Been away to have tea with the Queen. So a quick update on what’s been happening out there for the last two months. Busy as ever. European Union President (Sarkozy) tells the Irish to vote again for the referendum on the European constitution as it didn’t have the required result. EU insists that the Zimbabwean elections were not “free and fair” which of course is correct but slightly contradicts the Irish question!

Gordon is not having a particularly good time; seems to get worse and worse. Do us all a favour and retire! It’s a bit of a farce where the UK leaders of the parties are so scrutinized that they have to have a “holiday” in UK to be seen to be planting their “carbon footprint”, and then when all has quietened down they go on for a decent holiday. To hell with them, go and have a decent holiday somewhere. The planes are still flying anyway as millions of people still travel all over the world. The only thing to stop them will be the prices.

Goergia – that guy must have been sick in the head to have thought he could take on the Russians. Easy when you have friends to hide behind when it doesn’t go your way. The old Ruskies are a proud and strong nation and have finally re-established themselves as a world power. To think that they will accept Ukraine and Georgia as NATO partners is living in “cuckoo land”. Same as the Yanks, if Mexico allowed the Iranians in. Most of NATO can’t even agree or commit troops to combat areas in Afghanistan.What are they going to do against the Russians!

The Olympics – the Brits coming 4th! Give us more. At last the lottery money is doing something positive. It was quite spectacular how they ran it, and no way it can be copied or beaten especially the miming and the video fireworks outside the stadium. Only the Chinese!

Then there’s Pakistan – what a Horlicks! They have to destroy those Taliban. Talking which, there was that incredible operation that brought in a turbine to a dam in Afghanistan going through some of the worst terrain possible. I read the story from the Times Newspaper.

"Our Neighbours!"

The Brits doing the main part of course and deception being the main ruse that fooled the Taliban. On that note there is a rugby match on September 20th involving some of the recently retired rugby players (Martin Johnson etc). The match is in aid of the “Help for Heroes” campaign (www.helpforheroes.org.uk) and the ticket sales go towards that. Tickets are still available.

USA – what a great arse-kicking, moose-eating, no-nonsense gal McCain has as a running mate. My vote for Sarah! Hilary must be seething!!

Here in S.Africa the ANC, unions and Communist Party (they call it the tri-partate alliance) have been picketing the court room in Natal to intimidate the judges etc into dropping all charges against the current new ANC President Zuma! They claim it is politically motivated and therefore should have a political answer! This is not a good sign for democracy here at all. Basically if they don’t like something the unions et all could stranglehold the country into forcing the outcome they want. I believe this will happen whereby Zuma will get off one way or another. Bear in mind that there is a guy in jail now on corruption charges for giving donations/money to Zuma! It is not looking all that positive here.

Sports – S.Africa didn’t play all that well at all in the Tri-Nations rugby. The final is being played shortly. England cricket – quite a change now with Pietersen in charge. Winning the last test and all the ODI’s. There is sunlight! Not in Wales obviously as the last ODI got rained out.

Enough and on with the business! We only reopened on the 08th July after our annual clean up and closedown. A bit of a slow start to proceedings but eventually picking up to establish a respectable 61% occupancy for Safari Camp and 19% for Little Garonga for the month of July. A warm welcome back but also very sad farewell to Marius and Santie who have emigrated to the furthest part of the world, New Zealand. Wishing you well there, and thanks for all your support over the years! Also welcome back to Loies, Wolfgang and Ute (17 Days) and fifth visit, and Johann and Pamela (Sorry to have missed you both, but did note your cartoon picture drawing!). Many congratulations to Nick and Natalie for tying the knot at Little Garonga – a very nice service indeed! Also a warm welcome to Emanuela from TSA Marketing who brought up a group of agents to “inspect” us. Welcome Sally (finally got you up here!). It seemed to have gone off pretty smoothly apart from one room with no hot water as the geyser went kaput, and it was inevitably over a week-end! August was nice and busy achieving a 70% occupancy for Safari Camp and 44% for Little Garonga. Great to see Danny and Kelly back again who brought their parents over as well. Also welcome back to Gerhard and Eva and Patrick and Daniella. At Little Garonga to Josh and Bridget. Many congratulations to David and Jacqui for tying the knot at Little Garonga! Wishing you both all the best for your future together.

"Dressed up and ready for Action - South African Theme Dinner Night!"

As you can imagine the Bush is really looking bone dry, and the poor old warties are feeling the brunt. It is now getting pretty hot during the day and that chilly cold factor late evening and early morning is fast disappearing. We are all praying for early rains like last year. The fire risk is very high and we now also get those horrible hot winds. In Natal they have had some very bad fires with over 30 being killed. Fingers crossed. The guides have been performing very well as ever. There have been a few sightings of leopard; one on a warthog kill. What has been very encouraging is the viewing many times of a family of 4 cheetah. The two old brothers are certainly feeling their age and hardly moving now.

The two cheetah males I have bought should be with us sometime in September, and so increasing the cheetah population on the reserve. What has also been unusual are the many sightings of the Ellie herds on Garonga and around the reserve. Our neighbour has closed off some of his waterholes and thereby encouraging them to move around. Many rhino sightings too, and of course the lions. So all good stuff and great game-viewing.

Margie has of course been very busy with her massages. Best time of the year with not too hot days for her to do the business. Always very popular. Sadly on that note Margie left us at the end of August after 3 long glorious years here. Thanks Margie, you did wonders and you will be sadly missed. Good luck in that sprawling city of Johannesburg. 3 years is a long time in the bush, and so she lasted well! So I am busy putting the word out for a new therapist. In the meantime Allana (who always stood in for Margie) is here and doing wonders. Then there is also Lisa. So business as usual!

Garonga Recipe

Mediterranean Lamb Neck Potjie

60ml olive oil
30ml crushed garlic
3 lambs necks (cut in 2 cm slices and halved)
2 large onions Peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks coarsely chopped
2 leeks thinly sliced
2 carrots sliced into chunks
4 rosemary sprigs
4 fresh bay leaves (dried also fine)
18 new/baby potatoes peeled
1 green pepper cored and cut into strips
1 red pepper cored and cut into strips
250g baby marrows cut into pieces
250g mushrooms coarsely sliced or whole
12 small onions peeled (pickle onions)
12 sun dried tomatoes
1 packet black olives
Sauce:
2 tins chopped tomatoes & basil (410g each)
750ml red wine
1 beef stock dissolved in 500ml boiling water
or preferably your own homemade stock
30ml flavor enhancer (e.g. Aromat)
15ml sugar
30ml mixed dried herbs
5ml lemon pepper

Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside. Heat olive oil and garlic in your Potjie pot .Fry the lamb neck pieces for about 10min until brown. Place sliced onions, celery and leeks on top of meat (do not stir). Add carrot pieces, rosemary and bay leaves followed by the potatoes. Pour mixed sauce over, put on lid and simmer over medium heat for 90 minutes. Add green and red peppers, baby marrows, mushrooms, small onions, sun-dried tomatoes & olives and simmer for a further 30 minutes.

“We plan, we toil, we suffer – in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol’s eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The Empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake up just in time to smell the coffee and bacon and eggs.” J.B. Priestly

In the kitchen they have produced some amazing cakes! Annabel joined the kitchen ranks again for a bit of time out in Africa from UK. Welcome back. Koren is busy finishing her recipe book and photographs. Maria has been a star learning very quickly as Olmah is still on maternity leave. So all going well there. I hope you will like the recipe and give it a crack. From September we start back on lunches, picnics and so on. This time I will introduce traditional Sunday curry lunches (numbers permitting). You may think, my God in that heat! Well, wash it down with an ice cold beer or a crisp chilled glass of white wine. Then it will be followed by a light dinner! We’ll see. The health meals still carry on and are proving pretty popular. We are also doing weekly theme dinner nights. So far we have done a Moroccan and a South African dinner. Great fun, and all trying to look the part! Photos will be attached! Note the tight shorts and comb in socks! Plus the Garonga National Choir singing the National Anthem; I think the Francolins could have sung better!

I had a great time in the UK culminating with 3 days exhibiting at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace. A remarkable event and really great fun. I shared the stand with Tom from Loisaba Wilderness Camp (Kenya), and our friends from Steppes Travel ably handled by Albee and Katie. Quite an interesting start especially with our stand design! I felt earth tremors just before the opening, as us guys not reputed to be interior stand designers, were sent off on a mission to “brighten it up” somewhat! It improved dramatically with the able assistance from Kikoi Company (Kenya). And a couple of GBP 60.00 carpets etc. What a dramatic transformation! Thanks Albee and Katie! You never really can tell how successful a show is, until way after the event. It was also very hot and sunny for 3 days! Must be an English summer record! The traffic – that’s another story. Tom and I did finish off the show with a great dinner at an Italian restaurant. A great meal and also a great host/owner. Quite a late finish!

Finally (at last, I hear you say!) best love and congratulations to nieces, Sara and Ali for celebrating their 18th and 21st birthdays. Sorry to have missed the party! Still quite a few gaps in October/November and December. Xmas and New Year is however taken up.

Wishing you all the best, and hope you all had a great holiday. See you next month!

Best Wishes.

Bernie.