Ettioné Ferreira
Basil Mills is no ordinary man, in fact, he can be considered as Grahamstown’s own Steve Irwin. With famous photographers such as Obie Oberholzer photographing him, he has never been shy in front of the camera. After finding out that he lives on Donkerbosch Outspan Ranch.
During the week I found find Basil at the English Literary Museum which might sound like a very quiet job but when Basil is around, there is always something interesting happening. He is regularly involved in various community engagement projects, as well as, being the representative of the museum, which includes telling stories to the children of Grahamstown at the local schools.
While other museums show the past through artworks and objects from the past, the English Literary Museum uses books to remind us of the history of our country and the world. Basil tells stories from the children’s books in the museum to the local children. When Basil tells these stories he is so creative and interactive with the audience that even the adults in the room are listening attentively. Afterwards, he helps his best friend, Bubbles, make small paper animal souvenirs, which they give to the children as a reminder of their trip. While watching Mills tell stories from far and wide about Africa and the wonders which are found here, I soon realised that he has a soft spot for children and with his warm-hearted smile he began to allow me to see through his “tough” appearance.
On the other hand, upon entering his farm I soon realised that the soft-centred man is only one side of him. Entering the gates to his ranch you first get welcomed by geese who act as farm guard dogs, making loud hissing noises to notify the family know that someone has come for a visit. Walking on the pathway towards the main house you cannot help but notice the artwork on the grass, a large praying mantis, made by Basil’s son. Warren, just like his dad he is a mixture of artist and conservationist who shows that he has inherited Basil’s multi-talented nature. However, these structures are not the only amazing items on the property.
At the main house, I passed an area guarded off by a short rock wall, it’s top laced with fencing, thus completely closing the area off. At first, I thought of it as merely a pond area until I peered in for a closer look, only to be confronted by a very large crocodile (however due to safety reasons, Basil prevented me from entering this pen). Being an animal lover, I knew I was in for a treat as this indicated the level of natural diversity on the farm.
Basil’s family gave me a very warm welcome and I settled in fairly quickly. During my exploration of the house, I came across an enormous glass box in the living room, which Basil informed me is home to a large python, named Nikita. Basil trusts Nikita so much that he had no problem posing with her wrapped around his entire body.
Basil is also an avid collector of antique and exotic weapons whose variety rivals that of the animals on his farm. After inquiring the reason why he would keep such dangerous items in his house he informed me that he regularly coordinates and performs in battle re-enactments with some of his local friends for various events. Local events include the battle of Grahamstown and further away from home, the Blaauwberg battle in Cape Town. In December 2010 Basil was asked to do a battle re-enactment for the History Channel of the American battle of Gettysburg. The documentary has a high possibility to be turned into a movie to be aired all over the world through the History Channel. It is planned to be aired at the end of June and is already posted on YouTube.
With Basil’s extensive knowledge of battles, it came to no surprise that he is regularly contacted by Gung-ho Paintball to help set up paintball games, where he also plays the role of a safety marshal during the games and ensures good gun safety procedures are followed. There are often times when younger members ask Basil for “battle strategies”.
At the end of each working day (myself being exhausted after running around with Basil for a few hours), I was amazed that this man came home with a smile on his face and spent time with his family with just as much enthusiasm as he had during all his daily activities.
Basil travels the country far and wide for battle re-enactments and conservation courses. He is known in Grahamstown as the go-to man for anything from help with snake bites to reptile and animal capture. I can guarantee that when you spend a week with Basil and his family, you will most certainly learn a lot more about nature and have an intense but fun week!
This article & photographs are copyrighted to ©Ettione Ferreira.
Published in Grocott’s Mail, April 2011.
Ridiculously Insane 