DEAN'S DIARY FEBRUARY 1998
Dear Friends,
I have just returned from a great 4-day safari of Zululand with two lovely couples, from the U.K - Roberta & John, Angela & Billy. Boy did we have a great time?!
The initial contact was made via e-mail from a golfing friend of theirs, Jim - who ended up conveying all the info to them by fax - thanks again Jim. They first went to Cape Town for a weeks stay, exploring the Cape, then a 6-day train trip up the Garden Route - absolutely great, they say - then they flew up to Durban and I arranged for them to stay in a B&B in nearby Umhlanga Rocks. They really enjoyed their stay there, so much so that they spent another night there on their return from the 4-day Zululand Safari. Well done to Lynn of Flamingo Lodge.
We first went to Shakaland - a Zulu cultural village that was actually the film set for the film "Shaka Zulu". After an educational tour learning about traditions, cultures, lifestyles and beer tasting, we enjoyed a half hour of foot-stomping Zulu dancing prior to a delicious eat-as-much-as-you-like lunch. We then departed for a secluded and exclusive Bush Camp in the Umfolosi Game Reserve - a very popular game reserve that is joined to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve, with their claims to fame being home to The Big Five and also Africa's oldest Game Reserves. Accommodation is in "rustic' A-frame huts overlooking the Umfolosi River. Mr Buthelezi is the cook there and he turned out a delicious braai (barbeque) and an equally good breakfast in the morning. We sat on the raised platform overlooking the river with our sundowners, watching the buffalo, impala, nyala, rhino and baboons come down to the water to drink. Whilst eating our dinner, we could hear the lions roar in the distance and later a jackal crying out to its mate.
After an early morning, Eliott, the Game Guard, took us on a 3-hour walk where we startled a drinking buffalo - who promptly gave us a fright! We came across more Buffalo, Nyala, Zebra, Ground Hornbill, Marabou Stalk, Impala, Baboons, Duiker and many birds. After our return and breakfast and the hot showers, we spent the next 6 hours driving through the Umfolosi and Hluhluwe reserves game viewing. We did not come across any of the cats or elephants, but we had great Black and White Rhino sightings, Giraffe, Kudu, plus all the other previously mentioned animals. When we arrived at Hilltop, we sat overlooking the valley enjoying a sundowner drink, prior to eating a great dinner and then going on the night game drive. We managed to get the front seats, so Billy and John handled the spotlights. As the bush was thick and we had some irritating teenagers on the vehicle, the night game viewing was not too great.
Breakfast was just too much - a king and his army would have been more than satisfied with the feed! Continuing our game viewing, we headed out of the park and on to Bonamanzi Game Ranch where after enjoying lunch there we spent a couple of hours lazying around the pool prior to visiting the nearby Cheetah Breeding Project. We had an interesting talk on the project and cheetahs and then returned to Bonamanzi for another braai and our sleep in the "rustic'" tree-houses.
We had warthogs, Nyala, impala, guinea fowl, wildebeest visit our camp during our stay and having eaten breakfast, we left for Lake St Lucia. We had a cup of coffee in the town prior to enjoying 2 hours sitting on the top deck of the launch boat, cruising the 8 kms up the estuary where we viewed hippos and crocodiles plus fish eagles.
As the wind was too strong for the beach and to have a picnic there, we headed for Richards Bay, where we had a lovely meal of cold meats and salads under the pine trees, prior to visiting the wind-swept beach and then our return to Durban. The following day I took my new friends to the airport for their flight to Johannesburg and then onwards to Sun City for their final 4 days in South Africa. I thank them for their gratuity which shall go towards increasing the number of sliding windows on the 4x4.
Now just prior to their visit I was pleased to have met George and Beth, from the States. They had also just completed a train journey from Vic Falls to Johannesburg and really enjoyed it and they were going to spend 2 nights at Hilltop camp. For Valentines Dinner I arranged for them to eat at Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant - for their special meal and then the next day I met them for their drive up to Zululand. We popped into to Dukuza Information centre in Stanger, as always - to show them Shaka's gravesite, plus a small museum, prior to us driving on to Dumazulu cultural village - similar to Shakaland, but being the only Zulu cultural village to have been offically opened by the King of the Zulu's. We enjoyed the tour, the beer tasting and dancing and then another great lunch prior to the short drive into Huhluwe Game Reserve. (By the way - Hluhluwe is pronounced "shoo shloo wee"). As we entered the park we saw Zebra, Wildebeest, Rhino and Buffalo, followed by some Vervet monkeys near the Hilltop Camp. I returned to Durban that night and they enjoyed the meals, accommodation and game drives on offer at Hilltop. Two days later I returned to collect them and we drove straight to the airport for lunch prior to their flight to Cape Town to join their Elderhostel Tour. Another nice and friendly couple and new friends.
I knew that not everything would run smoothly, well, after enjoying a nice walk in the wilderness in Umfolosi, I have returned with tick bite marks all over my legs, despite smearing repellant on my legs!! I went to my doctor yesterday and now I am on a course of Tetracycline for a week - hoepfully this will prevent me from contracting full-blown Tick-bite Fever. I have had it twice before and it is not nice - terrible headaches that just don't go away. I have another trip to Zululand on the 5 March - the Zulu Nyala Lodge, so I want to be better before then.
As I mentioned in my last entry, I went to my brothers house on the 1 Feb to see his pups and also we had a family reunion. Well the pups were cute - eyes still closed, and so small - only 5 days old then! Their mother, Bella, aparently is an excellent mother - it was here first litter and is doing well looking after 10 babies. My brother only discovered that she was giving birth after the 3rd one popped out and then he grabbed his video camera so we could all sit down and watch afterwards - my, nature is so clever - she knew exactly what to do!!
Our reunion was great with my 39 year old sister travelling down from Bethlehem (in the Free State, not Israel), with her friend, then my other sister with her family drove up from Durban and then I travelled up with my mum. It was the first time we had all been together in 3 or 4 years, so it was nice and so was the weather. We had good food, a splash around in the river, 'played' badminton and chatted about the past, present and future.
Tradepage has been very kind to me again, and I have a large collection of photographs scanned now, available to send to enquiring people about what places and animals look like. This is one company that does offer good customer service - not often found now-a-days - apart from African Bundu Safaris. This is true and a fact - visit my Guestbook that is in the menu on the Home Page, and you shall read the comments from people who have written comments after experiencing my safari.
My telephone line started playing up shortly after I bought myself a fax/answering machine - which incidently is very nice. Well, three weeks later after numerous visits by Telkom technicians, the fault was found - a corroded cable outside. So a temporary cable has been installed as the telephone pole which wobbles around needs to be replaced - sometime in the future.
I am not a politician, so I don't talk too much about it, but it seems as though Winnie Mandela is out of the news for the moment, Nelson needs to marry Gracea Macheal - so says Archbishop Tutu, our criminals are still enjoying themselves popping in and out of prisons at their leisure and some tourists are taking advantage of the touchy situation by making false claims about muggings and therefore causing newspaper headlines to cancel tours and safaris. Imagine telling the world that you were mugged whereas in fact a prostitute beat you up when you did not play fairly, or worse still, tell the world that you were mugged so that you could claim insurance!!
A large number of my clients and friends say that I should charge people for giving advice and making bookings - well, easier said than done. Who is going to pay me $10, $50 or $100 so that I can tell them where to go and what there is to see? As regards the bookings, well some resorts give me a commission, so the price you get from me or direct from them, is the same - but by booking through me means that it saves you all the phonecalls as many resorts do not have e-mail yet, and also, I know what most resorts offer and their standards and the more commissions I can get, the more assistance I shall be to you - makes sense to me! And even if they do not offer me a commission, I will still book for you and no extra cost, as I am a kind, helpful and loving fella! So if I do bookings for you and make enquiries on your behalf and give you lots of information - I do appreciate a 'donation' as this shows me how much you appreciate my work and efforts. If people abuse this system and my services, then I shall have to stop.
I do have a low cost budget 7-day safari planned for the last week of July, so if you are interested in exploring Zululand, the Drakensberg Mountains and the South Coast of KwaZulu Natal - contact me and I shall forward you the itinerary and pricing - it could be as low as R2000 per person - (US$400) for 7 days, meals, transport and accommodation!!! The more people, the cheaper.
As regards the accommodation available in Durban - well, I can get rates at Durban's beachfront Holiday Inn hotels, which are 3, 4 or 5 star and then I also have a number of excellent Bed and Breakfast guesthouses that I recommend. Right close to the Umhlanga Rocks beach is Flamingo Lodge - very nice and very convenient - 5 double rooms all en-suite, with a bar, lounge etc. In a quite suburb of Glenashley is Palmsbury, also very nice, Satour accredited and personal service, nearby in the upmarket suburb of La Lucia is Campbell Cottage - totally self-catering, and everything is brand new there and then closer to town is La Mirage - upmarket and situated on the Berea not too far from the shops and on the bus route into town. Then Sica's Guesthouse is situated in an old farmhouse and is really lovely with excellent meals, tennis courts, swimming pool etc.
This is also Satour accredited and close to town and Westridge tennis stadium. There are of course plenty more, but then it would take you 20 minutes to read through them all and these are the ones that I have visited and used and had excellent reports from my clients that have enjoyed the hospitality they received. I did write to 25 different establishments in the greater Durban area offering my services not only as a Tour Guide and Tour Operator, but offering to meet them and book my clients in with them, well only these ones replied - I believe in manners and courtesy - the others have now lost out!!
Soon my company shall feature on a CD-rom on Tourism, being compiled by an Australian company, so once I have the details, I shall let you know - you can buy a copy then!
Christine has been very helpful over the past week, acknowledging my e-mails and she will be moving office soon with her boss (Husband - Rob), so the telephone numbers shall change for her - no details yet.
I listen to our local radio station - East Coast Radio, most of the time and at the end of last month they hosted the Tourism Durban business-card exchange, at their new digital studios on the Berea. It was a nice evening, with a small selection of snacks and a cash bar. I must say that I did not benefit from the meeting as there were no new contacts for me, the advertising tariffs on the radio were too expensive and paying R46 for the snacks was a bit of a rip-off, especially compared to previous meetings and when you can get a good two or three course meal for that fee. But it was nice to have a break from the office and to see the studio. One advantage about working from home, especially in the summer is the ability to jump into the swimming pool to cool off. The disadvantage is Didi - our 2 year old dog, who wants to play "fetch the ball" all the time. If I don't pick it up and throw it, she either growls/talks to me or nips at my feet. She hates me talking on the phone and starts to growl/talk to me then, or nips my ankles!
Our Bafana Bafana soccer team has just played Congo in the semi-final and it was quite an action packed game, unfortunately though - with quite a few yellow cards which means that those players don't play in the next game, if this is the 2nd time they get a yellow card. The final score was 2:1 to South Africa - so we shall see on Saturday who the winners are. Well done chaps!!
Well, do remember to contact me early for your bookings or enquiries - the sooner the better. And even if you are not planning a holiday for yourself, maybe you relatives or friends are - well I can assist them. For the Americans and Canadians, I have a contact at SAA in the States who offers my clients cheaper fares than most travel agents could even dream about, so ask me for his details.
Looking 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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