The Watchman Painting

Driving through the Addo elephant park you’ll see many Zebra, the neat lines on their moving bodies are so eye-catching and everyone of them different (I’m a sucker for bold patterns) If ever there was an animal representing black and white living harmoniously this is it! I've added colour because there’s so much more to us South Africans. While working on the Anti-Poaching Unit we frequently worked with a Captain on the SA Police Force, he lived on a farm on the outskirts of PE. We would often meet on the farm before operations. He had a single zebra on the farm, the cheekiest animal I’ve ever met! The story behind this bad tempered little Zebra is and interesting one...His mother had abandoned him when he was young, The Captain’s family took him in and he was hand raised by Penny (The Captain’s wife), He became so attached to Penny that once he saw her through the window of the house and needed to get to her, he jumped through the glass paned window cutting himself quite badly. Due to his wounds he had to be held down and doctored, the stress of being held down is what started his “bedondered” temper. He lives in a camp with many Impala and has become their ‘watchman’, it’s not recommended entering this area as he’s not prone to visitors and has left 2 poachers with a broken arm and scalped. He’s affectionately known as “Pyjama Donkey” who thinks he’s a Great Dane. If he’s out of the camp do not exit your vehicle! He’s very far from the proverbial, picturesque zebra’s on the plains of the Savannah or the Lion King.