When Kobus was a boy, school holidays meant dusty roads, wide skies, and long, unhurried days on his grandparents’ farm in South Africa. It was the kind of place where time slowed down—until one late summer afternoon, when something unusual appeared.
An albino warthog wandered onto the property.
At first, he seemed almost otherworldly but harmless, a pale, curious creature drifting through the fields. For a brief moment, it felt like the farm had gained an unlikely new resident. But that illusion didn’t last.
Before long, the warthog began tearing through the vegetable garden, uprooting crops with ruthless enthusiasm. Worse still, he developed a temper—charging at anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. What had seemed like a novelty quickly turned into a menace.
Kobus’s grandparents gave him a name that stuck: Wit Bliksem.
It wasn’t said lightly. The name carried weight, a mix of humor and warning, and soon the warthog became something more than just a troublesome animal. He turned into a legend of sorts—a farmyard
boogeyman. Whenever the children ran off to play in the open fields, a familiar warning followed close behind:
“Watch out for the Wit Bliksem… or he’ll get you.”