Nov & Dec 2000

As you would have read in the last edition of Dean’s Diary, we at African Bundu Safaris have been busy and me especially has been very busy. I have had great safaris, superb wildlife game-viewing including The Big 5, stunning scenery, excellent photographs and so many other exciting activities and great news to share with you about Southern Africa!

1. Past Safaris
2. Past and Future Self-drives
3. Future Safaris
4. Special FLYING-SAFARI Packages
5. TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
6. General News
7. Family and friends

I’ll try and keep my entry brief, but no promises – all is so exciting about vacations and tourist holidays and destinations to so many various wilderness and scenic areas.

1. Past Safaris:

At the end of October, I met Bertha and Roel, two senior citizens from the Netherlands, at their nephews house in Pretoria. We left the City and drove first to the Cullinan Diamond mine, where we had a very interesting Guided tour of the diamond mine which is still extracting diamonds out of the earth, prior to us continuing into Swaziland, stopping briefly at the Swazi Glass factory for lunch and then the Mbabane craft market for cultural and Swazi curios. We then continued to the Hlane Royal National Park where we had booked ourselves into a lovely stone house on the banks of a river. We enjoyed a good South African braai around the fire that night and then the following morning we went on a gamedrive with one of the Rangers. It was OK – but what was disappointing was the number of gates we had to open and close. They do have lions and cheetahs and elephants here, but they do not have enough money to electrify the entire property, so those animals are kept in certain areas, which gives a slightly non-wild atmosphere. Anyway, the following day we left Swaziland and headed south into KwaZulu-Natal and more specifically, the Mkuze game reserve. We had a lovely cottage for the 2 nights we were staying there – and what a great time we had – from sitting at the waterholes in the Hides and watching not only the animals and birds coming to drink, but also the terrapins trying to climb up thin and slippery branches to get into the sun! On the night drive we were really lucky to witness a leopard kill an impala – this is not something many people see – it happened so quick, I do not think anyone expected it and so no photos! Well the next day we left Mkuze and headed further south to the Hluhluwe area, where we arrived at a private game lodge to enjoy the feeding of the cheetah’s and serval cats – at their breeding project. The next day, Bertha was not feeling well – (anti-malaria tablets!!) and so we all spent the morning relaxing and after lunch, I took Roel into Hluhluwe reserve for a short game drive – and gee, what an exciting one it was! We were only a short distance into the reserve when we were surrounded by about 60 elephants of all shapes and sizes!!! They were walking down a small valley towards the river, which had ‘our’ road down the middle of it! VERY exciting stuff!!

The following morning, we left Hluhluwe and headed to Lake St Lucia and the estuary, which you all should know is a World Heritage Site now, and we boarded a boat for a cruise to view the hippos, crocs and birds – and were sufficiently rewarded with great sightings. We then left St Lucia, to arrive at Thula Thula, in time for a delicious lunch, an afternoon siesta and then an afternoon game drive, with super sightings of zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, kudu etc. Having been to Thula Thula when the new owners bought it, I am amazed at what a beautiful lodge they have transformed it into – well done! What is also interesting to note, an American chap was surfing the Internet and looking for information on game lodges etc, where to stay – well, apparently he came across one of the previous editions of Dean’s Diary – read what I had written about Thula Thula, found their website, phoned them and made a booking – for Xmas. Well, he and his partner spent a great few days there and I believe they had a ball, thrilled at having booked themselves into such a superb lodge at such low prices. So, Dean’s Diary does work!!

Anyway, we left Thula Thula the next day, stopping briefly at Shakaland (A Zulu cultural village) for a morning educational tour and lunch, prior to driving through to Durban and Umhlanga Rocks. The next morning after Bertha had enjoyed a walk along the beach, we did a short City tour of Durban, enjoying lunch at an outdoor restaurant in a Durban park. Leaving Durban the following day, we first stopped at Howick Falls, to enjoy a cuppa tea (and my brother who lives nearby joined us), before continuing to the Drakensberg Mountains for two glorious nights. The view from our chalet was superb – looking across a valley and a smaller mountain, to the great Amphitheatre! We also celebrated Roel’s 83’rd birthday – with a sing song, chocolate biscuits and wine! What a great place to celebrate your birthday – in the crystal clear airs of the Drakensberg Mountains! Roel was quite a character as well – two weeks after this safari, he was to undergo an operation in The Netherlands to have his hip replaced, so on his birthday he stopped smoking to clean his lungs for the operation! We had so many laughs and jokes and good stories along the way – plus my Afrikaans speaking and understanding improved as I did not speak any Dutch and Bertha’s English was not as good as the Queen of England, so when we wanted to make sure we all understood, we would use a mixture of English, Dutch and Afrikaans! Well, on the 8 November, we arrived in Pretoria a bit early, so before taking them to their nephews house, I took them to the Voortrekker Monument and Union Buildings for a quick tour and then said our sad farewells at Erik’s house. Roel wrote a lovely comment in my guestbook, but, it is in Dutch and there are a few words I cannot read, so have battled to write it onto the website, however, Erik’s letter of thanks is there.

Returning to Durban meant the normal exciting office work for me, for a few weeks, prior to my next safari with Jane, Keith and Alice. Keith had been out from the UK with the British Police Rugby team for a few weeks, and after arriving in Durban, then Jane and Alice flew out to join him. The following day I met them at their hotel and we left for Hluhluwe-Umfolosi game reserve, where we spent a few nights – enjoying superb gameviewing! I had one of the toughest game spotting safaris in my life – as Alice (9 years old) was wanting to see elephant – and with the game reserve being 96 000 hectares I had to really work hard to find them! Anyway, we had 2 nights in the reserve, staying in a chalet, and during the first two days, we had spotted so many rhino (including 2 different sightings of Black Rhino), giraffe, zebra, buffalo, waterbuck, kudu, impala, wildebeest and even leopard!

Now the pressure was on – we still had not seen any lion nor elephant and we were leaving the area that afternoon – boy-oh-boy – I was sweating!! Asking the various Rangers, trackers and game guards, no-body had seen elephants for a number of days – they must have been eating and enjoying the wilderness areas, where there are no roads. Gee, what do I do – OK- lets drive up to the Hluhluwe area as we had covered all the roads and tracks in the Umfolosi section- and on the top of EVERY hill I stopped my safari vehicle and using my eyes and also binoculars, I scanned every hill, valley, plain and tree in sight – NOTHING !! (We did spot a number of large herds of Buffalo – which was great.) So, onwards we went – then BINGO, around the car, there were 3 cars stopped – that could have only meant one thing – lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog or elephant! One of my freelance guides was there and he told us about a lone lion lying on a branch up a tree – and sure, about 200 metres up a hill, in an acacia tree, was a lion – very difficult to spot – well, we enjoyed looking at him for 5 mins or so, then decided to drive on and return – and what luck, when we came back, he was down the tree resting under a bush and then he stood up and walk majestically through the grass in the open – whow, what a sight! So, we left, as we were going to have lunch outside of the Reserve and still and 8 kms to drive. The pressure was really on – still no elephant sightings and nobody had seen any!! Now honestly, we were not even 400 metres from the exit gate – and then I spotted it – yip, a HUGE male elephant – standing under a single tree enjoying his lunch in the shade! WHOOOPEEEE – I made it – whew, what a relief !!!!! (And the Castle family were now happy and singing & dancing with me!!) We had got The Big Five !!!! So, we left Hluhluwe-Umfolosi Game Reserve and enjoyed our lunch in the town of Hluhluwe, before driving to a weaving craft market and then a private lodge, for the cheetah and serval cat breeding project at Emdoneni. We enjoyed the usual excellent dinner at the lodge, after an afternoon swim, and the next morning, we visited the nearby Zulu cultural village prior to driving to St Lucia town for a boat cruise on the estuary and a light lunch. That afternoon, we drove back to Durban, where I bid farewell, after Keith, Jane and Alice collected their rental car and drove to Margate, where they were staying at a friends cottage for the next 10 days.

Then 3 days later, I left with 5 other Tour Operators on an Educational Tour of the greater Mkuze area. Occassionaly, I get invited by various lodges to come and visit them, and also because I have become known to organise these educational tours, they ask me to bring other Tour Operators with me. So, we were away for 3 days, to visit various lodges – ranging from budget to upmarket – and to experience their hospitality, experience the facilities and to ‘inspect’ their accommodation. As a successful Tour Operator, this is an on-going job – as we hate booking guests into lodges that we have not personally been to ourselves unless it is a highly respected and recommended establishment. It is also obviously much easier to sell a product if you have been there yourself and experienced it. In Southern Africa, there are sooo many game lodges, guesthouses, hotels etc – that it is impossible for us to support all of them and also to even know about all of them, so, what I do is try and select a few in each area that is popular to include in our itineraries (which are all tailor-made) and then try and visit those – if I am happy, then we support them – if we have any complaints about any lodge or establishment, we then investigate and will take the appropriate action necessary. WE thrive on happy customers, we thrive on feedback after any safari/vacation from all our guests and so maintain and improve our high standards. Like any human operation, there are likely to be a few hiccups that we are not pleased about, but we like to reflect on the many successful and happy clients of ours – which are reflected in past issues of Dean’s Diary and our Guestbook. Well, our visits were most enjoyable and enlightening – proving to everyone, that there were many excellent lodges out there, apart from the regular ones that are used.

As I had mentioned in the last edition, I volunteer every two years to help the Boy Scouts at their big Senior Scout Adventure which is held in the Cedarberg Mountains, not too far from Cape Town. I had hoped to take some Scouts down with me, to assist towards my fuel costs, but alas not – so I left on Mon 4 Dec (the day after returning from the Educational) and drove to my sisters farm near Bethlehem, in the Free State. She and some nursing colleagues of her bought this rather run-down small farm and are hoping to make something of it – gee, a lot of money and a lot of work to make the farmhouse really comfortable, but it has great potential. Unfortunately her one dog (she has 5) does not like her two calves – and so they are both minus tails and ears and have numerous wounds that are trying to heal !! She is supposed to be getting ride of that dog, but don’t think it will be too easy as she is fond of it. After a good night sleep, I left, popping in at Clarens to visit an old friend of mine – Moesch, who had just return back home from voting (was municipal election day) and then I continued through Bloemfontein and Victoria West, stopping in Loxton that night. Small town in the Karoo. I booked into a guesthouse for the night, had a bath and fell asleep, without a problem! The next day, I arrive in Clanwilliam at midday and then drove to the Scout camping HQ, meeting old friends along the way. The following day, ‘Whiskey’ and I drove around to Grasvlei – a small remote settlement of 7 houses in the mountains where we were to build a commando / assault course for the Scouts to do when the Adventure started in 2 days time. Whilst here, I also visited my friends in the nearby village of Kleinvlei – Pieter and his wife, Monty and his mother and all the others who know me from my bi-annual visits. Pieter was unfortunately ill and old age was creeping up on him. I spent 4 days there, waiting for the first 2 teams to do the course before I drove back to Camping HQ for my next mission! This was to hike up to Welbedracht Cave and spend 2 nights there and ensure that there were some latrines dug and the area was clean – after two nights, mission accomplished!

My next task was to drive Colin and Graham (two old Scouting leaders and friends) to visit various bases over the next 3 days – and it enabled me to also have a short flip in a bi-plane, that was being used to fly the Scouts around at the Flying base! Pretty exciting stuff!

Returning to HQ, I was then assisting to move equipment around from one base to another – and then the Adventure came to an end! Lloyd, a friends son, was meant to have come back with me to Durban, but his dad was being difficult and insisted he came back on the bus with the other Scouts – I felt really bad about it as I had arranged to visit the huge telescopes at Sutherland – world famous – and now I was going to arrive there alone! Very embarrassing. Anyway, one of the other Durban Scouts decided to join me, and we had such a nice ride back to Durban. We drove through the Biedou Valley – famous for the flowers in Spring – but being a farming area I think we had to open and close about 20 farm gates over a 35 km stretch!! We arrive at Sutherland a bit late, but saw the interesting slide-show and the area of the telescopes before enjoying a good steak at the nearby hotel and continuing through the Karoo the next day, stopping briefly in Graaf Reinet and The Owl House in Nieu Bethesda – and interesting collection of artworks in a garden and unique interior house décor !! That evening, we had hope to reach the village of Rhodes, but by 7pm, the storm clouds had built up so much and I was tired, so we stopped in the village of Indwe instead, renting a small chalet for the night. As we were approaching Rhodes the next day, I made comments about how dark and chocolate brown the river was – a sure sign of heavy rains recently. As we arrived in Rhodes, there was debris everywhere, flooded fields and mud all over the road. We entered the village and were amazed at what was left of the campsite – where we were meant to have camped the previous night! Long story short, they had experienced a flash-flood last night and the sole occupant of the campsite had woken up to rising water around her tent, climbing out of the tent, it promptly washed away, along with her car!!!! Anyway, luckily we had slept in Indwe!! We arrived in Durban that night, tired but thrilled about having driven an alternate route from the Cape back home!

The next day, Alice went on leave and I was to spend the next 2 weeks in the office trying to catch up on all the bookings and enquiries and happenings of the past 17 days – hectic, I tell you!!

We have had a number of people just rent / hire cars from us – Sascha & Shelly, Rowan, Paul, Ian and Clarence. Always happy to only rent out a vehicle, because we know that we have the lowest rates in South Africa, for the new cars that we use with unlimited kilometres, insurance, free mobile phone, tax, surcharges etc all included, no hidden extras! As mentioned numerous times, we would also happily book your accommodation for you – when you rent a car and book accommodation through us, we call this a "Self-Drive" vacation. The rates for the accommodation, in 95% of the times, are the normal public rates that we will charge you as the lodge or hotel includes a small commission for us Tour Operators, as an incentive for us to book as many people into their establishment as possible. We have certain lodges and hotels that we use due to the fact that we might have a contract with them to gain lower rates than normal, I would have visited that place and happy to send my guests there or it is a well known and recognised establishment. There are thousands of establishments in South Africa, but it is impossible for us to use them all, so we will happily book our guests into the ones we know and are happy with.

During the month of January, we have Craig and family renting a vehicle from us, David and family will be in SA for 3 weeks as well and Frikkie has some foreign friends out so a Microbus was needed for 3 weeks for him. Out of the blue, Robert booked a car with us, have requested information at the beginning of December but not having replied we assumed he did not need anything – well, he got the receptionist at the one game lodge to phone us 2 days before he needed it, luckily we have staff working on some weekends!

3. Future Safaris:

At the beginning of this year I would have not been able to tell you what the year was going to be like, business wise – well, as I write this edition of Dean’s Diary, BOY OH BOY, are we busy!! I have five 8 to 14 day safaris booked and paid for that will take place over the next 4 months – which is great. We also have numerous very strong enquiries and of course lots of uncertain ones – where we can see that people have sent the same enquiry to 5 or 10 other Tour Operators, with such a vague request and totally impersonal. We offer a fast and friendly service, that is efficient – and that is what you shall get from us – if you plan to travel around the world in 45 days, spending 4 days in each of the 10 countries that you want to visit – then do not bother asking us for assistance as I think you need to see a shrink and we are not qualified! We do have some folks who want to see everything in 10 days – that to is impossible, but we can show you a lot. We also have folks who would rather spend their 10 to 14 days vacation relaxing a bit – spend 2 to 4 nights in one location then another 2 to 4 nights in another, rather than every night in a different bed – but everyone has their own taste – and you just tell us what your taste is like and how much you would like to spend on your taste, and we shall then deliver!

Wayne and Jolene shall be my next guests during February, where I have designed a super itinerary that incorporates Zulu culture, Anglo-Zulu battlefields, superb Gameviewing, Big 5, coastal beach & snorkelling, huge elephants and great accommodation with tasty meals! I’ll tell you all about it next time I write to you! In March, I’ll have Spencer and Donna back from the UK and this time I shall be taking them around for part of their vacation on a lovely safari from Johannesburg to Durban and then at the end of the month, I shall have Chas and his son, Carl on a different type of safari. I shall be sharing all my knowledge and skills with Carl in Mocambique as we spend time on the beach and in the sea before we go to Umfolosi Game reserve for a 4 night Wilderness hiking trail and then to a friends game reserve where he shall learn even more about the bush, the wildlife and the outdoors – all in all, a very exciting safari that I am looking forward to. Two days after that, Nik returns to African Bundu Safaris, but brings his girlfriend Angela with, and I shall share with them the thrills and excitement of Zululand as we spend time at Lake St Lucia and the beach, then into Big 5 country at Hluhluwe-Umfolosi Game Reserve before we enjoy a night at another friends private game reserve and then the final night in Zululand is on a floating chalet, close to a traditional Zulu village. After popping into Durban for one night, we then dart off to the Drakensberg mountains to enjoy a 4x4 trip up Sani Pass into Lesotho and return the next day. This shall be after Nik and Angela would have visited Sun City and Victoria Falls first and then after the Drakensberg Mountains, they fly to Port Elizabeth and drive along the Garden Route to Cape Town and thus ending their 3 week holiday to Africa! I have a few more safaris after that, but shall tell you about them next time, suddenly realise I am on my 8^th page – oops!

As you might remember, we launched our Flying Service into Zululand last year – and it is slowly getting busier and busier – just the problem is, we are having lots of flights with only 2 people on board, whereas our pricing was for a minimum of 4 people to just cover the cost and 7 or more people to really start making a profit. So, what I have done is approach many of the lodges and game reserves in Zululand and Maputaland, as well as some of the hotels in Durban and Umhlanga Rocks and ask them to give me special rates – rates that are lower than the normal tourist will be able to get – and I have received a tremendous response with some extra lodges offering and asking to be included in our Zululand Flying Safari Special Package. These rates are only applicable if you book through African Bundu Safaris and if you fly from the one lodge to the next – they are Flying-Safari Special prices !! We shall only have flights 3 days a week for these packages and thus hopefully have more people on each plane, rather than a daily plane with only two people on board – otherwise we are going to see a huge loss!

So, if you are interested in participating in our Zululand Flying Safari Package – which is a special price and includes your airflight – please do let me know and I can forward the rates to you. There are a dozen lodges or hotels to choose from – and these Special Package prices are valid from 29 January until the 22 June, excluding the April school holidays – (31 March till 18 April).

We need everyone’s support to make the Zululand Flying Service work and whether you are a tourist, a Tour Operator a lodge owner, a travel agent, you need to visit Zululand and Maputaland using the Zululand Flying Service and our Flying-safari Packages!

(In case you have not figured it out yet, I am trying an experiment by repeating certain words numerous times as I believe that certain search engines will find this edition of Dean’s Diary quicker when somebody keys in the words like ‘Zululand’ or ‘Flying’ or ‘Safari’ – and thus they will read all about the Zululand Flying-Safari Special Packages!!)

5. Total Solar Eclipse:

This unique event of the Total Solar Eclipse will be taking place in Zambia on the 21 June 2001 – just a few months away. I had begun planning for this almost a year ago and have secured some wonderful locations right in the path of the eclipse, in the bush, in the Kafue National Park. I booked the camp and safari in at Mukambi Lodge and then we shall be at the Busanga Plains during the actual Total Solar Eclipse – and when I did the booking, the lodge owners did not even know the eclipse was going to be taking place, so I managed to get pre-eclipse prices!!

Unfortunately, I had planned this for some Eclipse watchers in Europe, but they have been unable to secure airtickets to Lusaka and so cancelled their trip – however, along with Prab and his wife, plus me, I know have 4 empty seats! I have SPACE for the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE which shall take place on the 21^st June and passing though Zambia and more specially the Kafue National Park. We begin our safari at the town of Kariba, in Zimbabwe, then we travel by road through Lusaka to Mukambi Lodge, which is on the banks of the Kafue River – and then the following day we go with 4x4 into Kafue Park and to the Busanga Plains where we shall have a tented camp set up for us in the bush. Busanga Plains is well know for its lion population, so the game viewing should be good – as lions only go where their meals are waiting! WE have two nights in Busanga plains before we return to Kariba, which is at the northern end of Zimbabwe and overlooking the huge Kariba dam. From there, you might want to go on a canoeing safari down the lower Zambezi River or even fly across to Victoria Falls – you let me know and then I shall organise it! But, the main reason for you coming to Africa in June is to see the Ecclipse and that is what I will organise. Beware, there are MANY people advertising Eclipse Safaris, but as they left their planning to the last minute, you will have to travel for a good few hours from your lodge to the path of the Total Solar Eclipse, enjoy it for a few minutes, then drive all the way back – whereas, we are camping right in the middle of the path of the eclipse!! You will be able to sit on your chair and relax to enjoy this unique event! Please contact me immediately if you are interested and then I can forward you all the information and the cheap price you will be paying!

Well, on Christmas Day, I drove up to my brothers house to spend the day there, along with Milly and Didi. It was a lousy day – weather wise, started raining and rather chilly – I always remember Xmas day to be hot and sunny. Anyway, all of Monica’s family came around and so we had a jolly good Roast Turkey and Gammon dinner under Sean’s gazebo that he had now finished. A great day with family and friends – but back to work the following day!

Karsten had returned from Germany whilst I was in the Cedarberg and it was nice to see him just before Xmas, where we went to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner and to catch up on the news. On the 3 January, he flew back to Germany and I have recently had a few SMS messages from him, telling me about the –20 degree temperature and the deep snow and he has to work in it – outdoors, as he constructs silos on farms!! Idiot if you ask me!

I have had a few e-mails from his brother, Ivan and wife Mandy, who are in Scotland. Ivan was one of my first Outdoor Club members when I used to be a teacher and he joined me on our first safari to Botswana and Zimbabwe gee, what a great trip that was – full of excitement, happiness, laughter, skills, new ventures… suppose that is what really go me into tourism! Thanks Ivan!

On New Years Eve, an American lady friend of mine, Michelle, arrived in Durban, having driven all the way from Cape Town by herself, in her little half-ton Nissan bakkie which she had just purchased! We left that afternoon after having had brunch at a hotel in Umhlanga Rocks and we arrived at Thula Thula, in time for an afternoon game drive – and then a lengthy New Years Eve 7-course dinner! It lasted until after midnight and was a fantastic spread – congratulations to Poppa the chef and Françoise and her team for delivering a superb feast. We welcomed in the New Year with popping of corks and one of the guests playing Auld Lang Syne on his guitar! The next day, we drove back to Durban, in pouring rain and then dried out at home! The following day, I took Michelle around Durban to buy various items to repair small things to her car – and after a good nights sleep, she had to leave for her long drive back to Cape Town! Thanks for sharing the New Year with me Michelle – good to have seen you again!

I am sure you would have all heard by now about the DRC president being assassinated and that George Bush jnr is the new American president – well in South Africa on the local scene, we have the cholera epidemic which is affecting mainly the rural African people, thou when somebody from the Urban area visits their family or friends and drinks contaminated water, then returns to the city, if they have contracted the cholera, it can spread – not human to human, but by that person infecting another water source or something people will put to their mouth – so it is a case of education here. No tourist, to date, has been affected as the lodges all have purified water. We still have Aids in Africa, but if any tourist is planning on coming here and not wanting to contract Aids, don’t have sex with any local! If you had to have an injection, I would expect you to go to a proper hospital or doctor and thus you can be guaranteed that new sterile needles will be used! The Foot and Mouth disease which affects clove hoof animals only, seems to be under control, though it has spread to other areas through farmers or rural people moving their cattle without permission from one area to another. Again, nothing to worry the tourist! Malaria is also around in Northern Zululand, Swaziland and Kruger Park area – so take all necessary precautions. I believe that we live in a modern society and near excellent modern medical facilities, so I prefer not to take medication if I am within a day or two of a proper hospital or doctor – I would rather pick up the signs and symptoms the moment they start and get treated for it, rather than have the signs hidden and not have it diagnosed until it is quite severe! Apply mosquito repellents and cover-up after dark!

I also have had a lovely letter from Rob in Australia. His son Glenn was one of the 3 Australian Scouts who came out in 1988 to South Africa and I was lucky enough to have been able to show them around South Africa. Glenn and I stayed in contact during the following years and then when he was at University, our correspondence slowed down – well, now with Internet, it has improved and I believe Rob reads Dean’s Diary quite often, to keep up with what is happening in Southern Africa and also with ABS – well, Hi there Rob!! Glenn and his partner are now in England, working there and I think missing the good weather one has in Perth! He was also honoured to be chosen to be one of the Olympic torch bearers for the Sydney Olympics – whow, what an honour – but he deserves it for all the excellent charity work he has been doing over the many years!

Hans-Jurgen, my penfriend of 21 years, will not be coming to SA this July as hoped, as his business is not going too well, so he has to stay and try and make more money to afford a trip to Africa! We still have never met, but kept writing to each other!

Our South African schools end their years in November/December with "Matric Exams" – and my standard 6 pupils of 1996 (when I left teaching) have now finished school, and I looked on the internet the other night to see who I could remember and how they had done. Craig had got a distinction in Technical Drawing (one of my subjects, so a good grounding pays off hey Craig!), Richard got a distinction in Technika Mechanical and Michael got 4 distinctions!!!

I also did a surf around and saw that another past pupil, Wesley, has been doing very well with his cycling and achieving excellent results in these long distance races – well done Wesley, about time you cycled over here to say Howzit !

My mother has been working to the City library for nearly 25 years now, as a "panel lady" – or a relief staff member. Well, for the past 2 years, she has basically worked as a permanent member as they do not have enough qualified and experienced staff – and not many black people want to become librarians, and with Affirmative Action policies in many government type of businesses, you have to be black to be employed – reverse apartheid many people call it. Well, the head of the library (who we are told has a fraudulent qualification and only a couple of years experience) decided to convert Mom’s title to "Temporary Staff" . Not so easy!! You have to have a Matric certificate – mom was forced to leave school with 2 years short of Matric, due to financial reasons, but having worked for 25 years at this job and she would be doing the same job – nope, not allowed – gee, what a sick bureaucratic world we live in!! She has about 2 years to go until retirement, so they are also not keen on pushing the matter further!

Sean and family came down for an afternoon last weekend – we spent the afternoon in and around the swimming pool – and my little goddaughter, Erin, loves the water so much. In fact, we had so much fun in the pool, Milly was getting very jealous and kept jumping in and swimming to me! (Milly is our spaniel puppy!) Well, after the pool we decided to go for a walk along the beach – and so off we went – Erin loves the waves! Returning home, I cooked a lovely meal of fish and chips with a delicious salad and then we all enjoyed Monica’s peach and cream pie she had baked!

Summer is here, and to beat the heat and humidity, I bought a reconditioned split-wall unit air-conditioner for the office – and it makes quite a difference. I am not used to these machines and much more used to just taking my shirt off and if need be, switching on the fan to circulate the air, but Alice really suffers without air-conditioning, so now I am being spoilt! I have also planted some seeds of various flowers in front of the office windows and on the side of the entrance, so hopping they will flourish soon and make it look pretty!

Well, my diary I see is eleven pages long, so really is time for me to end off. Thanks for reading so far, I have enjoyed writing to you – and look forward to hearing from you and your news!

Dean