Animal Sanctuary
The farm borders onto a nature reserve and we are surrounded by pristine veldt. We are fortunate in having an abundance of wildlife on the farm.
Ricky’s Drift is home to porcupines, jackals, hares, rabbits, buck, mongeese, and all sorts of other small mammals and rodents, rooikat, civet, baboons, abundant insect and bird life and reptiles of all sorts. A small herd of free kudu pass through the valley from time to time and we have heard leopard and seen spoor. For this reason we hope to limit the number of dogs and cats on the farm and these will need to be managed with care.
Our latest arrival is Penelope
A runt, she was rescued from a pig rearing farm where she would have been killed. She is thriving and growing and survived 3 days and nights alone on the farm after fleeing shortly after her arrival here. She turned up unscathed after we had given up hope of ever seeing her alive again.
We have a small brood of chickens
The hens came from an egg business that went bankrupt and some are now very elderly but still spritely and active. They enjoy the run of the olive orchards and live as naturally as possible.
Our 2 dogs, Dixie and Jess enjoy a lot of freedom and space
Seldom alone, they love and are loved by everyone. Jess was rescued outside a pub at the age of 2 weeks. She takes the job of keeping baboons out of the garden, chickens off the stoep and of minding piglets very seriously.
We currently have 3 rescue horses who roam free on the farm
The 2 mares were rescued by the SPCA and arrived skeletal and weak. Picasso, the chestnut gelding has leg issues and so was not fit for riding or showing. They browse freely from the veldt and Echo,the elder mare, has out lived her predicted death from cancer by 5 years and is still doing well. They have not worn a halter or bridle since their arrival on the farm.
We try to get along with the locals and have a no kill policy
Spiders, snakes and other scary people are either respectfully left alone, or relocated if they present a danger to anyone. Several birds share our homes, along with a variety of mice.