Since 1997, shortly after African Bundu Safaris was formed, Dean, the owner and photo above, had kept a Diary of events and happenings of his life on SAFARI, with his clients. Read these interesting extracts from past editions and some current happenings with his clients. Although Dean is no longer a Professional Tour Guide anymore, he still has become friends with so many of his regular clients and occasionally will travel ‘out of his way’ to visit them at some fantastic safari lodge to spend a day or two with and to enjoy their company on a wildlife safari. Enjoy 
Dean’s Diary
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I decided to look back at some of the past editions of “Dean’s Diary”, that feature on our initial website: http://www.absafaris.co.za and from Dairy # 1, dated 1997:
Dean created African Bundu Safaris and slowly everyone got to hear about it – Well after a lot of red tape and many application forms and waiting in queues, posting letters, sending and receiving faxes, making long distance and short distance phonecalls, African Bundu Safaris cc was officially formed and shortly thereafter it appeared on the World Wide Web – cyberspace! Brochures were printed and distributed, letters to pen-friends and relatives living throughout Southern Africa, England, Cananda, Germany and Australia were distributed plus my local friends started talking about this great new safari company that was offering the holiday maker something different, and on top of that, at a lot cheaper than the average tour operator would.
Then to make matters even more official and professional – African Bundu Safaris became a member of Tourism Durban association and also the Tour and Safari Association of Namibia (TASA). An office was opened in Windhoek and a secretary was appointed in Durban. African Bundu Safaris was growing, but the bank account wasn’t. Slowly the clients arrived and booked, and went on safaris. These started off as day visits, then weekend and 3-day safaris took place and it wasn’t long before safaris over 10, 17 and 21 days were taking place. Everyone more successful than the previous. And slowly the debts were being paid off and we all realised that African Bundu Safaris IS going to grow from strength to strength.
People who have been on longer safaris with me and who I shall remember are The Williams family – Peter with his knowledge and experience at Marketing and the fun he has with his family – Monica who I’m told is the Boss and who is always looking after her family like a good mother – Charles who loves reading and teasing his younger brothers and sister – Daniel who offers to help after the task is complete and has a love for his bed – Emma who is great to tease and easy to confuse but loves horses and swimming – Simon who gets sea-sick and loves sneaking up on me. Penny – the German Johannesburger schoolgirl who spent 17-days of her holiday with me in Mozambique. She has interesting opinions on life in South Africa and is particular how cabbage is sliced. Stan – or Grandpa Stan, who also spent 17 days, making us laugh and was disappointed with the fishing. The Van Rooyen Family – Anton who kept a close eye on all around him, especially the wind, waves and his skiboat, Cynthia – who enjoyed her sun-spot on top of the dunes, Tonie ably assisted his folks and was chief fire-man, Quintus was always found behind the wheel of dad’s 4×4.
The Odendaal Family – Piet with his great campfire stories and nothing-was-a-problem atmosphere, Honey – an absolute darling with hospitality and an angel when I thought I was dying (in fact so did others!), W.P. – the pillar of strength and very helpful, but loves driving nowhere anytime, Anel – so sweet and polite. The Odendaals and Van Rooyens invited me to join them on the Mozambique Safari. To my three ‘girlfriends’ – Karin, Dorkis and Francois who I shared 2 three-day safaris exploring Kwazulu-Natal and showing them the main sights and attractions in preparation for their tour-guide exams. Gary (Karins hubby) joined us for the one safari and Arijn (from Bulgaria) joined us for both whilst he is visiting this part of the world. You can thank these three lovely ladies for the ‘sponsorship’ of the new window in the front of the passenger compartment, that now gives you a frontal view as well. Karin is so sweet and an absolute darling. Dorkis is a wealth of information and absolutely great whilst Francois was the inspiration to our fits of laughter and a great hostess during our Durban get-togethers. Gary really enjoyed the game-viewing whilst Arijn enjoyed everything as well as his music.
So, that was how ABS, or African Bundu Safaris started doing business, after it was officialy created in 1996. Now it is New Year’s Eve in 2011, and we are looking forward to a fantastic 2012.
Dean’s Diary from December 1997:
I have also undertaken a few trips, as a tour guide, to Shakaland – a zulu cultural village which provides an exciting and wonderful explanation of Zulu traditions and history, followed by beer-tasting, Zulu Dancing and a great lunch. I have also been to our famous and wonderful Hilltop camp in Africa’s oldest Game Reserve – Hluhluwe-Umfolosi game reserve. The accommodation at Hilltop is really classy, with some rooms having wonderful views over the hills and valleys below. The food there is also absolutely great – plenty and tasty. Another visit was to Zulu Nyala Game Lodge – a private game reserve wher each group has their own game ranger and individual attention is wonderful, as is the accommodation and meals. The game viewing excludes any large predators, but you can go on horseback through the reserve and also there is a lovely boat ride on their river.
Just last weekend I lead a group of young adventurous chaps on a weekend hike in the Drakensberg Mountains. We arrived on the Friday afternoon at the Bushmansnek borderpost, where we slept that night in the Parks Board huts. Saturday was a blistering hot day and we hiked the 12 kms up the escarpment to Tarn Cave, situated on the border fence of Lesotho and South Africa. The heat was only reduced in the late morning when the wind picked up. We arrived at lunchtime and dropping our backpacks in the cave we went for a swim in the one crystal clear tarn straight away. The refeshing water was great and we reluctantly made our way back to the cave for afternoon tea and then the clouds, thunderstorm, lightening and rain arrived – typical in summer. Sleeping in the cave was nice that night, except the one chap kept shouting out different words like “JAMES BOND” , ” YEH, YEH” … during the night – well, it certainly woke me up – and provided a good laugh in the morning! We used a differnt route for the hike down and it was more scenic with many waterfalls and clear pools en route. The weather was cooler with overcast skies – a great weekend, but boy did I find new muscles – need to get fit again!
For the future, I have a number of tours that are booked already between now and January 1999, so if you are wanting to confirm your booking, let me know as soon as possible. The popular destinations are the Hluhluwe-Umfolosi Game Reserve – some with the wilderness hiking trail, the Drakensberg Mountains – with Sani Pass, snorkelling at Cape Vidal, the Garden Route and Cape Town and of course Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. But please listen to me – there are many other places to visit that I can take you to that are not so well known, but just as great and beautiful. They do not have the big crowds and so are more attractive to certain tourists. A popular request is to visit game areas, but not a zoo – well, the closest zoo to Durban is in Johannesburg – I prefer Game Reserves – which are from 500 hectares up to 96 000 hectares in size – but you must realise that the animals can be anywhere in the reserve and you might drive for 10kms and see nothing, yet the person a few hundred metres behind you might see quite a lot – just as the animals move around!
– No guarantee for animal sightings!
Extracts from Dean’s Diary – January 1998:
I have been very busy over the past 3 months dealing with enquiries from all over the world. Being an ETN agent means that I get 2 to 10 enquiries a day, not only for airfares but also for car hire, accommodation, bus and train details and of course holiday and safari suggestions. What really bugs me is the number of people with bad manners. I reply to 98% of all e-mails within 48 hours, if not 24 hours. Some I give a lot of details – especially if they have filled in the forms correctly, and others I just welcome and request that they reply to me so that I can assist them further. Well, at a guess, I would say that only 20% have the courtesy to aknowledge my reply. Worse still are those web-users who make me go to great lengths in fnding out details, working out itineraries, making long- distance phone calls or faxes and when I forward them all the info, they don’t even say “thanks” – are these just spoilt kids stuffing around or is the human race this bad mannered?
Since my last diary entry I have not been on many trips or safaris and I thought there was something wrong with me, well, when I heard about the many other Tour Operators sitting at home waiting for tourist to arrive, I felt blessed to have been able to assist so many people with their own self-drive itineraries and free advice that I have given during the hours that I have spent in my office. The bookings are coming in now for 1998 – in February and March I have a few trips booked for the game reserves and Shakaland, and then in April I have another lovely trip to Phinda and Londolozi game reserves, plus a few other very nice resorts. August sees me off to Namibia again – great – I love Namibia and am really excited about sharing its beauty with my future friends. There is a lovely honeymoon couple who are going to be starting their new life together here in August by travelling up the coast from Cape Town, ending off with a Wilderness hiking trail in Umfolosi. I have another 2 week safari planned for May, which includes a 4 day Wilderness trail – but, I have not heard from my clients for quite some time now – hopefully, they will read this and re-contact me as I have made the bookings.
Please remember how big South Africa is – 5 times the size of Britian – so it takes a while to travel around! There is also more to our Country than Kruger Park and Cape Town – we have a saying here that “South Africa is a world in one country”, well our province of KwaZulu-Natal is described as ” A country in a province” – as a recent 200-strong delegation of Dutch and Belgium Travel agents on a recent fact-finding mission said – “Where in the world can you find a beautiful ocean and beaches, Game reserve, historical battlefields and majestic mountains, all within 3 hours drive of each other?” – well the answer is easy – right here in KwaZulu Natal, using Durban as a base I can take you on a wonderful 5 to 10 day safari highlighting all of those. But then there are MANY other beautiful places to explore as well – having travelled around the Provinces of Mpumalanga, Northern Province, Western and Eastern Cape and the Free State – there is so much to see. Our neighbouring mountain Kingdom of Lesotho is another favourite of mine and I have a nice enquiry for April to visit there – I hope they decide to go ahead with their plans and thoughts.
Dean’s Diary extract from February 1998:
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 4×4.
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.
February and March 1998 was a busy time for me – here are some extracts from Dean’s Diary of MArch 1998:
“I have had a rather busy past month – dealing with many enquiries and also I have done a bit of travelling. At he beginning of March I was able to show Jack and Catherine a bit of Zululand. We first popped into the Dukuza King Shaka Memorial Centre and then continued up the scenic North Coast to the Dumazulu Cultural Village -to enjoy the ethnic tour and Zulu dancing, followed by an excellent buffett lunch. Then they enjoyed the next two nights at Zulu Nyala Game Lodge – a truely nice and exciting private game reserve. Their room was situated overlooking the swimming pool and the huge valley below. Their gameviewing was also successful. On our way back to Durban airport, we enjoyed a great seafood lunch in Salt Rock.
I then was pleased to be able to meet a self-drive client – Jake and family are from Vancouver and over the past two months we have been organising his two week holiday to Southern Africa. Jake who is an experienced traveller had decided to drive his family around, and as I do not charge for offering such a service, as I explained in my last diary entry, Jake presented me with a fantastic Canadian windbreaker anorak plus a generous donation for all my phone calls, and faxes which I made to give him the best service possible. Thanks Jake – and thank you as well for the great letter of recommendation. I look forward to meeting you and the family again, on your next holiday, but hopefully you will allow me to show you around as then you get all that background information that I can give you. (Jake, your e-mail does not seem to work anymore -please contact me.)
Last year I took the Williams family on a great holiday down the Transkei Wild Coast – well, Monica’s parents were out here for a couple of weeks, staying in Umhlanga Rocks and I was pleased to be able to take them to Hilltop Camp, in Hluhluwe Game Reserve for 3 days. We had overcast weather with a bit of rain, which made our game viewing even better. The animals were not hiding under trees during the day and we had great success in seeing lots of Rhino, both Black and White, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, kudu, nyala…and even a genet cat and a bush buck. We went on the Parks Board tow game drives – one night drive and one early morning – well, they were nice, but we actually had more success in my vehicle. But, nonetheless, Renate and Maxwell had a great time, with I think one of the highlights being the zebra eating the grass right outside their bedroom window! Hilltop food was as usual really first class – with the normal typical slow African service – there is never a hurry here in Africa!
I returned from their trip on a Friday and then on Saturday I left for 3 days with Lisbeth – a Danish exchange teacher. We had many discussions of all topics, having been a teacher myself, and this added the atmosphere of her exciting educational trip to South Africa. The highlight of Lisbeths safari must surely have been the lone bull elephant that was carefull stripping a tree of its bark and demolishing the other trees in its way or was it – the group of over 40 elephants, including a half dozen baby elephants that came to the one waterhole in Umfolosi? We sat for nearly an hour watching them drink and play around – really exciting. Then we rushed off to Emdoneni – where we were to spend out two nights and enjoyed Ian’s talk on the cheetah that he is breeding and watched him feed them as well. On the 2nd day, Lisbeth and I went into Hluhluwe and spent almost three hours at the one hide and watched as different groups of rhino, warthogs, zebra, impala, wildebeest and birds vamp down to the waterhole. We also spotted a leguan lizard and terrapin (which in the Oxford dictionary says “an edible freshwater turtle” !). We also visited the Dumazulu Cultural village on our way back, which was very interesting, as usual – great dancing this time and delicious food! I am hoping to meet more of the Danish teachers as this exchange programme that they are doing with the Indian and Black teachers here is an ongoing programme. “
With snow on the Drakensberg Mountains in April/May 1998, I reflected back on that period in “Deans Diary”:
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 4×4 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 4×4, 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.
For the full edition of Dean’s Diary, please visit my website: http://www.absafaris.co.za
From my May 1998 edition – which was written in June, during our “Durban Winter”!
I have just returned from a marvellous safari into Zululand with Carl, Emma, Gary and Anne – and they commented about the marvellous weather and could not believe that more tourists were not around – well, that is something I also find hard to believe – from April to August is the best time to visit our Game Reserves for game viewing and for some odd reason very few foreigners realise this – they come during our hot summer months and then do not enjoy as successful game viewing as they would if they came in our mild winter months! Sure our nights are chilly and you need to put a jersey or jacket on and if you are inland or in the mountains, a fleecy jacket is a big help, BUT the days are marvellous – we still walk around with T-shirts and shorts on and then about an hour before sunset, we start dressing up a bit warmer – come to Durban for our next winter holiday (or in most foreigners case – your summer holiday!)
Let me tell you about my most recent trip:
Carl and Gary are in the Royal Navy and those of you who are in South Africa will know that the HMS Cornwall has recently paid a visit to our shores after having been involved in the rescue and peace-keeping work in Sierra Leone. The HMS Cornwall is a large frigate that also has a helicopter. Carl is on the Maintenance team of the helicopter and plays an important role – no Carl, no helicopter repairs!! Gary, if my memory serves me correct, was with the electronic aids section – my apologies Gary if I am wrong. Well, during their 3 week visit to South Africa, these two guys had taken their leave and their partners had flown out from the UK for a 2 week holiday with their loved ones. The HMS Cornwall arrived in Walvis Bay for a short visit, then PE, followed by a visit to Cape Town. Emma and Anne flew out and met the chaps in Cape Town before flying up to Durban with Sun Air – which they were really impressed with. I met them at the airport, and then took them on a short guided tour to some of the attractions in and around Durban, including The Temple of Understanding, the Cato Manor informal housing scheme, the Berea, harbour breakwater and beach viewpoint, into the City centre for a bit of shopping and banking and then to the Cafe Fish for a pub lunch overlooking the yachts. We then departed up the scenic Sugar Coast for Shakaland.
On arrival at Shakaland we had a lovely cup of tea whilst enjoying the views over the Nkwalini valley followed by a cultural guided tour through this Zulu village with Enoch. Learning about the cultures and taditions of the Zulu nation is a real eye-opener and interesting.
Our tour ended with the tasting of traditional Zulu beer, which Carl really enjoyed. After a couple of drinks around a crackling fire, we then enjoyed a hearty tasty meal with Emma commenting on the many tasty new vegetables that she had never eaten before.
After dinner the Zulu dancers arrived and welcomed us to the chiefs main hut for an hour of drum-beating and foot-stamping Zulu Dancing. Anne proved to all that she was also capable of dancing when she accepted the chiefs invitation to join the Zulu maidens and dance with them!! What was really good was that Enoch explained what the different dancers were doing and saying – not often done at other cultural villages. Sadly we had to leave Shakaland and we drove the short distance to Mfuli Game Ranch – for our nights sleep and breakfast.
After breakfast we drove to the Ulundi Battlesite – where the final of the Anglo-Zulu war battles were held. With Carl and Gary being with the Royal Navy – this was obviously meaningful to them. Joining the gravel road we continued into Umfolosi Game Reserve passing one of the VERY long coal trains, en route to Richards Bay. The game viewing to Sontuli picnic site was successful with Rhino, Zebra, Giraffe, Kudu, Impala, Nyala, and Wildebeest being amongst the animals that we spotted. A traditional African Bundu Safaris picnic lunch was enjoyed by all, overlooking the Umfolosi river with 3 crocodiles and a rhino gracing the river banks. We continued our successful game viewing to Hilltop camp in Hluhluwe reserve, arriving there just before sunset. Large sections of the reserves were being burnt, as part of the vegetation control – the grass was very long and by burning it, and the weeds means that when the first rains appear there shall be lovely new green grass for the animals. I just hope the tortoises and slower insects move out of the way – one major disadvantage of fires!
As we arrived at Hilltop Gary had a message to phone the ship – bad news – the ship was sailing on Saturday or Friday and they had to get back in time!! Boy what a way to ruin a holiday. I was determined to make the most of their holiday and provide them with some exciting moments and happy memories. We all enjoyed a great dinner in the restaurant and some Zebras chose to visit the two couples chalets just before dinner as well!! Early the next morning we went on an exclusive 6am game drive with Freddy the game ranger. It was really an exciting trip – we came across buffalo, rhino, zebras, giraffe, impala, waterbuck, nyala and even 10 elephants which were drinking from the river a mere 12 metres away from us!!! Returning to Hilltop we ate a delicious and filling breakfast, followed by many phonecalls to rearrange flights etc and then we took our picnic lunch to the Theyeni Hide, which unfortunately was not visited by too many animals during the two hours that we sat there for. After an early dinner we bordered the larger truck with Freddy and many other guests for a night of game viewing – boy what a success we had – the nocturnal animals that we saw included striped genet cat, a hippo, buffalo, a family of 12 bush-pigs plus a barn owl, a dikkop bird and night jar. We obviously also saw many other animals that were either sleeping or which we had woken up!
Waking up the next morning, we enjoyed a final breakfast at Hilltop prior to a short visit to Emdoneni Ranch to view the cheetah and meet the tame Zebra and then continued to the Beira Mar restaurant for a tasty portuguese seafood lunch. We then continued to Durban International Airport for the sad farewell prior to the 5.40pm return flight to Cape Town.
Emma phoned me the next day and told me that the ship had sailed at 4pm and the helicopter had flown to C.T. international airport to await their arrival. Their excess luggage had been collected from their B & B in Cape Town, and so they sorted it out in the airport foyer, prior to Gary and Carl joining the helicopter and flying out to sea to join the ship which was a good 100 miles away from Cape Town, en route to West Africa again – I presumbe to Senegal where we hear of unrest at the moment. Emma had to buy another airticket as her flight was only scheduled for the 20 June and here she was in Cape Town on the 13th without her husband. Anne was still deciding whether to stay in Cape Town with some of the other wives and girlfriends and visit the Garden Route.
And so ended the Royal Navy’s trip, but I hope that they will be back and I can show them around some more of our beautiful country – read their comments in my Guest-book.
Two weeks ago a new event happened in my companies life – I employed a secretary. Alice is now running my office during my absence as business is picking up and I am away a lot more than in the past. Alice has a great knowledge of Southern Africa, having travelled around with her family and also is used to getting the best deals for her previous companies travelling clients. Welcome Alice – may your stay be long and prosperous. This development has also meant a need to expand my premises and so I have ordered a office to be constructed in my backyard – this neat little wooden office will serve us nicely and I am looking forward to Alice settling in neatly with all the office equipment.
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take two American students, Sara and Sacha on a day visit up Sani Pass and into Lesotho. They were both studying in Cape Town and were keen to meet some of the Basuto villagers and see their way of life – well, we left Durban at 6 in the morning and then met Jonathan at Himeville, having stopped at World’s View in Pietermaritzburg for a quick breakfast with stunning views over “the sleepy hollow” and our provincial capital. Jonathan has a new lengthened Landrover which proved very comfortable in ascending the pass to 2865 metres (9400 ft). We visited two of the villages in Lesotho and then enjoyed a scrumptous lunch in the Sani Top Chalet. We all decided to walk down the pass for a while and then Jonathan caught up to us and eventually we returned to Himeville and then the two ladies and I drove back to Durban.
Another young couple, Angi and TJ, from the States have just returned from a glorious two week trip from Cape Town to Johannesburg, via Durban and Swaziland with my cousins safari company. Today I had an e-mail from Angi and this is what they had to say:
“We just returned from our trip with your cousin’s company on Monday (the 8th) and we just wanted to thank you again for pointing us in their direction!! We had a wonderful trip! You certainly have a beautiful country!! There was such a variety of things to see and do. The guide that they sent was a man named Rupert from Pretoria and he was fantastic. It was the best vacation that we have ever had! The weather was beautiful, the scenery was magnificent, and even the food was delicious! When we were in the Kruger Park we were fortunate enough to see 2 lioness and to witness the capture of 2 bull elephants to be taken to the Pilanesberg game reserve. It was all around just a fabulous trip!! Thank you again so so much for telling us about the trip. We would love to come to Africa again some day and maybe next time we will be able to arrange it farther ahead so we could go with one of your groups. Hope that you are having a wonderful winter and all is well!”