Background

The Beginning

My foundation and roots

My parents stem from Dutch and German origin. My mom (Kruger) from the Karoo and my dad (Geldenhuys) from Namaqualand. We are conservative Boers and being conservative is not being far-right. To understand my roots, foundation, upbringing position and decisions, it's important to recognize that we stem from the Boers, a term traditionally used to describe Afrikaner farmers, believing in the supremacy of God, the creator of heaven and earth. We are a simple people who strive to do what's right and keep things straight forward with a great respect for Gods of which we not the owners only the custodians. As long as I can remember as a family we were surrounded by birds, chickens and animals as the agriculture runs deep in our vanes. This is my journey.

Background

Thornton

I grew up in Thornton, Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa cannot be perfected. The majority of residents were either government, railway and/or Old Mutual employees. My dad was a railway employee for 42 years.

Birds, birds.. and more birds

As long as I can remember birds have in one form or another been part of my life. My granny had a sustainable farmstead with a large flock of black Australorps in Klawer in Namaqualand.

Diana Model 45

I could shoot before I could ride a bicycle. After a visit to a fair, as a youngster, my dad bought me a “ketty” (slingshot). One simple rule applied: any animal or bird I shot had to be eaten—no indiscriminate killing.

My first raptor encounter

My falconry journey started in June 1971 in the Karoo when I was handed a Rock Kestrel that was injured. At the end of the winter school holidays the bird was released but I hooked on raptors. My uncle had a copy of a 1935 National Geographic wherein an article on falconry was published which he gave me to take back home.

Falconry books

In Thornton we did not have a municipal library, but every Wednesday the Cape Town City municipal mobile library, a bus parked at the Methodist Church where residents could read and borrow books. The first Wednesday after my return from the farm I was at the mobile library. The librarian managing the mobile library had no clue what falconry was a difficult conversation at the time.

My first bird

The first SABC-screened TV show on falconry was a translated series titled “Ver in die Wêreld a falconry program from Spain. Television was only introduced in South Africa in 1976, opening a new visual window of the world .