Alan Lee, then a trainee ringer and resident at Blue Hill Escape near Uniondale at the extreme eastern end of the Western Cape Province of South Africa put out the offer of free accommodation to qualified ringers who could help him gain the necessary experience to qualify for his ringer's license. Who were we to turn down an offer like this? We were planning a trip to the Western Cape following the 2011 Namibian Ringers Get-together anyway and this would be an opportunity to see part of South Africa we did not know, to ring some of the fynbos specials and to help Alan towards his license. We knew that experienced ringers Mike Ford and Graham Grieve had already been there to ring with Alan. Alan, by the way, has a PhD from the University of Manchester on his work on parrots and macaws in Peru.