Tambuku Rhodesian Ridgebacks

Vumba (Ch. Roodedraai Mbedzi)

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Vumba (Roodedraai Mbedzi)  was a compact, powerful rubberball of a Ridgeback and she maintained that elastic spring and boundless energy until the hour before she died. To add to her list of physical traits she was as tough as nails and as brave as any Ridgeback I’ve known. She was an outstanding personal guard and protector of property.  Around the house she was referred to as the “The Last of the True Ridgebacks” a title born out of the recognition that she embodied in her solid frame all that we, in Africa, recognise as being idiosyncratic of the traditional Rhodesian Hound.

She was a sound bitch with a very stable temperament. Vumba would engage with people when asked, was tolerant of strange dogs, but on her guard and protective when the situation called.

Bred by Yvonne du Preez of Roodedraai Kennels Vumba was the daughter of dam Danest Red Mystery of Roodedraai and the little dog Pronkberg Matange.  

In her life time Vumba provided me with two litters of beautiful puppies, many of whom showed tremendous quality. She had a tendency to produce large, powerful pups as well as smaller, less robust pups, all of whom displayed adequate bone and muscle. She is the mother of  Fudge (Tambuku African Tail), Tipi (Tambuku Pot-of-Gold), Juba (Tambuku Dragon Shadow)  and Humphrey (Tambuku Choclat Soldier).

Two of her puppies saved the lives of their owners. In the first instance Juba (Tambuku Dragonshadow), a young male saved his owner against two lionesses, while Tipi saved her young owner from attack by two armed men (for photos and stories see Progeny).

Puku (Roodedraai Luapula Puku)

Puku is Tambuku Ridgebacks foundation bitch. She stems from original Rhodesian and South African lines, including the old Glenaholm and Isimanga dogs. Glenahom Strauss’ name appears a number of times on her pedigree. Her sire was the outstanding dog and Pleasantview Dingaan , and bitch Roodedraai Gunney (see related dams).

As a young bitch Puku was an outstanding Ridgeback in form and structure. Her remarkable big round dark eyes were inherited from her mother Roodedraai Gunney.  In behaviour she was the most charming and endearing pet, intelligent far beyond the norm, and with a very highly developed sense of self-esteem and her own individuality. She was the queen of the Tambuku pack, in status but not in responsibility, which she shrugged off for her humans to assume. However, her highly developed sense of humour and fun coloured the lives of all her family members hound and human alike.

As a huntress, she was beyond compare. This hound was exceptionally alert, the hunt lay deep within her psyche, and her sense of smell was so exceptional that I never once saw her put her nose to the ground, or even sniff for a whiff, but simply run directly to her target in a straight line, and seemingly without any clue or indication whatsoever. There were may occasions when we tried to trick her in a game of hide and seek, sometimes even climbing high up into trees and then letting her loose with the command “Find… whoever…”. She never failed.

Her life was filled with a lot of bed – and couch-lying, spins in the car, holidays out of town, beach walks, lagoon swims, and mountain-trekking to Stone Age Bushman rock art high up in the Natal Drakensberg. She has had the privilege of hiking with a Bushman to rock art and she even spent a night in a hurricane, in the back of a bakkie (pick-up truck). She was so brave that she once even plunged into a raging sea to get to me when she thought that I might be in trouble, a stoutness of heart that she has passed onto her granddaughter (Fudge) (and other of her grandchildren who have saved their owners against snakes in the bushveld and armed murderers (Tambuku Pot-of-Gold, or Tippi, and Djuma) (see progeny).