05.08.07 Dazed and Confused

Hello from civilisation. I arrived safely in Cape Town on Monday evening and had the luxury (for which I paid handsomely) of being picked up by a lovely gentleman in a sharp suit, and whisked off to my gorgeous hotel in a posh car. It was all quite surreal. I have to confess I was a bit embarrassed about my very dusty, dirty bag going into the pristine car boot, but hey - I paid for it.

I spent Monday evening switching lights on and off (electricity is great), phoning my family (Lynne who?), and soaking in a deep deep bath to try to remove some of the really ingrained dirt. I watched Sky news from the UK for a while as well. It was quite strange to see Prime Minister Brown.

Tuesday morning was weird. After a hot (oh yes!!) shower I went for breakfast in the hotel. The lobby was filled with 'suits' and there were people at tables talking loudly on mobiles in voices that are meant to make strangers think they are talking about things that are very important. After brekkie I set out in search of various items of shopping and personal maintenance. I had reasonable success - new clothes, eye drops to sort out conjunctivitis, new stationery and of course a copy of the new Harry Potter. But it felt so strange - there were too many shops with too much choice, and just altogether too much of everything. Considering I used to be such an expert consumer, it was quite an unnerving experience. It was almost as if I was seeing a shopping centre for the first time. I know that sounds daft, but it seemed so alien and I felt very dislocated. I remembered the day I walked around Gweru (Zim) town centre and there was so little for sale, shelves were half empty, there was one type of shampoo and no conditioner. As my brother will see from my credit card account though, I managed to shop very successfully. I'm particularly pleased with my new PJs; hey ho, its the little things that keep us going.

It turns out though that I am still a stationery addict as I had to buy a couple of moleskin notebooks. They are just so nice to use and they don't fall apart. On Wednesday morning my friend Dinah arrived and we have been walking and drinking coffee and tea and chatting for ages. We went to the Robben Island museum which was not so great as most of it was shut and the boat trip over was hideously rough. The best part of it was the guide who took us round the old prison is a former inmate. He described from his own first hand experience what it was like to be there, which made it very real. The discrimination was so bad that they even had separate dietary allowances for different races - Indians and "coloureds" had a greater allowance than Bantu people. Of course, there were no whites imprisoned there.


Yesterday we went to Hermanus Bay to go whale watching. I was persuaded to get on another boat, despite not quite having recovered from the pervious trip. It was quite calm to start with but conditions deteriorated while we were out there and again I felt horrible by the time we got back. This time it was worth it though as we saw several Southern Right Whales, and one even came to the boat to see what was going on. It was amazing and really a dream come true. My pics are rubbish though as everytime I thought I was going to get a good one the swell went up or down and the chance was lost. Still, I'm not madly obsesive about photos anyway; I'm just excited that I actually got the opportunity to see a huge whale that close.


From now on though, I am sticking to land based travel, and maybe the odd plane or two. Dinah and I meet up with the rest of our tour this afternoon. Tomorrow will be spent seeing the local sights and going to the Cape of Good Hope and then by Tuesday afternoon we''ll be disappearing off into the wilderness again. I'm really looking forward to Botswana and Namibia and I'll have a day back in Livingstone to catch up with friends there. I'm also quite looking forward to being back camping! Don't get me wrong, I've loved the 5* luxury but I have definitely had enough of it by now.


I'm not sure whether I'll be able to get to a computer while on the tour so don't be alarmed if you don't hear anything for the next month or so. I may end up stuck here after that anyway as both my bank cards have stopped working today, which is a bit worrying.


I'm sorry if I haven't replied to some individual emails yet. Please bear with me! I plan on having a few days in Cape Town again when I get back (beginning of Sept) and I promise to write to everyone and upload photos. After that I am going to head back to Mozambique - but more of that later!

23.07.07 Animal Magic, Cheesecakes and Charity Update

In no particular order, here are some photos from South Africa.

This is yours truly on my fave horse, Trigger, with Mama and junior giraffe (last year's baby) in the background.

On the left we have a porcupine who comes to vist the "food pit" (where the leftovers go every night) most evenings .

Above left is the "SKELK" a contraption made by a few of us for using with the horses in the lunge ring and arena, called SKELK after the initials of those of us who made it. Above right is Kate and Spanner - its true love.

A lilac breasted roller, on a long zoom so not v clear, but gorgeous birds.




An unusual pic of the porcupine at the food pit with a civet in the back ground . The porcupines are so much bigger than I thought they would be and the civet is cute.

This is the baby giraffe, only hours old.
Sorry its sideways. I still don't know how to fix this. This was my first cheesecake. It didn't last long.






This is mama and baby on Day 3. How cute!!!!

Kate and Spanner on an early morning walk in the river bed.

Some nice leaves in the river bed - I know its a bit arty farty, but I got a big trigger happy with the camera for a while.

A pic from out in the farm. Its really dry as its winter, although there were a couple of rain storms so there are green shoots coming up.

Update re the charity is that the admin is underway but it will take a while to get sorted. I'm going to head back to Mozambique in September so will be able to give you an update on what is happening with the children when I get there, but if there are any immediate needs then I will use the funds already donated/raised in the interim. Thanks again for all your interest and support, especially to the wonderful Ms Howden who is taking things forward for me at home. I need at least 3 trustees, and the suggestion is (shock horror) that they are not all lawyers. Helen and I clearly suffer from that affliction, so if there are any non lawyers out there who are interested in being a charity trustee then can you let me know. Accounting/commercial/charity experience especially welcome but enthusiasm and interest are more important.

This time next week I'll be heading for the airport having posted home a parcel with my big rain jacket, dirty torn jodhs, and a few other delightful items that I won't be needing again, on my way to 5 * luxury in Cape Town for a few nights. Have I mentioned how much I'm looking forward to it! I probably won't get online next Monday but I'll be in touch from Cape Town during the week. After that things are likely to be a bit irregular while I'm touring in August. On my way back to Vilanculos I'm going to stay again in the hotel with free internet, just so I can spend some hours catching up!

09.07.07 Bushgirl Revisited

Just a quickie to let you know I remembered my camera this week so here are the pics of me on Titan in the arena (not quite galloping bareback across the veld as some are hoping for), Kate and I working on a crossword (we did 15 in a day on Saturday) and some of the horses looking at me at 7.30 this morning, hoping that they were going to get a treat. My favourites are the two furthest to the left of the pic, although the one at the far left did run off into the bush with me yesterday and we wer 3/4 of the way home before i managed to get him to stop. My confidence is picking up a bit and I did manage a couple of longer canters in the bush yesterday.

I won't continue to bleat on about the cold, but it is still cold. So there you go. I'm still having a good time, and bush life is clearly getting to me as I picked up a locust the other day so everyone could have a look at it. Me - picking up a large insect! Its unheard of. I haven't got the one from my friend of me holding the babboon spider yet, watch this space.