Lifestyle

When you're a child you dream a lot. You live in a world of your own. Much of my own dream time was spent with Tarzan in the jungle. It was inspired by a weekly cartoon in a popular youth magazine that was beautifully illustrated and depicted all the adventures of Tarzan.

Over the years I've rehabilitated many birds of prey. Most of them have survived as I never released any raptor that was unfit. Only a super-fit hawk or eagle can stay alive and only a falconer can train them to this level. It's a wonderful feeling: giving a doomed bird a second life.

Many people I know have installed one of those non-selective electronic insect shocking devices on their verandas. Issue date 15 June 2007

Biodiversity literally means the variety of living organisms, both large and small. In theory it sounds good to safeguard or to restore the biodiversity of what is left of our natural ecosystems. To do this, however, one must have a good knowledge of the environment and the myriad of species that inhabit it, as well as sound ecological insight into the principles underlying the concept of diversity

When parts of a message are important, we highlight the letters in red and when a certain day is special we call it a red-letter day.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

This is a story about love, loss and a magnificent obsession. It is not for the faint-hearted, nor those easily moved to tears. If you can handle it, read on: a couple of weeks ago my five-star, super-duper, hyper-magnificent Gaggia espresso machine blew its last fuse, melted its last gasket and went to its final resting place in the rubbish bin.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

  With a thunderstorm brewing in the background the tawny eagle Veruschka flies through the Kalahari sky. After the intense heat of the day a soothing breeze...

Kids! Don�t try this at home! Paging through glossy cook books, double-page spreads in larney magazines and watching slick food shows on television, you would never guess that the gourmands who cooked the stuff ever made mistakes. Just to set the record straight, the tale that follows is one of total, self-annihilating failure.
Issue Date 16 March 2007

Flood is no joke, so pray for rain - but please don't ask for too much.
Issue Date: 9 March 2007