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African Stories: Wouter One-Shot. South Africa..|| Oberholzer: I am talking about the rough and rumble travels that I did years ago. Back then, I would drive into a town's bar, have a couple of dops (drinks) and ask the locals who the funniest guy in town was. Or, sometimes I'd try the police, they also knew the colourful characters of town very well. But the best modus operandi was a direct and simple one. Search for interesting farm gates, then drive straight up to the farmhouse, look kaput (exhausted, broken), and ask to fill up the water container. Oh sorry, this has to be at dusk, not too dark, dusk was a good time to plan your arrival. This would always end up being invited in for drinks, then for a braai and then to spend the night in the guest rondavel. I remember one such a scene, still as dazzlingly clear as the African light. It happened on a hunting farm north of Ellisras. (Now named Lephalale) After a humungous braai with farm owner Wouter, we came to digesting matters ill repeated in words, never to be printed, whilst topping up our brandy with some coke at regular intervals. The walls of Wouter's hunting bar had enough animal trophies for a new natural science museum in Austria. Coke makes me brag, so soon I was boasting about my niftiness with a camera and just having photographed a place named Swartwitpensbokfonteinberg. Soon talk shifted on to the famous South African place name of Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein. This name, of a farm near Lichtenburg, is said to be one of the longest place names in the world. With that, Wouter uttered more terrible words even less printable here, took a long swig of brandy, and put on his sweat stained bush hat. Then he lifted two buffalo heads from the wall and placed them on the billiard table. Before we could decently admire the huge horns and skulls, Wouter had opened his gun safe, taken out his large calibre Winchester and slotted a single round into the chamber. Standing at the far end of the room he fired one shot at the snookered buffalo. After the sound had dampened, the gun smoke had lifted and we had gathered ourselves up from the bar floor ----- Wouter, as cool as the Bushveld night said, “You see, easy ----- two buffaloes with one shot”. (KEYSTONE/LAIF/Obie Oberholzer)