Parting Shot
SA Country Life|April 2019

The Battle of the Moles is long and bitter, but just when all seems lost, OBIE OBERHOLZER produces a secret weapon, and fortunes change.

Parting Shot

Everything around me was country perfect, birds in the trees, the sun shimmering on everything. “Tra-la-la twiddle-dee-dee, it’s peace and goodwill,” I sang. Then I lobbed the empty wine bottle onto my mole-heap-dotted lawn. My two Weimaraners just stared at me. Smooth, grey-haired hunting dogs, long hanging ears and yellow eyes. Piercing eyes, I tell you.

I was a defeated Bacchanalian, a drunk, a loser. I had lost the battle against the moles. The moles now ruled my lawn. Once immaculately kept, it now looked like the battlefields of Verdun and the Somme. The Battle of the Moles was long and bitter, now all was lost, devastation ruled and my own end was nigh.

This story is from the April 2019 edition of SA Country Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 2019 edition of SA Country Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM SA COUNTRY LIFEView All
The Little Car That Could
SA Country Life

The Little Car That Could

The new Hyundai Atos is proof that budget-friendly vehicles can be fun

time-read
4 mins  |
June 2020
SA Country Life

Cowboys Never Cry

GEORGE ROBEY rides the range outside Ficksburg with one of Africa’s great cowboys

time-read
5 mins  |
June 2020
Family Stays
SA Country Life

Family Stays

Make some beautiful memories at one of these countryside getaways

time-read
6 mins  |
June 2020
SA Country Life

Art from the Heart

Watching blacksmiths at the forge, painters at the easel, cabinet makers at the chisel, and wandering the woods with a famous calligrapher in small, bespoke gatherings is what the Prince Albert Open Studios project is all about

time-read
7 mins  |
June 2020
Lighthouse Over Yonder
SA Country Life

Lighthouse Over Yonder

A shipwreck road trip from Bredasdorp to Danger Point is a fine way to spend a day drifting over the Agulhas plain

time-read
8 mins  |
March 2020
Up and Away In The Amatolas
SA Country Life

Up and Away In The Amatolas

A burgeoning settlement of people enjoys the good life among the mountains, mists and forests of Hogsback

time-read
7 mins  |
March 2020
The Salt Shepherd
SA Country Life

The Salt Shepherd

ALAN VAN GYSEN finds out how a farm boy the Vleesbaai skaaplande became as dedicated to big waves as he is to sheep

time-read
7 mins  |
March 2020
Time Holds on Longer Here
SA Country Life

Time Holds on Longer Here

Do not blink as you take the R62 that runs through the Eastern Cape Langkloof, warns OBIE OBERHOLZER. You might miss the strip of tar to the tranquil village of Haarlem

time-read
9 mins  |
March 2020
Place of Refuge
SA Country Life

Place of Refuge

People have been escaping to the remote Winterberg mountains in the Eastern Cape for hundreds of years, writes MARION WHITEHEAD

time-read
5 mins  |
March 2020
The Place Of Roaring Water
SA Country Life

The Place Of Roaring Water

In Augrabies Falls National Park, cultural projects are creating a thunder akin to the mighty Orange as it plummets into its famous gorge

time-read
7 mins  |
November 2019