First of all, thank you all for your wonderful comments and words of inspiration. It is the attention that you have all paid writing that keeps me coming back.

We have been on a bit of an internet hiatus as we spent the last three nights in an Anglican Monastary in Grahamstown (home of Rhodes U). We spent little time with the Monks(brothers) during our stay but fortunately had opportunity to sit out with them under the Southern Hemisphere stars and watch the comet (name escapes me).

I cannot begin to describe to you the connections that Barbara Temple-Thurston (our professor) and Roddy Bray (Cape Town tour guide, trip planner) have. We have met such incredible people. This blog entry is dedicated to one of the numerous and most recent incredible people we have met.

Our time in Grahamstown was spent visiting BTT's childhood boarding school DSG and visit her favored research venue the National English Literary Museum(NELM). The tour was led by Grahamstown historian, snake catcher, animal rehabilitator and phenomenal storyteller Basil Mills (yeah, what a great name, I know!). Basil, a large man with leathered skin and protruding beer belly showed up the first day to guide our group around Addo Elephant park with his blonde handle-bar mustache and mullet cascading down his safari shirt.

This man's personality, generousity and pursuit of knowledge has undoubtedly made this trip for many Lutes. In our first morning with him as we toured Grahamstown he was called four times about wild snakes that people needed trapped. After the third call he politely told the woman on the other end that he was currently leading a student tour and that her best option would be to call the fire dept. Yeah, we got a tour of Grahamstown and a history of the Eastern Cape of SA from the guy who is called before the fire dept. to safely remove so the deadliest snakest in the world!

Later we were led on a tour of BTT's childhood all-girls school by the now Head Master (formerly Mistress). Before the tour was over Basil had left and returned with a Puff Adder snake safely contained in the back of his hatch back. He told us he would show us the snake that night when we came over for dinner. Right then we all found out two things. 1) We were invited over to Africa's equivalent of Steve Irwin's house for dinner; 2) We would all get up close and personal with one of the fastest striking, poisonous snakes in the world.

We finished our tour of NELM later that afternoon and began to become fatigued. Basil, always on the go, was wondering what our problem was the 40C heat (keep in mind body temp is 37C). We decided to go by the store and put together our lunch for the next day and buy food for our braai(BBQ) at Basil's. We returned to the monastary to freshen up and before we knew it we were all holding the 5M boa that he and his wife Debbie were rehabilitating. Again, it is appropriate to keep in mind that I am 2M tall! Soon we discovered that throughout his farm all the animals we saw bat, falcon, rock monitor (large iguanas), owl, dogs, geese and numerous snakes had all been injured at one time or another and Basil, his wife and two boys had all been working on bringing that back to full recovery.

We all sat around and ate Kadoo and Warthog kabobs and steak, potato salad, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions and the standard Coca-Cola Classic as Basil told us of his life/adventures. Currently, he works for NELM, catches snakes, rehabilitates animals, leads student group camps on: outdoor survival, cultural heritage, SA history, wild animals, and native art. THis man somehow had time for us.
He and his twin brother were orphaned around the age of 13 and both escaped the orphanage and ran off to the mountains and were raised by the Khoi-San or Bushmen in South Africa. He grew up with his parents who were both anti-apartheid supporters that began the first circus in SA. It was integrated which ultimately pissed off the Nationalist Government and led to his parent's untimely death.
Nevertheless, Basil earned his appreciation for animals working with Bears and lions in his parent's circus. Scars and all his love for animals continued as he lived with the Bushmen and began to learn their lifestyle. He and his brother fought in the Angolan war and his brother is still a pilot. Basil has studied archetectual design and native art. He can speak English, Afrikaans, Xhosa (a click language) and little bit of Bushmen.
He was so inspiriation and reminiscent of the late Steve Irwin. He did not get all caught up with social norms, and proper degrees. He doesn't use his computer. He got his first watch last Christmas! This man has gone out and lived life. He has studied nature and the world around him by living it. He shares his passion with everyone he meets. He is a joyful character and I hope the pressure we put him will convince him to write his life stories.
Every moment listening to him I felt like I was in the middle of cross between the movie big fish and the adventures of Steve Irwin.
Oh yeah, Basil's motto to keep moving was the result of an injury he sustained from croc wrestling paralyzing him for ayear! I love this guy.