Dean's Diary

May/June/July 2000

Where has the time gone?? It was Christmas last month, Easter last week and now we are over half-way through the year – I guess it is the Y2K bug that is making time go so fast!!

For this edition of Dean’s Diary – which I have been told a few times by regular readers, is long overdue – I shall tell you about the following:

3. Past Safaris
4. Self-drive safaris
5. Future Safaris
6. My past few months
7. Zimbabwe and Southern Africa happenings
8. Our new Office
9. The Zululand Flying Service
10. Thula Thula Exclusive Private Game Reserve
11. My family and Friends.

3. PAST SAFARIS: As I said in the last edition of Dean’s Diary, Zimbabwean President – Robert Mugabe, has really ruined the economy of Southern Africa – not only tourism, but business as well. Many folks in the USA, UK or Europe hear the bad news (afterall, journalists never report good news and sensationalize any bad news) – so when Mugabe or his Hitler (That really is his name!) colleague/friend do anything – which is always bad – it is reported and then these folks who hear/read about it are unaware of the true facts and do not realize that there are only a few small isolated incidents and these do not affect any tourists at all – let along have any effect on the lodges or tourist areas in Namibia, Botswana or South Africa. So, all said, I have not been busy with lots of clients as many have cancelled or postponed their safaris. It seemed as though only the well-informed or ‘braver’ tourists ventured into Southern Africa.

One of the most interesting safaris I have had was with Nina and her family. I met Nina, Sam and Allegra at Johannesburg airport, then we drove to Lake St Lucia. It was a long 6 hour drive – but quicker than waiting for connecting flights to Durban and then driving up from Durban. Well, the 2 ‘kids’ slept on and off along the journey – and shortly before sunset, we arrived at our luxury lodge on the edge of this famous world heritage site. Each room is set in the forest, with large sliding windows, an outside shower and a bathroom with a glass roof. Our meals here were great, and the hosts only too happy to please. The following day – we went for a boat cruise across the lake, to view Hippos, crocodiles and birds - and then we disembarked on the opposite of the lake where our Ranger met us and took us to Cape Vidal beach for a picnic lunch and swim in the warm Indian Ocean. We had a lot of fun playing on the beach, making sand castles, jumping in the waves and sun bathing – before returning along the long dusty road to the lodge, stopping briefly at Mission rocks and the town of St Lucia. We returned at sunset – to enjoy a warm bath and another great dinner. The next day after breakfast – we drove to Hluhluwe town, did some shopping at a weaving craft shop, before continuing through Maputoland to one of the best reserves to view huge elephants. Mark, Teresha and Pat were waiting to welcome us, with a snack lunch – prior to us going on our first game drive. First stop was the Hide – where you walk up the steps to this great platform and view the wildlife as they come to the waterhole to drink. It was also during this drive that little 5 year old Allegra needed the bathroom – well, in the bush there is nothing, so with her moms help, she squatted on the sand track behind the vehicle – and when she had completed her business, said to her mom, "Mom, that is my first bush experience" – ha, ha – so from then on, whenever she needed the loo, she would say she wanted another ‘bush experience’ !! Our accommodation here was in en-suite tented rooms.

We enjoyed two nights here, and saw a fair number of elephants plus a small variety of other animals.

From here, we drove to the Pongola Game Reserve, situated on the Josini Dam to enjoy a light lunch on arrival, followed by a boat cruise on the dam at sunset. After enjoying a long warm bath in the luxury en-suite tented chalets, we enjoyed a drink around the fire prior to tucking in to a huge dinner. The next morning after breakfast – we endured another long drive to our next destination near Hoedspruit, stopping for lunch in Nelspruit en route. We spent 2 great nights here – one of my favourite Game Reserves – as the morning walks with the orphaned animals is a really unique experience, plus the game drives are always promising of good sightings – including The Big 5. The highlight for some people must have been when a troop of baboons got trapped inside the Lion breeding area – large 10 hectare camps with a few lions in each camp. Some of the baboons managed to escape and when the one tried to escape when we were there, the one lioness caught it and the other baboons managed to escape during this distraction. I know this is nature and life, but it is never a nice sight to see the wild animals killing each other.

Breakfasts and lunches are served on the veranda whilst dinners are served around the fire in the Boma under the stars! Accommodation was in en-suite brick chalets.

The next day, we departed from here, visiting the Hoedspruit Cheetah breeding project en route to Kruger Park, Skukuza camp, where Nina had to attend a conference. This was a pre-Aids conference – with some of the speakers continuing to Durban for the World Aids Conference the following week. I bid farewell to my new friends (a sad farewell from little Allegra who was really upset to see me go) – and continued to Nelspruit, arriving there later that evening. The next day, the petrol price rose again!! (We are having petrol price increases monthly, from 9 to 20 cents a litre each month!! Makes budgeting for safaris well in advance very difficult.)

I was then home for a few weeks, before driving up to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve to meet Nancy and Peter – who had already spent 4 nights there prior to our arrival. Claudia was with me, as she has been studying Hotel and Tourism and was here in SA for some practical experience, plus other reasons – read later. Our stay was at one of the private lodges that have a concession in this area, which is part of the greater Kruger Park area. This lodge borders the famous Mala Mala, and its standards, meals, staff and accommodation was all of a very high standard, but the price was a lot lower – so, anyone who is interested in enjoying the luxury and abundant wildlife that the Sabi Sands is well known for and cannot afford Mala Mala – let us know!!

After an early morning game drive – whose highlight was driving off the road and to within 5 metres of a well-feed leopard lying in the grass, we enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast prior to packing and departing for Kruger Park – for 5 hours of game viewing. Being the middle of the day, we did not see huge herds of animals, but a nice variety en route to Satara camp (for lunch) and then some nice sightings en route back to the gate – continuing to one of my favourite game reserves near Hoedspruit. We arrived after sunset, giving us enough time to unpack, before dinner around the fire. The next morning, we participated in the bush walk, with the orphaned lions, zebra, wildebeest and warthog, prior to breakfast. It was not as enjoyable as previous times, as there were a number of Afrikaans families staying in the bushcamp, who are also entitled to participate in the walk – well, the parents did not seem to have control over their children, let along themselves – and so it was a noisy walk! Our game drives over the next few days were great, with senior ranger, Wendell, sharing his knowledge with joy and enthusiasm to us. On the 2^nd day, Claudia, Nancy, Peter and I took a pack picnic lunch with us, which we enjoyed at the Blydepoort Dam after visiting the cheetah and endangered species breeding project.

After the third night and our final game drive, we drove to Hoedspruit airport, where we said farewell to Nancy and Peter as they jetted off to Johannesburg, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia to enjoy the remainder of their safari. A lovely couple, which I am sure will return to Southern Africa in the near future.

I will give you their feedback in the next edition of Dean’s Diary.

2. Self-drive Safaris

As mentioned in the last edition, Bill and Sam went on safari in Zululand with one of my colleagues (as I was away with in Botswana) and the following is extracted from their e-mail to us, after they returned:

So, more happy folks.

The same with Ray and his wife – Ray came to Durban in June, to run the Comrades Marathon – and so after his great run, where he won a medal, they enjoyed a few days of excitement on their safaris that we planned – a few nights a Sun City, followed by an exclusive safari from Johannesburg, through the great Kruger Area and Zululand, to Durban.

We have also had a few shorter trips, with various clients either just hiring a car from us or only booking accommodation through us. One of our regular visitors to Durban, from Mozambique, rented a vehicle from us for a few days whilst he was here in Durban, and then a friend of Alice’s daughters teacher, booked accommodation for a few nights in Durban during his short stay. A past Scout of mine, Sean, booked 2 nights in Hluhluwe-Umfolosi game reserve through us – when he and his friends went for a weekend of game-viewing. Then at the beginning of July, Ute and her family booked a car with us, for their holiday through South Africa, after having spent a few days in Pretoria with her sister.

3. Future Safaris

Today is National Women’s Day – 9 August, and Rooken and his family arrive in Durban, have a rented vehicle handed over to them at the airport, and then they drive to a private game reserve near Hluhluwe, Zululand, for 3 nights prior to going to Cape Vidal to spend time with his parents there for a week, fishing and snorkeling. At the end of this month, Ken and his wife overnight in Johannesburg, prior to getting their connecting flight to Zimbabwe for a safari there. My 3^rd cousin, Mona, will be coming out to SA for a few weeks in a few weeks time – starting off with a Namaqualand Flower safari with Eric, in Cape Town, prior to traveling up the Garden Route to Durban, stopping en route with family and friends. Then next month, Michael and Mary will be meeting me in Johannesburg and then I have a 2 week safari with them, through Kruger Park, Swaziland, Maputaland and to Durban, then they continue to Cape Town on a self-drive.

3. My past few months

It has been a busy few months – starting off as I mentioned last edition with blisters on my hands – from leveling out the ground for our new office. I attended a meeting of a large number of Tour Guides in Durban to discuss the proposed changes and laws to be implemented shortly – thus making it necessary for tourists to have properly trained and licensed Tour Guides and not just someone who knows a little about an area and therefore claims him/herself to be a Guide! I also had to renew my First Aid certificate – which has to be done every 3 years – and I am proud to say, I came out top of the class with over 80% - so you have a good chance of surviving if I attend to your injuries!! I went off to Botswana for 12 days – to visit various lodges and thus update myself with the facilities and staff that run these lodges. Flying up to Johannesburg first, then renting a small car and driving to Botswana, arriving in Francistown shortly after sunset – was the first stage. I quickly visited a number of lodges and hotels there, and overnighting at the cheapest one – which was not so bad – though I did change rooms after sitting on the bed and almost appearing in Australia! The following day, I drove to Maun and stayed at one of the popular lodges, after having visited 2 others that I had not been to before. The next day, a number of Maun Tour Operators and myself were driven out to a concession area, on the edge of the Okavango and south of Moremi – here the lodge owners have a tented camp, with shared bathrooms and superb meals. We enjoyed some great game-viewing that afternoon and the next morning, prior to returning to Maun. Another night at the same lodge – then boarded a small plane (Islander 10 seater) and then flew out to one of our popular island camps on the Okavango Delta, which offers a variety of accommodation – from the budget 2-man tents to the en-suite thatched chalets. I enjoyed 2 nights here – visiting all the lodges in the area by mukoro with a poler/guide – and really enjoyed great food and service as well – making a few friends along the way! Time came to an end – and I flew back to Maun. The following day, I was back at the airport and flying out to the Makgadikgadi Pans. Gee, there was water everywhere on these salt pans – and hundreds, no, thousands of animals everywhere – all because of the water!

Here, I was treated like a king, along with all the other guests that came and went daily. Most people tend to stay for 3 nights, though a couple only stayed for 2 and a few stayed for 4 or 5 nights. The Tents and camp area are set as a 1930 – 1940’s theme – with a relaxed and colonial explorer atmosphere being abundant. The meals were great, service was superb and game viewing and activities with our Super Guide were fantastic! I have never in my life driven for an hour through thousands upon thousands of zebras and wildebeest!! Then the huge flocks of flamingos, the wide variety of birds, the brown hyenas…. and oh, the knowledgeable Guides – this was a great, great stay! All good things come to an end – and we flew back to Maun, collected my car and then drove back to South Africa. A well worthwhile educational trip – now to get the clients for these lodges! I must mention my Guide at the last lodge – his name was Super – he was born in Zululand, left for Botswana when he was 2 years old and has lived the reminder of his life in a small town of Gweta. He is a remarkable man –very tall, polite and knowledgeable. On the one drive, we where literally in the middle of no-where (only about 5 tracks in the greater 2000 sq km area) and so a LOT of off-road driving took place – well, the big-end bearing housing of the front wheel lost its bolts – and the two wheels faced opposite directions! "No problem chaps, lets have lunch and then continue" was what Super said – and true to his word, we had lunch and during that time, he had borrowed bolts from other parts of the car, some coathanger wire and put the wheel back into position. We then continued, back to the lodge – WOW !! All going well, when Super has his leave in January, I will be hosting him for a week, to show him around parts of Zululand and for him to share some of his knowledge with me!

Claudia, my lady friend from Germany, came out to SA on the 8^th July for 4 weeks. She spent the first week with a pen-friend of hers, shopping, and sightseeing in the Durban area – then the following week, the two of us went to Mkambati Nature Reserve for 4 nights. A lovely nature reserve, situated on the Transkei Wild Coast, with self-catering cottages, small variety of antelope and horses. We spent the days walking along the beach, visiting waterfalls, gameviewing and sorting out my safari photographs of the past 4 years! Returning to Durban, we then continued to a friends private game reserve – Thula Thula – wow, what an improvement has taken place since I was last there. The 7 chalets are superb – all en-suite and luxury. The main lodge is great – with a bar, diningroom, lounge, wine cellar, reception/curio shop and swimming pool. The Ranger, Brendan, has his B.Sc degree and so is very knowledgeable, the staff are all keen and enthusiastic, however, Claudia was there to assist with the training and sharing of knowledge with them. Claudia has lived and worked in their family hotel for the past 2 years, plus is finishing off her Hotel Management course in Germany – and as we all know, the standards in German hotels is high – and Francoise is insisting on high standards in her lodge as well. Like most South African lodges, we ate far too much – but enjoyed every meal! After nearly a week there, we then returned to Durban, for me to catch up on the work in the office, and then we left for the Vryheid area, to visit another lodge. This lodge is aimed at the local SA market and is self-catering and has basic facilities. From there, we continued to the Sabie Sands Reserve to meet up with Nancy and Peter, as described earlier. From Hoedspruit, Claudia and I continued to Pretoria, to swop the vehicle for a smaller and more economical one – and then we continued to Sun City – where we enjoyed two nights at The Palace – Lost City. SUPERB – the luxury, the meals, the rooms, the fitting and décor – SUPERB !! The next day, we had a ‘site inspection’ – visiting all the other hotels/accommodation at Sun City and looking at all the facilities. This weekend, Sun City was also celebrating its 21^st birthday – AND there was a ‘Strongest Man in the World" competition taking place as well! After breakfast on the last day – we drove back to Pretoria, where I gave Claudia a quick tour to the Union Buildings and Voortrekker Monument, prior to driving to Johannesburg to do some last minute shopping and then on to Johannesburg Airport –where we said our goodbyes. My friend Steve met me at Durban airport and took me home – a ride in his mothers car was an experience in itself! Claudia phoned me the next day to advise she was home safely in Leipzig. So, now you know why I have been so late in writing up this edition – I have been busy!

3. Zimbabwe and Southern Africa

I am sure you must have heard that Zimbabwe had their elections, which were NOT declared free and fair by the International Observers – however, Mugabe’s party won again – but at least there is opposition parties now. Since the elections, things have not improved and Mugabe’s statements to the press are not clear as to what his intentions are. Tourism is struggling and there have been no reports of any person or lodge involved in Tourism having been targeted by the unlawful actions – in fact, as I am writing this, we have a family on safari with one of our colleagues and I am almost certain they are having a great time, as bad news always travels fast!

Mozambique is recovering from the devasting floods, though there will be certain problems for a long time ahead. What is concerning is the bad media coverage of the country when the floods took place – only the one major river caused serious damage to hotels, lodges and resorts – and only a few were effected – many, many other lodges are still open and have remained unaffected by the floods – so it is still a great country to visit!

In Namibia, it is still not clear what is happening up in the northern region along the border with Angola, and all that I know is that you have to travel in a convoy if you are driving through the Rundu and Caprivi area – but the rest of the country remains unaffected. My Namibian representative, Janet, has recruited and employed a free-lance Guide for our company and so if anyone is wanting a Guided tour of Namibia, we now have a resident Guide!! Plenty notice needed as he is in demand by other companies as well!

Zambia is becoming popular again – first with Zimbabwe being screwed by Mugabe, and then with Nationwide Airlines opening direct flights from Johannesburg to Livingstone and now with Sun International constructing two brand new luxury hotels above the Vic Falls on the Zambezi River. Next year, I shall be leading a small group on a tour to Kafue Park – for the Total Solar Eclipse on the 21 June – so am looking forward to that. The eclipse occurs on the day after my birthday!

Lesotho and Swaziland are two totally independent countries in Southern Africa and we can also include them in any safari. Swaziland has gameviewing, plus stunning scenery – Lesotho is a mountain Kingdom and is popular for "pony trekking".

3. Our New Office

After a lot of hard work, our new office is up and furnished – and even though it is double the size of the previous office, it seems as though it is 3 times the size! I have the blinds up, the security system working, the kettle and the radio fitted and operational, the filing is slowly taking place and both computers are fitted, though not always working – that’s another story though! Now all we need is an air-conditioner. Alice has an air-conditioned car and house – so coming to work in the mornings from her house can not be exciting!! However, funds need to be raised first and that means more clients and quickly!! To improve the approach to our office, I have also erected a shade cloth carport for Alice’s car –(which the bird droppings still filter through!!) and instead of tarring the sandy entrance, I have a pebble pathway – which looks very nice!

I have also had some of my Botswana educational photographs enlarged and framed and they add a bit of life to the office, along with the pot plant from the neighbor and the baboon carving from a village on the Okavango Delta!! Carol is unable to continue working for us – due to her own business taking up more of her time, so back to just Alice and myself!

3. The Zululand Flying Service

We are up and running!! We have increased the fleet of planes available, to include not only the Cessna Grand Caravan and the Beechcraft Baron, but we have a Cessna 402 (which seats 8 people total) and the Cessna 206 (which seats 6 people maximum.) The Caravan and the 206 are the most rugged of the bush planes and are ideal at landing on grass runways and shorter airstrips – PLUS they have wings above the windows, so the scenery is much better than a plane with wings below the windows!

We have been having a large number of enquiries and information-gathering from various lodges and Travel Agents and Tour Operators overseas, so we anticipate that our bookings shall be increasing shortly as well. We service over 36 lodges and game reserves in the Zululand/Maputaland area and we utilize 10 airstrips for this. The launch price for a return trip is only R1500 (exc VAT) pp and then there is probably a small airport/lodge transfer fee applicable. All take-offs are from either Virginia Airport or Richards Bay – though if you have a bit more time and arriving from Johannesburg, it is cheaper to fly to Durban from Johannesburg, rather than to Richards Bay – you can save up to R1000 pp!! As I explained to an agent the other day – we are not flying a Boeing with 200 or 300 people on board, so you cannot compare prices to trans-Atlantic prices – we are flying up to 12 passengers maximum – and sometimes we shall fly with only 1 or 2 passengers – so we cannot afford to run at a loss by charging jumbo jet prices!!

So, if you want to visit one of our Zululand Game Reserves or lodges – fly there next time – and you can even fly back as well – if you do not want me to meet you there and drive you around to different destinations. There is lots of information, plus descriptions and photos of some of the lodges on the website – following the link to ‘Flying Service’.

3. Thula Thula Exclusive Private Game Reserve

This is going to be the place of the future. Already it is making a mark on the Zululand maps and with me know the long-term goals and project of the area, this is where everyone is going to be wanting to visit! At the moment the reserve is only 1500 hectares in size, but that is more than adequate to view the 7 elephants, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, waterbuck, leopard, hyena, impala…. And soon to be rhino and buffalo…. Plus enjoy great meals, luxury accommodation and superb weather in a very low risk malaria area. Thula Thula is situated 2 hours from Durban, near Empangeni – in the rural Zululand area. It is a short distance south of Umfolosi Game Reserve – and the long term plans are to extend the reserve to the Umfolosi reserve – when it becomes part of the Royal Zulu Reserve !! Then it shall be approx 25 000 hectares plus the 96 000 hectares of Hluhluwe-Umfolosi Reserve, making it a very big game reserve with The Big 5 throughout!! They have their own website – and I am proud to say that I took some of the photographs that shall be viewed on the website – pop in and view it!! www.thulathula.com

When I spent 5 nights there recently with Claudia, I gave a fair amount of input into the development of the airstrip, plus a sundowner/picnic site – on the top of the one hill – so when you next visit Thula Thula, you will see my mark!!

3. My family and friends

I had an e-mail today from Shannon – still in the UK, working at two or three jobs at the same time – must have a 36 hour day there!! Karsten, also a past pupil of mine, is traveling around Germany and Austria, building silo’s. He has sent a couple of SMS messages to me over the past few weeks, after he gave me a tinkle and brought me up to date with his news. Michelle is working hard in Cape Town and enjoying it. She has forwarded a number of possible and actual clients to me – work mates and friends of hers – thanks Michelle, much appreciated. Brett is enjoying life in the USA – on a 94 foot motor yacht in Miami where he is enjoying the air con on the yacht! He is the skipper and is actually looking for a more sailing yacht as he is happier with that, I should imagine. My sister Gail is moving onto her farm soon – and I believe I am meant to be attending the welcome braai (barbeque) on the 16 September – same date I start my next safari in Johannesburg – sorry sis! My brother Sean has been having building alterations done to his house – Claudia and I visited him and family a few weeks ago for a braai – and saw the lapa and carport the builder had already made – and the main bedroom en-suite is under construction with the walls now reaching window level. My mother is over her flu, at last, and is still working long hours at the local library. The workload shows on her and catches up – as she dozes off in front of the TV and sleeps a lot extra on the weekends – ever tried telling your mother she is getting older and needs to slow down? Didi and Milly are still fine and as cute and lots of fun as ever. Milly loves playing catches! She steals Didi’s ball and then runs off, dodging and racing around the office, under my 4x4, round the bushes and if it is not outside, then inside the lounge – she knows which chairs she can fit behind and under and is learning as well how far my arm can reach and stays about 5 cm beyond that limit! I always receive such a welcome from them whenever I come home, especially from a trip – Didi runs to fetch her ball and Milly runs and jumps ontop of me! I have the odd occasional e-mail from past clients of mine who have become friends, Koen being one of them – and he and some of his golf friends are planning a golf safari to the Cape in November. I also have regular e-mails and Larry and Beth – nice to hear of their travels. Glenn has left Australia and gone to the UK – so looking forward to hearing from him soon. Kevin went off to Singapore and I believe Helen should have joined him by the time you read this. John and family have settled down in Oz, and John spends a fair amount of time flying to the Far East on business trips. Dawn I have not heard from for a while, but she was keeping fit and fine when I last heard from her. Rene is enjoying college and life in the USA – studying hard and working hard. Good to hear from her monthly with her newsletters.

We also have the odd e-mail from Dave & Bernie – keep it up (there is a link to their Honeymoon webpage on my 2^nd page of our website.) Theo, Morag and the kids are all fine in Cape Town, enjoying the not so sunny weather! Lloyd, Steve and friend, Drew, came around for a braai 2 weeks ago – Lloyd to see the office for the completed version – as he helped me carry the furniture into it and lay the carpeting down.

Well, that is all my news for now – who knows when I shall get around to the next edition, but business is very quiet at the moment – meant to be our high season!!

Keep well, and keep smiling.

Cheers

Dean