As told by Spirit
The Chain is Broken
It took me a while to settle into my new surroundings, a loving home. I never knew love, as I was taken from my mother shortly after birth and destined for a life of a dog slave. These were now literally my first steps as a free dog, the chain around my neck broken.
The permanent scar on the back of my neck from that heavy metal chain is a constant reminder of the life I was rescued from. The first couple of months after my rescue in Waterval Boven were literally wobbly. I struggled so much with my weak bones to walk on that super slippery, polished wooden floor in the house I was now living in with the twins, a temporary home they told me, due to them being on a several-year travel quest across southern Africa. When they rescued me, they had already been through South Africa twice, through Botswana twice, through Zambia twice, through Malawi, and through Namibia.
New Beginnings: The Land Rover & the Open Road
We left Waterval Boven, and most of my early years during youth (in dog years) were spent on the road in the 1971 Land Rover Forward Control, an ex-military truck that the twins bought so that all of us could travel together: the twins, Queen Sheba the Africanis from Botswana, and me. In the first few years of my youth, we lived in beautiful places in nature, and mostly camped in the wild. We stayed in and travelled to places called Potloodspruit, Dullstroom, Elandskloof, Tonteldoos, Kaapsehoop, Drakensberg Mountains, Ramsgate, Trafalgar, Van Reenen, Volksrust, Ermelo, Amersfoort, Carolina, Zusterstroom, Bronkhorstspruit, Delmas, Pretoria, the Vredefort Dome, Groot Marico, the Great Karoo, Baviaanskloof, the Eastern Cape, Transkei, and so many places, I can't even remember them all.
Terra, Amanzi & Umlilo: A Gift from the Karoo
In the Karoo Desert, on New Year's morning, 2023, we went on a hike in the desert, and found 3 kittens next to the dead carcass of their mother, surrounded by jackal spoor — the jackal must have killed the mother. This reminded me of how I was taken away from my mother by humans, so I instantly felt compassion for these 3 kittens. They were covered in red ants, starving, and in pain. The twins took them to the farmhouse we were renting, cleaned them up, fed them, and named them Terra, Amanzi, and Umlilo, and adopted them into our animal sanctuary on the road.
I could sense the little kittens' sadness from losing their mother. I was also very sad at that moment because Queen Sheba had passed away in the Mpumalanga Highlands, shortly before we left that part of South Africa and headed south. My best friend and adopted Africanis mother was gone. This was very hard for me. I miss her so much.
After our beloved Queenie passed, we carried on and criss-crossed South Africa further before finally heading into the vast Kalahari in Botswana. Those were the years I was learning to become a dog. Queen Sheba, while still alive, taught me the discipline I needed to build on, so the foundations of being a dog were taught to me by a wise old master of life's hardships. My mentor. My adopted mother. My best friend.
Spirit is now an ambassador for the Africanis™ brand and the Oister™ Foundation's mission to protect and preserve the Canis Africanis — Africa's aboriginal landrace dog. Every purchase from Africanis™ helps fund rescues like Spirit's.