Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Security (cont.) – by Gary




We met this guy early one morning while walking on the mountain above Simon’s Town.  As he was carrying a rifle the meeting was a little confronting.  But he was ok, although he was on serious guard duty!  His job is to protect houses in the valley below from raids.  According to him the raiders can strike at any time although early mornings just after people have left for work tends to be a favourite.  He went on to tell us the raiders can work solo or in groups, are highly intelligent and spend hours on reconnaissance, just waiting for the right moment.  He warned us to be careful!

He was guarding these particularly vulnerable houses right on the edge of town


A little further up the track we were confronted by a large group of raiders!  Boy that was a little scary too!


The raiders!  In South Africa it seems the criminal class is not just restricted to humans.  

They only need the smallest gap to get in, a cat flap will do fine!

Once in generally they don’t mess about but head straight for the refrigerator (see open door, bottom left)

But they can be very naughty too!

Its good to think these guys were keeping us safe!  The rifles they carry are paint ball guns.

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2 comments:

  1. Great job, Gary. The first day I saw them I was pretty frightened myself, then the baboons started throwing rocks at me from the top of the gorge by the waterfall, what's with that. I didn't have the paintball gun.

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    1. Wow, interactive comments - I didn't know this would happen. We were approached by a large troupe just as we arrived at the waterfall above Simon's Town. Their arrival coinciding with ours may have been serendipitous - but it felt like they were checking us out - I guess for food? We were trying to locate a geocache, but chickened out and went home. Freaky!

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