Hi Folks

Winter is a marvellous time of the year - crystal clear sunny days and nice chilly nights - boy, I love our winters! Also great for game-viewing and it is my "high season", compared to other Tour Operators that are busier during our summer months!! Just wish I was always busy and had a high season all year round!

I have been away over the past month - as my regular friends will know - and have had some great safaris with some great people. More details later on. In this edition I shall mention about some comments from Ruth, Kyle, Stuart and Nick, and then John and family - all who have travelled or used African Bundu Safaris services recently. I shall also tell you about our Botswana Millennium Safari, plus our Namaqualand Flower Safaris - a touch about our elections and the results. More folks are enquirying about houseboats - so I have some information about them - plus on Zimbabwe, a popular destination. And "Dean's Diary" would not be complete without mention about my two babies - Didi and Espi !!

We seem to be having more and more enquiries daily, though I gather that many people enquire impulsively without even thinking if their trip is a reality or not, as often after a week or two they suddenly are moving house, have a promotion, have decided to go to the Far East or some other reason why they are not coming anymore. We still have a few enquiries from folks who are boarding their plane in 5 days time and want us to organise a safari before they leave, or "we'll contact you when we arrive at the airport" - do these folks not believe in planning ahead? Anyway, they keep us busy and bring in zero dollars - we put it down to 'experience' !!

At the beginning of June, I met John, Kitty and Devin at the airport before transferring them to our popular B&B Guesthouse in Umhlanga Rocks for the night. They enjoyed themselves in Umhlanga, after a quick tour of Durban, the harbour entrance and a stroll along the beachfront.

The following morning we departed for Umfolosi Game Reserve, where we enjoyed a great day game-viewing - followed by a visit and stay at the nearby cheetah breeding project on a private game ranch. Kitty fell in love with the various cats there and was keen to spend the rest of her holiday there! As usual, we enjoyed good food and company with our hosts, before departing to Hilltop camp at Hluhluwe Game Reserve - Africa's oldest Game reserve. Even though we were not lucky to spot all of the Big Five - we did have some great animal sightings which included White Rhino's, African Wild Dog, Giraffes, and eventually some elephants. After one night at Hilltop we went into the bush and spent the next few nights at the Nseleni Bush Camp in the Umfolosi Reserve - a great experience. The weather was cold and windy which caused many of the animals to disappear into the bush, but none-the-less, we did enjoy our wilderness walks and our game drives in the area. Kitty, John and Devin have written some comments in my Guestbook, so see for yourself what they have said. After we returned to Durban, they left for Bulawayo, where their other daughter was getting married and then they were going to be touring Zimbabwe and then Cape Town, the Garden Route and the Grahamstown Arts Festival.

John sent a quick e-mail to me from an Internet Cafe in Cape Town and I have copied below some of their e-mail - seems as though they are having a great time and I look forward to hearing from them when they return to their home near San Francsisco.

One good thing that I am looking forward to is their next visit - John ends off by saying they have now been bitten by the "African Bug" - see you soon guys!

Shortly after their departure, Nick and Stuart, who are from the UK, had the pleasure of enjoying part of their holiday with me in the Umfolosi Game Reserve. We first went to Shakaland for the African Nandi Zulu Experience and a great traditional lunch, followed by some great game-viewing and spending two nights at the Safari Tented camp in Umfolosi. We had some good laughs and some great weather - then we went to St Lucia for a launch cruise on the St Lucia Estaury where we ventured close to some crocodiles, hippos and a variety of birds. The boat trip was ruined a bit by a group of South African "adults" who arrived on board and treated this as a booze cruise - the skipper was very embarassed and found it difficult to control them. He did apologize to us - unfortunately, many of our upcountry South Africans cannot behave themselves and they have also gained a terrible reputation when they venture over the borders into Botswana, Namibia or Mocambique with their 4x4's, camping equipment, beers and brandy - such a pity. Anyway, Nick and Stuart had a great time and they have left comments on the guestbook, plus Nick sent me an e-mail after his return to the UK. He is planning on bringing his girlfriend out next year and has asked me to start planning already - nice to have guests like that. Here is what Nick said in his e-mail.....

" ........ I thought I would write something which you could read as the scribbled note in your guestbook was barely legible.

"If you are going to Africa and you want to be assured of doing and seeing the best of all that there is, then don't let yourselves down, let Dean make all your arrangements for you. You will then not only have the holiday of a lifetime, you will be able to contgratulate yourselves for choosing someone who obviously takes great pride in the quality of the service and tours that he arranges. His experience, knowledge of a vast array of subjects and his ability to make you feel like you have known him for years makes him the most valuable aquisition around."

Thanks Nick - nice to have positive feedback and honest comments.

As mentioned in my last entry Ruth and Matthew had been here on a self-drive and Ruth e-mailed us on her return and gave us some invaluable information and an accurate feedback on the various lodges that they stayed at - wow Ruth - thanks for all the detail - it is so helpful and kind of you. We are also glad your trip, as expected, went off so well and look forward to hosting you again in the near future. Here is portion of Ruth's e-mail:....

Ruth and Matthew had their two week travels take them from Johannesburg, to Pretoria, then to Mpumalanga visiting the areas of White River, Sabie and Hoedspruit, before continuing to Swaziland, then St Lucia, Umhlanga Rocks and the Drakensberg bfore driving back to Johannesburg. A lovely route. Thanks again for the feedback Ruth.

We also helped Kyle and his wife plan their self-drive holiday, which included visiting Cape Town, the Garden Route, Port Elizabeth, Sun City and the Palace and then Vic Falls. Kyle kindly e-mailed us on his return and the following is portion of his e-mail:

"Dean and Alice.

Somehow the Palace charged him double for his stay and we are getting them to reverse the payment - don't understand how such a fancy hotel can make such a mistake!! Guess it was the computers fault!!!

I have just returned from a great "Birding Safari" - my first proper birding safari where I had serious "Twitchers" as my guests. In the past I have had guests who are keen on their birds - in fact Heather, Graham and friends on the camping safari to Namibia two years ago were birders, but my recent guests, Karl, Bill and Gerald were 'big time' birders - I really enjoyed myself and learnt a lot from them - thanks guys - they showed their enthusiasm and interest and were always willing to share the joy of new sightings with me. We started off a bit delayed as I waited for nearly 5 hours at Durban airport for them - their international flight had been delayed in Madrid and therefore their connecting flight from Johannesburg to Durban was also different - anyway, they stayed with a past guest of mine for the first night in Umhlanga Rocks - Peter has a flat here which he uses when he is here for business a few times a year. After meeting them at the airport a day late, we visited the harbour entrance quickly to see some of the seagulls, before driving to the Umhlanga Water works and there we had quite a few good "ticks" (28 in total) before making our way to the flat. The next morning we departed for Zululand and more specifically - 2 nights at Hilltop Camp (Hluhluwe Game reserve) where they had 90 different bird species sighted, then 3 nights at Mkuze Game Reserve which tallied 105 different bird species, then 3 nights at Cape Vidal which is situated on the beach and adjoining the St Lucia Wetlands Park and tallied up 85 different birds, then we travelled to Umlalazi Nature Reserve for 2 nights where the 85 different birds included the Palmnut Vulture and then the final night was at iPhiva floating chalet near Eshowe which ticked off 61 different bird species. Some of the 216 different species of birds which they were thrilled to sight included (in no specific order) - Goliath Heron, Pinkbacked Pelican, Sacred Ibis, Woolynecked Stalk, Secretarybird, Whitebacked vulture, African Fish Eagle, Bateleur, Brown Snake Eagle, Jackal Buzzard, African Rail and Crake, African Finfoot and a Moorhen, a Threebanded Plover, Purplecrested Lourie, Greenspotted Dove, Burchells Coucal, Giant, Malachite, Brownhooded, Mangrove and Pied Kingfishers, Trumpeter Hornbill, Goldentailed Woodpecker, Greyheaded Bush Shrike and a Blackbrowed Albatross. After our return to Durban and a good nights rest - I took them to the harbour where they boarded a fishing boat and disappeared into the deep blue ocean for 3 hours to see our marine birds and returned very happy having had some good and close encounters. The last remaining hours of their stay were spent at the Botanical Gardens and on the banks of the Umgeni River where Bill was thrilled to tick off a Hamerkop just before we left for the airport and their flight back home. What a great trip - Karl has written the comment in my Guestbook, so be sure to visit it on my Tripod website.

During the birding safari, Alice, (African Bundu Safaris chief secretary), took a few days off and spent it in Umfolosi Game Reserve with her family. Boy, did they have a great time!! They enjoyed superb game-viewing even witnessing a cheetah chase and kill an impala and then two days later saw another pair of cheetahs - plus lots of other animals and birds during their stay. She has come back re-charged and rearing to make hundreds of bookings for our keen enquirers.

After Nick and Stuarts safari and before the birding safari, I organised and took a small group of Durban-based Tour Operators on an educational tour of a number of Zululand game lodges and resorts. The idea was to introduce them to these establishments and to experience a bit of the hospitality of the hosts - we were shown around the facilities and also supplied with a snack or meal, apart from the two overnight stays where we enjoyed DB&B. A total of 10 different establishments were visited over the 3 days and we covered nearly 2000kms in distance - it was rushed, but at least we all now know where they are situated and some of the facilities they can offer our guests. The places chosen were either new or not well known/supported. I have used a number of them in the past and shall continue using them plus the new ones. I am busy organising another educational for later this year - but this time it shall be a flying educational - this is to introduce a new air service to Zululand and the resorts. Most resorts and lodges have an airstrip nearby, so we shall be introducing this air service on a daily basis and it would mean that our client does not have to sit in a vehicle for 3, 4 or 5 hours to get to their destination - it will only be a short flight away, plus you shall enjoy the scenery from the air, which so many people miss out on. Another big plus is there shall be less encounters with our notorious taxis and the bumpy gravel roads into the rural areas - the airstrips are either on the lodges property or a short 5 or 10 min drive away. Quite exciting - I shall keep you informed.

Occassionaly we get a visitor to our office, which is situated at my home, and recently we had Dionne from the Stock and Stocks hotel group visit us with the latest information and rates from their collection of super resorts. We have used the Bakubung and Tshukudu hotels a number of times and everyone has given glowing reports. Hopefully we shall be able to use some more of their hotels - especially the beautiful ones in Cape Town.

A past guest and now friend of mine - Peter, has recently been to Durban again, as he has a business office here for his South Africa work. It was good to see Peter again and catch up on the news of his family and how the children's studies and work is progressing, plus their adventurous travels to the Nepal recently for their annual holiday - sounds very exciting. Peter very kindly co-ordinated the birding safari as Karl and friends do not have e-mail access - so THANKS A STACK Peter - really appreciated, plus all your kind words.

Kyra and Michael are busy ending their Southern Africa safari with my cousins company and I look forward to hearing from them soon. They did the 16-day camping safari from Johannesburg to Cape Town, via Kruger, Swaziland, Durban, Addo and the Garden route, then they flew to Vic Falls for a few days - which is where they are as I type this entry. I'll let you know what I hear from them next month.

On the 22nd I shall be meeting Keith and his 8-year old son, Jon, at Durban airport - when they start their holiday - we shall spend time in Umfolosi-Hluhluwe Game reserves and also the cheetah ranch plus a short launch cruise at St Lucia. I look forward to sharing the beauty and excitment of Zululand with Keith and Jon - more news next month.

During August I am off to Zimbabwe for 10 days where I shall be leading John and his family around - we shall visit the Greater Zimbabwe Ruins, Bulawayo and the Matopos, Hwange, Vic Falls and then a houseboat on Lake Kariba. It will be an exciting and adventurous holiday for them - more news after that trip - which ends as Brad and Sophie come out for their long Honeymoon safari.

Just on the subject of houseboats - occassionaly we have requests for houseboat trips - no problem - I have a number of houseboats (over a dozen) of various sizes, that are based on Lake Kariba (in Zimbabwe) and they can comfortably sleep from 6 to 16 people. The recommended duration of any houseboat trip is 3 or 4 nights - with the main activities being fishing, relaxing and the best of all - game-viewing along the shores of Matusadona National Park. We can also book the 22 hour ferry trip across the Lake - which links the eastern town of Kariba to the western end of the lake - about 3 hours drive from Vic Falls. For those of you, especially South Africans, who would like to stay on a houseboat of a difference - the iPhiva Floating chalets are very similar and situated less than 2 hours from Durban near Eshowe. These lovely simple self-catering chalets are a roaring success and are booked out every weekend at least 4 months in advance. I have used them on numerous occassions, during the week, when the dam and adjoining nature reserve are quiet and peaceful. Thug and Hazel provide excellent hospitality. They have just completed 2 4x4 trails through the hills and Nature reserve, which ends at the dam shores and is ideally suited to the South Africa who wants to 'test' his fancy 4x4 with his family on a fun outing. There is a package available which includes a visit to the nearby tribal village, a boat cruise on the dam, the 4x4 trail and accommodation in the safari camp.

Of the future visitors to South Africa - I am looking forward to Claudia coming out again - I met her in September last year and have kept in touch, Kevin and the Royal Navy will be visiting us next year in April so Helen and the kids shall hopefully be able to come to Durban for a few days, Heather has kindly forwarded my name to a few travellers in Europe when she was there last month on her exciting holiday which included a journey through France in a 1932 Bedford bus! Larry and Beth have also just returned from a great holiday and I look forward to having them in South Africa again, Jamie and friends are all excited about their forthcoming safari from Vic Falls to the Okavango, Spencer and his friends are coming out in August on a selfdrive and also so excited about their trip, Howard, Debbie and their daughter will be driving a Venture around South Africa in August for 2 weeks, Sylva and her friends are going to be enjoying Xmas and the Millennium in Zimbabwe and Mocambique before going to Cape Town for a few days, Hans-Rainer and his family shall be travelling with me before and after Xmas in Cape Town and then from Durban to Kruger Park, before they continue to celebrate the Millennium in Vic Falls followed by Sun City. Bob and his wife shall be driving from Zimbabwe and exploring the Northern Province before the end their vacation at MalaMala in a few months time, and then we have a variety of other folks who are still undecided on their destinations or dates and are probably still surfing around gaining extra information. Sandro and Roberto could not get good airtickets to SA, so have decided to take a tour to Madagascar instead and shall visit us next year.

At the beginning of June we had our 2nd democratic elections and Nelson Mandela went into official retirement and Thabo Mbeki was voted in as the new president. The ANC did not manage the 2/3rds majority overall, though they won many of the provinces without much effort. The new official opposition party was the Democratic Party and so hopefully they will have more power to cut down on the corruption and bad management that has taken place over the last few years. It is such a pity that when man gets power, he also becomes more greedy - not only here in South Africa, but in many countries throughout the world, just seems that in our African countries it is more prevalent. Thankfully though, our elections were peaceful and everyone seems to have accepted the New South Africa and as our new president, Mr Thabo Mbeki says, "the honeymoon is now over, let's get down to work now" - which means there is no need to celebrate majority rule and end of apartheid, but lets improve the education, health and wealth of the people and get rid of the crime and corruption. Good luck guys, you have my support!

We still hear of the unrest and war in Angola and the DRC, but we also hear of the positive progress in Mozambique and developments there back to a normal country, we hear of Robert Mugabe and his silly beliefs and policies in Zimbabwe, we don't hear much about the stable country of Botswana or Namibia - so things must be OK there. Lesotho and Swziland seem to be quiet at the moment and so Southern Africa is not really hitting the world news headlines anymore - no news is good news. The bad news which erupted last week was the shocking, absolutely terrible treatment of the Tuli elephants which are being 'trained' at a Pretoria based game ranch (African Game Services) for the European zoo's. The handlers have since been fired and the police are investigating the incident and recent TV exposure. It is really heartbreaking to have seen such terrible treatment, from human beings to baby elephants - who are such intelligent animals. We also saw coverage of how elephants are treated at various zoo's and circus's around the world - mainly Germany, England and the USA - and despite the so called "educational" benefits for children to see such animals, I have a stronger hatred for such institutions. To catch a wild animal and then put it into such small enclosures for the rest of its life - and with the elephants, to have their legs chained to an anchor in the ground - is even worse. Wouldn't it be great if the whole world decided not to allow zoo's and animal circus's anymore. I feel sorry for the wild animals that are in orphanages such as those near Hoedspruit and especially the Chipangali Sanctuary in Bulawayo - the lions, leopards and cheetahs are in cages that measure about 4 metres by 6 metres - and they live their whole lives in there - very cruel. I do understand the concept and belief that as they are orphaned or injured they can't be released into the wild to fend for themselves, but to put them into such small cages - it could be a lot better than that! At least in the Game reserves - they have hundreds and thousands of acres or hectares to roam around and are not threatened by man destroying them because they are wanting to migrate across their farming fields.

Talking of animals - my two babies - Did and Espi are getting on great. Didi is a cross minature Doberman and about 3 years old and Espi is a long-legged Cross Jack Russell and about 6 months old. They have so much fun together - play fighting, tug-of-war, chasing each other and grooming each other!! They have the run of the whole property and when I get a chance, I take them for walks (actually runs) around the neighbourhood. Didi loves eating carrots and gets all excited when she hears me peeling them or slicing them and expects a good few slices - Espi has copied her and also likes them now! Didi also has a liking for green peppers - so she certainly is getting her vegetables!! A couple of weeks ago Espi fell ill and had to spend the night at the vet on a drip - the Vet says she picked up a gastro virus - luckily she is much better and has put on her weight already.

Espi is showing great intelligence, at times, and she loves climbing on top of her kennel or a chair and sitting on top keeping an eye on her domain!

My God-daughter, Erin, turned 1 year this month and a couple of weeks ago - in fact the day before my birthday, my mother and I travelled up to Pietermaritzburg, to have lunch with our one cousin who runs a restaurant at the cricket grounds, and then the afternoon and evening was spent at my brothers where James had his 7th birthday party with lots of school friends around. The all grabbed me and held me down whilst Katy painted my face with water-based paint - I looked like a transvestite afterwards! Anyway, we all had a great party which was followed by a nice family braai afterwards and then we returned to Durban. On the 10 July was the annual airshow and Monica and the kids travelled down to Durban (Sean was busy studying and working), and we then all went to watch the jets and planes doing their 'stuff' - until the wind picked up to 45 knots and it became unpleasant! Erin is still such a good, quiet girl and has a lovely expressive face.

I have mentioned before, and shall mention again - we do bookings for cruises on our cargoliner ships that cruise our coast line, plus continue to the UK, USA and Far East. The coastal cruises cost from R600pp for the shortest PE to Durban or Cape Town trip and then up to US$2900 for the top cabin on the Tilbury to Durban 3-week cruise, stopping at Rotterdam, Le Havre, Tenerife, Las Palmas, Cape Town and PE. There are prices obviously inbetween and include the Low season periods as well.

Durban is also used as a based for the Cruise ship - Symphony - and the summer cruise season starts on the 3rd December until the 25 April when the ship returns to Genoa. The cruises on offer on this luxury cruise ship range from 2 nights to a 15 days cruise to Madagascar, Seychelles, Ile St.Marie & Mauritius. There are a variety of cabins available - from the inside 4 berth cabins to the Suite and State Rooms and so prices range from the cheapest trip at R963 pp up to R11 681 pp for the 15 night cruise in the Stateroom.

Another popular and luxury way of travel through Southern Africa is on one of our luxury trains - we have the famous Blue Train - which offers trips from Pretoria to Cape Town, Pretoria to Victoria Falls, Pretoria to Hoedspruit (Private game reserves) and also Cape Town to Port Elizabeth along the Garden Route. The most economical trip is R1950 pps for the Hoedspruit luxury train journey in low season, to R5700pps for the Vic Falls trip in High season. The Blue Train is VERY popular, so advance booking months in advance is required.

The Rovos Rail - one of the most luxurious trains in the world also offers excellent value-for-money train safaris and includes many side tours along the route. The main routes that it travels along are from Cape Town to Victoria Falls via Kimberley, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Bulawayo and then they also have the popular Pretoria to Komatipoort and private game reserves. Once a year the Rovos Rail also deviates from its normal route and travels to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and also does a Pretoria to Swakopmund (Namibia) safari. Again a very popular train journey and advance booking is required. The pricing is structured to that you can choose to travel only certain legs if you prefer.

The best train journey for the Steam Train enthusiast is the Union Limited Steam Train from Cape Town through the Garden Route to Knysna and back - it is a 6 day round trip and for under R4000 pp is worth every cent.

So there is some exciting news for the adventurous traveller who likes having comfort and luxury for their holiday.

Our Millennium Safari through Botswana is booking up fast but there are still a few places left. The safari starts in Vic Falls on the 19th December, you then fly to the Okavango Delta for a few nights on a remote island, followed by Xmas Day at a private lodge on the outskirts of Maun, then you venture to Nxai Pan on a luxury mobile camp, followed by the Millennium celebrations in the Kalahari desert, returning to Maun on the 2 January. The cost for the above safari on a non-participation basis is US$3500 pps. There are two safaris running - so shout quickly if you are interested.

Now just next month - in August, we have the popular Flower Tours to the beautiful Namaqualand departing from Cape Town. The 4 day flower is only R1695pp and the 5 day safari is R1995 pp. Accommodation is on a variety of Guesthouses and farms where you shall enjoy great home hospitality. The Namaqualand flowers come into blossom for a few weeks every year as soon as the spring rains start to fall in this otherwise semi-desert region - situated 200kms and more north of Cape Town. I was luckily passing through the area during August last year on my way back from Namibia with Koen and his Belgium friends and spent two nights in the area, with the highlight being the flowers at the Skilpad reserve.

So, enough from me. I look forward to hearing from you soon and your news, and for those of you visiting my website for the first time, welcome - I look forward to doing business with you tomorrow. Please complete our enquiry form and give as many details and as much extra information as possible - makes planning your dream vacation so much more exciting.

All the best