2002 started off on a good note, with lots of new clients, new enquiries and new hopes. The SA Rand seem to have settled at a very favourable rate for our foreign visitors who use the US$ or GBP, and for the past two months the US$1 = R11.5 and GBP at about R16.5… give or take slight fluctuations, thus making it very 'cheap' to stay in South Africa.

As mentioned in my last edition, I will no longer be personally guiding safaris but rather managing the office and being available to reply quickly to enquiries - and of course when those Africa 'hiccups' do occur, I will be at hand to deal with them. I must admit, I am battling with withdrawal symptoms of not being in the bush and not visiting the lodges with my new friends, but in life you cannot have it all!

1. Past Safaris - We have had many people using our services over the past few months and these include Ruth, Myrta, Akkie, Jan, Rhiannon, Doug, Henrik, Chris, Dana, Eric, Georgina and Annemiekie. I have only mentioned the one persons name in the group/family - so read on to see if I mentioned your name!! (Fame at last!)
Ruth, along with her parents and sister, from Hong Kong, were coming on a package tour which included Cape Town, Garden Route and Sun City, all in a week and it did not include any gameviewing, so we organised a couple of nights in one of the luxury game lodges in the Sabi Sands Reserve, which is part of the Greater Kruger Park area. They had a fabulous time and her is her feedback: "Hi Dean, Thanks for organizing the trip for me and my family. It was awesome and definitely a memorable one especially those two days of safari life. Lion Sands was an excellent place to stay and it was very home like. The accommodation was very comfortable and the room was facing the Sabi Sand River where we can see hippo and elephant from our room. As far as the food goes, they basically served us seven meals a day including three big meals and four small snacks. Awesome... Never feel hungry there at all. All the staff there were extremely friendly and the ranger tried there very best to show us around in the safari. The part I like most was the open vehicle where they only arrange myself and my family in one vehicle, lots of privacy.
Anyway, I really definitely recommend my friends to go check out South Africa and might one day do it again myself. By that time, I will have to contact you again. Once again, thanks for your help.
Thanks, Ruth "
So, they were thrilled with their adventurous holiday.

Henrik had been awarded a trip to South Africa as part of his studies, and was going to spend time in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg meeting people working with HIV/Aids people and getting out there to see the problems and expectations. During these stays, we arranged various guided tours for him, plus an add-on to Victoria Falls. Henrik gave us a very detailed and valuable feedback on his return, so I have just copied a few interesting comments from his e-mail: "I would like to thank you for all your assistance and advise in organizing this trip. Your help has been first class and you always responded promptly with answers to any questions that I might have had. Dean's e-mails with advice ranging from tipping to personal safety were helpful in quenching many of the worries that I had prior to my departure. In the North American media, South Africa is often portrayed as a
country in a rapidly deteriorating condition. One sometimes get the impression that the state of the country is somewhere between state of emergency and anarchy. My new impression after visiting is quite the contrary. I have travelled to many countries throughout the world, and conditions in SA such as infrastructure by far exceed what is found in Mexico, Thailand and even in Israel and Greece. Airports in South Africa are of a higher standard than most airports in North America.
Two places really stood out on my trip: Cape Town and Kruger National Park. In Cape Town, from my room on the top floor, I had a marvellous view over the harbour to downtown and the Table Mountain. The restaurant was great! I love the V&A Waterfront with its many stores and restaurants and things to look at. I also enjoyed walking around downtown Cape Town and I never felt unsafe. I saw the big New Years parade, which was a lot of fun. The Malay Quarter was charming. ……. The trip through KwaZulu-Natal to Underberg and then over the Sani Pass into Lesotho was truly fantastic. KZN is beautiful with its rolling hills, greenery, streams, little villages, etc. and I tremendously enjoyed my ride to Underberg …….. The trip to Kruger was truly amazing. Everything was perfect and without incidents. Beautiful setting, wonderful ambiance, fantastic food and the best coffee I got in all of South Africa. I had three game drives (one the afternoon I came in and two the following morning). I saw all major animals except for rhino. I really think that I would have enjoyed spending one or two extra nights, but, unfortunately, I didn't have the time. But Kruger was certainly the highlight of my trip. ……… Victoria Falls: again too many hustlers - but what can you expect in a country led by Mugabe. It was sickening to see his portrait everywhere. There were absolutely no tourists. I think that there were less than 10 guests in the hotel Overall, I had a truly fantastic trip, which I would love to do all over again. My research went well and my touring of South Africa organized by African Bundu Safaris was great. I can really recommend your services to others and I would love to be a reference for you. Next time I plan a trip to SA, I will certainly use your services again.
Thanks Henrik for your super feedback, very worthwhile to us and we look forward to your next visit.

Chris had been overworking in his office in the UK and his manager saw our name in the National Guardian Paper and told him to take a break and to disappear for a few weeks, to South Africa - and so we organised his trip. Chris had a great trip and returned relaxed, but reckons that his manager wanted to test his successful holiday and has got back into the rut of over-loading him with so much work again, he has not had a chance to give us a detailed report… so I managed to sneak a few lines from him: "Dean, First of all Happy New Year. Thanks for helping me to have a fantastic holiday. It really picked me up and man did I need a recharge. Sorry that it's taken me so long to get back in touch…. When I started at work, my manager was so impressed with my holiday that he decided to test just how much I had managed to recharge …… . Once again, thank you so much for all the work you put in. In particular your suggestion for me to visit Tshukudu was inspired - it was the highlight
of my holiday, what a wonderful place with such fantastic people. ……… I'll be sure to usher everyone I can in your direction. My hidden agenda is to try to get our offices relocated to Cape Town - wish me luck! ….. Take care mate, I'll be back in touch soon, Chris.
Chris, give me your managers e-mail and I'll tell him to give you a few hours off, then you can give us that feedback you have been longing to do - better still, I'll tell him to give you a fortnight off, then you can come out here and tell us first-hand!!

I was extremely busy over the Christmas period - Alice was on leave and I had a number of very last minute phonecalls where folks were needing my immediate attention. The first urgent one came on a Saturday late morning, from Myrta in Athens, she and her partner were leaving the Sunday evening and they needed accommodation and other arrangements. Phew, this was a rush and very stressful - but it all worked out well in the end, even if their Greek agent had overbooked them onto the flight to JHB and also had not paid for their Cape Town accommodation in time… so, they arrived a day later and I was left to finalise all their arrangements, but it also gave me the chance to drive up to Sibaya Lake to personally meet them and transfer them to Durban Airport for their flight to Cape Town - what a lovely couple they are. After Cape Town, they went on a short safari into the Augrabies Falls and also the Kgalagadi Reserve in the desert. Myrta, thanks for the feedback, and I really do look forward to your next visit, give a good few more weeks notice - ha, ha!! "Dear Dean, Hallo from the white Greece. Unfortunately we are back to our country already working hard, but we have our memories which are still quite impressive. The safari in Kgalaghari was very good.,…… he took us to salt lake which was very nice. We really wanted to thank you for all your arrangements and specially for the effort to find us accommodation in Cape town. We promise that next time we will decide the trip early enough to organize everything. Looking forward to see you again. Best regards, Myrto, Yiannis.
I guess you guys must have had quite a shock, from a hot 40 degrees in the desert and the next day to a minus 10 and snow in Greece!!
It was on Christmas Eve that I had a phonecall from Cliona and Tim, who were on their Honeymoon from the UK. They were in Knysna and need assistance to finalise the remainder of their stay - so after numerous phone-calls and faxes, I had managed to book them into various lodges in the Zululand and Maputaland region, where they were going to enjoy snorkelling, beach relaxation, sailing, canoeing and some excellent gameviewing. I did not get an e-mail address from them, so am hoping that they will read this and let me know how they enjoyed it - I assume from reports from the lodges that they had a great time. Thanks to the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority for giving them and also giving Myrta our name and number.

Dana went off on an overland safari through Botswana and Zimbabwe, to enjoy the New Year in the bush - and she enjoyed it so much, she extended her stay in SA to participate in another overland safari through other parts of Southern Africa, including Mozambique - and really enjoyed herself so much. I am not sure if you completed your book yet Dana, but these travels will enable you to soon write a book on Southern Africa! Reading your comments and knowing your routes you followed, you certainly had a fantastic time -well done! Here are some comments from Dana's feedback: "I have a hard time finding the words to describe my recent journey to Botswana and Victoria Falls. It was truly the trip of a lifetime! The game viewing was magnificent as we saw herds of elephant 200 strong with lots of babies, herds of buffalo 800 strong, a lion family eating some poor farmers cows in Chobe, a young leopard in Moremi who sat beside our vehicle for 20 minutes posing for our cameras, sunsets to dream by, birds to awe over and so much more. We were also very fortunate as we had no rain. …. And then after her third safari .. Well I did get on that plane and come home after 4 wonderful months in Africa. The Southern Circle tour was wonderful. It is a great mix of Game and Culture. Malawi and Mozambique are such beautiful places. I could have stayed in Valenculos forever. Snorkelling there was the best. We also had great game sitings in Chobe as well as the last days in Kruger. I recommend the trip highly.
Well, I am back here in the States but I am already trying to figure out when and how I will return to Africa. It is and shall remain in my blood. Thanks for all of your assistance. I am sure I will be calling upon you again.
Well Dana, we look forward to planning your future trips and showing you more of our amazing countries, including Namibia!!

Eric and his family flew out to Durban where we rented them a 4x4 to go exploring. This is his families 4th trip to Southern Africa, so we were thrilled to be able to do all his bookings and planning. They explored parts of Zululand and then through Swaziland to the Sabi Sands game reserve before ending in Johannesburg. They had a great time - and Eric has been so pleased with our service that a number of his friends are already booking trips with us or getting advice and ideas. Thanks Eric. He obviously found my road directions perfect! "Hi Dean, Thank you for your mail ... Our holiday was marvellous ... you are the King of the road-book. We found all the lodges very easy, thank you very much. Everywhere we meet very nice people, and the lodges was very pleasant."
Eric is now planning his next trip, in May to the Okavango Delta.. to enjoy some super gameviewing and relaxing.

Rhiannon and her 'new' husband, Jonny came to SA for their Honeymoon, and started off in the luxury of a 1st class game lodge in the Sabi Sands Reserve, before flying to Lesotho for a few nights of Pony Trekking into the rural areas and meeting the Basutho people and then flying down to Cape Town for a finale of sightseeing and relaxing. We had a slight hiccup at the CT guesthouse, where the reservations lady had written my name as the occupant for their room, so when they arrived, they were given another room instead - very embarrassing, but it all worked out well in the end, just wish the staff had picked up the phone and called me to ask what was happening. On all our vouchers we issue is our phone number, so the staff had no excuse! Sorry again Rhiannon and Jonny, and thanks for your comments and understanding. "Thanks for the welcome! Not so sure we're pleased to be back though! We had a fantastic time, despite the hiccup at the end, it wouldn't have been such a problem if they'd have handled it better themselves - …….. As for the rest of the trip - everything was very smooth. Chitwa Chitwa was simply amazing, and we'd highly recommend that to anyone, especially honeymoon couples - the only down side was that due to the amount of time spent on Safari you don't get that much time to enjoy the amazing resort - but we'll know that for future reference! Lesotho was a fascinating place to visit - we were very, very lucky with the weather - in fact if anything it was too hot. Despite being extremely saddle sore we had an amazing time, and it was exactly the kind of thing we were looking for to experience some of the African culture - although they could do with giving out a few more instructions for those who don't ride at all, as it's quite daunting to start with! All of the flight connections/pick ups were great and very organised - so thank you for that. We both feel we definitely want to come back and explore more of SA - we didn't do the Winelands, and we'd like to try some mountain biking around the Cape - plus we'd like to see Durban and the Drakensberg mountains. So it's certainly in our future plans. Look forward to contacting you at some point in the future, and I will certainly be recommending you to any friends/ family who are planning a S.A trip."
And then Jonny sent some feedback as well…. "Thanks again for all your help in the run up to our dream holiday and for your quick turn around when we were in trouble... You've consistently offered A1 service and support by simply answering on all occassions so quickly and comprehensively! It was those qualities that made you stand out from the beginning and so it came as no surprise that all your planning came together so smoothly in practise!…"
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future folks.. why not make an annual trip to Southern Africa - for your anniversary - will always bring back happy memories? We have so much to offer you and there is so much to see.
Hey, you read that Dana returned to the States after 4 months and is planning to come back soon, Brad and Sophie where here for 4 months and still had lots to see, and now we have Arno and Annemieke here for 6 months and they realise that they will not see it all.. so am sure they will return as well! Arno and Annemieke arrived in Cape Town at the end of January and have rented a car for 2 months, giving them time to explore the coastal area, Garden Route, Wild Coast and all the way up to Durban, before returning to CT for an overland safari through Namibia to Vic Falls. That will take them up till the end of April - and then they plan to join another overland trip to Kenya, before flying back to SA to continue exploring our magnificent land until July, before they return to the Netherlands. Exciting stuff! We have occasional e-mails from them as they are exploring and they are certainly seeing lots of things! They arrive in Durban today, and we shall all go out for dinner one night they are here. Thanks to Arne and Elly, my Dutch friends and last Guided clients, as they are friends of Arno and Annemieke and put us in touch with one another.

Georgina returned to SA for a few weeks, having spent some of her life here many years ago, and we rented her a car and also arranged a self-drive vacation for her and a friend along the Garden Route - and we had a short e-mail from her after she returned home: "Thank you for arranging my holiday last year, I had a great time travelling through the Garden Route and wondered why I hadn't done it before. The B&B in Cape Agulhas was particularly good, even if the little town didn't have much there!" I hope you return again soon Georgina, and then we can recommend you to explore some other parts of our beautiful country. An adventurous chap by the name of Doug is exploring Southern Africa on his own. Doug is actually in southern Namibia as I type this, and he even phoned me yesterday to inform me he had arrived in Luderitz safely. Doug started in Johannesburg a few weeks ago, driving through Botswana to Vic Falls and then enjoy a few more days in Botswana - at the Makgadikgadi pans, then Okavango Delta and then he went into Namibia for a few days in Etosha before spending a fortnight in Swakopmund, where he participated in a sky-diving boogie - and lots of desert-type activities. Now he is making his way south to Cape Town, before driving up the Garden Route where he ends his trip in Port Elizabeth. We have occasional phone calls or e-mails from Doug - which is great, especially when you travel through remote areas on your own, at least we can ensure he is safe. He said whilst driving to Luderitz, there had been some heavy rain recently and there were many areas along the remote desert roads where lots of soft sand had been washed across the roads making the driving challenging. We look forward to hearing from him and some feedback once he has completed the trip.

Akkie and her husband Mark have just completed a two-week holiday in SA - having started in Cape Town along with Mark's parents and his brother, Jan-Pieter and his family. Akkie and Mark then drove up the Garden Route before flying to Durban and then to Zululand, to end their holiday with four wonderful nights at the Phinda Reserve. Mark had phoned me from Cape Town telling me how wonderful the weather was and so I am sure I will hear from them shortly about their entire trip.
Mark's father, Jan, had spent a few weeks in Cape Town and along with his other son, they were staying at a golf estate and rented a couple of cars from us. Jan, however, together with his wife and a friend, flew up to Durban and then we flew them charter to Mkuze Falls Reserve, where they had two glorious nights at this 1st class lodge, enjoying Big 5 gameviewing, super meals and great service. Jan did phone and speak to Alice to express their satisfaction, so thanks Jan for taking the time to phone, much appreciated. We look forward to assisting all the De Graaf's with their future holidays to Southern Africa - remembering, we also include Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique etc in our service.

2. Forthcoming Safaris - At the end of this month, we have Marc and his wife coming to SA, friends of Eric, and they shall be spend 8 nights in the lovely Sabi Sands reserve, enjoying some magnificent gameviewing, accommodation and hospitality, before they fly back to France. Judith and Jim arrive from the UK at the end of March as well, and start their safari in Namibia with an overnight journey on the luxury Desert Express train followed by a few days in Swakopmund and then on a private game farm, before flying to Botswana where they spend over a week in Moremi/Okavango and then Makgadikgadi Pans and finally end their vacation with almost a week in Mauritius. This is their second holiday with us, and certainly not their last - and we look forward to a lovely poem from Judith on her return. (We already received one from her before they have even packed!!)
May is a special month for us, as we have planned for Jane and David to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on a luxury game reserve, after having spent a fortnight exploring our countryside. Shiney, one of our lovely lady Guides will be ensuring that they get spoilt and have a wonderful holiday. Basically as they leave to go back home, so Nik and Angie arrive for their wedding! Returning to SA from the UK, they drive up to Thula Thula where their small private wedding shall be hosted, and after a few days enjoying the luxury of Thula Thula, they then set about exploring Maputaland on their own, staying at a variety of lovely lodges that we have booked them into, before arriving in JHB and then flying off to Botswana for a few days, to see the mass migration of zebra and wildebeest across the Makgadikgadi Pans. Exciting stuff!!
We have a number of other enquiries over the next few months, but as usual, I suspect these folk have enquired with 5 or 10 other companies, so we have a 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 chance of planning their holidays - a pity, as we have many testimonials of how excellent we have planned and organised our guests vacations and safaris. Sometimes Alice and I are astounded when colleagues chat to us, via phone or e-mail, and ask such simple questions relating to other parts of Southern Africa - and they are trying to plan a holiday for some tourists…. and basically doing it blind with no knowledge nor experience of those lodges or areas. As I have stated before, I have personally visited or stayed at 95% of the lodges that we use, so that I can talk from first-hand experience. Every year I make an effort of visiting a certain area of Southern Africa, to refresh my knowledge, friendship and experience with these lodges, so that we can keep on providing an excellent service. We listen to all clients' comments - both good and bad and also will advise the lodges of any constructive criticism, so they can improve on their mistakes - nobody is perfect.

3. Friends and Family news - I had a real surprise a few weeks ago, when one of my past pupils suddenly arrive at the office - I had not seen Gordon for a number of years and he is now a strapping young man, who has been working in the UK for the past few years and was now out here for a holiday to visit his mother and also his girlfriend was coming to see SA. It was really good to see him again as he was always such a great lad at school, very helpful and enthusiastic. He came on a number of the overland camps and we were even lucky to have his mother and sister join us for the one. Another past pupil and friend, Karsten, has now completed his computer studies here and has returned to the UK and Europe, to make some more money before returning and starting his own web design company. I look forward to receiving an e-mail from him soon, telling me how he is getting on. I think he has a one month job in the UK and then 3 months in France, but he will tell me.
Claudia is still in Germany and now plans to study further in the hotel business before either coming out to SA or remaining in Germany. She phones me a month or two ago to bring me up to date, but I have not heard from her since then, so guess she is busy.
At the beginning of February, we had a braai at my brothers' house, as it was his daughters' birthday, my sisters birthday and also his and Monica's 'reception' function. At the end of January, they decided to get married and went to a magistrates house to get all the details on what to do, and suddenly they were married! About time as well - and so we found out after the 'wedding' and they decided to have a gathering to 'celebrate' it! Well, we had over 50 people attend and we all had a great time - lots of food, great weather and good company. Now he is selling his small holding. Along with his new 'brewery' business, as they are planning to emigrate to New Zealand - once everything is sold, no rush! Well, I am certainly going to miss them and I know my Mother will as well. He has always been so supportive and a great brother and New Zealand is a very far way away and the airfares are not cheap! My sister Gail has moved from the farm she was sharing with a friend and is now staying in some old Railway houses, closer to her work, in Bethlehem. She certainly leads a life of a gypsy, moving every couple of years and also changing jobs every few years, but hey, if it keeps her happy and alive, so be it. It was nice to see my other sister, Lynn and her family at Sean's gathering. Her two sons are doing extremely well in the swimming world, representing their school, the swimming club and also our province in swimming competitions. Well done to Sven and Bjorn.
Mom is working even harder now at the Library, as even though she is just a temporary and part-time library assistant, she basically runs the library and keeps it running smoothly and neatly. Her senior and acting boss broke her ankle recently and is meant to be off for 8 weeks, so Mom has to run the show officially - but, they will not pay her anything extra!! They are so short-staffed of competent "affirmative action" staff, that on Wednesday she has to work a double shift as they have nobody able to assist the library! There is a rumour going that it will close soon, as they rebuilt a bigger library in La Lucia after the old one got flooded out, and despite Glenashley Library being the busiest in the Durban area, they still want to close it, (and it seems due to the fact that not enough of the darker population use it!!) Anyway, not my doing, just seems so unfair on the hundreds of members who are elderly and live within a stone's throw of it, and the 3 or 4 schools who pupils rely on it for additional support and information. But, Mom celebrates her 65th birthday this month, so at least she has given it and the community everything of the best for the past 25 odd years, even if the City Council don't appreciate her, everybody else does!!

Milly and Didi are keeping fine, and Milly is in her element at the moment, as the weather is so warm here in Durban at the moment, so there is always a reason for her to swim in the pool, even on her own at times!! Whenever I return home from the shops or bank or wherever, she runs around getting all hot and excited and then jumps into the pool on the 1st step. If she is really hot, then she will swim a small loop in the shallow end. If we are going to swim, then she enjoys running and diving into the pool, especially to recover the ball that we managed to get away from Didi! Didi, will only swim if I lift her and put her in, and then once she has recovered the ball, she then swims to the steps and climbs out. She is not a water-baby like Milly. Talking of water babies, two weeks ago, I was contemplating cleaning out the lower section of my water-feature pond, and I noticed a couple of little 'things' swimming around. On closer inspection, I discovered them to be fish - and in fact, I have three baby fish!! They seem to be a cross between the one Shubunkin and Comet goldfish, and must have got washed over the little waterfall and into the lower reservoir! I shall keep them there until they get bigger and then let them join their parents and uncles and aunties!!

4. Happenings around us - here at home, there is always something happening. Just this last week, I moved the original office, a 3 metre by 3 metre hut to the far corner of the garden and now this coming week, I plane to excavate and level out the ground to build a double garage in the vacant spot. This should be complete by May and then all going well, I want to convert the present garage and servants quarters into a "Granny Flat" and so I will have my own place to stay in and also entertain friends. It also means that if times become tight, we can also rent out the flat to a single person or a couple and this would generate a bit of extra income. So, I have lots of manual labour over the next few months, and this will keep me very busy. I had to move the one new tree I planted two years ago, to make way for the new garage, and I think I may have killed it by cutting one of its main tap roots, as it is not keeping its green leaves and they are all falling off - oops! I am certainly not a gardener!!
I have also rejoined the church and attend regularly and have become a Christian again, having never had the chance nor inclination in the past. I have travelled around for 5 years now, Guiding people around and making some wonderful friends, and now is the time for me to settle down and 'get a life' - so my apologies to those who wish to personally have me join them on safaris - I shall have to refrain, at least for a few years. This is the reason why I have employed a number of super people to do the Guiding trips for me and thus maintaining the high standards and service that we set out in the beginning to give African Bundu Safaris, the great and respected name that it now has.
It is the eve of the Zimbabwe Elections and I along with I think, the majority of sound minded people are praying and anticipating that a new president shall be elected. To have one person rule for over 20 years is a dictatorship and cannot be a democratic government - and Mugabe is demonstrating this. He has truly lost his marbles and is due for retirement, where he can spend his millions of dollars that he has put aside during his reign and greed over the past two decades. We pray that few people are hurt over these coming weeks as the elections are promoted and the results come out. We also pray that they are fairer and more free than the media are portraying.

Well, on that positive note, I shall end, and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Remember, our e-mail address has reverted to the original one only: safari@dbnmail.co.za

All the best

Dean

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