DEAN'S DIARY APRIL 1998
Dear Friends,
Our winter is here - well, there is snow on the Drakensberg mountains, we are having glorious sunny days and the evenings are getting chilly - typical Durban winter. I guess in a few weeks time I shall have to take a jersey out of the cupboard and use it occassionaly - I have just spoken to a colleague in Cape Town and he says it is miserable and raining - boy I love Durban's winters! Today is Mothers Day.
Another busy month has passed and I look into my crystal ball and see that the next 6 months is going to be equally busy - good, time passes quickly and then Christmas is here, again.
My Zululand safari with Joyce and her friends went off very smoothly and was really enjoyable, with much laughter, many animals and reasonable weather. The highlight of their trip for me was seeing the pack of Wild Dogs walking down the sand road in Hluhluwe Game Reserve. This was only my second sighting of wild dogs in the wilderness, so it really was exciting, and I got quite a few good photos. The weather was not totally kind to us the entire time as it rained on and off, but at least it was not the blistering heat that we often encounter in Zululand. We popped into the Emdoneni Ranch to see the cheetah and we all enjoyed the 'lecture' given by Ian about the breeding project he is leading. This safari was also a shopping trip for Joyce and Sandra - for when we stopped at the one community curio stall, they each bought lovely wooven laundry baskets, plus a LARGE grass mat for their house that they are staying in during their 2 year stay in Durban. After two nights in Hilltop camp, we then went to Shakaland for the afternoon/evening Zulu experience, with dinner. It is a totally different atmosphere when one visits there at nightime - quite exciting in fact - and then we continued to Mfuli Game Ranch for our nights accommodation. After a hearty breakfast, we left for a brief visit to Fort Nongqai - now a museum. It was a British fort built for protection against the Zulu's in the 1800's. Joyce and friends have written comments in my Guestbook, so do visit it to read what they had to say.
I had a days rest from their trip and then the next trip started off on a bad note, ending on a worse one. I was hired by another company as a driver and guide for that Belgium couple that I mentioned last month. Well, they had requested a Mercedes Benz. The car hire company was meant to have delivered the car by 07h30 to my house (not the company I normally deal with) - well, to cut a long story short, a Toyota Camry arrived at 07h55, which meant I arrived to collect Mr & Mrs Von Dierendonck late and in the wrong car. One advantage was that all their luggage fitted into the boot (trunk) which they said was not possible in a Merc. We then did a VERY brief drive through Durban and continued to Dumazulu Culutural Village for the tour and dancing, afterwhich we continued to Phinda Game Reserve - a very upmarket and private Game reserve. I returned to Durban for two nights, returning the Camry and having a Merc delivered on the Wednesday, on time. It was raining for the first two hours on my drive up to Phinda so I had to drive slower and more carefully. They thought I said that I would be there at 10am, I had actually said 10h30 and I arrived at 10h10 - they complained - well, this was the first of many small senseless complaints that they made, followed by some ridiculous ones on their return to Belgium. The most stupid one being that I "was pushy and invited myself to sit at the same table as them for lunch" - well, honestly, where was I meant to sit - I am not a slave, I am their Guide.
Well, enough about complaining - that's their speciality. I really enjoyed the trip, the scenery and the many nice people that I met en route. The Phinda staff were friendly and sympathetic towards me for the following week, the Lugogo Sun in Swaziland served excellent, but expensive food, the Londolozi Private Game Reserve where the Von Dierendoncks spent two nights had very friendly staff and beautiful ladies, then I spent a great 5 nights at the Laughing Waters Guesthouse in Hazyview. I received a warm welcome and was soon at home there. Debbie, the manageress is a wonderful lady who is also a ceramics restorer specialist - she showed me some of her "before and after" jobs, well, only an expert eye would be able to see the difference. Unfortunately Debbie fell ill during my stay there and was 'out for the count' for the last few days. I have just spoken to her and she is feeling better now, but not perfect yet.
After the two nights at Londolozi, I collected my clients and took them to Blue Mountain Lodge - another very upmarket and splendid hotel. They were treated like kings there and really enjoyed themselves. Looking through the guestbook there, I noticed that Mr FW de Klerk, and his wife were there a few years ago, as was Nelson Mandela. For the one night, there were about 10 BMW's - all different sizes and shapes, in the car park. Well the receptionist said that BMW invited their best black clients and their wives to enjoy a weekend at the this upmarket Lodge and to try out the different BMW's to decide which one they want to buy next!! The New South Africa is really here!!! During their stay there, I took them on a full day tour showing them the best waterfalls, scenic view points, Pilgrims Rest, Bourkes Luck Potholes and the Blyde River Canyon. We stopped at all the cheap curio stalls so that they could buy some gifts for their families back home and I purchased a few momentos of my trip. I ended spending fortune on tips as they did not believe in tipping people for good service!
Well, on the 21st we left the Mpumalanga Province and drove to the City of Pretoria for lunch, visited the Union Buildings and then the Voortrekker Monument prior to dropping them off at the airport and me flying back to Durban. The flight back was really great. We had a bit of a comedian as a chief Steward. For our flight back to Durban, he started off by saying, "Ladies and gentleman, just to confirm that this is the flight to Port Elizabeth" - well there was stunned silence!!! Then he continued..." this is a limited flight, so we shall have a limited service.....we have wine from the Cape, coke from the USA, beer from Namibia and fruit juice from Ceres and yes, I is serious" !!! We all enjoyed that flight - quick and relaxing. My friend Jason met me at the airport and took me home.
I had 3 days at home, catching up on e-mails and other business, then I went on the 3 day trip down the Wild Coast with the Scouts. I had invited James, a New Zealand traveller along to this trip, and from all accounts he really enjoyed himself, along with all the Scouts and scouters that came along. We left Durban on Saturday 25th and drove via Port Edward (with their huge Chelsea Buns), Lusikisiki to Magwa Falls, for a quick stop and then on to Msikaba Campsite. That afternoon we went down to the beach and had a swim in the sea, to an island. That night we had a nice braai around the fire and then in the morning we drove in two of the bakkies to Lupatana Bay - a rough grass track that would require a 4x4 in the rainy season. Mikes Honda Ballade was left behind at Msikaba. Well, to cut a long story short, we had decided to start the hike from here rather than Port Grosvenor as the roads had been in a bad condition and we still had to return the next day, to Durban before 7am. So Lyntons bakkie was parked at Lupatana and I drove the short VERY rough track to Waterfall Bluff and the Scouts, with James, Mike, Tyrone and Lynton hiked the few kilometres to where I had parked. We then hiked the short distance to my secret cave, put down rucksacks, had lunch and then continued to Cathedral Rock and the Mphesa falls. Neil and his fiance stayed at the cave to rest. We visited Waterfall Bluff on our return trip - what makes these waterfalls so special is that they fall directly into the sea - they have heights of 84 and 108 metres each - so are quite special from a world statistic point of view. We swam in the rock-pools at the cave before I walked back to my 4x4, for dinner and bed. In the morning, after sunrise and breakfast, the Scouts and leaders returned and we then returned to Lupatana and then Durban. All in all, a great long weekend.
Early the next morning, an old Scouting pal of mine, John, collected me at 6am to take me to the airport, for my flight to Cape Town. And what a beautiful flight it was. Crystal clear skies, no turbulence and views that were unbelievable. On arrival at Cape Town airport, I was met by Elsbeth, who was the organiser of this pre-Indaba tour hosted by Western Cape Tourism Board. Elsbeth drove me to Franschhoek to meet the rest of the tour party - namely David and Tom. David was our Tour Guide from Cape Town and Tom was a Travel Writer from Belgium. Estelle was also there - from the Franschhoek tourism Board. We visited the Hugenot Monument, then had a delicous lunch at Le Quartier Francais Restaurant. Leaving that town, we popped in to the Toy Museum in Stellenbosch, went cheese tasting in Simonsberg, had a cellar tour and wine tasting at Bergkelder then had a tour of the Huguenot Tunnel before driving to the Farmhouse Kitchen for dinner and finally arriving at Goedemoed Country Inn, in Paarl for the night.
After a lovely breakfast we left for the Afrikaans Language Monument, drove through the historical town of Paarl to the Redemption Leather Shoe factory. I bought myself a comfy pair of strops before we continued to Bakkies se Padstal for lunch. We then drove to Kagga Kamma Game reserve, situated on the edge of the Cedarberg Mountains and the Karoo desert. We enjoyed a drive to the edge of their canyon for sundowners, returning to the main camp for a delicious dinner. The next day the three of us went game viewing and we saw Gemsbok, Kudu, Springbok, Ostrich, Zebra, Wildebeest and Bontebok. After breakfast we joined the group to the Bushmen settlement, that the Reserve has become famous for. A school has been built and a teacher is employed for the Bushmen children. The adults make curios for a living, so they rely on the tourists to buy from them. I bought a rock that was carefully decorated with a few Bushmen paintings. The previous evening I had met two lovely young American ladies, Amy and Siobhan, and I had to help them with the translations as the Bushmen did not speak any English, only their San language and Afrikaans. Amy has a sister studying in Cape Town and Siobhan was a teacher-to-be from the Boston area. I hope to see them again, especially as Siobhan seems to enjoy travelling and adventure. Anyway, the Bushmen (or San people) was a highlight for me and I hope to be back in the not too distant future. After lunch we were taken to some Bushmen paintings that date back in time. That night we were the only guests for dinner and the staff had made a great fire, with our table next to it, in the Lapa, and we had a fabulous 4 course meal under the stars.
Our accommodation at Kagga Kamma was special - they were luxury caves!! Electricity, bathrooms, sliding glass doors onto a verandha plus comfy beds. I did not sleep alone though - a chocolate is put on your pillow before you turn in, well, I put mine on the pillow next to my twin bed and shortly after the lights went out at 10pm (run by a generator), this chocolate suddenly moved!! Boy did I get a fright - there was a rudy Gemsbok Mouse in my room!!!!! The second night he was sitting ontop of the cupboard and I took a photo of him - never seen a Gemsbok Mouse before!
From Kagga Kamma, we left for Ceres (had tea at the Belmont Hotel), then continued to Tulbagh which became famous for its 1969 earthquake and consequental restoration work to the many historical buildings. We had an elongated lunch at The Readers restaurant before continuing to the KWV brandy cellars in Worcester. That night we had dinner at Damas Restaurant. (The restaurant building use to be a water reservoir!). We slept at the Griekiesdrif Guesthouse, which use to be a wine cellar!!! Well, we did not have breakfast at Griekiesdrif, but rather drove for one and half hours to Swellendam for breakfast at The Old Mill Guesthouse, followed by a tour of The Drostky historical building and then a visit to a youngberry farm where they make Youngberry Liqueur (Wildebraam Liqueur). Very nice taste! Cape Aguhlas was our next stop where we enjoyed a visit to the Lighthouse Museum at the southern most point of Africa, followed by a scrumptous fish lunch before we headed north again for Caledon and finally our nightstop at Greyton. We had dinner at Marie-Louises Restaurant and slept at The Post House. After an early breakfast enjoyed a tour of the first Moravian mission station in South Africa at Genadendaal, and then we drove the scenic route Cape Town airport where I bid farewell to Tom and David.
I hired a car for the next 24 hours to visit a number of Guesthouses and Hotels which I will be using in the future. First was The Boulders, in Simonstown - where I had a delicous avocado and bacon open sandwich for lunch and then I drove via Hout Bay to Bakoven and Camps Bay. Bakoven is where Villa Sunshine is situated, overlooking some houses and Sea Point (it was a foggy day, so I could not actually see much) and then I went to The Bay Atlantic. The beautiful and charming Belinda kindly showed me around her family Guesthouse which was ideally situated a short walk from the popular Camps Bay beach. Belinda had a crackling fire in the lounge to warm the cool foggy day up. My final two visits were to The Breakwater Lodge - offering budget priced accommodation in the Waterfront, in what use to be the Greenpoint Prison! and then The Cape Grace Hotel, where Bill and Hillary Clinton stayed recently. Truely a beautiful hotel with stunning views over its own marina to Table Mountain, or over the working small craft harbour out to sea.
My good friend Theo hosted me for the night and his lovely wife, Morag ensured we ate well that night after I had used up my energy playing with their children Brandon and Mellisa. The following morning after a good nights sleep, I bid farewell to my friends and left for Durbanville to visit Die Oude Cab guesthouse. A lovely country-style Cape-Dutch Guesthouse situated a mere 20 minutes from Cape Town and in the middle of five winefarms. En route back to the airport I deviated to visit a new guesthouse in Milnerton, the Marlands which promises good views of Table Mountain from the Garden. Returning the car to the airport, I bumped into Lindsay, the sister of an ex-pupil of mine (Stuart) who has emigrated to Australia. We both flew Sun Air to Durban, and boy was it another great flight. Nice food, good service and stunning scenery. My trip ended in Durban after I caught the bus to ICC and then Rob came to fetch me and then Christine briefed me on the happenings during my absence before taking me and my computer home. It was a truely great trip and a precious fact-finding mission, bringing me up to date on the latest.
On Thursday 7 May, I spent the day at the International Travel and Trade Tourism Indaba being hosted by Durban again, at the ICC and Exhibition Centre. I met lots of the people who I have chatted to over the last year, plus gorgeous Amanda of Economy brought me up to date with the latest car hire tariffs. It is always nice to meet people personally, so it was a successful day, plus I made a few more contacts for my neighbouring country trips.
The next day, my Mom and I drove up to Hillcrest to meet my brother who had Abby with him. She was one of the 10 Rottweiler puppies that his one bitch had given birth to and she was to become a companion to Didi. Already they are having a ball, playing with each other, BUT Abby still needs to be house-trained so I have to look carefully when I walk around inside the house! I spent two days building a kennel for her - just hope she does not grow too big. At the moment she can run around inside her kennel, which just needs a coat of paint now.
On Saturday one of my ex-Scouts, Jonathan, had his 21st with the theme being "P" - well, I was going as a professor, but instead dress up as a pathetic politician. The food was good, the music was good and my dancing was great, except I did not have my own partner - maybe next time?
In fact, maybe not, because I have an ex-pupils 21st in a weeks time - Karsten - who joined me on the one Namibian Safari plus a few hikes and various other outings.
Last entry into my diary I was about to write my Mpumalanga Tour Guide exam, well, I came through with flying colours and am now studying for my next one. I am also studying a Wine Course , so that I can tell my clients more about the wines they choose at the table!
During my absence from Durban, the gardener came and really trimmed the tree, which now looks like a scarecrow, at least there are fewer leaves in the pool. One nice advantage about winter is that the grass does not need to be mowed as often - cool hey!
For the future, I have a Honeymoon couple from Scotland arriving in June. We have a fabulous route planned, that incorporates 4 nights on the Wild Coast, 2 nights at Sani Pass, 6 nights in the Mpumalanga Province visiting Kruger Park, Sabie and Mholoholo Wildlife Centre, then a night in Swaziland followed by a visit to Shakaland Zulu Village. I have space for two or three more people - if you are interested, contact me quickly. We depart from Durban on the 18 June, returning on the 2 July. After that I am hoping to take David and his family from Belgium on a one week safari incorporating Zululand, Game Reserves and The Drakensberg Mountains. If one or two people would like to join us, there is space. At the end of July there is a great Namibian safari with three couples from Belgium and then during September and October I will be touring Zimbabwe and Botswana with Carol, Ned and family. So life is busy. As I mentioned in my last entry, whilst I'm away, Christine has been looking after the office for me and I have a number of colleagues that I network with to guarantee you a good safari.
Occasionally people who are planning a trip with a foreign Tour Operator need a reference for that company or person, well if anyone needs my credentials, please feel free to contact anyone of my past clients in the Guestbook, any Satour office, SAA in the States, Tradepage, or even my mother!
Well, so ends another entry into my Diary and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
All the best
Dean Foster
Manager - African Bundu Safaris cc.
p.s. Remember to acknowledge any e-mails you receive - I WILL acknowledge all e-mails within 48 hours - if not, please resend it - something went wrong.
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