Dean's Diary

Aug/Sept/Oct 2000

In this edition I shall try and number the paragraphs correctly - I did last time, but once it was saved onto the webpage, a gremlin crept in and changed the numbering system - sorry, blame Bill Gates!!

1. Past Safaris
2. Future Safaris
3. Self-drives
4. My Special Award
5. Our politics and neighbours
6. Family and Friends

1 - PAST SAFARIS: It is with 'thanks' to Mr Robert Mugabe - the supposed Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, and also the mysterious Cape Town bomber, that business in Southern Africa has been slow and tourism has been one of the victims. Our service we offer is based on tourism and on demand. We offer a fast, friendly and personal service - as many of our past clients will happily tell you, and so when there are any happenings in Southern Africa that hit the TV headlines around the world, as far as the uninformed people in foreign countries are concerned - that must be where they are traveling to! I try and explain to any body that is already communicating with us - that never in a month of Sunday's would I recommend, send, plan ….. to anybody, not even my worst enemy, to visit such an area. My life is at risk, my company is at risk, my reputation is at risk, my bread & butter is at risk - i.e. IF I SUSPECT that there might be any problems in a certain area, then I avoid it totally. So, with the unrest and political and civil bad happenings in Zimbabwe, I would never send anybody into those areas - which are Harare city center, some of the rural farms and that is it!! 90% of our guests who visit Zimbabwe have Victoria Falls and Hwange as the two main attractions, occasionally we have people visiting Bulawayo and the Matobos or Great Zimbabwe Ruins - and to date, we have not had one reported incident in any of those areas, let alone involving a tourist - so, should you wish to visit there, no problem - you won't find crowds there!! For the not-so-well informed tourist, Zimbabwe is a separate country and NOT part of South Africa, NOT part of Botswana, NOT part of Swaziland, NOT part of Namibia - all these are totally separate countries with Presidents, parliaments and borders. Likewise with the bombings in Cape Town - these are a concern to us as they are taking place at unpredictable venues, but when one looks at the size of the City and surrounding area, the number of residents and tourists, plus the statistics, your chances of even seeing the bomb blast area are 1 in 3 000 000 - your chances of being run-over by a car are a lot higher!! SO, COME and visit our beautiful sub-continent.

I have only Guided one safari over these past 3 months - thanks to the above -and that was with Mary and Michael - a lovely Honeymoon couple - who have decided on a 2-year honeymoon - 6 weeks of which are here in SA.
I met them at Johannesburg airport and we enjoyed a lovely 2 week safari in my newly modified 4x4 safari vehicle. Our safari included a brief visit to The Union Buildings and Voortrekker monument in Pretoria, then the Cullinan Diamond mine before arriving in Sabie. Whilst in this beautiful Panoramic Route area, Michael and Mary rented mountain bikes and rode to a waterfall, where we enjoyed some tea and cookies, before returning the bikes and then visiting God's Window, Bourke's Luck Potholes and Blyde River Canyon. We also ate in traditional South African restaurants and enjoyed venison and other South African dishes before entering Kruger Park for a few days of great gameviewing. We had some great sightings of elephants, buffalo, lion, many antelope, many birds including raptors and even a cheetah at a kill. All in all, a great time, even though it rained the first few days. We traveled from Pretoriouskop in the South, up to Letaba in the center - with the bush thinning out the further north we went and so game-viewing easier - and a lot more predators. It was amazing that when we cam to two male lions near Skukuza that there were at one stage 24 vehicles there - well, these two chaps could not hunt with all the vehicles there, so they got up and walked away from that area with the convoy of vehicles following them - once the one chap had lead everyone away, he turned around and ran back to join his brother and hunt some dinner - it really was so funny and clever. After Kruger, we proceeded to Hoedspruit area to visit one of my favourite game reserves which also has a few orphaned animals that joined us on the morning bush walk, before we headed south to another private reserve where the accommodation is in tree houses! Superb hosts and meals and great gameviewing on the neighbouring reserve. Michael and Mary also enjoyed a Microlight flight with West, the owner and now Michael wants to buy one! From here, we headed south into Swaziland and to a rather unique game reserve. We drove through the river and then down a sand track to the gate, where we were transferred into an open game vehicle for the game drive to the lodge. Very rough bumpy tracks and then arrival at the lodge - walk along narrow footpaths in the indigenous forest, then escorted to our chalets - WOW - built of river boulders and stone with thatch roofs, but no windows nor doors - the walls were only 2 foot high and so when lying in bed, sitting on the toilet, having a shower…. You looked out into the bush. Each chalet was private and in a secluded spot of the bush - really neat - no electricity, just paraffin lamps and candles. Simple but tasty meals and nice, close game-viewing. From Swaziland, we then headed east to Kosi Bay - to a lodge set in a small forest on the banks of a lake, which provided stunning sunsets! During the one full day that we enjoyed here, we spent most of it at Kosi Mouth, where we snorkeled in the mouth at the reef. Unfortunately the tide was not correct, so the visibility was not the best. Again, no electricity here, just candles and paraffin lanterns - nice atmosphere. Also enjoyed a canoe paddle on the one river to Lake 4 - and met a few 'friendly' crocodiles and aquatic birds. From Kosi, we drove to Durban and went surfboard shopping, for Michael who needed one for the next month that they were going to be exploring our coastline. Along the 2 week safari, Mary had done here Xmas shopping, buying various African curios and so it took a good while to off-load the vehicle at their Umhlanga B&B before bidding farewell to my new friends. The following day, they drove south to the Wild Coast, then East London PE, Jeffery's Bay, Knysna and Cape Town. I spoke to Michael when he was in Knysna and he said that they had a great time in Jeffery's Bay and enjoyed the surfing at Supertubes. The couple live on a yacht and were going to be looking for a larger and stronger South African built yacht when in Cape Town - so looking forward to some news on this.

Michael and Mary's feedback is in my Guestbook - but here is a summary: What a wonderful introduction to South Africa! …. Thank you so much Dean for your knowledge, trip planning ability, driving skills and most importantly, your sense of humour. You are the perfect companion and Guide for our South African safari.

During the past few months, we have had the following people on various safaris in various parts of Southern Africa: Rooken and family, Mona, Tom and family, Ute and family, Blake and wife, John and wife, plus I Guided John and Gillian for a colleague and also a group of 7 folks after a long tour - to Zululand for a 2 night stay.

Rooken hire a vehicle from us and then traveled up to Hluhluwe for a stay at one of our luxury tented lodges, enjoying the hospitality and game-viewing, before driving to Cape Vidal to spend time with his parents. His quick feedback report was welcome news - Just a quick word to thank you (post holiday) for your service. We had a great time - everything turned out well.
Tom and his family enjoyed a safari in Zimbabwe with one of our colleagues - we have not heard from Tom yet, but one of his workmates e-mailed us and requested a similar safari to Tom's as he heard it was so good - so that is good feedback as well!
Mona enjoyed a 4-day flower tour with our colleague, Eric, from cape Town, before traveling up the Garden route and Eastern Cape to Durban, staying with friends and relatives en route. She e-mailed us on return and reported a great trip. I also enjoyed a lovely seafood lunch with her, the one day when she was in Durban. Here is her feedback: Many thanks to A.B.S. for all that you did to make my holiday so memorable and problem-free. Your suggestions for bus transportation which was excellent and which I would recommend to anyone wanting a more intimate type of travel. It was wonderful seeing all the beautiful scenery in the Transkei, especially seeing the terrain around Kokstad. I can now look at some of my mother's photos in a new light, that's if and when I get the time to do so! Looking through one of your books on South Africa, I felt that I'd like to spend about 5 years out there visiting all those wonderful and beautiful places. Ute sent us an e-mail of their trip - which entailed us renting them a vehicle and giving advise on where to go and what to see/do - then they decided to book as they went along, as it was low season. Dean, thanks again for organizing the car for us, and especially for all the caring advices you gave us before our trip, we surely kept them in mind during the holiday.
Another very special experience was Cape Vidal. First we came there from St. Lucia on a day trip.
The place was so nice, that we moved into one of the log cabins the following day. As we were there in the middle of the week, there were not many other tourists, that whole huge beach was ours and we spent our days there. Twice a day we climbed up the whale watching tour to spot whales, which we could really see "playing around". We even saw dolphins jumping in the waves and sitting on the dunes together with Bart, with a nice glass of wine towards sundown, watching whales on the sea, our children playing on the riff or in the sand, and really no one else around, just us and that huge beach and that huge ocean ............ unbelievable. At night we were sitting inside, just guessing what animals would be outside - from the porch you could sometimes see a shadow moving. By daylight you could see that there had really been hippos at night ............
Blake was a short visit, where we basically organized his overnight accommodation in the Johannesburg area for him to stay there in between two different connecting flights and so no feedback from him yet.
John and his wife, came out on their Honeymoon, spending the first few days in Cape Town, before flying up to Durban and then driving up to Zululand, Swaziland and Kruger, before flying out of Johannesburg back to home!

Thank you! We made it home yesterday, and had a wonderful, wonderful trip. The Cape Town cottages were the best place we stayed. The cottage was just beautiful. Probably there are many other nice ones. The cottages don't really have a garage, but despite this lack, it was so much nicer than we expected it was still our favorite place. The location is very good, too, and the views fabulous.
We did like Lake Sibaya, particularly the fact that it claims to be a community based development project. Our Swaziland Lodge was absolutely wonderful, and we highly recommend it. It seems to be a very good value. We ended up spending the last night at Kruger (made a booking at Olifants) instead of Sabie. Sabie looked really nice when we drove through, but there are so many things to do. We enjoyed Kruger a lot, and saw all of the Big 5. We found the accommodations at Kruger to be lovely and a good value. Satara seemed to have excellent wildlife viewing around it, and we had an amazing drive on the road from Lower Sabie up to Satara. The brush seemed to dense around Skukuza to see wildlife as well.
Thank you very much for all of your work in organizing things! Now back to work. It was really nice to take three weeks away, and start our marriage off during this time, and we both love this sort of travel. We felt almost uncomfortable having so much service at Lake Sibaya, so we thought that B & B's and self-catering places would probably be best for us in general. We did not really regret anything we did, though, and I think our trip went spectacularly.

John and Gillian had come from the UK for a 2 week holiday in Durban and a colleague of mine asked me to take them to Hluhluwe-Umfolosi for a 3 day safari. What a great time we had - it rained lightly for the first 2 days, but we had excellent game viewing during this time - some super sightings of zebra, buffalo, giraffe, antelope, rhino and even an elephant walking in the road right in front of our car!! We also enjoyed a great walk on a nearby game reserve - where we encountered a wide variety of animals on foot - very exciting! We stayed at a small private game lodge outside of Hluhluwe, where we were treated to a demonstration and feeding of the breeding serval cats and cheetahs they have. Super dinners as well!! On our final day, we visited the nearby Zulu village for an educational tour, beer tasting and dancing, before proceeding to St Lucia for a lovely boat cruise to view the crocodiles and hippos - close-up and a huge lunch as well. I hope to see this lovely couple again - and to show them more of South Africa.

I have in the past transferred people from the Elderhostel tours to Zululand, this time it was a group of 7. We departed from Durban and our first visit was the Zulu cultural village, for a tour and lunch - then off to the game lodge. I returned to Durban that afternoon. The following day, I drove to Thula Thula to spend the night with friends, before getting up at 'sparrows' and bringing the other folks back from Zululand to Durban, for a great seafood lunch at the yacht club, before continuing to the airport.

We had some great feedback from some of our recent passengers on the Zululand Flying Service and I have copied part of their feedback below: The Zululand flight was quite an experience. Let me start at the beginning. The pilot (Ryan) was on time and very friendly, he offered us drinks before we took off... they were efficient, friendly and polite. The selling factor is their concern for safety. I was a bit shaken from the bumpy ride and annoyed to have the flight delayed, but afterwards very relieved that they were so safety conscious. We do recommend the flight. I was a bit nervous (about the flying) and definitely think it would have been better with good weather. Zululand Flying Schedule is a good service to recommend.

2. FUTURE SAFARIS - Tomorrow I leave for Johannesburg to meet my next clients, an elderly couple from the Netherlands - for a 12-day safari through Swaziland, Zululand, Durban and the Drakensberg. It shall include some game-viewing, birding, relaxing, boat cruise, elephant tracking, Zulu Culture and stunning scenery. So, I shall be out of the office from the 27th until the 9 November - however, Alice will be here to answer the hundreds of enquiries you shall be sending! At the end of November, I have a brief safari to Umfolosi and Hluhluwe area, with Jane, her hubby and daughter - with the highlights to be gameviewing and a boat cruise on St Lucia estuary, before returning to Durban.

Immediately after this safari, I lead an educational tour for a group of Tour Operators, to visit various lodges in the Zululand and Maputaland region - so that they can experience it firsthand and makes selling tours to these lodges much easier. I am then off to the Cape for 2 weeks, 12 of which shall be spent in the Cedarberg Mountains where I volunteer my assistance every two years to the Boy Scouts at the bi-annual Senior Scout Adventure. I shall return to Durban and the office, a day or two before Alice goes off for her Xmas break with her family.
At the end of November, we also have Bob & Brady fly out to SA - before enjoying a marvelous safari which includes Vic Falls - where they go White Water rafting, elephant-back riding and Brady we hope will even join the dancers when they sign Happy Birthday to her at a traditional dinner! They then spend a couple of nights in Chobe, before flying to the Okavango and Makgadikgadi Pans before they end their safari in the Sabie Sands game reserve that adjoins Kruger Park. We have corresponded so nicely over the past few months whilst planning this trip, I feel as though I am traveling with them!

I am also hoping the Eugene and family will allow me to take them on safari in January as I have planned a super route for them that shall include some great game-viewing, birding, snorkeling and beach relaxation. He still have to finalize the airflights and whether they want my route or some other Tour Operators.

3. SELF-DRIVES - as you know, we assist a lot of people with their self-drive vacations. It is obviously the most economical method of having a holiday and gives you a lot more freedom and flexibility than going on a group tour - however, compared to a personal Guided tour, where only you (and your family) have your own Guide, it is never as exciting and educational. With a Guided tour/safari, your driver/Guide will take you safely from one destination to the next - leaving you to sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery and not have to look for directions and be concerned if you are on the correct road, is it a safe area… etc and at the same time, you will learn about the history of the area, the culture, and various other interesting facts. But, some people will always wish to remain independent and for these people, we offer one of the lowest car hire rental services in the country - with branches in all major cities and quite a few smaller ones! Our rates include unlimited kilometers, theft, collision and personal accident insurance, plus a colourful map, an option of free mobile phone rental plus, plus, plus… I have had a look at other Tour Operators rental rates and ours are still lower and with an excellent selection of new and well maintained cars. For folks on self-drives, we make all the car arrangements for them, give them a very detailed route description and even make all the accommodation bookings. As we explain to many people, we only use lodges, guesthouses or hotels that either Alice or myself have visited, or very reputable establishments - even then, we try and make a point of visiting them. There are thousands of establishments in Southern Africa, so we do not know all of them and cannot support all of them, but we select a few budget, middle and upmarket ones in each area. We then ask everyone to give us some feedback on their visit - both good and bad - hoping that we never hear bad news! This is most important, in order for us to maintain our high standards and to encourage the establishments to improve theirs.

Over the next few months we have the following folks renting vehicles from us and driving themselves around - some have booked accommodation as well, others have just rented a vehicle, as we can offer cheaper rates than the rental companies are allowed to do direct to the public!! Keith is flying from Durban to Cape Town, and driving a car for a week, past client and friend Koen is renting a Microbus to drive him and his buddies around for a week to enjoy some great golfing here in South Africa, Ian is exploring Cape Town for a few days, and Christopher and his wife shall be spending a few days in Cape Town, prior to flying to Durban to collect another car and then continue via Zululand to Kruger Park and then Johannesburg.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I have made bookings at Mkuze Game Reserve and also Umfolosi-Hluhluwe Reserve, in the Bush Camps - which are exclusive areas in the wildlife area which have a private road and private accommodation - for the period 1 to 4 January 2001 - for some other clients who I thought were booking through us. Now they have changed their minds and making other arrangements - so I have this accommodation available and it must be paid for before the end of November - so, if anyone is wanting to spend the first 3 nights of the new year in the bush - let me know QUICKLY - either a Guided or a self-drive vacation.

SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIAL: We have arranged with 3 lodges in Botswana to give South African residents a special offer at their lodges for the period 1 November to 1 March. The rates have been reduced by on average, 35%, so a huge reduction. If you are a South African resident and wish to visit the Moremi area, then fly to the Okavango, then fly to Makgadikgadi Pans - with a total of 7 nights in great camps - then contact us urgently for the information sheet. Sorry, this is for South Africans only.

4. MY SPECIAL AWARD: As you would have seen on the front page of my website - I have been the recipient of the KwaZulu Natal Tourism Ambassador award. This was a surprise which I received when I returned from the safari with Mary and Michael. I had been voted by colleagues and the public as a worthy candidate for excellent service - to the Province, to fellow Tour Operators, to various Lodges and offering a great service to the public. Well, I am only do my job! The King of the Zulu's, King Goodwill Zwelethini was the guest of honour at the function where he unveiled a model of the new 'bullet' train and then the awards were presented. As I was away, Alice represented me and collected the certificate. So, now I am the Tourism Ambassador for our Province!!

5. OUR POLITICS AND NEIGHBOURS: I do not normally discuss politics, but it can be an interesting subject and always comes up on safaris, but briefly - as stated earlier, all our neighbouring countries are independent - with their own governments, borders and rules. I live in South Africa, which was well know for its apartheid system from the 1940's to 1990 - (and so yes, whites do live here!!) and then we had the New South Africa, where racism was done away with by law and Nelson Mandela became the President in the first free and fair democratic elections in 1994. He stayed President for 4 years, then Thabo Mbeki took over - and they are both leaders of the ANC. Nelson Mandela is now doing good peace-keeping work around the world, especially Africa, and is still a hero and icon in many peoples eyes - a great chap! At present, we have Mr Robert Mugabe running and ruining the country of Zimbabwe, our neighbour to the north. This country also used to have apartheid, then a bush civil war, then a little over 20 years ago, they got independence and that is when Mugabe took power. There were certain clauses in their constitution to prevent him to seize land and not include whites in the government - this was an agreement written in the law, for a 20 year period - which has now expired - so he is now forcing the whites off their land by seizing it and encouraging unlawful occupation. He has also been feeding money, guns and ammunition into another African country - the Congo, to keep their civil war running, as he is being paid with diamonds - from some diamond mines there! This money going out of the country has created no money to run his own country, MANY days and weeks of no fuel in the country, the food prices to rocket sky-high and now just recently they had some civil unrest as people demonstrated against the continuous inflation and rising prices. Tonight on the TV, Mugabe says he now wants to have court cases and trials for the previous white government and all whites for genocide and other deeds, supposedly of the period more than 20 years ago - this $^&£"!*() idiot has lost his marbles! He has gone crazy!!! We have been told that there was some castle in the UK that he and Michael Jackson were bidding on and he outbid Michael - so here his country is poor, the people are starving, the white farmers are being driven off their land which they have been farming for 20 to 100 years and now occupied by young inexperienced and uneducated rural people - and he tells the world all the problems are because of Britain and the whites, yet he is taking diamonds out of Africa and has a lovely castle in the UK, plus a HUGE mansion in Harare!! However, it is still a great country to visit and is VERY cheap as well - every tourist that visits is loved and welcomed! The other neighbouring countries seem to be normal and stable! We are going to have municipal election in December, but they will not be that well supported as they are not national elections.

6. FAMILY AND FRIENDS: My sister, Gail, has settled on her farm and has lots of work ahead of her. Unfortunately I was away on safari when she had her house-warming party - but hope to visit her in the near future. My nephew, Sven, is swimming great again, and just recently got selected for the provincial swimming team and will be going to Johannesburg for some championships. The rest of the family are all great.
Today I had e-mails from Neil - a past pupil who is still working in Johannesburg, Dave - a buddy who helped me build my canopy and then over the past few months I heard news of Brett sailing in the Caribbean, Glenn who has moved to the UK, Gordon - a past pupil whose mother went to go and visit him, David an ex-Scout who is doing OK with his design business, Lloyd who will also be going to the Cedarberg adventure and his Dad Steve is studying for his shipping exams.
We had a surprise but great phonecall from my uncle Norman (late-fathers brother) in Toronto, Canada - out of the blue, to say "hi" - followed by a letter. Hoping his son Michael will send an e-mail soon!
Karsten is in Poland as I write this - keep in touch with him via SMS on our cellphones. He was in Germany recently and spent a day with Claudia, who showed him around Leipzig. Have not heard from Claudia for a while, though she did phone and speak to my mother for an hour and caught up on all the news. As we were not compatible, she is now dating some Welsh chap - and I wish them happiness. May I be more compatible to my next girlfriend!! Milly and Didi are fun as usual and Milly especially misses me a lot when I go away on trips!