Drakensberg Nov 30 to Dec 4

We spent another restful weekend with Elize, Eugene and Cindy in PE, where we relaxed, went to the beach to fly a kite, met friendly neighbours, braai’d and played Trivial Pursuit. Monday morning was a very sad departure as it was so much fun to be together for the month, especially outside the work environment of Dubai that had initially brought us together. We hope that we will get Elize over to Aus soon!

On Monday we landed in Durban greeted by grey skies and drizzle – little did we know that this was to be the prevailing weather pattern over the next three weeks, although it was meant to be “the hottest part” of our trip. We had planned to spend a few days relaxing on the north coast but the rain drove us into the Drakenberg (“the Berg” as Durbanites call it).

We stayed at an unusual place called The Antbear in the Central Drakenberg between Estcourt and Mooi River, on a small domestic farm run by Connie and John, who were full of personality and very entertaining. The farm was filled with animal life, ridgebacks, pigs, chickens, horses, mules, donkeys and sheep happily settled with caring owners. John’s dad Bruce is a carpenter and each chalet had all of its doors, window panes and furniture handmade by Bruce and John – with unusual fixtures and fittings. Breakfasts and dinners were communal with homemade breads, scones and puddings. The evening banter was fun with conversations concerning London life, the climate, South African (and world!) politics. During the days the clouds eventually lifted and so we managed a couple of hikes - one to a rock art site in Kamberg with beautiful views of hills and waterfalls rivalling the Lake District. The art itself was fascinating – painted by the San bushman with eland blood mixed with fat and charcoal or ochre the figures depicted hunting scenes of eland and medicine men. The eland was regarded as the staff of life both physically ad spiritually for the bushman providing food, warmth and inner peace. Of course the bushman was wiped out by the white settlers and only some descendants remain. We also ventured deeper into the Central Berg to Giants Castle hiking through fields full of bird and insect life to the songs of crickets. Unfortunately time ran out and we never visited the famous Amphitheatre further north – listed as one of those 500 things to do before you die so I guess we can’t die yet J.

Addo Week 4 Nov 21 to 28

The week started quietly enough with a day of driving around the Game Reserve digging up broken pipes and fixing them, the ground was like concrete - given the choice the Namibian Desert is the number one choice for digging! Tuesday was a roasting day with 42 degree heat and no cloud cover. Standing in the back of the ute driving through the most inhospitable parts of the Park by a driver who had yet to discover the brake was a hideous experience. Anyway the day ended and we just had time for a quick shower before we were off again for ‘Sundowners’ at the Top of The World. This involved another 4 wheel drive trip up into rhino country to have drinks, watch the sunset and say farewell to Kendal the Elephant Research Assistant who had been so kind to Nikki and I. Allowing us to accompany her on her research trips and patiently explaining who was who in the various Ellie Groups.
We were up and about by 4.30am the next morning ready for a trip to Bird Island - a sanctuary for Gannets and Penguins situated 8k off the coast. It is home to two thirds of the world’s nesting gannets. It measures less than one hectare and its highest point is 9 metres above sea level. It has highly restricted access and forms part of SanParks’ responsibilities.
We were met by our skipper for the day - Krooz, a front row forward of immense proportions with a smiley and boyish demeanour ‘solid and dependable’ are words that immediately spring to mind.
The boat that was to take us to Bird Island is operated by the Anti Poaching Unit of SanParks - it is powered by two 200 HP engines and is the fastest boat in South Africa. It was Krooz’s pride and joy. Far too late we discovered Krooz was serious adrenalin junky. The boat consisted of a rigid hull with rubber gunwales, there were 8 seats on which you sat astride similar to a pillion passenger on a motorbike, in front a curved chrome handle to hold.
We were given a safety briefing and then provided with life vests (fair enough) but why helmets? We boarded in the calm of the Sunday River estuary. Surrounded by beautiful sand dunes and the occasional cry of sea birds - it was idyllic. Peace was shattered by the amazing roar of the twin Yamaha engines and we literally took off from the jetty and zipped across the top of the glass like surface weaving in and out of sand banks, semi submerged logs (Krooz later said we had got up to 95k per hour) lots of fun we thought to ourselves. We had been told in Krooz’s Afrikaans accent that the next bit might be ‘a little Hair rraising’. It involved going into the open sea from the estuary and crashing through massive breakers which would put Bells Beach to shame....it was exhilarating as the boat was airborne a lot of the time with the engines screaming in the open air, the bone crunching whack as we launched ourselves from one wave to the next was enough to shatter all the teeth in your mouth.
Once out and passed the waves we ran parallel with the coast. This part of the coast is all part of the expanded Addo National Park and consists of one of the world’s largest coastal dune fields - miles and miles of beautifully sculptured white sand dunes of amazing design and size. On and on we went for at least one and half hours we were joined by dolphins leaping joyfully in the air and got within 25m of a gently rolling Humpback whale. The sea had a sizable swell; we just crashed our way through. Bird Island is surrounded by semi submerged rocks, the wind was strongish so getting in was a tricky operation.
Bird Island consists of some derelict building, some rude accommodation for the Anti Poaching Unit and the odd researcher, a lighthouse, hundreds of African Penguins, and thousands upon thousands of gannets.
The Penguins were moulting so spent their time standing still and looking rather dishevelled. Occasionally the ones with their new water proof plumage would waddle along the rocks and gracefully pop into the sea.
We wandered around and sat in the sun. We were waiting for the technicians to fix the island’s generators. At long last they appeared ready to return to the mainland.
For the return trip we had an additional passenger, a rather selfish French researcher who elbowed his way on board clutching his laptop to his chest. The only other change was the weather. The wind had picked up and the waves had increased in power,size and frequency.
Rather than returning along the coast we first had to go further out to Le Croix Island to pick up 3 Rangers who had been doing a penguin census.
The trip was intensely frightening. There is a saying ‘there are no atheists in a foxhole’ there were certainly no atheists on our boat. The waves were 15 feet above the boat, the wind was in excess of 40 knots per hour, the voyage went on and on and on. Crashing down time after time between the crests of the waves, water surging and breaking over the boat until we were soaked to the skin, low visibility. At one stage Krooz slowed it down turned to us and offered us the chance to return to the shore and be dropped off. Only the Frenchman voted for this!! Over ruled by the majority on we went....
Finally Le Croix appeared, disappeared ,then appeared as we went up and down in the swell. The island was no more than a rock sticking out in the sea. We were unable to approach the jetty as it was far too dangerous. So we signalled to the 3 forlorn figures to move to the opposite side of the island. There was no place to dock. One guy was so scared he had to be pulled off the rock face where he was hanging on like a limpet, and bodily thrown onto the front of the boat.
The return to the Estuary mouth was dangerous with a huge surging following sea and breaking waves it only needed a wave to be misjudged and we would have flipped over lengthways. We didn’t and when we finally got our feet onto dry land it was with immense relief.
The last we saw of the frog he was crouching in the back of a ute clutching a soaking wet computer bag.
Up early the next day we had been invited by the Conservation Manager for a trip in his UltraLite. The sun was just peeping through when we took off. We quartered the Park and after 20 or so minutes were rewarded with the sight of one of the shyest animals in Africa the black rhino. In fact we spotted four. The flight was lots of fun with a no nonsense approach.
Our final day we visited the Woody Cape Section of the park which encompasses the Dune Fields, it is fun to run helter skelter down a 100m sand dune. We also managed a 7k hike in the woods.
So that was our time at Addo, a special place in the hearts of many South Africans and a success story on elephant conservation.

Addo Week 3 Nov 14 to 21

Another super weekend was spent with Elize and Eugene. We motored up to The Crags, on the Garden Route, where we visited Birds of Eden and Monkeyland. Birds of Eden is the world’s largest free flight aviary – a feat of engineering housing 100s of re-homed birds. Monkeyland is also a sanctuary housing squirrel, capuchin, howler and vervet monkeys as well as gibbon and lemur. They all swing about freely in a forest surrounded by an electric fence that keeps the baboons out more than the monkeys in. Courtesy of Elize and Mantis we overnighted in a luxurious villa at Lake Pleasant where the restaurant served us in our own dining room. Sunday was rather gloomy day on which we relaxed, walked on the beach and poor Elize drove us home in the pouring rain.
We arrived back at Addo on a very cold and blustery Monday morning where we were treated to more fence patrol on which we saved at least 2 tortoises.
The rest of the week was spent taking down fences which involved hard manual labour in the hot African sun. Lugging great timber poles and chucking them onto the back of trucks, tortuously untying wire bindings whilst avoiding electric fencing. Nikki became an ace at tossing the caber.
One morning we were up at 430am for a trip with the Lion and Buffalo Researcher. Tracking these animals via a radio signal connected to collars on the lions and some buffs. His research is two pronged...the dietary analysis of lions which involved the collection of lion dung (what is it about animal researchers and their attraction to dung??)...they like meat. And the behavioural change to the Buffalo herd in response to the introduction of lions into their environment...apparently they form defensive groups and repel the attacking lions.
We successfully located 4 lions one with a fresh kill of kudu which it was jealously guarding. Interestingly given the dense undergrowth in Addo the male lion is not the laid back sheik of the savanna but actually earns his keep and hunts for himself.
One of the highlights of the week was a side trip to another part of the Addo National Park called Zuurburg Mountains where we undertook a 4 hour hike in the most glorious surroundings high above the surrounding countryside, there was not a lot of game to see but we did come across a secretive little bush buck doing its thing in the undergrowth. It was hot and we got through 5 litres of water between us.
The weekend was spent relaxing in PE with Elize and her Mum and brother we had a Braai (bbq) on both evenings the second of which was locally caught squid mmmm delicious. One of Elize’s friends runs a fleet of squid boats out of PE most of which is exported to Greece and Spain. Sunday morning saw us tucking into the best pork sausages known to mankind at the Shamwari Townhouse a boutique hotel with the superb decor and food, well done Elize!
Sunday evening saw us return for our last week at Addo...little did we realize what was in store for us.

Addo Week 2 Nov 8 to 13

The weekend was amazing. Our friend Elize works for Mantis Collection, who co-own Shamwari Game Reserve, with Dubai World. Shamwari is a 5 star Game Park located only 40k from Addo. We stayed in a private house on top of a hill overlooking part of the reserve. The house was colonial to its bootstraps including full size snooker table. From the lush manicured lawns we gazed over a herd of zebra, blessbok (so called as they make a noise like a sneeze) and wildebeest. During our game drive we watched white rhino including a baby and saw a brown hyena – very rare. We dined magnificently on Kudu and generally enjoyed a weekend of luxury. Come Sunday evening it was time to return to our rudimentary living at Addo. The week was full of exciting and interesting activities.
After two days of “Fence Patrol” (which nearly drove Nikki to distraction from boredom) we joined the Rhino researcher for a day and drove (well – bumped) through the most inaccessible areas of Addo high in the hills. The purpose was to collect the results of a number of hidden cameras which had been placed in strategic locations near waterholes and along game trails. The purpose of the camera traps was to monitor herd and their movements, especially in areas where there were predators and no predators so that the “before and after could be compared. The results of such research will help determine the optimum number of predators to release in a new area. It was surprisingly exciting downloading the photos to see what had passed by over the previous 48 hours.....a sleeping rhino, a secretive aardvark, wandering kudu, quizzical baboons were all revealed. It was like spying on a private world. Jordi, the researcher squealed with delight when a photo showed a particular female rhino whom she had not seen for 2 years and thought had died or been poached - it even had a new baby. We helped collect rhino dung from which tests reveal pregnancy, testosterone levels and even stress - these were carefully packed away like precious jewels.
A night of “hyena calling” was also on the agenda. We left camp to enter the park at around 6.30pm – complete with warthog carcass and lion/hyena recordings in our buckie. Hyena calling is where you “call” the hyena to a carcass tied to the ground, with the aid of hyena, warthog and lion call recordings, and so the hyena should start getting used to being near a vehicle which will make darting easier in future when the animals are collared. The sunset drive was super with elephant, buffalo and kudu sightings. We drove around 30kms into the game area where the hyenas were recently sighted and hammered our stake into the ground to which we tied our delicious looking carcass. Out came the audio equipment and the cacophony started – squealing hogs, calling lions and cackling hyena – what a racket - it certainly resembled nothing that we had ever heard in the wild. We shone a huge beam around the vehicle to spot the fruits of our success – nothing. It got later and later, and colder and colder...eventually we decided to make a move back to camp. And then Stuart spotted her - the lioness.....striding slowly towards our vehicle where she sat down, by the side of the buckie just a metre from under our noses, and she waited.....waited....kept looking back to whence she came.... and waited some more. Occasionally she sniffed the air no doubt catching a whiff of the hog carcass...or maybe it was the small pool of blood still in our buckie that we forgot to wash off! Ten minutes later our lioness moved to the back of the buckie, still sniffing the air, still looking back into the bush. Again she waited and waited. At this point, with her so close, we started to get a little concerned that she might not be sniffing the carcass and be preparing herself to pounce into our vehicle after the blood, but these creatures see the vehicles as solid objects, regardless of the open top, so maybe she was just a little confused as the truck did act as a wind break between her jaws and the hog. Much to our relief she got up, walked around the buckie and headed for the carcass around which her jaws were finally set – no doubt much to her relief. We observed her for some time and then out of the bush sprang her three adolescent cubs, bounding toward their dinner, happy to have mum off a night’s hunting. At this point, frost bite had almost set in and we headed back to camp, again treated to lion, owl and elephant sightings, oh...and a flat tyre that we changed very quickly, luckily some way away from the feasting carnivores.
The week ended with a sedate morning horse ride at Nyati where we viewed eland, blue crane and elephant and an afternoon of elephant identification with Kendal, our elephant researcher. Almost all of Addo’s 420 elephants are known by name and their herds are classified by a letter of the alphabet, with each ellie’s ear notches marked so that they can be easily identified. There is nothing easy about it, as we discovered when faced with the “B” herd at Rooidam – some 80 elephants. Not knowing where to start we were just satisfied to watch them frolic in the water. We did however manage to find Ariadne’s week old newborn which we named Zsou Zsou – logically a member of the “A” herd!

Addo National Park Week 1 - Nov 2 to Nov 7

The next day we went to the airport to be picked up by the Addo National Park ranger for our one month of volunteer work. The other volunteer surprised us somewhat when upon meeting us she looked at me and exclaimed ‘oh you are not German, I was told only Germans were working on zis project’ .....Nikki was grinning away in the background.
The first task was to be given the equivalent of $40 each and told to buy food for the next week. A tricky task at the best of times but exacerbated by our new work mate being a vegetarian!
Two hours later we drove through the main gates of Addo Elephant National Park. 164000 hectares of African bush. Our accommodation for the next month was to be a 2 person ‘Wendy house’ with shared kitchen and ablutions.
As instructed we reported for duty at 7am the next morning in time for the daily Rangers Meeting, proceedings started with the 12 rangers standing in a circle and when the Manager arrived prayers were said and the duties of the day were outlined for each small group. We went along with the environmental clean up crew which involved swaying around in the flat bed of a crane truck for a couple of hours during which we saw many elephants, warthogs, ostrich, kudu, leopard tortoises, and red hartebeest.....a most unusual Game Drive. We then got to work collecting rusty barbed wire, old railway lines, metres of rusting cables, corrugated iron etc all of which had been left by the farm operators prior to the land being turned over to the National Park. We lunched near a waterhole and siestered under an acacia tree for one and half hours....what a stress free life these guys have, we then checked bore holes, water pumps and a section of the electrified fence.
The weather was fantastic with cloudless sky and 30c. The next day we went on a long drive to a remote section of the park up in the hills where our job was to check the solar powered electric fence, the water holes and look out for anything remotely resembling poaching activities. This is a major problem with rhino being shot just for their horn; also subsistence poaching which goes to supply the game meat trade, the use of snares is prevalent. That day we also undertook a herd count. Quite sophisticated handheld technology is used to enter the information whilst in the field which is then down loaded on return to the office. Once again we had the obligatory one and half hour lunch/siesta under the shade of the thorn bushes.
That evening we met the rest of the team including researchers, office workers and rangers from other sections. This was over the weekly Braii (BBQ). One researcher is involved in the study of ticks whilst the others are looking into elephants and the water buffalo.
With the last day of the working week (a strange feeling to be back at work) we had great excitement as we went off to feed the lions. Currently there are 4 mature lions (2 male) contained in a stockade or boma. They will be released once some fencing is completed. Our job was to stand in the back of the Ute and hurl great slabs of meat into the enclosure; this also included the head of a Kudu which went whirling off into the undergrowth! The highlight was saving a large tortoise which had bumbled into the fence, tortoises cannot reverse so they just keep pressing ahead and unfortunately die in the process getting caught up in the trip wire at the base of the fence. The electric fence surrounds the entire park and is essential for keeping the animals in and the farm animals out. The last part of the day was.....litter collection.

Garden Route - Cape Town to PE Oct 29 to Nov 1

After two days at River Song we made our farewells and drove the 260k to Oudtshoorn where we had booked a night in a B+B. Much to Nikki’s delight the owner had 3 Jack Russell puppies but only 12 days old so they looked like baby rats. The next day we visited an Ostrich farm. Oudtshoorn relies on ostrich farming for much of its income and jobs. Interesting little known facts about ostrich:
- It takes 1.5 hours to hard boil an ostrich egg.
- An ostrich will eat one and a half kilos of stones each day (to help grind up it food).
- One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 hen eggs.
We each rode on the back of an ostrich which was hilarious- it ran off at high speed with us clinging onto its wings for dear life, before we climbed on it they put a hood over its head with only its beak poking out a very funny sight. We then went down some huge limestone caves at Kango.
The following day we drove the world famous Garden Route which follows the sea, small coastal communities interspersed with amazing scenery of forests, hills, backdropped with granite mountains. We stayed a couple of days in Storms River ziplining through the forest canopy in one of the many biomes in that area. The longest single line was 91 metres and over 20m above the ground, we felt like giant birds whizzing through the foliage. We also did 2 hikes one through the forest and the other being a small part of The Otter Trail basically clambering over the rocks close to the crashing waves of the Indian ocean.
We arrived in Port Elizabeth early evening and were delighted to see Elize our good friend from Nakheel and her son Eugene. Again Nikki was very happy to see .....Yes a Jack Russell puppy (Cindy) this time 9 weeks old so lots of cuddly fun. Elize kindly put us up for the night.

Cape Town Oct 13 to 20

We were greeted in Cape Town with a torrential rainstorm, our first rain for months.
We enjoyed the superb hospitality of Suzie and Terry staying in their Century City Penthouse. The following day went and had breakfast on the coast and saw my first viewing of Table Mountain. Little knowing that in a couple of days I would be hiking up to the top in 32c heat. We reacquainted ourselves with the delights of modern living viz walking endlessly around the biggest shopping centre in Cape Town, trying to buy a Sim card, waiting for ages in a traffic jams, losing a credit card in the ATM and shopping in Woolworths. Life was a lot less stressful in the Namibian desert when you only had to concern yourself with scorpions and snakes..
During our week we managed to see a lot, Nikki was very familiar with Cape Town and its surroundings so together with Suzie and Terry she put together a comprehensive program. Climbing Table Mountain,walking to the edge of The Cape of Good Hope, and visiting the Winelands are must dos for any first time visitor. CT has the spectacle of Sydney and the weather of Melbourne .Without doubt it is a place to see and if one can adapt to the security issue it would be a great place to live.
Suzie and Terry really looked after us and shared all their favourite places such as World of Birds in Hout Bay, SeaPoint, and lunch of oysters and Lobsters at Waterfront, thank you.
Whale watching at Harmanos just down the coast was rewarding as we were fortunate to see at least a dozen frolicking and cavorting, their huge V tales obligingly stationary for the zoom lense.
Many months ago in Dubai our Danish friends Peter and Eva painted an almost unbelievable picture of their home in South Africa....its 45 minutes from Cape Town, it is located in a private nature reserve, the house is built on the beach, you can see whales and dolphins whilst lying in bed, the reserve has 24 hour security,it is close to some great vinyards.....AND....you can borrow it whenever you like!!! Well you know those Danes did not exaggerate one bit. They only forgot to tell how the house was inside...beautifully furnished with some wonderful paintings. We had a terrific week and saw baby seals (close enough to touch), whales and dolphins. I think we encountered one other person on the miles and miles of white sand beach in the whole week.
As luck would have it Suzie and Terry were invited to a wedding just up the coast and much to our excitement we were invited as well ( I love weddings). It was unusual for several reasons, the groom was in his 70’s the bride was 35, it was his 4th marriage, her first. The ceremony and celebrations were held on the beach, dress code was shorts and T shirt, and the weather was great which helped us to eat our way through the 10 course meal. It took days to recover.
We sadly left Jakkalsfontein on 27 October as we drove out of the main gate raindrops fell on the windscreen, the first since we arrived. We drove through some beautiful country on our way to River Song. We passed through ....... and ...... and ...... we arrived up in the ...... late afternoon to be welcomed by Suzie who migrates from CT to her hideaway in River Song for 4 months of the year. The little log cabin is tucked away on a hillside screened by bourganvillia and bottlebrush, her neighbours are the birds with Sunbirds dominating the alien bottlebrush the only sounds are nature, in the evenings it is the crackle and hiss of the log fire. We were treated like royalty by Suzie with scrumptious curries and stirfries and breakfasts al fresco on the terrace.

Namib Naukluft – Oct 10 to 12

The day after the end of EHRA we hurried off to Avis to pick-up our VW Chico - only it turned out to be a Toyota Yaris – thankfully with air conditioning. Southern Africa happens to be one of the few places where they are still manufacturing the “old VW Golf” – just as they continued to manufacture the VW Beetle in Mexico – it is everyone’s every day run-around.
Keen to get out of Swakop, where we really had spent enough time already, however pleasantly safe and German the place is, we headed off on our Namibian self-drive weekend to explore the Namib Naukluft Park and go and visit the highest and apparently some of the most stunning sand dunes and dry pans in the world – Sossusvlei – a large ephemeral pan surrounded by the dune sea (as it is known).
The trip to Solitaire, where we were to stay for the next two nights, was 240kms in distance, only 50kms of which was on tarmac road – the rest on quite poor gravel. When we started off we could have been in the middle of the UAE, less the expensive cars, with flat sand and power lines all around us and the rather grey sky and sand just merged into one. Eventually we spotted a hill in the distance and the landscape broke out into beautiful desolate undulations with long, yellow dry grass. On it went, up and down through river valleys and over the odd canyon. As we could barely go faster than 80km/hr on the road we arrived in Solitaire at around 4pm. Solitaire consists off a petrol station, a lodge, a small grocery shop and a bakery apparently renowned for its apple pie – and not just because it is the only bakery! It is delicious.
We were staying at a Guest Farm down the road where we were entertained by all sorts of small animals – meerkats, ducks, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and springbok – the bokkies were vey cute when dancing over the meadows. Our hosts, Simone and Walter, were very friendly and we were treated to a delicious home cooked dinner of springbok stroganoff before hurrying off to bed in preparation for a long drive and long day at the dunes.
9 hours and 140kms later, at around 6.45am, we were at the gates of Sesriem - Sossusvlei National Park - still no change in scenery (or road surface!). A handful of Namibian dollars later we were in the park and, for the first time in 380kms, on a tarmac road. We sped to the dunes, parked our car and headed off for a hike to the dunes. The thirsty soil was cracked with the heat and the trees were dry and crackled. It was quite a hard hike through the soft sand and over some small dunes until we got onto the harder stuff.
The sand on the large dunes was a stunning red, changing constantly dependent on the sunlight. They were filled with emptiness but so evocative. These dunes are known as “dynamic” which means that they shift with the wind and their shapes are constantly changing. They are as high as 300m but when climbing up it seems at least double that height given that it really is a case of two steps forward, one step back. We really were not so sure whether or not we had bitten off more than we could chew until we were suddenly at the top, looking down onto another cracked dry pan (these are rarely filled with water). Treated to views of miles and miles of more dunes, we ate our packed breakfast watching some German tourists struggling up the other side! We merrily walked 500m or so across the top watching people body surf down – somewhat unsuccessfully. Eventually we headed back as it started getting hot to reach Solitaire 2 hours later for a well deserved rest before yet another delicious springbok dinner. Game spot of the day – a regal gemsbok (oryx) in the middle of the National Park – we also disturbed a desert hare on our hike.
The following morning we headed off early for our long drive back to Walvis Bay from where we were to fly to Cape Town. Along route we spotted bat-eared foxes, ostrich and jackals...and as it was such a clear day we did Sossusvlei all over again from the air!

EHRA September 28 to October 9

6pm Villa Wiese Swakop on September 27 – this was our first meeting with our fellow volunteers and the EHRA crew. We did not really know what to expect, except that we were going to be working for or with elephants. We left the meeting 2 hours later safe in the knowledge that, over the next week, we would become very dirty and smelly, dehydrated and achy from building a drinking dam for rhinos! What happened to the elephants! Well we were promised those the following week.

Our companions and team for the next two weeks were as follows:

Manager: Hendrick – native Namibian from up north

Permanent staff volunteer – Rob – a native Geordie

Volunteers: James - a spritely 22 year old between jobs, Sam – a gainfully employed 25 year old on holiday (!?), Annika – my age between jobs and just back from Bermuda (lucky thing) and Nick and I. We were a small group which brought with it all the benefits of camaraderie but also meant that we were almost always on cooking/cleaning duty or the like.

The following morning (day 1) we hurried around town buying snacks and beer for the next 2 weeks and at lunchtime we were off on our way to Base Camp which was n Damaraland around 400kms away on the banks of the Ugab River to the east of Brandberg, Namibia’s highest point. Base Camp was eco-luxury (relatively speaking) – outdoor kitchen, showers (with solar powered hot water), decomposing toilets and a little privacy in the form of a platform in a large tree partially covered with a canopy to stop the fruit (favoured by the elephants) falling on our heads– we shared this with various dormice, multi-coloured lizards, a very noisy bumblebee and a hornbill. Beds were bedrolls on the platform and our sleeping bags/blankets – it was great. Nick and I cooked spag bol that night while we had our safety briefing (watch for big tailed, small clawed scorpions!) and it was off to sleep early ready for our first day of hard manual labour.

Day 2 – we packed up camp after our supply audit and were off, heading 2 hours north west (I think) into the heart of Damaraland into a newly appointed conservancy area (near Sorris Sorris) where there were meant to be black rhino. This used to be farmland now reclaimed by the government, on which there was a bore hole. Our job, together with 2 local conservancy guys Irvin and Helmut was to ensure that this borehole not only provided water for any inhabitants but also a nearby dam (as yet unbuilt) for rhinos. The bore hole needed protecting from large game as well, who can smell water and basically break down anything in their way when they want to get to it.

We arrived and set up camp (well – one tent for provisions only – the remainder was a tarpaulin sheet on the ground around 5m by 5m and a kitchen table) in a partially shaded area near the work site. After lunch and siesta we started work at 3pm. The heat over siesta time was incredible, the flies were irritating and the shade was partial – no matter where you sat near the tree. Nick whispered the unutterable words “and why exactly are we doing this?” to me.

The format for the next few days would be as follows:

5.30am –wake up to make tea/coffee/breakfast

7.30m – start work

11.30am - break for lunch and siesta (it was too hot to work any later or start any earlier!)

2.30pm – back to work

5.00pm – finish for the day

There were 2 people on duty every day ad these were responsible for all meals, washing up, starting the fire etc.

And here is a breakdown of our labour tasks:

1^st afternoon – build a platform out of rocks and gravel on a small hill and transport (well – drag!) a 200kg water tank onto it.

2nd day – dig a 300m long and 1 ft deep trench

3rd day – complete digging the trench , lay the plastic water pipe into it and start building a solid rockwall (3ft high) around the bore hole, start digging dam 10m in diameter and 1 meter deep.

4^th day – finish the wall and continue digging dam (if time allows – luckily it did not!))

That first night we were proud: in our first afternoon we learnt how to transport wheel barrows laden with rocks uphill efficiently, build a level platform with them, and move a 200kg water tank up 10 ms without any machinery etc. And we did it in 35 degree heat (albeit we were doubtful about the tank). We were exhausted after only 2 hours hard work, and dying for a shower to clean up (no such

luxury).....After a delicious dinner cooked over the fire we fell into our bedrolls.

Our second day of work was the most exhausting and Nick and I barely stopped thinking about the construction workers in Dubai – we spent all morning and afternoon digging a trench 1 ft deep and 300m long......It was dull, very hot and quite painful at times, but we became very efficient diggers. Nick’s retrenchment took on a whole new meaning. That night we got to take a bore hole shower, so we would only be dirty and salty but at least not smelly for the week. Spirits were high until we found a deadly scorpion scuttling out of the brush onto our tarpaulin - where we were to sleep......to add to the snake at lunchtime...and still no rhinos.

Highlights of the week – in no specific order:

- Learning to differentiate a shovel from a spade

- Learning how to make concrete and build a natural stone wall

- Apart from cement, only using the natural materials around you to build – e.g. sand, rocks, gravel

- Sleeping under the stars ad being miles from anywhere

- No mobile phones

All the obvious challenges were there – the heat, the flies, no personal space, no free flowing water, bush business.....

By the end of the week we had completed all our tasks (not bad for 9 of us) but did not finish the rhino water dam – something we did not regret too much as that would have been 3 days of hard digging. Saturday morning it was back to Base Camp and a weekend of relaxing (apart from washing ourselves which took at least 3 showers, our clothes and the food boxes) until we set off for our elephant treks on Monday. We were merrily entertained by hornbills, lizards, bumble bees and of course screaming baboons on the high rocks above us. After camping at our work site, Base Camp seemed like the Ritz, mainly as there was enough shade and even at midday a cool breeze would be blowing through.

Monday arrived and we packed up camp again to spend 3 days trekking elephants. Nick and I were slightly worried that we might be bored.....there was little chance of that. EHRA treks and identifies all of the elephant herds in the area and if a new herd arrives then it needs to be identified – no of elephants, cows, bulls and little ones etc, but distinguishing features. We had heard that a new herd had entered the area and were hopeful that we would find them so we could learn more.

We headed east along the banks of the Ugab River and Hendrick (our guide) followed elephant tracks and spoke to the locals to get an idea of where the herds had recently ventured. Finally at around lunch time we found 3 herds....Mama Africa, 3 and a Half and New Herd - all drinking at the White Lady Lodge Camp Site near the Brandberg Mountain.

It sounds as if they were having a party Nikki! New author now here.. While watching each herd politely taking their turn at the waterhole we began to realize how the social interaction worked amongst the herds.

Elephants are run under a matriarchal system with the grandmothers ruling the roost. Babies are protected by all the females and once old enough the males go off on their own. We witnessed the classic confrontation between the Old Bull (called Voor Trekker) and a young bull (Bennie) who was seen off in no uncertain terms – everytime!

That evening we camped in the river bed with the fire going all night for protection on one side and the vehicle protecting another flank...2 unprotected flanks I have never slept so soundly with vivid dreams and a sky full of stars.

The next day we again found the elephants. One might think that given their size and numbers this would be an easy task... ‘look for big grey moving things’ Hendrick said. Not only do the elephants move softly (in fact they could be wearing bedroom slippers) but they keep to the shadows and being the colour of shadows they are difficult to see/spot. Given away only by the flicking of their funny little tails, and the occasional ‘crack’ of a splintering branch. They are fairly destructive in their eating habits but never seemed to completely destroy or strip a tree.

The highlight of the day was watching 3 baby elephants play together - they could well have been human children. The older sister went down on her knees so the tiny baby could run at her and butt her, there were games of tag all being carefully watched by the mother and aunts. It was a very special sight and one that neither Nikki nor I will forget.

We were sitting in the vehicle the following day awaiting the elephants when something spooked them and led by a couple of small ones a herd of approx 14 came racing across the river bed straight at our truck, they came so close we could count their eyelashes and look into their lovely brown eyes, it was a little bit frightening as there was no reason for the charge they came to within 2 m of the truck, running at speeds of 15k to 20k per hour veering off at the last moment. Their eye sight is not good but they have unsurprisingly....good hearing and sense of smell.

The final evening of the trek was highlighted by having 47 elephants walk past our little campsite within 20 m of us while we were cooking dinner. By this time we had all got to recognize the different herds and much to our delight we had discovered 2 new herds..... now handing back to Nikki....

Our second to last day and it was an early morning run back to Base Camp – more washing and lazing around and waiting for the elephants to reach us as we had left tem maybe 2 kms downstream heading our direction. Believe it or not we had to wait all day and it was not until 4pm that the first bull emerged, had a drink at a nearby waterhole before leaning against the rock face for about an hour and having a snooze.

The excitement really got going at around 6.30pm just after Nick and I got our lamb stew on the fire, and 3 herds came into Base Camp for a drink and a play at the waterhole. We hid ourselves in the nearby so-called Pleasure Dome where we watched them drink no more than 10 metres away with a beer in hand. Then Voor Trekker – the biggest bull – decided to check out the garage and also the kitchen – at which pointed we started worrying about our dinner – especially Hendrick who needed to be fed on a regular basis. Hidden in our dome all we could hear was crashing around.

As it started getting dark and cold we moved to the truck...no sign of the elephants moving...Hendrick started to panic and decided to continue cooking dinner, the noise of which did get some of the cows and Voor Trekker moving out of the camp. With a few ellies still at the back of the camp but a good 100m away we decided to have dinner, with the occasional waft of an elephant passing through coming under our noses. It was apparent to us that the elephants knew Base Camp well, especially Voor Trekker, happy in the knowledge that they were safe with us, so they were not frightened away easily and just munched away not too far from us.

At about midnight we thought they were all gone and so we climbed up into our tree house to bed. At 1am the fun started all over again and a totally new herd that had headed in from the East stopped at Base Camp for an hour, munching and tearing away at our tree where we were asleep. Needless to say you could not sleep through that racket ad so we watched the silhouettes having their feast – oh except for Nick who was happily snoring away at one with the world and the elephants. Of course in the darkness every noise is amplified so it sounded as though the herd was tearing the camp and our tree apart......at daybreak you could barely tell that they had been there! One grunt later, the command to leave, and the herd marched out of the camp. Two minutes later two more elephants passed through like ghosts – you could barely hear their footsteps.

Our final day was all about packing up, heading back to Swakop and a farewell dinner with the team – 3 were leaving and two were staying on for another 2 weeks. What an experience...we do hope that our new bull was named Casanova as we named him, and that Theresa and Dorothy, now identified as 2 of the 3 and Half herd have been christened as such but who knows.....

Swakopmund Sept 22 to 28

After a good night’s sleep in our en suite tent we packed our bags and got into the back of a car driven by a Namibian, the road was straight there was nothing to see as we drove for 7 hours across the Kalahari Desert. The border crossing between Botswana and Namibia was uneventful and very efficient ( UAE and Oman take note).

We arrived in the capital of Namibia – Windhoek, reputedly the cleanest city in Africa. It has not much natural beauty about it and is mostly an administrative centre with a University. We stayed at a backpacker hostel and departed the next afternoon by mini bus to Swakopmund a drive of about 4 ours this time across the Namib Desert. We saw a tree which was excellent. The temperature was in the 30’s so we were dressed accordingly. Imagine our surprise when we drove into Swakopmund and saw women in winter coats, scarves and yes even gloves! From the warmth of our bus we thought we were seeing things...

Unfortunately, it was not an illusion the wind was bitingly cold even though the sun was shining. Swakop has a micro climate caused by the interaction of the desert and the cold Benguela current, it is fogbound until noon most days and the fogbank stretches upto 60k inland into the desert.

Swakop itself is incongruous, the main language is German, the street names are German and the restaurants and coffee shops specialise in German cooking and cakes. I felt quite at home having a German girlfriend and wearing shorts and boots. We had lovely Wiener schnitzel and chocolate cakes but the highlight was sitting out on the deck of restaurant one late afternoon scoffing fresh oysters and sipping a lovely South African sauvignon blanc, looking at the crashing waves of the South Atlantic.

We spent a few days in this strange town which prides itself on being the adrenalin centre of Namibia, we went kayaking with seals (close enough to pat on the snout) they were exceedingly friendly and playful, and were joined later by a pod of dolphins. The unique activity is sand boarding down massive sand dunes, a top speed of 73k per hour was achieved (yes, by me!). (you lie down on a piece of masonite and just go straight down with your chin inches from the hard packed sand).

As the days came closer for us to be picked up for our first period of African Volunteer work, we started to buy up provisions ...our best purchase by far were a couple of cheap blankets as sleeping under the stars in the middle of the desert proved very cold despite the 38c daytime temperatures.

Okavango Delta September 16 to 21

We had a fleeting visit to Dubai enabling us to see a stay with our good friends JB and Fred (thank you again!) as well as Scott, Jim and Kate, Pip and Joe and Peter. I managed to catch up with Mariann (too short), Jess (and the ever growing Marsh), Nic and Suman too.

We flew out of Dubai on the mid morning Emirates flight to Johannesburg arriving early in the evening, practically the length of the African continent. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our hotel (10min from airport) was a quiet haven set in well manicured gardens. That evening we had a drink with Kevin, a friend from Dubai, when he got in his car to leave informed us he did not stop at any traffic lights after dark which confirmed what we had heard about J’burg that it was the closest thing to a war zone with car jackings, shootings, and muggings a common occurrence for travellers.

We took an Air Botswana flight to Maun (the entreport for The Okavango Delta) and were swiftly transferred on a very small aircraft which after a short 25 minute flight dropped us in the heart of the Delta. The Okavango Delta is the result of the 18 billion cubic metres of water being emptied out of the Okavango River onto the flat plains of Botswana. The result is a maze of lagoons, channels and islands spread over 16000 sq K. It is a unique Eco system that supports a very varied collection of animals, birds and insects. It is a Twitchers Delight with over 450 types of bird....

Our camp was made up of a number of tents, a dining area, and game viewing platforms. It was situated on the water’s edge nestled in the reeds. From our tent we could hear the hippos snorting and munching, the elephants moving in the forested areas opposite and the intermittent cries of the wonderful Fish Eagles.

That evening we had our first trip in a Mokoro, the flat bottomed punt that is the traditional means of transport. Each of the guides make their own Mokoro when they are young men and that is sufficient for their life. Hollowed out of the hard wood trees it takes a mighty effort to construct.

We glided through the reeds and across the beautiful lily pads in the soft evening light. The polers follow small channels; they can see most of what is going on around them, whilst we are below reed height and thus enjoy the sky, the reeds, lilies, insect and bird life.

That first evening we stepped onto a small island dominated by a 10 foot high termite mound an were entertained by seeing painted reed frogs, water striders, squacco heron, egret, lechwe, impala, elephants (mum and baby), fish eagle, hippo tracks, zebra tracks, wild sage, palm nuts, (marvel of recycling), Jesus bird (so called because it appears to walk on water), pluvver, comorant, and dragon flies.

As the sun began to set we heard the whooping baboons and in the coolness of the evening the hippos became more active cavorting in the deep water channel and munching their way though the lush reeds.

We were up early the next morning ready to set off in the Mokoro with our guide Kitsu for 2 nights of camping in the wilderness. Kitsu lives in the nearby village he is about 6ft 2ins bald with a goatee. He had a love of nature and believed passionately in conservation. We could not have done better as his English was also very good.

Weighed down with all the usual camping gear plus food the top of the Mokoro was a mere one and a half inches from the water. Approaching and crossing the 20metre deep water channel was akin to running across a 6 lane highway....cautiously Kitsu looked both ways to see if there were any crocodiles or hippos around and then with a huge stab of his mokoro pole he whizzed us across to the comparative safety of the shallows on the other side.

We reached our campsite after about one and half hours, and put up tents, bush shower and much to our delight a loo seat was provided. We were surrounded by shallow water and Kitsu cautioned us not to stray too far from the camp. In the evening we skimmed along to a nearby island and walked around spotting elephants. Kitsu proceeded to imitate a type of owl by whistling and after about 2 minutes a variety of feisty small birds arrived to investigate, apparently the owl specialises in raiding the nests of the small birds and they were there to see off the owl...

In the evening we had a delicious stew washed down with water straight from the stream.

We were up and poling by 6.45am glad to be out and about as the night had been very cold and our Dubai sleeping bags struggled to keep in the warmth.

We beached on a land mass some 20 minutes from the camp and set out by foot, the guide had only a radio for emergencies, no firearm, no knife, then again I guess he only had to outrun one of us and being built like Usain Bolt helped in that department. He told us that if a lion came towards us (which was very possible) we were to stand still and stare into its eyes!!! And if it got aggressive we were to grab its tail!! Anyway all was well and we did not see any sign of lions but we were blessed in seeing a yellow tailed kite, a herd of impala, 18 elephants led by 2 old grandmas, warthogs running off with their stiff little flag pole tails, wildebeest, giraffe mum with 2 youngsters.

Kitsu showed us a warthog hole at the base of a tree and said never stand in front of the hole as the warthog revs himself up deep in his hole and bursts out at top speed!

We were shown "an elephant's bedroom" they sleep together around the base of termite mounds which affords warmth and a half sitting position.

We stalked Zebra and giraffe getting within 25m it was a truly memorable experience and whilst we did not get as close as when one is in a 4x4 the walking safari holds a frission of danger which is missing in a Land cruiser.

The next evening we went to find hippos, as we all know they kill more tourists than any other animal so again we were a bit apprehensive.

The snorting crashing and munching gave away their location, Kitsu informed us that he could also see a couple of large crocodiles. Imagine our consternation when he proceeded to hurl palm nuts at the hippos, his throw was excellent, standing up in a mokoro is one thing throwing palm nuts without rocking the boat is another, a palm nut is the same size as a baseball and he was throwing them about 40m...to hit the hippos so they would lift their heads out of the water! They were too intent on having their dinner to look up.

Very shortly after that a juvenile crocodile leapt across the front of the mokoro.

We arrived back in our base camp and had a well deserved drink...

Our final morning was spent tracking a pride of lions on foot....they were very close as the baboons were calling in alarm and the impala were on ready alert. Kitsu himself was very excited with quickened step and flared nostrils. The paw prints were very fresh unfortunately the lions out tracked us and doubled back behind us. So we did not see them but the one and a half hours we spent was an adrenalin rush.

Just before our flight out of the camp we were fortunate enough to witness a herd of elephants cross the river about 20 in all, the little ones hanging onto their Mothers tails to avoid being swept away, the lead Matriarch pointing her trunk to the sky like a periscope to show the way.

Denmark July 27 to August 10, Portugal August 12 to 19, New York August 26 to September 3 , UK to September 13

A busy month and a half seeing friends and family all over the place!

In Denmark we were treated to: an overwhelmingly generous stay with Torben and Lene, after which we had to de-tox; a Copenhagen sophisticated lunch with Niels Eiler at the Angleterre; a stay at the family inn near Vibourg and welcoming the new son-in-law; an unforgettable family welcome in Jutland with a formal toast from Gunhild, a lovely two days and great game of golf with Tove and Finn, a relaxing 36 hours swimming, eating and picking fruit with Birgitte and Martin. Polished off with a grand dinner and easy lunch with Lisbeth and Kirstine.

In Portugal we played golf, walked on the beach, saw the local sights, relaxed and sweated with Mum and Dad!

In New York I had a small and exclusive uni reunion with Kate, Issie, Sophie and Kirsty – some of us had not seen each other in nearly twenty years but thankfully in most cases it was less than 5! Nick joined our jaunts and we managed to fit in a lot of sight-seeing with good eats, cocktails, manicures, pedicures and of course shopping (not Nick on these last 3 activities). It was great to catch up with Paul, Mo and Todd as well. At the latter end of the stay my sister Mattie joined us from Miami and we pounded the Met, 5^th Avenue and Ellis Island as well as a few pubs – what fun.

By the time we got back to London we needed a long rest!

We were so fortunate to have been able to stay with Barry and Pam in London their generosity knew no bounds and we felt like family after lodging with them on and off for 4 months....thank you again Pam and Bazza.

We caught up with Nigel and Soheila down in Hove for a memorable Ashes winning lunch! We stayed with my cousin Paul and his half woman half hippo wife Julie and were royally entertained by the talented stand up comedian Simon.

Barry also arranged a reunion lunch for us to catch up with my Uni friends in the Cotswold, gosh we all look so old....It was also great to have a drink in London with my old GLC mate Phil Ashton.

Bella and Bugs, Lindsay and Ross friends of Nikki’s were happily conveniently located a short bicycle ride from Barry and Pam's home in Teddington. We also saw Richard, Kyla, Lynn and Jonathan as well as Alfie, Jack and Courtney in Blackheath but sadly did not manage to spend long enough with them.

Greece July 9 to 24

After a brief interlude in Teddington with the Houlston family, during which we explored their new allotment, and did essential maintenance such as haircuts, we left for Greece. We won’t bore you with a day by day account of lying on the beach and eating delicious food but will leave you with a Hellenic sampler.

Appetiser: Athens, where we were met by Michaeli, my stepbrother and his wife and Svetlana what a lovely couple! Staggeringly intelligent, enquiring of mind, quick of wit, and generous of spirit. We visited the new Acropolis Museum which had been open only one month. The fascinating exhibition, although a little light on detail, even included a space reserved for the Elgin Marbles, poignant in its emptiness given that they have been residing in the British Museum since Lord Elgin’s agents spirited them away some 150 years ago. The Museum itself is light and airy like a temple, with glass floors through which (at the lower level) one could observe the archaeological diggings and if you looked up, you could see the museum visitors in the floor above (note to the ladies ...wear trousers).

In the afternoon (5pm by Greek standards) we went to the coast for a fresh fish lunch and a peek at how the Greek upper classes live, before catching our delayed flight to Skiathos, in the Aegean Sea.

Entree: Skiathos, an uncharacteristically green Greek island in the Aegean which found fame from the Greek poet Papadiamantis in the early 1900s and most recently from Mamma Mia, which was filmed there and on neighbouring Skopelos. It is a real renaissance story as the open air cinema has been reborn with bi-nightly performances of the Abba movie complete with beers and disco lights, while the houses in the busy but neat little town gleam in their whitewash, now proudly applied annually as the holiday and day tourists flock in.

We stayed with my father and stepmother in their 11 room bed and breakfast nestled in a steep hillside overlooking the tourquoise sparkling Aegean Sea. Our daily routine consisted of some time in town, lunch at a cantina on a secluded beach (sometimes with Suzie, an old friend from Cape Town but really part Skiathian), a couple of long swims, feeding the cat (Plume) and her kittens and a late dinner on the balcony star and moon gazing. The routine was broken only by walking the dogs from the nearby dog shelter, sailing to Skopelos on the one windless day in fourteen, and treating ourselves and Katarina to a night of Mamma Mia at the outdoor cinema – not to be missed!

Desert: Alonissos, the largest and least accessible of the Sporades islands equals very few tourists and a lot of natural beauty. We spent two days here in a small fishing village just to get the taste of old Greece back, eating delicious fish overlooking the small harbour and deciding on which fishing boat we would buy.