And another 4 months goes rushing by!! Every now and again, I think, ‘OK, let me spend this weekend doing the next edition’ and then something else crops up – so, now after cleaning the leaves out of the fish pond, washing the car, playing with the dogs, replacing the light bulb outside and eating lunch, I decided to sit down for the next few hours and get on with it!

I have to recall the adventures and safaris of Paul & Kirsten from Denmark, Andy and his wife from the UK, Marc & January from the USA, Fleur and her hubby from the Netherlands, Tim & Sally from Hong Kong, the various chaps from Greenstar and other companies who came for the World Summit, Joy and her daughters from the UK, Adrian and his family also from the UK, Megan and Charlie who work and live in Saudi Arabia, Joshua & Nathalie from Canada, Margot and her family and friends from Belgium, Dave and his wife from the USA, Tigs from Scotland, Shirley & her daughter from Cape Town, James and his family from Ireland and finally Chris and Katie from the UK as well. I’ll also tell you a few things that have been happening down south – and what plans there are for the future – with African Bundu Safaris, South Africa, me & my family and anything else that I think of at the time!

PAST CLIENTS:
Paul and Kirsten arrived a couple of days after their wedding – and then Keith took them on their Honeymoon – starting in Johannesburg and ending in Durban. They visited Sabie, the Panoramic Route, then some private game reserves, before travelling off to Maputaland and bidding farewell to Keith at Lake Sibaya where he drove back to Durban and they stayed on a few days, to fly down along the coast with the Zululand Flying Service to arrive in Durban, where I spent the one day with, to show them around Durban, before they returned to Johannesburg Airport and then flew home. They sent me a document, which they had compiled, with little paragraphs and photos, giving a summary of their trip. I have copied below some of the their paragraphs, to give you a feel of their trip: We flew to Johannesburg where Keith picked us up and we instantly felt comfortable and welcome in South Africa. Keith drove us through some superb scenic areas before we arrived in the town of Sabie. Driving around game reserves can be a dusty experience. Sundowners at sunset immediately cure any side effects! Just when we thought we’d seen it all at Chitwa-Chitwa, we arrived at White Elephant Lodge to the most romantic welcome of our honeymoon. Wendy and Brett run a class act!
The experiences were too many to mention. From White Elephant we went on to see Sibaya Lake and then the absolute beauty of Rocktail Bay, before flying reluctantly back to civilization and Durban. We arrived early in Durban, so our transfer driver hadn’t arrived yet. No matter, suddenly Dean, the owner of African Bundu Safaris showed up in person to welcome us. That proved what we by now already knew, this guy is the perfect planner for once in a lifetime African experiences. He follows up on every detail and at the end of the day you know you will come back to make sure your experience becomes a twice in a lifetime one!

Andy and Vlada returned to the UK, full of excitement and relaxed, having enjoyed a superb holiday. Andy reckons he is now saving for their next holiday here, as there was so much to see and so little time! Here are a few comments from Andy on some of the places they stayed at:
Vic Falls Safari Lodge - Great hotel, friendly staff. Very quiet. Booked a plane ride over the falls - cheaper than helicopter and far more enjoyable. Tourism has been hammered given Mugabe’ s recent activities etc but we encountered no trouble at all. Fairlawns Hotel - great place - we had a terrific suite but stay was too short.  Tshukudu - Basic accommodation but a great experience getting up close to the animals. Friendly staff.  Chitwa Chitwa - Highlight of the vacation. Luxury resort. Dave, our ranger, was brilliant! Met up with Paul & Kirsten and may go and see them in Copenhagen. Lisa, the new manager, seems very competent. Sun City - Palace hotel great. Resort was smaller than we thought and very quiet. Good weather though and worth seeing but no comparison to Las Vegas! Cape Town - Mount Nelson Hotel was excellent. Had a good room. Staff very friendly. Great City. Tour with Eric of wine district was terrific. We definitely want to go back to Capetown again - 2 nights was just too short! Had to buy an extra suitcase to carry back all our shopping! Thanks again for a BRILLIANT vacation. Do not hesitate to use me as a future reference. We will definitely use you again for our return visit. Have to start saving up now....
Thanks for your comments Andy, much appreciated. Just remember mate, you need 3 or 4 weeks for your next holiday, 10 days is far too short!

Marc and January started off their trip with an exciting 4 nights at Phinda Game Reserve – the 5-star game reserve in Kwazulu-Natal. After viewing The Big 5 and many other fantastic animals, they flew down to Durban and then stayed at the luxury Zimbali Lodge, a new 5-star hotel on the outskirts of Durban, and set near the beach and in an indigenous forest, surrounded by a golf course. I was thrilled to be able to spend the one day with them in Durban, to show them the highlights and share lunch with them – and they were very lucky as well, because the annual Sardine Run was happening that morning on Durban’s beachfront. We believe this is one of the largest migrations of fish in the world, with millions of sardines being forced up the coast from the eastern Cape and colder waters of the Cape, to the warmer Indian Ocean and Kwazulu-Natals’ South Coast. Forcing them are thousands of game fish, dolphins and then the sharks – and diving into the shoals from above are the seagulls and other birds, some of which cannot take off into the air again, they are so full! We had a brief e-mail from Marc on their return to the USA: We had an absolutely outstanding time. Thank you so much. If you ever need a reference from this part of the world please have potential clients feel free to contact us. You are going to have to start sending us some commission because I think I’ve already sold you guys to a couple sets of friends

Remember folks, like Marc and January, and so many other clients by booking your trip through us, we are able to give you a great discount, as we charge you in SA Rands and not the US$ price which is advertised on a number of the South African lodge websites. By booking through a Tour Operator like us in Southern Africa, you avoid the Travel Agent fees in your home country and in MANY cases, it is cheaper to book through us than direct with the lodge, as the establishments have a commission included in their public prices, which is what they would pay us. We are not greedy and thus offer many of our clients a discount, even before they ask for it! If you book your trip many months in advance, then you can also pay us via wire, and thus reduce the cost even more. If you spend 3 or more nights in any one lodge, then we are very often able to give you a further discount – so plan ahead and avoid rushing around from one establishment to the next.

 Tim & Sally returned from their trip, where they went exploring Botswana, and Vic Falls, a bit of the greater Kruger Park area, and Sun City. Here is a brief comment from them, some time after their return home:
Thank you for your welcome home. Sorry I haven't replied for ages but being back at work keeps me busy. It was a great holiday and we would like to thank you for organising it. Tim and Sally.
(Stop press: just had an e-mail from them advising us that Sally is expecting a baby, so maybe their next visit shall be for 3!)

They also reported to us that our guide we were using in Johannesburg for our Soweto tours was rude to them – and as this was the 2nd complaint we had against him, we enquired with some colleagues who also use him, and they said they had stopped using him due to complaints against his manners, so we have now stopped using him, and started using Elias. Elias is a Soweto resident and knows the city very well. He is a large fella with a jovial character, and is proving to be a hit with those clients who are sharing Soweto with him!

The lovely couple from Brussels that visited us next was Pierre and Titia. They came on a self-drive holiday and so we planned their route with them, made all their accommodation bookings and then off they went exploring. A couple of months before they started, Titia discovered that she was pregnant, so they could not do the scuba diving course they had planned to do at Sodwana Bay, but made up with that by cutting their stay there shorter and including the majestic Drakensberg Mountains as well. Here are portions of their feedback from their wonderful time exploring our country. We met them in Durban where they gave us verbal feedback and then continued on their trip:
It was very nice for us to have met the both of you, it was a bit strange to only have had contacts through e-mail up till then. We loved the entire trip. The rest of the trip after Durban was great, with the distances we drove and the places we did not see (No Cape Agulhas nor Oudtshoorn) we could easily have spent some more time in your beautiful country ( we did make the detour to Franschoek and Stellenbosch. Franschoek was really nice, with its French names and restaurants and setting).

We did not see any elephants in Addo! Too bad that we only had one day there, the park was really excellent and beautiful (and the breakfast is not included anymore there). Coffee Bay was fantastic too, we were offered to spend the second night in the honeymoon suite, it really was as if it were our honeymoon.
Inyathi was great too, really beautiful place in the centre of the town. The Sani Pass hotel was very relaxed and in a very pretty setting, although not as cosy as the lodges we had. And Cape Town of course was an amazing city, where we actually had good weather and enjoyed ourselves very much. In all, it really was great and it was also very much thanks to you.
I hope that it wasn’t the last time we saw you and that some day we’ll come to SA with a couple or more smaller human beings.

Shiney, (one of our lady Guides), then took Joy and her two daughters up to Zululand for a few days on a game safari. They spent time exploring the hippos, crocs and birds at St Lucia, then to a small private game ranch where there is a cheetah-breeding project and then had a few days in Hluhluwe-Umfolosi game reserve. Gemma celebrated her birthday whilst on the safari. Here is Joy’s feedback to us:
As you can see, I'm back in the office again after a wonderful visit to South Africa. I just thought I would spend a few moments to send you an e-mail to let you know how much my girls and I enjoyed the safari. And thank you for Gemma's birthday present. Her 13th birthday was definitely one to remember.  

Adrian brought his family here to SA, having previously visited here himself. They went on a self-drive safari, with Adrian and us planning the route together and then we did all the car rental and accommodation bookings, thus he only had to make one payment to us and we did the multiple payments to all the establishments. We chose a mix of great game reserves, scenic areas, some beach experience and super accommodation. Adrian sent us some feedback after they returned to the UK:
Dear Alice and Dean. We are now back home. The day we got back was our wedding anniversary so I didn't get time to contact you. We had a wonderful time, everything was so perfect. Babs couldn't believe the standard of accommodation you arranged for us. It was just so perfect.
The first location, at the Lodge was superb. Our game ranger, "Chris" was just so informative and I know Kyle and Roxanne enjoyed his expertise and humour. 2 truly memorable days, I think Babs enjoyed the elephants trunk rapped around her leg only minutes after we arrived.
The views from the accommodation at Kruger, Hilltop, Kingfisher Lodge were breath taking.
Finally we arrived in Umhlanga to be greeted once again by outstanding accommodation. The apartment was well above my expectations. I wanted to take the family to Africa before they get to old and go their own way, so they can experience what I have during my visits whilst in the forces. Your itinerary ensured they saw all types of wild life. From all of us, we want to thank you so much for arranging such a memorable holiday. Everything went like a dream. Thank you. Adrian, Babs, Kyle, Roxy.

Adrian – it was an absolute pleasure and super that you could bring the family out. I know you are planning on bringing some buddies out here for the Cricket World Cup, so we might see you in Durban again!

Past clients of ours, living in Saudi Arabia, Bob & Brady, have kindly mentioned us to some work colleagues and it was then that Megan and Charlie booked their holiday to Southern Africa with us, starting off in Vic Falls, then off to Sabi Sands reserve, before meeting Keith who took them on a safari from Johannesburg to the Drakensberg and then to Durban. They invited Alice, Philip and myself out for dinner, which was so great to actually meet them, and then they flew down to the Cape for a self-drive vacation along the Garden Route, ending in Cape Town. We learnt lots of interesting facts about Saudi Arabia – and one most interesting one is that their weekends are on Thursday and Fridays – and then their working week starts on Saturdays and ends on Wednesday! Being a very Moslem country, this is how it works there! Something went wrong with the admin in Zimbabwe for their one activity and after a phonecall or two, all was sorted out. I am also now the proud owner of two lovely coffee mugs from Saudi Arabia – thanks.
We sent them a “welcome home” note and the day that they arrived home they sent us this reply:
Hi guys, great to hear from you and yes I will attempt to get something organized to send you. The holiday was truly splendid - we just couldn't believe what a fabulous time we had. Everything went like clockwork - even our only hitch (the hiccough in Vic Falls) ended with my getting a free chopper ride!!!! You'll have to figure how you can make that part of the deal. I'm totally exhausted and my knees have ceased to work, but fortunately it's the weekend now, so you know where I will be…..zzzzzzzzz! When I am a bit more settled I'll write more. Meantime we loved meeting you - the cherry on the top so to speak. Thanks so very much for everything. Love to you both and to Phillip. Megan and Charlie
(Thanks for the photos you posted to us Megan, super to have these copies – cheers!)

Margot and her family and friends have been to Southern Africa numerous times and they initially enquired with us for charter flights only. She is used to planning and organising her own holidays, and so this was her first time to book a holiday through a Tour Operator. We spent a fair deal of time corresponding back and forth, finalising their itinerary and then they arrived, had a super holiday and then on their return she kindly sent us her feedback from their trip:  
We had a wonderful trip indeed but too short as we knew beforehand.  Everything went very smoothly, except for the SAA flight from Richards Bay to Johannesburg which was rescheduled last minute without giving notice.  We therefore arrived 3 hours early at Richards Bay airport and wished we could have slept a little longer.  We didn't complain however and took a taxi to the beach where we had breakfast and spent some time in the sun.  Because of that we also arrived 3 hours later in Johannesburg and had only a brief tour of Soweto and the City. 
We very much enjoyed the places we stayed :
Montusi is beautiful and peaceful and it has great views. 
Sibaya Lake has a gorgeous setting and a very friendly service. 
Falaza is much more luxurious.  It has beautiful tents and very nice food
Zululand Tree Lodge has also a very nice and original setting.
 We really enjoyed the charter flights from Ladysmith to Lake Sibaya.  It's a great way of quick transportation (but of course expensive). Thank you for your professional assistance.

As no doubt you would have heard on TV and read in your press, Johannesburg hosted the World Summit on sustainable development – and we were involved in a number of peoples plans.
The Greenstar Organisation had us finding accommodation for a number of their representatives, then there were individuals who just need car rental and/or accommodation and then a few folks who wanted post-summit safaris.
Ron and his wife, Gretchen were at the summit – and in his feedback he was pleased everything went well but regret not having allocated some time to visit places like Durban or Cape Town.
Terry sent us an e-mail just prior to boarding his flight home, thanking us for his stay at the summit.
Barrett and his wife Rita, also came to the World Summit and stayed at one of our guesthouses we support. Charlie probably spent the longest time at the summit and we had frequent e-mails and messages from him – and even though he worked flat-out, his spirit was always great and it was super to hear that he was enjoying himself so much and making friends with our guesthouse owners, the hardware store, the local photographic shop etc.
Rizwan also attended the famous summit, and was referred by Robert, who was Charlie’s partner. Our usual accommodation were full, so we hosted him at another guesthouse and he reported that he found it very comfortable and is looking forward to returning to SA soon, on business again and will plan to have a 3 day break to Kruger Park – Rizwan, we are waiting for you!
And we must thank Paul of Greenstar, as he started the ball rolling with all these clients booking with us – thanks mate!
Emma, who works for the House of Commons in the British parliament, also came out for the summit and afterwards, she and a friend spent some time on a private game reserve and then went to see the whales in Hermanus and Cape Town. Listening to her hectic schedule, she certainly needed a break!

A regular client of ours, Dave, was here on business again, and then his wife Linda joined him, to enjoy a two week holiday. We ‘sent them off’ to two game reserves, and then down to the Cape as Dave had tried earlier to get there to view the whales, so this was his golden opportunity. Thanks Dave for the feedback: We're back home now after a really great holiday. The two reserves were quite different, but both excellent. At Tshukudu, we got to take a morning drive with Savannah, and then some morning walks with lion and leopard cubs. At Chitwa Chitwa, we had some incredibly good drives and the lack of fences gave us a feel the vastness of the region. At Hermanus, the whales weren't quite as close to shore as we had hoped, but we took a boat ride with Dyer Island cruises, and ended up seeing several great whites and then floating for a while very hear to a pod of whales. Not sure when the next trip back will be, but we hope it's soon!

Shirley and her daughter, Janine, from Cape Town, flew up to Durban and then drove up to the Pongola area, to stay at one of our lodges there, with their main interest being Tiger Fishing, on the Josini Dam.
They spent almost a week there, fishing and relaxing – and even entered the Bonanza Tiger Fishing Competition, where hundreds of keen fishermen (and women) from all over the country converge to catch ‘The Big One’. Janine sent us some feedback after she had been back at work for a day: Had a wonder- full trip!  Fishing wasn't so good, only caught a couple of small 2kgs.  There were a lot of very disappointed people in the competition who didn't catch anything! (So we didn't feel so bad). The lodge was very nice - looked after us very well.  Dean, please keep an eye open for May\June next year for a good fishing trip to the Zambezi for us.  (We'll stick to the big fish !!)  Thanks for all your help booking our holiday, hopefully you can find us another good spot for next year (already thinking about my next holiday after one day back at work...)
 Well Janine, it will be our pleasure to book you on another fishing holiday – do you want to stay on a houseboat or a land-based chalet on the edge of Lake Kariba – the home of the best tiger-fishing in Zimbabwe?

I was at Tala game reserve with Joe, my friend who now has Alzheimer’s, when Alice had a phonecall from a lady asking if we could take her son’s friend on a short one-day safari to a game reserve. Well, a few days later, I met Tigs, who is a Shepard in Scotland and was out here for a break with his South African friend. I took him to Tala reserve, where we had a great morning on a game drive and then went to the Valley of a 1000 Hills to have some lunch, before heading back to Durban. It was really great meeting Tigs and learning all about his career – and then a few days later, we booked him onto the backpackers bus and a few lodges, as he went exploring through the Transkei Wildcoast, Eastern Cape and on to Cape Town. We had an e-mail from him when he had been in Jeffrey’s Bay for a couple of days, telling us how he was enjoying his surfing there!

James came out from Ireland with his family, starting off at Tshukudu with the orphaned animals and other wild animals, before flying down to the Garden Route and then exploring the various attractions there. James is a travel agent back home and was so impressed with our prompt and efficient service, that we are planning on working together in the future.
Thanks for your help, all went well. The drive from JNB was long but the Lodge was worth it. We really did the safari for our youngest son & he loved it. Mark who is 15 also loved it and I have to say both Valerie & myself thoroughly enjoyed it.
So James, we look forward to many of your clients booking through us.
 
Chris and his girlfriend Katie, came out from the UK in October. It was a very much last minute booking, but we booked them on a short 4 day Kruger Park safari and then they went down to the Cape to explore some more. Chris promises me that he will include Durban on their next trip.

Over the past few months we built up quite a friendship with Joshua and his wife Nathalie, from Montreal. They came out for a safari with Joshua’s two younger children (who are adults now) and flew first to a great treehouse lodge near Kruger Park, and after a couple of nights, Keith, our guide arrived to meet them – and off they went on a safari – which included game reserves, The Panoramic Route, Maputaland, Zululand, St Lucia wetlands area and lastly my friends reserve, Thula Thula, before Marianne and Marc were dropped off at the airport and Joshua and Nathalie remained for the International Bar Association Conference being hosted in Durban. Alice and I were invited for a lovely breakfast at the Elangeni Hotel with the couple and then a couple of days later, Alice and her husband, Philip, had a super dinner with them at one of our top Durban restaurants. Josh and Nathalie – thank you so much for the maple syrup gifts – absolutely delicious!! They gave us feedback around the breakfast table – and it was super to hear it straight from them. We look forward to their next trip – in the near future!

So, you can see why I always say we are so busy – all these wonderful people coming to explore Southern Africa with African Bundu Safaris!

FUTURE Safaris:
During the months from November to February, we have numerous clients, some new and some repeat, coming to our shores, to explore and enjoy our warm climate and hospitality.
During this month of November, which is when I am writing this edition, we have past client John in Johannesburg for 5 days of business, and so we helped out with car rental and accommodation. Wim from the Netherlands is here for a wedding and shall start off with 5 days at our treehouse lodge near Kruger Park. He is keen on flying and is hoping to have a few flips in West’s microlight. Nadine and Leo, who work and live in the UK are starting off their vacation in style at Sabi Sabi and then fly off to Vic Falls for a few nights before ending their stay in Cape Town. We have saved them quite a few dollars by giving them discounts on these luxury lodges which have booked them into. Much cheaper to book through us than go direct! We were also able to co-ordinate all their travel arrangements and transfers. We look forward to hearing from them on their return, like we do from so many other clients. They are friends of Mark and Akkie, who were here earlier this year. Jim and Pat are friends of Megan and Charlie, and also live in Saudi Arabia, and have taken a months leave to enjoy some great gameviewing, the total solar eclipse and then a nice relaxing time exploring the Garden Route before arriving in Cape Town for a little over a week where their son from boarding school in NYC will join them for Christmas. Dan and his family, also from the same town in Saudi Arabia and teaches with Jim, is out here with his wife and 2 year old son, and they start off with some gameviewing and then fly down to Cape Town for the final few days, to enjoy the winelands, Table Mountain and the V&A Waterfront. A lady friend of Charlie’s had also contacted us from Saudi Arabia, but we were unfortunately unable to continue with her booking for numerous reasons and wish Valerie well with her trip booked through a colleague of ours.
Tony has a brother in Cape Town, and he has only booked a one-day game drive into Kruger Park with us, whilst he and his family are staying for a few days in the Hazyview region.

Our flight travel agent has her parents coming from the UK for the festive season, and so we have planned her holiday for her, which includes a few nights at Phinda Game Reserve and then various B&B’s and guesthouses along the Garden Route and finally ending in Cape Town. Carolyn is so busy helping other clients, she does not have time to plan her own holiday!!
Robert is a friend of June and Jean, who I took on safari last year – and he and his wife, who both live in Madagascar, will be visiting our country over the Christmas period. I am sure they are looking forward to their holiday, given the political turmoil that their country has recently been through. I can imagine it must be very stressful there! Keith and Annette will be here in January and start off in the Cape – with a few guided tours with Eric, our Cape Town guide, then up the Garden Route on a self-drive vacation, prior to flying to Johannesburg and then to Kruger Park for a few days, to end off their holiday.
One of our most favourite clients, Jim and Judith will be coming to Southern Africa again. Yip, Jim has now retired and Judith is ever so keen to use his British cheque book before he realizes what is was designed for! They start off with a beach holiday on one of the islands off Mozambique and we anticipate that the cyclones avoid them during their one week stay there. Assuming the idiotic president dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe behaves himself, they then spend time in Vic Falls riding elephants and then fly to Matusadona on Lake Kariba for a few nights in a floating chalet and then finally end off at Mana Pools on the lower Zambezi River for some superb game viewing. Aunty J, as we have come to call her, is such a darling and her e-mails are a hoot! They make great friends wherever they go and we really enjoy planning their holidays with them!
And the last of our planned clients is from Montreal, Canada. Sylvie and Ian start off with a few nights on a private game reserve, sleeping in the treehouses, and then join a camping safari through Kruger Park, Swaziland, Kosi Bay and ending in St Lucia, before they do a self-drive vacation to the Drakensberg and then fly from Durban to Port Elizabeth for a week of exploring the Garden Route and then end at one of our new lovely guesthouses situated on the rocks at Camps Bay, Cape Town. I reckon this guesthouse is so close to the sea, you have to close the windows when a large wave comes in, otherwise the crayfish and lobsters might end up on your bed!!

We have another few enquiries that look promising for the pre-Christmas period, but I would hate to predict them as confirmed – I like to see the money as a commitment first!

GENERAL NEWS:

There is so much news to talk about, so I shall try my best to summarise it. A colleague of mine, Elmar, says I write too much. My brother Sean, says I write too much. I then have Rhoda, Judith, Nik, Glenn, Rob, Jason, and many other past clients who all tell me how much they enjoy reading all my details – so, Elmar and Sean – tough luck!! I normally take 2 to 5 days to write Dean’s diary, as I get so many interruptions during this period, it all gets delayed! (Today is now Tuesday, and I started after church on Sunday!!)

Let me first tell you about Alice. As you know, she has worked for African Bundu Safaris for 4 years now, and when possible, we try and organise discounted or complimentary trips for her and Philip, so that she can experience certain establishments for herself, rather than just me. It makes it so much easier to sell a product if you have been there yourself. So, off Alice and Philip went to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Philip was born in Zimbabwe, but last went there 20 years ago, so he was keen to revisit and see what a mess Mugabe had made of his birthplace. Alice came back after a short 3 night stay, totally in love with the friendly people and the country. (Amazing what a few days rest will do!) They ended up having a guided tour of the Falls, a sunset boat cruise, a ride on a elephant, meals at various restaurants and even walked across the famous bridge to watch the bungee jumping and ventured into the neighbouring Zambia. She showed me her photos this morning and it certainly seems as though they had a super time. Now the cherry on the cake – she ate Mopani worms, and she has a certificate proudly displayed on her desk to prove she did eat them! At The Boma restaurant, one of our favourite recommendations for everyone visiting Vic Falls, there is a HUGE choice of food and it is an experience, not just a meal. They have fortune telling, hair braiders, traditional dancing and good, tasty food! (Including the fried mopani worms Alice enjoys so much!!) Well, at least Alice has a much better idea of Vic Falls, and she managed to visit a number of the hotels and lodges that we support. This makes it much easier than me trying to describe to her what each establishment has or offers. Now whilst I am talking about Alice, she has her annual leave over the festive period, and this year she and their family are going to the time-share at Sun City, then she shall return to the office for a couple of weeks and then she shall take extended leave again, with her family, to go skiing in France. Apparently her brother goes to a certain resort there every year and has invited them to join him. I have also been asked to look after a friends house at the end of January, so there is a slight chance that our office will close for Annual Leave from the 25 January for a few weeks.

Over the past many months, I have also been converting my mother’s outbuilding into a granny flat for myself. The outbuildings in South Africa generally have a lock-up garage for a car plus a servants quarters with bathroom. So in March this year, we built a new garage and then the outbuilding had internal walls removed, floors raised and levelled and tiled, new internal walls constructed, windows built in and then plastered and painted, and it now boasts a new lounge/kitchen, a bedroom and a new bathroom, plus the servants (Gardener and handyman) has a new toilet with hot shower, and I built a guest loo for visiting reps and friends. So, this lovely new flat is finished and I moved in a few months ago and I am really enjoying it! If anybody wants to rent it, for a minimum of 3 nights, then this would be possible. It would help off set my costs of building it! I plan to rent it out when there are large conferences in Durban and accommodation is short. The bedroom has a double bed and there is a double sleeper couch in the lounge. I also built a waterproof carport outside the main door, plus a braai (barbeque) stand in the swimming pool area. My brother Sean has also given me a colour TV, a fridge and a toasted sandwich maker, so with my mini stove and freezer that are already inside it, and all the pots, pans and crockery, all you have to do is bring yourself, your clothes and food! It is a self-catering granny flat, called St Blaize.
I have taken a few photos of St Blaize and put them on a free website: http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/stblaize2002

A few months ago, I organised two educational trips for a group of colleagues and myself. The first one we headed north into the Pongola region and visited 5 different lodges over the 3 days. At each lodge we were treated to a meal and a site inspection, and at two of the lodges we slept the night. These educational visits are very important to us, as not only do we actually learn the location of them, but we experience the hospitality, the facilities, the rooms and meet the staff. Every year I organise 2 or 3 educationals and take colleagues along – for a number of reason: my colleagues are not adventurous and use the same old establishments and routes, lots of these lodges I choose are new and need our support to exist, by exposing the lodges to my clients means the lodges are then exposed to tourists and the new spreads. I also enjoy the friendships we develop on these trips and it is also more viable for me to visit with others than to travel to all of them on my own. Shortly after this one, I did do a short trip on my own and it was to visit friends that I have made over the past few years, on the various lodges and also to see their improvements and refurbishments that I had heard about. The next educational that I organised was to the northern and central Drakensberg areas. I had been there myself numerous times many years ago, but a lot had changed and I wanted to see the changes. The program was similar – we visited one lodge for lunch, then DB&B at the next, lunch at the following and DB&B at the final. On the third day, we also used a local Zulu chap that had been trained as a San Rock-art painting Guide, to show and explain the artwork at Game Pass cave. It was quite a stiff hike up to the cave on the hot spring morning, but we got to the cave, took some super photos and then return to the car and to Durban.
At the end of July, I also flew down to Cape Town, for a brief private educational tour, to visit various establishments in Cape Town, Knysna, Oudtshoorn and Hermanus. We are having more and more requests for trips and self-drives down there, and when our regular ones are full, then I have to use alternative accommodation, and we always like to visit an establishment first. It also gave me a chance to visit the lighthouse in Mossel Bay, namely Cape St Blaize, and I chatted to the lighthouse keeper and we looked through old records and I found a few copies of my belated great grandfathers and uncles, who were lighthouse keepers or engineers – it really was quite exciting stuff. I also had the chance to meet lots of the owners of the B&B’s, lodges and hotels. I was also thrilled to have Eric and Gill around for coffee my first evening in Cape Town and then my yachting friends, Tom and Johness around for dinner the last evening.

I have just remembered, I have also hosted two tourism functions – the first was a dinner at our local Chinese restaurant. (The same one I had my birthday luncheon at.) We had nearly 50 tourism people attend – mainly Tour operators, and it was great to meet some of them and socialise with them on an informal manner. That was in July. Then in October, I organised another one, this time at a well known Jazz club and restaurant in Durban. Those of you who follow music or Jazz, must have heard of Mr Brubeck, well his son, Darius Brubeck was the lead artist and it was a great time. Our attendance was not as good, I think because I kept the venue and function a secret, and Durbanites are not very adventurous! None-the-less, we all enjoyed it, including my mother and uncle from the UK. One of my colleagues who is Danish, volunteered to host a Danish pre-Christmas cocktail party at her house, so a week before Christmas day, we shall all be going to see how the Dan’s decorate their houses!
I can’t remember if I told you, but as I have stopped personally guiding safaris, there was no need for me to keep my 4x4 safari vehicle, so I sold it a few months ago and bought myself a nifty Toyota Tazz 1300. It is a grand little car, for running around to the shops and banks etc – and a lot easier to park and more economical than my large safari vehicle. A farmer from Pongola area bought it and apparently has put it to good use and loves it! Now I regret selling it! The few clients that I have met in Durban and shown them around, the Tazz was perfect. Now I just have to sell my large camping off-road trailer, as the Tazz cannot pull that around! We have numerous Guides who all have their own vehicles, be it a VW Microbus or Toyota Venture, it just saves me having to do maintenance and licensing for my safari vehicle, when it is not used. So, to those of you who have already done a trip in the ‘Blue Chicken’ or “Dean Mobile’ before and hoping to go again in it, I am sorry!
Telkom, who are our sole telephone provider in South Africa, are busy upgrading everywhere, and all over Durban we find sub-contractors digging trenches, making new control boxes, erecting new telephone poles and busy giving jobs I suppose to many previously unemployed people. However, that is the good side, now the silly side! At the moment, all the telephone poles, from which the telephone wires are attached to, run at the back of ones property – and we have houses back to back generally, so one pole can service 4 houses. These poles are present 6 or 7 metres high, and have been for 30 or 40 years that they have been here. The poles are good quality hard wood and treated against rot and termites, but they have never received a re-coating of protective paint in the last 30 or 40 years – and these poles still look in an excellent condition. However, all the poles are coming out! Yes, Telkom have told the contractors that every pole must be replaced with an 8 metre high pole – so guess what, new holes have to be dug, trees cut to get the new poles in and the skyline is now changed and we shall be seeing these poles sticking into the sky and extra 2 metres, which does not sound high, but from here, looking over the neighbours roof, we never used to see any poles, now we will and will also see the telephone wires, which we never used to see! Oh, that’s not all – all the telephone cables have to be replaced. I said to the chap that we have only just two months ago had the extension fitted to the Granny flat and the ISDN fitted, tough, all new cables! To me, it seems a waste of tax-payers money!!

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

What would we do without them? Well, I have so few true friends, as I have always been so busy with work. I am a committed Christian, with the Methodist church, and we have a weekly “cell Group” meeting – which is like a bible study and friendship support group – well, we have just recently done a short course on spiritual gifts – and the one questionnaire I had to fill in, to determine the type of person I was, concluded that I was very heavily TASK orientate and not very people orientated. Well, that shows clearly in my work and lifestyle – I ensure that the task gets done, before keeping or making friends. So, if you are a friend of mine, hang in there, I am just busy with my work, I’ll get back to you!
A brief update on my friends, Tom and Johness – with their daughter Dominique – they are in Cape Town still and the young chap who was sailing with them, has left (thankfully) and so it is just three of them on the yacht. Tom has been very successful with the job he is doing there, they have asked him to stay on longer. It was Johness’s grandmothers 93rd birthday a few weeks ago, and Cathleen and I have been friends since my visit to the UK in 1983. She emigrated a few years ago to South Africa and stays at a lovely retirement village in Scottburgh, which is less than an hours drive south of Durban. I surprised her a few days before her birthday, when I took my mother on a drive to go and visit her (with birthday gifts of course!). We were thrilled to see each other, and with her family now having all moved away from her, she gets very lonely and it will not be long before I go down there again to visit her. She very kindly invited Mom and myself to stay for lunch, and being a Sunday, it was a superb 3 course lunch – crab salad as a starter, then roast beef and veggies followed by Italian kisses and coffee. Hey, I could easily live at this retirement home!

My girlfriend in Germany, Claudia, decided not to come to SA this year, as she is coming out next year for her friends wedding, so she and her mother will be coming out next year. At the moment, I believe she is in Jamaica, on a short holiday. She has finished her hotel and catering management degree and is now fully qualified – congratulations Claudia. She has met us with an old boyfriend of hers, so love is in the air there!
I had a surprise e-mail from a past pupil and friend of mine, Jason. We used to be good friends but then we just seemed to drift apart, me with my business and he with his work. He is a technician for an electronic company that designs fits and maintains the entry gate and security systems for like gyms and factories, so is always busy. Anyway, he reckons he visits my website occasionally to catch up on my latest news – hey Jason, how about popping around for a cuppa coffee one day?
I had an SMS from Karsten, who is working in Europe, and he went to spend a few days of his leave with Claudia in Germany and he also tells me his brother, Ivan. Is going to be a father next year. Mandy is pregnant and is due on the 11 June, so here’s holding thumbs – maybe she will be a bit late and baby will come out on my birthday, 20 June!
I had a nice phonecall from Alicia, a good friend of mine, mother of one of my past pupils. Alicia has always been very supportive to me, for all my adventures and life activities, and for the past few years she has been working as a Judges secretary, but she travels a fair amount with the judge, as they often have to go to the smaller towns for a week or two, to preside over cases there. Brett, her son, is now a very experienced yachtsman, and flies to different parts of the world, to work for rather wealthy yacht owners, and he is part of the crew – a skipper or chief engineer – and at the moment he has just flown to the Med to join a multi-millionaires brand new catamaran yacht and will be sailing off to the Caribbean shortly. He really has done extremely well for himself, and just like when he was at school, he puts his back into any job and does the best job possible – so, keep up the great work Brett, you are really making an excellent success of your life.

A few days ago, I walked out of my flat and to the office, and I was deeply distressed. Gulp, one of my oldest goldfish, was lying on the gravel pathway, about a metre away from the water-feature pond. She must have jumped out of the pond in the early hours of the morning and then obviously could not jump in again – and struggled across the pathway until she passed away. I miss her as she was one of the friendlier ones and would often come and touch my fingers or hand when I put them in the water. I will now have to do some additions to the water-feature wall.
For the month of August, I moved to my friends, Joe and Elmar, for the month of August, as they went on their annual holiday. Joe as you will recall, has Alzheimer’s, just the beginning stages, so Elmar is not too sure how quickly this will effect Joe, so wanted to take him overseas to see his family and relatives this year. So, I spent a month looking after their house and dogs, and then commuting daily to and from the office. Elmar retires in a years time, and they are looking at moving down to Cape Town area, as some of her family are living there, and she is going to need family support for Joe.
My Godmother’s husband, Brian, from the UK, came out for a business trip, and we were lucky that it included Durban, so he stayed with us for a week, and we were able to show him around Durban a bit – including Tala game reserve, Gateway Shopping centre, The Indian Market and a few other places. I even took Brian, My mother and Erin to Giants Castle for the one night, and we stopped at Sean’s place on the way home, for a braai. Thanks for spending time with us Brian, and glad to be able to return the hospitality, from my visit in 1983! Sean, my brother, is resigning from his job soon, and then from South Africa as well. He has been talking for years about immigrating to New Zealand, and it is looking as though this will be in the very near future. He has now sold his small farm, and moves out before the 1 Dec, and so we went up two weeks ago for a final braai – and to collect the TV, fridge and other things he has kindly given me. Now he plans to fly to New Zealand, find a job (and he has 6 months to find one) and then Monica and the kids fly out to join him. Obviously we are not happy about it, as he is pretty close to Mom and myself, and we get on so well with the whole family. It is Mom’s only grandchild that she has regular contact with, as my sister Lynn, for some unknown reason, avoids Mom and her children seemed to have picked up this anti-vibe from Lynn and it shows when Mom tries to have any contact with them. It really upsets Mom a lot, and so with Sean moving, this will mean a very traumatic moment for Mom – BUT, she is a tough lady, and has been through a tremendous amount of stress over her life. She does go to the doctor regularly for check-ups, as her blood pressure is not as good as it should be and all this stress is showing, as she gets older. Mom has also got involved a bit with my church, having done the Alpha course and now joined one of the Cell Groups as well. With affirmative action still in place here, her days at the library are getting less and so she needs to have some other sort of social activities, and I reckon the church and its members are a one good one! She was also thrilled to have Brian here, as his wife, Margaret, has been her pen pal for over 50 years and they have only met twice before, once in the late 1960’s and then a few years ago when us kids clubbed together to send Mom off on a holiday to the UK and Canada to visit relatives – so now Brian is up to date with all the Foster news!

Next week, Gail, my oldest sister, comes to Durban on a weeks stress-free leave, and so the two of us will disappear for 2 nights to the Ndumo Game Reserve, and I will be having an educational stay at the Wilderness Lodge and Gail will have two nights of being spoilt and relaxing! I am really looking forward to the break away from the office and spending time with my sister, and not having to worry about cooking and what to do etc – everything shall be taken care of. One great thing about Wilderness Safaris, who own/manage the many lodges around Southern Africa is that clients should always book through an Operator or agent and not direct. Tour Operators like us can give discounted rates and thus it makes it more attractive to book through us. We use them quite a bit for some of our clients, as the service, the lodges, the facilities, the activities and the meals are always superb and we know our clients receive excellent value-for-money! I have never stayed at Ndumo before, so this will be a first for me, and then we can support them by sending clients there, especially those who are interested in birds, as it is South Africa’s number 1 birding spot!

I received a super gift this morning, from Nkosinyathi, our gardener of many years. Nkos, as I call him, has a part time job with the Fruit-Board, driving a forklift hyster, and when he has no jobs there, then he comes here and does odd jobs around the house – and then off he disappears to his parents farm, in rural Zululand for a few weeks and then comes back again. This morning he arrived with a gift wrapped in newspaper, for me. I carefully opened it and inside where two collages that he had made, with cuttings from magazine of wild animals and scenery around South Africa. This was a gift for me, for my flat. I was so touched by his very kind thought and gift, and so I shall have them laminated and then hanging up proudly in my flat.

Well, that’s all my news for now – have to stop writing, having taken 3 days to compile this!!
I look forward to hearing from you – and thanks for reading all this!

All the best

Dean

Click here to view the previous edition of Dean's Diary

---

safari@dbnmail.co.za