A MEMORABLE HOLIDAY

My quote for the week is written by me - have a jolly good holiday every now and then. Here's the news about mine. I am adding to the pictures all the time, so I hope you enjoy.

It is quite a long read, but enjoyed writing it so I hope you enjoy reading it.

Regards
Nikki

A MEMORABLE HOLIDAY

By Nikki Viljoen
Photo’s by Sue Viljoen

Where do I start to tell the story, of what essentially, for me has been the holiday of a lifetime? I guess the most logical spot would be at the very beginning. That would be quite confusing though as the preparation and how things came about started long before the very beginning of the story.

Let’s see now . . . , it starts with possibly the most generous brother that a girl could have – mine. Tommy is five years younger than me (but he will always be my “baby” brother) and he and my sister-in-law, Sue live in Australia – Melbourne to be exact, with their two children Hannah (aged 8) and Joshua (aged 6). They left our African shores in the May of 2001 and this is their first trip home – the drums of Africa and all that. Anyway I digress. When they told me that they were coming out to Africa on holiday, they said that they would be spending some time in Zimbabwe (that’s where we were all born), some time with me and some time with my sister in Cape Town. The time with me would, however not be in Johannesburg as their intention was to be in the “bush”, so I would have to go with and at that point he offered to pay for my holiday. At the time, I thought we would be going to somewhere near the Kruger park and as I own timeshare and therefore could contribute, I was fine with the “I will pay for you” story. Understand that these negotiations started taking place almost a year ago, so at the time, it was no biggie.

E-mails (this was before I got my SKYPE) blazed a trail through cyberspace as we checked this resort against that one. There were some that were just too big, we wanted to spent quality time with each other without the rest of the world being present. Some did not allow children, some allowed children, but the children were not allowed on the game drives (how that makes any kind of sense is beyond me), and so on – the list goes on and on.

Then suddenly in January I got a mail from Sue to say the Tommy had made a decision about the holiday. Kruger was just too big with too many people. They had trawled the internet and found a game reserve called Madikwe and they wanted to go there. They gave me a list of the resorts there, that they thought may be suitable and the name of someone that they had spoken to and asked that I contact them and so the fun started.

I sent a mail off giving our details and our requirements and the dates that we wanted. The reply was for different dates, children could come with but not attend the game drives and here we go again. I must admit that at this point I lost it. I mean doesn’t anyone read and/or speak and/or understand English anymore? I mean if I am asking for the details of resorts that will take 3 adults and 2 children from date X to date Y and I want written confirmation that the children will be allowed to go on the game drives – why send me information on the places that cannot accommodate us on those specific dates and who don’t take children or take children but not on the game drives. To make things worse, I was hectic on the work front and working well into the night and over weekends to get work done and out on time and to meet my various deadlines.

Sue eventually came back to me and said that she had found a resort in Madikwe that met all of our requirements. It was called Tuningi and the web address was www.tuningi.co.za – they had tentatively booked and if I was okay with the spot then that is where we would be staying. I had a look and man-oh-man, the place sounded like paradise in the middle of heaven! It also sounded too good to be true – let’s face it, I have been to 5 star places here in Jozi that charge 5 star prices (as the waitron’s keep telling me when I query why a bottle of water costs R20.00) and have 1 star service! That and the cost of the place made me very weary. It was way over anything that I could afford and my time share did not work there at all! Tommy was adamant, this is where we were going and he would be treating me! I hummed and haa’d in my own head, battled with my conscience and eventually had an argument with all the other parties in my head (I am a Gemini you see and there are many parts to me) and somewhere along the line, I accepted his extremely generous offer. I would be going on holiday with them. By this time I was all connected up to SKYPE and had had chats with the kids who were extremely excited about coming to Africa on holiday, meeting me in the flesh (they were too young to remember me when they left in 2001) and most of all seeing all the animals.

Slowly the excitement started to build up in me as I frantically worked to get everything done before “D” (departure) day and by that time I had notified everyone who would listen to me, my entire data base, my colleagues at my networking groups (the Inner Circle – www.innercircleforum.com and Business Warriors – www.businesswarriors.co.za) and my blog – www.whenrealitybites.blogspot.com) of my impending holiday and of this paradise in the middle of heaven called Tuningi Lodge. You see, I own my own business and it consists of . . . me, so if I am not working, it means that I am not earning. So Viljoen Consulting (www.viljoenconsulting.co.za) would have to do without me for a whole week.

Slowly but also incredibly fast the time arrived when the family arrived in South Africa. The plan was they would be arriving on the 14th of February, they would be staying at a spot near the airport as they would be leaving early the next morning for Zimbabwe and a week on a house boat. I would be having dinner with them – at the last minute I decided to surprise them and meet them at the airport.

I phoned the airport to ascertain if the flight was on time and was told that it had been delayed – because the airport is on the other side of the world from me, I decided to get there anyway and then I could read my book or whatever as I waited. When I arrived at the airport, the board also indicated that the plane was delayed and as I looked up I saw them coming through the doors into the general public who were all waiting for there arriving friends and family. Oh well – this is Africa!

They were pleasantly surprised and as soon as Joshua realized that I was his “Nikki Noo” the catapulted into my arms and kissed and hugged me excitedly. Now for the best bit – their luggage, even without them in the car, my car – a Nissan Sentra – would not have been able to manage all the luggage! It looked like they were immigrating with the huge mountain of stuff. So Tommy and Sue and the luggage went to the hotel in a micro bus and the kids came with me, chattering all along the way.

One of the first questions out of Joshua’s mouth was “will we see any animals?” and then the second one was “how cold is the snow at Kariba?” Very confusing I know, but then that is my brother’s sense of humour – he had told them that there was going to be snow at Kariba! I played along! They wanted to know how big my home was – I told them that it was very small and that I had arranged for two flag poles to be erected off my balcony, and two hammocks for them to sleep on and we would have to secure them into the hammocks so that they wouldn’t fall out into the garden! They were keen to sleep in the hammocks! Tommy and Sue endorsed this, both trying to keep straight faces.

By this time the kids (and their respective parentals) were exhausted, having started their journey many hours before at 4am the previous day (their time) to travel from Melbourne to Sydney and then from Sidney to Jozi, and I left them with the promise of collecting them at the airport the following Wednesday.

The week flew past in a flash, with me attending networking dinners, and networking meetings and running around like a mad person trying to get everything done in time. My friend Merrill who has recently returned from Brazil was staying with me, to look after my home and my 3 cats, Rasputin (17), Babushka (7) and Deushka (My Darling in Russian – 2) as well as starting up her own business which is Dressmaking.

The 21st eventually arrived and I scuttled off to the airport to “collect” the family – well half of the family anyway, as the rest would be travelling by taxi! An exhausted but happy family came through from customs, and technically – my holiday had started. Due to the time of their arrival – 4.30pm on a weekday and therefore in the middle of the rush hour traffic, we elected to have a drink and relax and wait for the bulk of the rush to die down before attempting the ride home. We eventually left the airport at around 7pm and started the great trek, with Tommy and the luggage going by taxi.

We dined out that night and everyone was up at the crack of dawn the next day, ready and eager to be on our way to the resort. The taxi, eventually arrived and off we went to “Hanger 14” at the airport.

We boarded this really cool little 14 seater plane and everything was pretty relaxed. Apart from the Viljoen family there was one other couple on the plane and we were on our way.

Day One – 22 February 2007

We did the touch down thing on a gravel road in the middle of no-where. Waiting to meet us were a whole bunch of people , a game viewing vehicle and a micro bus type van. We were bundled into the vehicles, after checking that all the bags had travelled with us and off we went on about a 10 minute drive to the Lodge. The temperature was in the lower 40’s and the kids were excited about the prospect of a swim in the pool. Tommy started the whole ball rolling by telling them that there was no pool at the resort and the driver (who we discovered later was a ranger by the name of Gavin) enforced this saying there was a pool of sorts, but it was the one where the elephants “peed” – two very disappointed kids, who were not quite sure what to believe at this point – they had discovered, you will remember that there was no snow at Kariba – ever!

We bundled into the main lodge where we were greeted by what seemed to be the entire staff and there was lots of shaking of hands and exchanging of names, before we were given the ‘run down’ by Bennie who appeared to be the “chief guest greeter”. The days were to happen on a schedule. The day started at around 5am where we would meet at the Lodge to have coffee and rusks before going on the first game drive. We would get back at around 10 to 10.30 and breakfast would be served. After breakfast we could do as we pleased, swim (yes there was a beautiful swimming pool off the main deck of the lodge that faced the watering hole, where animals could be viewed), watch the birds, read, sleep or whatever. “Lunch” would be served around 3 to 3.30pm and it would usually be in the Lodge itself. After lunch we would be off on another game drive. We return to the Lodge at around 8 to 8.30 pm at which time dinner would be served.

Once we were aware of what was in store for us, we were taken to out rooms. We had a family unit type set up with two huge bedrooms both leading off a family, lounge type room. The kitchen was behind the lounge and in front of the lounge was a huge deck, all under thatch that ran the entire length of the unit. The bedrooms were huge, with a beautiful 4 poster king size bed that faced a huge double sliding door and countless more windows that looked straight at the kopie in front of us. Around the corner from the bedroom was the bathroom (each bedroom has it’s own bathroom en suite). A big bath, (one of those that fits two people quite comfortably) dominated the room, with a loo behind another door and again windows all around – talk about taking a bath in nature! Another sliding door, off the side of the bathroom led onto the shower area, under God’s blue sky and out in the open of the veldt. I had one of these all to myself and Tommy and Sue had to share one with the kids on two camp beds. I certainly think I got the better end of this deal!

We unpacked, settled in and walked from the very cool interior of the air conditioned bedrooms into the sweltering mid-day heat on the deck. Tommy organised drinks for the fridge in the kitchen and we all relaxed and took in the beauty of the African Bush that surrounded us. Within minutes, troops of baboons filled our view with babies hanging from their mothers bodies, up in the trees and onto the rocks. We all had fun peering at them through the binoculars and with Sue taking pictures. Sue loves to take photo’s and has a whole bag full of lens and other photographic equipment and paraphernalia and she has the patience to sit for absolutely ages to get the perfect photo opportunity. Have a look at my photograph site on www.flickr.com to see the photo’s. I am sure that you will agree that they are absolutely gorgeous. Well done Sue!

At 3.30pm sharp we went off to the dining area and had a snack type lunch and then one of the waiters came around with his list of what we would like our sundowners to be. Within a few minutes we were summoned to the game viewing vehicle and off we went. Grant was our driver and he have us the rules of the vehicle. If we spot the big five, now jumping up and down like a lunatic, no loud noises, no sudden movements, no standing up in the vehicle, no getting out of the vehicle. Children to be very quiet!

Off we went driving around – I cannot for the life of me remember the order of the sightings of the animals but I will give you my best recollection of what we saw:

There were three young lion (the native name being Tau) cubs, who had been “hidden” by their mother whilst she went off to hunt. In the heat of the day they were lying in the shade and were at best very difficult to see because of the way in which they had camouflaged themselves. Fantastic!
There was a huge herd of elephants (the native name being Thlou) with a very large female matriarch in charge – she was humongous! We drove past this black mamba (the native name for snake being InFezi), who had clearly gotten the fight of his life and was trying to outrun the vehicle in the bush along side the road. He was extremely fast and the next thing he slithered into this huge hole – he went in so fast we actually heard him bashing himself against the walls of the hole. There were various members of the antelope family such as Kudu (the native name being Tholo), Zebra (the native name being Pitse), Impala (the native name being Pala) and many different types of birds (the native name being Inoyoni) that both Tommy and Sue seemed to recognise and Grant definitely knew. Grant kept up a constant chat, with interesting information on each of the animals, birds and even tree species that we asked questions on.

As the sun started to set, Grant stopped the vehicle and set out the table, with a table cloth – drinks came out (on this evening in the form of beers – remember the heat factor) and several snacks that included biltong, sweets and other delectable’s. Grant’s first comment as we stopped was “every tree is a lava –tree. Needless to say the kids did their best to provide moisture for the parched ground and several of the adults tried their best too.

Once we all had been ‘fed and watered’ we bundled back into the vehicle and off we went to one of the watering holes where we spotted a lone Giraffe (the native name being Thutlwa). Against the African sunset, he was a beautiful silhouette and we were all stunned to silence at the beauty that we were witnessing.

Off we trundled again and before long we were on this dirt road going, home (or back the Lodge, which was to be home for the next 5 nights), I think and we almost drove into a male lion (the native name being Tau) who was sauntering in the middle of the road like he was drugged. He did not seem to mind us being there and in fact did not seem to be in any kind of hurry as he sauntered into the bush on the side of the road. In a flash Grant was onto the radio telling everyone what we had seen, using all the native names for the animals as he had done the entire evening – very confusing for us as we had no idea what we were going to see. Off the road we bumped into the bush and then next thing we saw was a carcass of a huge Eland (we later found out that it was about 700 kgs) and lying almost within spitting distance was another huge male lion, just then the lion that we had seen on the road sauntered up, not even looking at us he collapsed in a heap a few meters from his brother and was out for the count – here in the bush, this is known as a ‘flat fat cat!’.

The story goes that these two guys had made the kill in the early hours of the morning and had now eaten their fill (for the moment)(adult male lions or Tau eat anything up to 40kilos of meat at any one sitting). They of course had gorged themselves and were so full that they could not move – hence the “flat” fat cats. That also explained the reason for the saunter in a drunken fashion!

We were spell bound, all chattering away in whispers and the camera’s clicking and flashes flashing as we all tried to capture the moment on film. What an experience! It was mind blowing!

After a while, when the film taking appetites had abated somewhat, we left the spot, with a promise from Grant that we would return in the morning, in fact we were going to leave extra early so as to beat the crowd! You see the rule is that there are no more than 3 vehicles at a spot at the same time.

Tired, but also excited we arrived back at the lodge, hot and sweaty to be greeted at the front door, with ice cold wet face cloths! We sure did need them and I certainly could get used to this kind of treatment!

Dinner was out on the deck, the children were put to bed and Tommy and I chatted until both of us were so tired we were falling asleep on our feet.

The bed was huge and very comfortable and the air con kept the temperature just right for sleeping.

Day two – 23rd February 2007

Up at 4.45am, with Grant knocking on the door and waking Tommy up, who came and woke me up. Walking half asleep to the Lodge in the cool morning air for coffee and rusks.

Tommy took a walk down to the boma, which is meters away from the watering hole and rushed back. There was a lion at the watering hole and he did not feel at all safe. Grant went back down with him and there was one of the lions that we had seen the night before drinking.

We all bundled into the vehicle and off we went to the site of the kill, where we had left the lions gorged to the hilt the night before. The one male was lying, conked out – like he hadn’t moved the whole night. Stealing bit’s of meat while keeping a careful watch on what the lions were doing was a jackal (the native name being Phokotwe) and trying to sneak up, but lacking in courage was a spotted hyena (the native name being Phiri) and even on the periphery was a very timid brown hyena (the native name being Tswana). The jackal very quickly left the site when the one male came sauntering back from the water hole and fell in a heap meters away from the slain Eland.

Leaving the site of the kill we drove around and spotted the usual array of bird life and antelope. We found the elephants again – my they are magnificent creatures. So majestic. On the way back to the Lodge we came upon another black mamba. This one was on the road and it was slithering towards us at a great speed. Grant immediately stopped the vehicle, suspecting that he had run over the snake and as I peered over the edge of the door, the mamba slithered out from underneath me. Silently it slithered into the bush and was lost from site. Tommy got the fright of his life, unlike me he is a bit nervous of snakes!

Back at the lodge we tucked into a fantastic breakfast. There was the usual array of cereals and yogurts. There was a variety of cold meats and cheeses and we could also order a hot breakfast as well. We certainly not going to starve on this trip!

After breakfast I had my first outdoor shower – it was great and the feeling of the sun and a gentle breeze on my skin was reminiscent of my mis-spent youth on the nudist beach down on Sandy Bay in Cape Town – it’s been almost 30 years since I enjoyed that particular sensation and I must say I enjoyed it now just as much as I enjoyed it then. After my shower, I curled up on the bed, to read my book you understand, and woke up just before 3pm. Just in time for lunch.

Our evening game drive took us back to the lions and their kill. They were still hovering around the carcass of the Eland, which is seriously starting to smell very bad. We had a brief rain shower earlier in the afternoon, and the air is thick and heavy with the promise of more rain. The lions, still gorged from eating lie almost like little kittens around the food bowel, not hungry – but also not letting anything or anyone near what they consider to be their theirs.

The game seemed to be few and far between and we saw very little of anything. Just before sunset we did the ‘sun downer’ thing and then as it got dark and Grant switched on his light – there they were – many eyes, glowing like coals in the night sky . . a whole herd of Cape Buffalo. What a sight! Huge big bulls and young males and females, chomping their way through the grass, moving slowly all in the same direction. As I closed my eyes to memorise the beauty of what I was seeing, my imagination kicked in and I imagined the prairie’s in America and what the tundra must have been like when the settlers came across the herds of buffalo’s that numbered in the thousands – what a splendid sight that must have been.

So now we had seen 3 out of 5 of the “Big Five”, but the rhino and the leopard were still being evasive. Oh well, never mind – still 3 nights to get before I would get back to the hustle and bustle of my normal life.

We had another great dinner, when we got back from our drive – again under the African skies on the deck of the Lodge. Again Tommy and I were able to chat, and catch up on family stuff as Sue and the kids went to bed.

Day 3 – 24th February

The pattern emulated the day before, with us getting up long before dawn to have coffee and rusks and to get onto the vehicles and onto the road.

This morning was different though – our first port of call was our friends the lions and their kill. They had clearly feasted again during the night and the carcass was getting smaller and smaller and smellier and smellier! This morning however, they gave us a sight to remember. The one lion started off on his stomach, growling and then calling. The other responded. The first one got to his feet and stretched his body out like a cat and called to the females, telling them of the catch and indicating where they are. The calls came from deep within his belly and as he called the vapour from around his mouth and nose sprayed out in front of him. It is a sound that I have often heard in the bush and even when staying with my friend Jeanne-Marie, who lives in a cottage on the zoo premises, but this is the first time that I have seen it.

Grant then took us to see a wild dog in the elephant boma. The story goes that there were actually a pair of them, but they did not integrate into the rest of the pack. It is apparently impossible for a pair to live, hunt and bring up pups by themselves and they themselves would eventually fall prey to hyena and the like. In view of the fact that wild dogs are an ‘endangered species’ the decision was made to relocate them to a different reserve, in the hope that they would integrate successfully. This was also a first for me! I have often seen wild dogs in the zoo – but never in the wild. They have such beautiful markings on them – makes for great camouflage though.

All though this both Tommy and Sue were ‘spotting’ the different birds and because the “Viljoens” would be the only ones in the vehicle for the evening drive (all the other fellow guests pertaining to Grant’s vehicle would be leaving during the course of the day and there were no new ones expected until the following day), the decision was made for Grant to take Tommy and Sue to a “hide” so that they could spot the birds to their heart’s content. Birds to me are purely that – creatures with wings that fly. There are big ones, medium ones and small ones. There are even ones that don’t fly – so for me this would be a painful exercise. I elected to stay behind and do the ‘babysitting’ thing! As I said before, I barely knew both my niece and nephew and this would be the idea opportunity to bond with them!

So off Tommy and Sue went, and later heard that not only had they seen a wealth of bird life (Tommy wanted to spot and identify at least 100 by the end of our stay) but they had also had a great encounter with a beautiful leopard. I just hope Sue remembers to send me a copy of the video that she took!

Anyway back to the littlies – Tommy and Sue don’t believe in the smacking of bottoms but have a “time out” thing instead that seems to work. They count to 3 and if the child has not done the required thing by that time a “time out” is given as a form of punishment. Both Hannah and Joshua had been in the pool the whole afternoon, whilst I was napping and were clearly exhausted, but like most children – they intended to have lots of fun testing the boundaries of their Nikki Noo. So when the parentals left they were both in their respective camp beds preparing to have a nap of their own, whilst I was in front of the computer (withdrawal symptoms you understand and some articles for the Women’s Inc magazine that I am currently writing for – check it out on www.everywoman.co.za). Pretty soon, I had the first delegation in the form of Hannah, dying of thirst, wanting tea – told her water would be good. Then came the second delegation in the form of Joshua, dying of thirst, wanting tea – told him water would be good. Then the third delegation of both of them, dying of thirst and their need of tea to revive themselves – told them water or nothing! They were so dying of thirst that they chose . . . . nothing!

I went into the bedroom and there they were, like the little rascals that children often are, bouncing around their camp beds, no nap in sight! I tried the one. . . two . . . no response – clearly that wasn’t going to work for me, so I split them up – Hannah on the camp bed and Joshua on the parental’s bed. Much protesting, but then they settled down . . . for as long as it took me to close the door and sit down in front of the laptop again. Within seconds, shrieks of laughter was coming from the room again. This time I decided that the rule of “divide and conquer” was definitely the route to go. So Hannah stayed in the parental bedroom and Joshua went off to mine, again amidst huge protests and threats of tears. Within seconds all protests had died down and peace reigned all around. I went back to the computer and my article – about 5 minutes later, hearing nothing at all, I got up to investigate. Both little monsters fast asleep, without a care in the world. In fact when I tried to wake them up again at sunset, it was a no-go and I had the same result when I tried again at about 7pm and again at 8pm. Tommy and Sue managed to get them up, on their return, long enough for them to eat and then return to bed where they slept again until morning. I guess all the excitement and long days and nights were finally catching up and the littlies were really exhausted and tired.

That night we feasted down at the boma, with soft lights great food, good wine and much chatting. Again Sue went off to bed early and Tommy and I sat and chatted until late into the night. Despite the fact that we communicate on quite a regular basis and that I send letters at least once a month, there was still so much that needed to be said and I am grateful to Sue for allowing us to spend some time together to talk about things that brothers and sisters, who care about each other but live far apart, need to talk about.

Day 4 – 25th February 2007

Oh my, what a drive we had this morning! We, as well as many of the other game vehicles from other resorts, chased the two male lions, from the kill (Thabo and Sephiri). They were moving in the dense bush and we followed, bouncing over the rough terrain, driving over thorn bushes and the like. They seemed to be in no particular hurry and neither did they seem to have any specific direction that they wanted to go in. Leaving them to their meander, we went off looking for Rhino (the native name being Tshukudu). Grant followed the spoors and we came around a corner and there they were on the right hand side, just off the road. Driving up to the water hole, we saw another lone bull rhino, coming up over the ridge to drink. The spotting of several elephants, concluded our sightings of the ‘big five’ for the morning. There was still an abundance of the various antelopes, hares, warthog and bird sightings though and we returned to the lodge in our now familiar routine for breakfast and a nap until lunch time.

The evening drive, right on time too us back to the watering hole where again encountered several rhino and the elephants at the watering hole.
The elephants, were quite a large group, with a really small baby – Grant told us that the baby was less than a month old, and he was really cute playing with his trunk. It actually looked like he had no idea what to do with it! Very amusing to all of us I might add. After dark we managed to watch the two male lions ‘stalking’ a group of wildebeest. Grant commented that they were not really hungry having just finished the huge Eland that was now no more than a small pile of bones, but that lions are opportunistic creatures who will kill, even if they are not hungry, if the opportunity presents itself. Eventually, they obviously decided that it was far too much trouble to try and actually catch the wildebeest and they concluded our evening, by performing their incredible call – stating quite clearly to all concerned, who they were and more to the point, where they were!

On our way to the lions though, we happened upon a huge “boomslang” lying in a tree. Grant huge hunting light highlighted it’s eyes and we stopped for Sue to take the photo’s and to get our brief. Grant told us that the male boomslang is the bright green colour that we were looking at, but that the female boomslang is brown in colour. Grant also said that this is the largest one he has ever seen. Boomslang is one of the snakes that can be fatal if you are bitten, and with that in mind we left.

Dinner was out on the deck in the open again, and Tommy and I talked late into the night, with Sue leaving with the children to grab a good night’s sleep.

Day 5 – 26th February 2007

A beautiful morning again! Africa certainly knows how to get her hooks into you! Sue has been taking photo’s of the beautiful sunrises and some of them will be posted. Magnificent!

I saw my first waterbuck (the native name being Amanzibok) of the trip, with the telltale white ring around their rears. Fantastic. We also saw a huge herd of giraffe – there must have been about 10 or 11 of these magnificent creatures all together. Off we went in search of the lions and boy did we find them. Two young males, hungry for food, but also stupid in their youth. The stalked and ran, then rested and stalked and at the end we gave up on them and left. This was our longest game drive by far, being about 7 hours in total. The children were really good, keeping very quiet so as not to frighten any of the game and eventually just falling asleep as we sat, patiently waiting for the these two to do something about their grumbling stomachs. Eventually, completely frustrated at their lack of hunting skills we left to go back to the lodge. We were to leave much later in the day that evening. I decided that it would be a good idea for Tommy and Sue to have some more time to themselves and opted to do the babysitting thing again. We all napped and just before it was time to leave, all met at the lodge for a very late lunch.

Tommy and Sue left with the others and I again set up my computer to continue with my articles for the magazine. The children sat happily eating their dinner and then proudly announced that they were going to bed – it was 18.30! To get up to some sort of mischief I was sure, so instead they sat on the floor playing chess, next to table that I was using in the dining room of the lodge. Have you ever watched a 6 year old and an 8 year old playing chess? What an experience! I have never been a keen chess player but I do know the rules (sort of) and have some sort of idea of how the game is played. Watching them work out moves and then executing them with precision was a delightful experience as I am sure that you can understand. Just after 8pm, gave in and let them wander off to bed and a few minutes later everyone came back from the drive.

Again I had missed out on something really special. The elephants having a mud bath and playing together in the mud. Tommy said that it was really clear that they were having great fun! After making sure that they children were fine, we all sat down to dinner together. This was our last night at the resort. Half way through dinner, the native staff of Tuningi came out in costumes full of colour to sing for us. The grabbed at guests and had them up dancing and singing along in and out of the tables. What a lovely ending to 5 of the best nights of my life, with my family, on holiday. It was decided that the children would stay asleep and in bed, whilst we went off for the game drive the following morning. Hannah in particular, is not a morning person and the sleep would do her good.

Day 6 – 27th February 2007

The family had seen the big five, but we were still keen to see a ‘black rhino’. Grant took us in a completely different direction in the hope that we would see one. The spoor was there, fresh as was the spoor of a leopard, but although we searched high and low, we were not graced with even a peep at the elusive creatures. We all turned our attention to Tommy’s target of spotting 100 different species of birds on this trip and seeing that he was only a few off target we all banded together to assist him in his endeavours. Amidst great laughter, every one on the vehicle ‘spotted’ and pointed out birds in every direction and I am pleased to say that he did make target.

On returning to the lodge for our last meal, we found a very off colour Joshua – seems he had a tummy bug of sorts and he was really wasn’t his usual cheerful self.

It was with sadness that we bid goodbye to all the staff, who had taken such good care of us. Heidi the General manager in particular and the children’s favourite Connie (who I am sure let them get away with all sorts of mischief when she babysat them). Smiles of sadness on their faces and even a few glistening eyes ( I swear that some of the staff had fallen in love with Joshua). Hugs and kisses all round and then some more hugs we said our farewells and climbed aboard the vehicle for the last time as it took us to the airstrip. Hastily we exchanged business cards and then said our farewells to Grant who had shown us an amazing array of animals and birds and taught us so much about not only the wild life but also the trees and in the case of Tommy and Sue, even the stars.

I can’t wait for the next opportunity for me to go into the bush to experience the wonders that we here in Africa are so privileged to have.

And so it was back to the reality of my world, here in Johannesburg – the city that I have grown to love in the almost 30 years that I have lived here. Back to the sadness of farewells as I said goodbye to my wonderfully generous brother and his equally wonderful wife and two children that I had really grown to love in the few days that I had been with them. Back to frenetic pace of my life.

How do I thank these people that I have the honour of calling – not only My Family, but also who on this trip have become My Friends?

Thank you guys, I love you!