The hadedas were the first to go
‘The hadedas were the first to go,’ said Mr Webster, as my husband and I browsed the books in the near-empty SPCA charity shop in Aberdeen, in the Eastern Cape. ‘Then all the clever people followed.’ The quaint little town was as quiet as a deserted movie set. It was November 2019, and we had stopped there to seek respite from a sweltering drive. We’d departed from Noupoort at 10am, heading homewards to Cape Town in a vehicle with chronic aircon apnoea (I managed to lose seven kilograms in that mobile sweat lodge) and a dysfunctional petrol gauge.
Behind a telephone pylon, three partridges stood in a neat row, one behind the other, facing the pole – taking cover under the only spot of shade for miles. They looked so vulnerable it made me want to
