Dear all

We have had some really hot days and also a fair amount of rain over these past two months. Everything is so green and here in Durban, it is very humid - oh boy, February still has to arrive - and that is the hottest time normally!!

PLEASE NOTE: Our office shall be closed from 24 December until 1 January and again from 5 to 9 January. We shall not be able to answer any enquiries within that period. I shall try and acknowledge all e-mails when I am in the office between the 1 and 5 January, but will not be able to do quotes then - my apologies in advance.

In this issue of Dean's Diary, the following topics:

1. Feedback from past clients - Brad & Sophie, Ian & Debbie & Brett & Nelson, Bob & Rachel, Claudia, Michelle and family, Stephano & Stefania, Jamie's friend Michelle.

2. Safari in progress - Sylva & Andrew, Michael and wife, Gerri & Ray & Bonnie, Christopher & Jennifer.

3. Forthcoming trips - Hansrainer and family, Leigh & family, Adrian and Clare, Colleen & Rhonda & Leslie, Brad & Sophie, Gregory & Bill & Ben, Steven, Brian, Marius and wife.

4. Millennium Big 5 Calendar T-towels.

5. Flying Service to Zululand and Maputoland

6. Chainletters...

7. Milly & Didi

8. My family and friends

9. Our office

1. Feedback - we thrive on feedback from all our guests - both the good and the bad comments - we seldom do have any bad comments, but when we do, we appreciate these and respond to them accordingly. If it involves a lodge or hotel or guesthouse, we advise them immediately of the comments from our clients and ask them to respond - we would hate to support a certain establishment if they were not looking after our guests correctly. I try and personally visit all the establishments that I host you in and if I have not personally been there, then I would have to have an excellent recommendation from a colleague or friend before I support them. We also follow the normal business practice of only using establishments that charge appropiately - some lodges insist that we mark up the tariffs to gain our commission - we feel this is an unfair practice and avoid those lodges or hotels who practise this. Obviously, in a few cases where the budget is very tight and the lodges fees are very low as they do not follow the normal standard practice, but their lodge and facilities meet our needs, we might have to support them. None-the-less, you are still saving a lot of money by letting us do all the bookings for you. However, the price is not so much the subject as it is mainly that we want to know how you were treated, what were the meals like, the facilities, the bedrooms etc. If the situation is not satisfactory, then you should immediately ask to speak to the Manager / Owner and bring these matters to their attention - then please do let us know afterwards what the problem was - even if it was rectified.

Brad and Sophie - our adventurous Honeymoon Couple are still travelling around, having now returned from Seychelles, and just yesterday, they departured from Durban en route to Cape Town.

I bumped into them and their friends in Kruger Park on the 27 November and then they spent 2 nights in Durban, where I had dinner with them all and they gave me some great feedback on the various lodges that we had booked them into. I find it difficult to really believe what they always tell me - because they will say something like " in Zimbabwe, we stayed at Ruchomecki Camp and it was the best place...... ", then a few minutes later,.." the Chizarira lodge was the best place....." - well, now I am confused - which is the best place!! They seem to list nearly all of them the best. There was one company that I had to use in Zimbabwe as they own 5 or so different lodges, well, their admin work is shocking and after chatting to other colleagues in Zim, I was told that they try and avoid anything to do with them as they have endless problems - well, at least I know it is not only me - so their brochures and lodges are now at the bottom of the list. The staff and facilities were great, but the admin is lousy and I can't work with such companies!

For the Botswana section - the safari from Vic to Maun was fantastic, the mukoro trip was personal, private and exclusive and GREAT, the chalets near Shakawe were absolutely great with excellent hosts, the island chalet treehouse was even better with no real need to emerge from their treehouse at all. Their Seychelles trip did not run smoothly. Some bookings which the Seychelles agents had confirmed with me, had not be confirmed on the island, their upgrade to another hotel was really a disaster as their room was situated next to the bar and kitchen and so was noisy - however, the islands themselves were beautiful, the beaches immaculate with lovely isolated palm-tree white beaches, blue skies, clear water etc - oh, November they have Jelly fishes there!! They did enjoy the Seychelles, just the accomodation that they had requested was not up to standard. Not our nor the agents normal hotels.

Then they travelled through Kruger Park with Alexis (Sophies brother) and Brett (Brad's friend) - and had a great time with some excellent game viewing - even though it did rain a fair amount. Alexis was getting tired of always seeing leopard and was looking for Waterbuck or Kudu instead! At the end of their Kruger stay, Alexis went back home and 3 other friends, Ian, Nelson and Debbie arrived to spend a few weeks with them - some game viewing in Kruger, followed by an excellent tented camp in Swaziland, then a great lodge in the Pongola Game reserve, an afternoon game drive in Tembe elephant Reserve, then to Kosi Bay where Ian and Debbie tried to sink all the canoes. After Kosi they went into Mocambique, which still has cockroaches nearly as big as the lovely seafood prawns. The rangers and staff at Mkuze game reserve were praised for their individual attention and enthusaism, Yolandi at the cheetah farm near Hluhluwe stole Ian's heart and then rain at the tented camp in Umfolosi Reserve did not prevent a trio of lions from making a kill outside their tents during the night!!

They all loved the B&B's we use in Umhlanga Rocks and Brett continued to Cape Town for a week even though he had bought his airline ticket for the wrong month (guess that is why the American agent gave it to him at discount price!!) - and Ian, Debbie and Nelson returned home, whilst Brad and Sophie headed south to Port St Johns and Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast, in a brand new 4x4 saloon car - their Toyota Venture's air-con needed attention and would not be ready by the time they left.

Some of the rather amusing stories from our dinner in Umhlanga Rocks were the side effects of Larium - the malaria drug that American doctors tend to favour. Ian was attacked by letters of the alphabet, but mainly the letter E and T (was this ET phone home syndrome?), Brett had cobras sleeping in his bed with him, Sophie had some other dreams about being attacked - but luckily, none were bad enough to make them feel ill, which many past clients who have taken Larium have experienced.

Then Bob and Rachel gave an excellent feedback to us. I fear about putting all of Bob's feedback in Dean's Diary, so shall add just the one paragraph which depicts our good choice of accomodation for our clients:

Michelle and family have not contacted us since their return, so we hope to hear from them shortly as they have only been home a week or so. Stephano and Stefania did have a great trip through Namibia and their friend is busy translating their feedback for us and so we can't tell you much more than that.

........ After an afternoon gameride we sat down for a nice dinner of various red meats and veggies. The night was pitch-black and the stars were incredible. Around 9:45p.m. L and I saw a flashlight on the beach next to our camp. We were stunned to look-up a few seconds later to see the carrier of the flashlight standing directly in front of a herd of elephants. They were 15-20 yards from us and we had had no idea! Who knew that such enormous beasts could move so quietly. D and L were fascinated and turned off all of the lights so that they could see the shapes better in the blackness of the night. They watched for hours. I, on the other hand, was tired, went to bed and prayed that we would not be trampled in our sleep. ...... "

Boy, I really do wish I was with that group - maybe next time. In fact, Michelle is planning on visiting Durban in February, so I shall meet the authoress of these great writings!

Now, my trip with Claudia was great. I met Claudia in Johannesburg, where we travelled by the Trans-Karoo train to Prince Albert Road, which is in the Karoo. The train stops often during the journey, so sleep is not a priority. The 1st class and the 3rd class carriages are seperated by the dining car, which also houses a small tuck-shop. Many of the 3rd class passengers would come through to buy more drinks or chips or whatever, making a loud noise, half dressed and generally being unpleasant - so I would say it was not very tourist-friendly. (Funny, they have 1st and 3rd class - where is 2nd class?) The coupe we were in is hot and stuffy, with no air-conditioning and it is not safe we were told to leave our windows open when we left the compartment. However, the scenery was great - nice to sit and watch the country go by. We then road in a taxi to Prince Albert, stopping to meet "Outa Lappies" - a Karoo desert nomad and also known as the "patch-man". Jan has lived his whole life in this area and makes blanket patches and artwork, which he sells, at a nice price, to survive. His work is world reknown and he showed us copies of newspaper articles and magazine copies where he has featured in, along with royalties. He lives off the land and is quite a character. In Prince Albert, we were met by Neil and Elaine Hurford. Elaine is an authoress of a few books, about Southern Africa and owns a lovely Karoo B&B Guesthouse, which is also a National Monument. We had a great breakfast, then used their bicycles to ride to the Swartberg Pass, returning to visit the town museum (which was very interesting) and then after lunch in the local hotel, we enjoyed an afternoon nap before a lovely chicken braai and dinner. This is the sort of town and guesthouse you go to to enjoy your relaxing holiday. The pace is not rushed, the atmosphere is relaxed and the scenery is excellent! Well done Elaine - keep it up!

From PA, we travelled to Oudtshoorn, where we had Ostrich egg for breakfast, then we spent time at the local museum and tea-garden before continueing to George to ride on the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe steam train - this was great - except, we sat on the wrong seats on departure, so could not see the sea views until the Wilderness when some folks climbed off and we could change seats. If you want a relaxed and scenic way to see the Garden Route and more specifically the Lakes district, this is the way to go. We were met at Knysna by Hilary, who not only is a tour Guide for the area, but also owns a great B&B a few kilometres outside the hustle and bustle of Knysna - in a lovely setting alongside the Goukamma River. She quickly took us to The Heads, then to Buffels Bay - a lovely beach, if the wind was not howling, then to their guesthouse. Claudia and I had a lovely upstairs bedroom, with a verandah and huge bathroom. Very nice facilities. Then we had the highlight of the trip - as far as lovely Claudia was concerned - a candle-lit braai alongside the river. (Braai is the South African term for - Barbecue). The setting was great - green lawn, starry skies, river slowly flowing past, bottle of good wine and excellent food! (I cooked it of course!) The next morning, we departed to the Knysna Lagoon for a launch cruise to Featherbed Nature Reserve. There was nothing spectacular about this, apart from the scenery and the novelty of going on a boat across the lagoon, then a tractor-trailer ride up the steep road to the top, the excellent views of Knysna lagoon and the sea and then an invigorating walk back to the jetty, where we had a seafood lunch. Claudia discovered she does not enjoy oysters!

From the Featherbed jetty, we returned to the town of Knysna, then we walked to our next overnight stay - a guest village just off the main road. Consisting of wooden 'huts' that are all en-suite and rather compactly postioned next to each other, it has a quaint atmosphere with a Dutch couple owning and running it. Erik and Ypie try hard to make you feel at home and part of their home - and are very supportive of the local community projects. That evening we went to watch a comedy film after a walk around the town and the next morning, after breakfast, we visited some other lodges in Knysna - I would still prefer Hilary's one by far. We waited an hour for the coach to arrive, and then we departed for Port Elizabeth along the Garden Route. The bus was a double decker and we both sat in the front row - upstairs, so had a great view! Arriving in Port Elizabeth, we caught a taxi to our budget hotel - and after entering our room, promptly exited and requested another room. The previous people were smokers and the room stank of cigarette smoke - PLEASE, do not smoke in bedrooms. The same also bugs me, big time, when you have to use public toilets and the person in the adjoining cubicle is sitting there having his cigarette - bathrooms at the best of times do not have enough ventilation, so the smoke really makes the room stink!! That night we at at one of the beachfront steakhouses and enjoyed our meal and the walk back to the room. After breakfast of toast and tea, our car was delivered on time and we packed and departed - for a bit of a quick tour of PE followed by a drive to Addo Elephant Park - for a quick game drive to see some elephants before we checked into to a lovely small hotel nearby in Paterson. After lunch, we met another Dutch couple who were on a self-drive, and travelled together to a nearby private game reserve, arriving there in time for tea and cake - before we went on a 3 hours game drive, sighting a variety of antelope and 4 lions. The lions were really close and it was really exciting! The game drive led into the night (by now we were all frozen as a cold wind had struck up and no-one had any long clothes with them) - well, we returned to the boma for a great dinner and then we returned to our hotel. The following morning, after breakfast - oh, sorry, I must deviate - the dining room reminded me of the British TV comedy - Faulty Towers - it was very colonial in decor with a squeeky kitchen swing door and Rudi kept checking to see everyone was happy and enjoying their breakfast - sorry Rudi, but the Dutch couple also agreed.

We drove to Grahamstown, stopping briefly at the 1820 settler memorial, then the Camera Obscura museum - which was very interesting, followed by my favourite Strawberry milkshake at the Wimpy before we departed for Coffee Bay and great hospitality at its hotel. The meals as always were great here, the hosts were fantastic, making you really feel part of the family and the scenery is stunning here. We spent two nights here, with the day in between spent walking to Hole-in-the-Wall and back. We both returned quite sunburnt! If you want a truly relaxed holiday, then this is the place to go - dolphins playing in the surf, beautiful beaches, friendly people.....

We left Coffee Bay relaxed and headed into the Drakensberg Mountains - to Sani Pass, were we spent the night at the backpackers lodge. What a welcome!! The manager, Dion, is a Robin Williams look-a-like - splitting image!! And his sense of humour is about the same - if you want to call it a sense or humour. But, we enjoyed the wide variety of guests that were staying there and Dions entertaining night games we participated in, after dinner. The next morning we learnt that you can drive a normal car up Sani Pass now, but as we did not have the car rental companies permission, we did not ascend, instead, we drove along the scenic Midlands Meander route to Howick Falls, then to my brothers small farm - where we all went out for his birthday dinner afterwards, before Claudia and I drove to Durban to my mothers house, for 2 nights stay. Claudia had a touch of flu and fever, so we went to a doctor to get medication and she then rested, before we went to Shakaland the following day for a tour of the Zulu village and dancing, then continuing to Thula Thula Game reserve, where my friends Frankie and Lawrence have been working flat out to get their renovations completed before the Millennium. The progress was great since the flying educational, but they unfortunately seem to have some rather short-sighted and not-totally-clued-up builders/architect - as there were a number of obvious things that were being built incorrectly or impractical. So the two of them have to keep telling the builders what to do! At least Lawrence is spending more of his valuable time there and supervising the construction - not his job, but I guess if you want progress you need to ensure it gets done properly and the first time around. The potential of Thula Thula is great and I can't wait for them to be complete and fully staffed. It is going to be The place to go to in Zululand!

From Thula Thula, we whizzed along the back roads and into Umfolosi Game Reserve, had a few hours of great game viewing, before exiting the park and arriving at the Lake St Lucia's only guesthouse on the lake shore - for lunch. Hugh and Leigh-Ann have built this beautiful and exclusive lodge on the lake shore - which is now a World Natural Heritage site. It is for the discerning upmarket guests who would like to be treated like special friends. The surroundings are natural and the rooms blend into the coastal lake bush comfortably with excellent finishings and the smallest thought gone into the decorations and fittings. Lunch was superb. We drove away from the Lake with reluctance, but were soon put at rest at Sandra's family game park - near Hluhluwe town and the other end of the Lake. The safari tented lodge was both spacious and comfortable and the staff were excellent and very thoughtful. The food was - wow, so great, but too much for my stomach! Our early morning game walk was not too promising, but I believe it is normally better. We unfortunately had to depart and drove through Swaziland to Kruger National Park - and to a self-catering chalet in Lower Sabie camp. People often say, oh that Kruger is so full etc - well, for the first 2 hours, we passed 4 other cars - if that is crowded, then you need to go to the moon to get away from the crowds! That night it rained, but only after our braai. The following day we drove to Skukuza camp, where we suprised Brad, Sophie, Alexis and Brett - for a 10 minute stop, before proceeding to private game lodge whose accommodation is in treehouses! We arrived there in time for High Tea - lovely cake and other eats, with tea. Unfortunately Claudia was not feeling well and after some treatment by one of the guests (who was a doctor on holiday from Australia), she lay down and I wandered around taking photos. The other guests went on a game drive where a leopard was spotted barely 100 metres out of the camp!! That night we had a tremendous dinner around the campfire in the Boma, and the next morning the other guests went on an educational walk and Big 5 game walk - we had breakfast and when they returned, we departed.

Our route took us through the scenic Panoramic Route which included Blyde River Canyon, Bourkes Luck Potholes, God's Window and Sabie and finally Long Tom Pass. En route to Johannesburg Airport, we were assisted by medical personal and the Benoni doctors as Claudia was felling worse - and then at the airport I bid her a farewell, as she returned to Germany. She has now got bronchitas and still not feeling 100% - she however is planning on returning to have another holiday with me in a few months, assuming she can get a good airfare. This trip was taken as my leave - the first I had in 3 years, and also as an educational tour - as both Claudia and I visited some lodges that we would like to use in the future for African Bundu Safaris clients - in fact, I have made bookings already into 3 of the places visited for trips within the next few months - now that I have personally visited them, I will support them.

2. Whew, that was a long section 1 - this shall be short - promise!

Sylva and Andrew left Harare this morning on their 4 week Xmas / Millennium holiday. They arrived a few days ago, spent a few days relaxing in Harare at one of our guesthouses, then she e-mailed me to say they were leaving for Kariba. They shall then travel on the ferry for a couple of nights in Vic Falls, before travelling to Hwange National Park and then a guesthouse in Bulawayo for Xmas Day.

Michael and his wife have completed their Kruger Park section of their holiday and are in Cape Town at the moment and I hope to hear from them when they return.

Gerri, Ray and Bonnie are traveling along the Garden Route at the moment and I shall be collecting them from the airport tomorrow - and keen to hear about their adventures.

Christopher and Jennifer have already travelled from Cape Town to Namibia and are now between Etosha and Vic Falls - en route to Kenya on one of our overland trips we offer. They e-mailed us from Swakopmund to say they had spent the previous day in the dunes of the Namib desert and had a great time and looking forward to Etosha and the game viewing.

3. Forthcoming safaris - my immediate trip is with Hansrainer and his family. Being over the Xmas and Millennium, this trip was booked and planned at the begining of the year and has changed a bit as the months have gone by - the biggest changes by the airlines. Sunair was bought out by SAA, and SAA have cancelled a few of the flights and re-scheduled other flights - so my itinerary has had to be re-modified a few times! We shall be spending a few days in and around Cape Town - exploring the winefarms, historical areas, the Cape Peninsula, Robben Island, Table Mountain etc. Then we fly up to Durban to continue to St Lucia, for 2 nights, then through Swaziland to Kruger Park - for some great game viewing, before we continue to Johannesburg, where I return to Durban on New Years eve and the family fly to Vic Falls for a few nights of excitement, before returning to Johannebsurg to end off their stay at Sun City. All very exciting. Leigh and her family and friends shall be driving up through Mocambique to Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, where they shall be on a houseboat for a few days in January. John, Denise and family enjoyed their houseboat a few months ago and it was the highlight of part of their holiday, so I am sure Leigh & Co will also have a great time.

Adrian and Clare will be arriving in Johannesburg in less than a months time - to spend a night in Swaziland, then the private game park I mentioned earlier near Hluhluwe, before a good few relaxing days in Umhlanga Rocks. Colleen, Rhoda & Leslie will be flying up from Cape town on Xmas Day to Durban - followed by a 2 day tour of Umfolosi game reserve and the Battlefields - quite exciting.

Brad & Sophie are still on Honeymoon and have ventured down the coast to the Eastern Cape staying at Port St Johns, Coffee Bay, Addo Elephant Park, then to Knysna and Cape Town, enjoying Xmas Day in the Cedarberg Mountains and continuing to the Orange River for a Millennium rafting trip followed by a few days at The Fish River Canyon in Namibia, then the Kalahari Gemsbok Park, Augrabies falls and finally Johannesburg. On the 5th January, I shall meet Gregory with friends Bill and Ben at Johannesburg airport, where we depart from to Sabie then the treehouse game reserve, then Kruger Park and finally back to Johannesburg. A short but exciting trip concentrating on game viewing. Steven is a friend of Michelle who wrote the great journal of their Botswana safari, is arriving in Zimbabwe next week, and then shall be flying into Zambia for a week safari at two game parks there, including the famous South Luangwa Park - famed for its leopards. Then he flies to Vic Falls, from where he shall explore on his own for the next week before flying back home. Brian is coming out from the UK to watch the English cricket team learn a few tips from our SA team, before renting a car and driving around our beautiful country! Marius and his wife have a really exciting self-drive holiday planned for March and they are really looking forward to some great fishing on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe.

Folks, I have many enquiries for this coming year, but few commitments - I only say "I have a safari" when the deposit is paid. Some people spend weeks surfing around and getting 5 or 10 other companies to quote at the same time and then they get totally confused and do not know which way to go - honestly, after one e-mail, you should be able to decide who you are going to choose to plan your holiday. It is only then courteous to contact the others and tell them you have chosen someone else to plan your holiday. Ross from 'down under' said he had got so much information from so many people, that he decided he would choose us to finalise his plan - as we were based here and knew the lie of the land - the same from Andre in CT - so many travel agents gave him information but he knew they did not know really what they were talking about as they had not been there themselves - this is the difference between us and the rest of the people - I have been to so many different destinations, I can talk from first hand experience. I avoid dealing through other Tour Operators and agencies as then the tariffs are a bit higher for you - I deal direct with the public. I think I have a foreign agency contact me at least once a week asking me to work with them - this is not a big problem, just that they want a 20% commission, so I would have to mark up the prices by 20%, so I prefer to deal directly with the public. These are the advantages of the internet and e-mail - which is my sole method of business. I produce no brochures, advertise in no glossy magazines and have no marketting department, so I keep my overheads low and can afford to be selective and economical. We have built up a good name for our fast, efficient and friendly service and have many happy clients and guests who have enjoyed our services.

4. Our Millennium Big 5 T-towel calendars are now available for sale. There is a photograph of it on the front page of my webpage and the cost is US$15 per towel for overseas orders and R50 per towel for local orders. This includes the postage. Please contact me and I shall tell you how you can pay and when I post your order off to you. With the Millennium being made such a big thing, it is great to have a nice souvenir - which you can hang on your wall at home or in the office - also makes a great gift. As of today, I have just over a dozen left, so shout quick!!

5. Our flying service to Zululand and Maputoland is progressing nicely. I had a lengthy meeting and planning session with the aeroplane owners a week ago and have decided to start our schedule with a daily flight and the plane would take off daily from Virginia airport (Durban's smaller airport) and then fly to Richards Bay - landing here to collect passengers who have flown in from Johannesburg or arrived by ship. We then shall land at each of the following airstrips for a short period, allowing passengers to climb off and new ones to climb on - Hluhluwe, Lake Sibayi (which will service Sodwana Bay, Lake Sibayi, Rocktail Bay, Kosi Bay, Ponto do Ouro and Tembe Elephant Reserve) and then to Mkuze (which will service the Mkuze and Pongola areas) and then back to Hluhluwe, finally landing at Richards Bay for the final stop before Virginia. There are so many lodges and game reserves and beaches in the Zululand and Maputoland area that a flying service is needed and viable. This avoids the lengthy 3 to 6 hours drive needed to get to them from Durban, it is scenic and very pretty from the air, it is quicker, safer and more economical than by vehicle and the lodge owners will come to the airstrip to collect you - host you for 'x' days and then return you to the airstrip for your onward journey. There are two types of planes we shall be using - the popular Beechcraft Baron and the Cessna Grandcaravan. Both are ideal for the shorter airstrips and bushveld terrain. On the 9 November we had a test run of the airstrips, now on the 18 January, we are having another test run of the airstrips again, plus visiting more lodges and meeting more people.

REALLY EXCITING NEWS !!

6. I had mentioned it before, but I shall mention it again - CHAINLETTERS - these are letters/ e-mails that discuss a topic in whatever tone is applicable and then tell / plea / ask you to forward it to all your friends etc for action. Please, think about it - what action is ever going to be taken needs that letter to be returned directly to the source of the e-mail - none of these chainletters do, so do not forward them - they are a virus of types - they clog up the internet servers, your e-mail programmes, your computer etc - as good as any of them say they might be, whether it is Bill Gates sending out his money to each sender (yeh, very likely!!) or winning a holiday at Disneyworld (how gullible can you be?) or saving some child who has been abused (nice to hit a soft spot but no chainletter can help that and 20 million other abused children). The same goes for jokes - some are clean and innocent and take up very little space, but some people send large attachments or movies - these are where the virus's are sitting in and waiting for some unsuspecting e-mailer to open them and then they attach themselves to your address book etc - take the Happy99 virus or Mellissa ones for example. If people send attachments to me, I generally will not open them - I delete them - especially if they are suspect or a .exe attachment. How about getting a free webpage and putting all your jokes on that and then just giving that webaddress to your friends and then once a week or month they can go there and read all your jokes?

7. Last diary I said that I would have to teach Milly, our puppy Spaniel how to swim - not so - whilst Claudia and I were traveling around, my mother decided to swim and Milly dived in after her - now it is a daily occurence - whenever I swim, Milly swims and she loves it - she runs and dives into the pool, emerges to the top, shakes her floppy ears and then swims around, when she gets tired, she will either swim to the steps or to me. If she swims to me, she puts her front paws / legs on my shoulders and I have to support her back legs - then she drinks the water, has a rest and then pushes off to continue swimming! Didi also enjoys a swim, but you have to lift her into the pool and then she swims to collect her ball and out of the pool by the steps only. Our neighbours dogs are still a nuisance - in that when they hear us swimming, they come runnning to the fence and bark continuously, so I have erected a screen to stop them seeing us - it cuts down the excitment a bit.

8. On the eve of Claudia coming out, my older sister, Gail, came down from Kestell (small town between Harrismith and Bethlehem) for a few days leave - and it was nice to see her and her friend Terry again. I overnighted at Gails place after leaving Claudia and she really would be a good hostess - my bed was nicely made, with the bath towell and cake of soap at the foot of the bed, and on the pillow was a chocolate!! Thanks Gail - very nice touch! Sean, my brother has I believed cut two trees down in his front lawn as he felt they threatened his house - but in his field, he has hundreds of Blueberries and butternuts (a type of squash), growing and I know they are eating the blue berries already. My younger sister Lynn is going on holiday on Xmas day for a week with her family, so our family will not be spending Xmas together this year.

Karsten, a past pupil, will be flying overseas in February, immediately after his brother gets married - to spend 6 months to a year in the UK working and exploring. I mentioned Wesley in my last Diary, well, I bumped into his sister yesterday and boy has she grown - hardly recognised her. She says Wesley is doing very well as an athlete in his tri-athalons and has now finished school! I believe Justin, also an ex pupil, who has been living in the UK for 2 years now, is out here in Durban for a month - to visit family and friends. I hope to be able to see him, just to say hi, but I am very busy and going away, so I do not hold up much hope.

9. Our office is looking better and better. Our driveway is tarred - and very hot to walk on barefoot, the flowers are blooming in and around and the inside has a plain paper fax machine - hence our new fax number - 5621542 - a credit card machine - at long last it has arrived and we can now process credit cards (VISA and Mastercard only) and there are many business cards and now Xmas cards decorating the inside walls, along with photos of varius places. I know we will soon be looking at getting a bigger office. We do have a spare room in the outer buildings of our house, but it is full of junk - and my mother is reluctant to throw it all away!! (Mothers like to keep junk - is your mom like mine?)

Some people ask who is Alice - Alice works for me - she is my able consultant who responds to most of the initial enquiries, does most of the bookings and correspondence and 'runs' the show whilst I am away on safari. She is very able and efficient and loves her work - which is great - and she has a very supportive family - with whom she is going on holiday with from the 24 Dec to 16 January, so our office will be closed then, apart from the few days when I am there.

Well, there you have it - happy past clients, happy present clients, excited future clients - and many happy friends who I have made. Our Millennium calendars selling like hot-cakes, our flying service looking good to be popular and efficient, my lovely dogs, and lastly - may I take this opportunity to wish you and your family all the very best for a Happy and Prosperous Christmas and New Year. May the New Year make you rich, keep you in fine health and best of all - be happy!

All the best