to 800 grams per year.

For more than 30 years the central debate about Rhino Conservation has resolved around banning the trade in Rhino horn. All five species of Rhinoceros where put on the CITIES Appendix 1 in 1977 and international trade in their products where declared illegal. Despite the efforts of by mostly Western Governments and NGO's the trade has continued.

The threat facing the Rhinoceros population is a major concern to all who are serious about conservation and sustainable development. The prospect of the Rhinoceros facing extinction twice in a lifetime is hard to grasp. Despite the efforts of the conservation authorities and private game farmers, the situation seems to be increasingly worse for the Rhino.

Save the Rhino.

The Impact Of Wildlife Based Tourism.

Privileged and blessed beyond imagination to able to do what we love is one of the most important key factors to make a success out of something you love. And I realize is more strongly every single day.

As I say "IF YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR SOMETHING BEING DRIVEN COMES NATURALLY"

Surround yourself with people with the same ambition as you and take a chances, be daring and challenge yourself. As volunteer programs are mostly wildlife based tourism and that is what we are about, I would like to share what the impact has on South-Africa.

Game can play an important role in wildlife based tourism, which is likely to become one of the better economic supporters as well as a large earner of foreign exchange. Wildlife supports the goal of achieving a sustainable  living planet. Wildlife tourisme creates an immense amount of job opportunities for local residents. This is why the tourism industry can be seen as one of the largest contributing industries to economic growth an employment creation.

In the picture above we immobilized a Golden Wildebeest which is a colour variation of the normal Blue Wildebeest(Connochaetes Taurinus). She was immobilized for the fact that she has not yet delivered a calf, an ultra sound was performed in the open field to quickly determine if she was pregnant and the results were negative. She will be

be closely monitored for his time and hopefully we will be able to get positive results.

These are beautiful and rare animals which makes the sought after.

Road to the African Endurance Championship in Walvis bay Namibia.

It as has always been an enormous dream of mine to compete in the prestigious event, the African Endurance Championship in Namibia.

Last year I started off with my new horse Kitima Samurai, bred my Kitima Stud in Burgersford. I only bought him as a trail horse for my horseback safaris.  A year after I bought him I decided to take him up as an endurance prospect. He is very well bred but certainly good genetics does not necessarily mean this horse will be good on the track. As one of the most important things are his own actual genetic make up and of course his mental strength. We started training in early 2015 and the above picture was his first 40km race. As he novice horse he needs to successfully complete 2x 40km and 2 x 80km at an average speed of 16km/ph or slower. A novice horse can only complete this phase over the course of 24 months and no shorter than 12 months.

He surely is a hand full but I enjoy every moment of it, he builds me up to be a better and more focused rider.

The AEC is a very though race it consists of a few distances, in particular 120km, and a 90km race. I would like to compete in the 90km race as this would ''hopefully'' be our first one. Training for this race should be up to 6 months prior and it consists of a lot of deep sand work which is grueling. I have done some research and have spoken to some riders that have competed in this event and one of the biggest challenges of this course is Dune 7 which would be on our last loop of the race. Dune 7 is located in the Erongo district of Namibia, approximately 7km east of Walvis Bay, it is the highest dune in the costal region, and is a popular spot for various activities. The majestic dunes of the Namib were formed as a result of sand being carried on the wind from the coast. The sand found here is 5 million years old, comprised predominantly of small grains encased in a thin layer of iron oxide. This is the coating that gives  the Namib it's characteristic red colour.

We have been into training for a month and a half now and I am very pleased. 

Hopefully our road to the African Endurance Championship would be one of many more to come.

Love you my special boy.