GERTIE the Guineafowl

The first of a series where we get to know the characters that add the most colour to our skies.

- JUSTIN FOX

Gertruida is my name, Gertie for short. Me and the flock, we love it here on the smallholdings around Bloemfontein. Lekker plots to hang out in, the locals are friendly, not too many cars. We can sort out the cats if they hassle us and we avoid gardens with dogs. We don’t like dogs. Nothing personal; they just get a bit, you know, excitable.

We’ve got cousins all over the show: across most of Africa and quite a few overseas too. It’s actually more a case of having shacked up with humans who’ve taken us abroad on holiday and one thing led to another. Romance, new horizons. These days there are guineas in the Caribbean, Brazil, Australia, even the south of France. Can you imagine having to learn another language! I mean, what’s ‘ker-bek-ker-bek-ker-bek, krrrrrr’ in French?