Garonga May Newsletter

Strawberries and cream at Wimbledon. Spain win the European Cup – anyone know where England came? England trounced by the All Blacks in rugby and cricket (one day series anyway). So its back to darts and tiddlywinks – will start practicing now! How odd that in the “other election” in Zimbabwe the result is announced in 24 hours and Mugabe is president within 36 hours. Maybe a freebie holiday in Sharm El Sheik in Egypt could have had something to do with it. It took 6 weeks last time. And as for those pathetic weasels from SADEC (not least Mbeki) and the AU – well they now have blood on their hands. They keep insisting on leaving it to them to sort out – good result so far!

Good old Boris down there in London, not only does he become mayor but also ensures that Labour are embarrassingly trounced in his old constituency of Henley. Fifth! Time to move on Gordon; you’ve achieved your aim of destroying England. Go and retire in Bora Bora! Thank God Hilary has stopped. They are now bosom pals! Ummm! I understand the US state department has just given Mandela a 90th birthday present…. by removing him off their terrorist watch list! HA! Hellooooooo! Quite frightening really. Happy birthday Mr. President – he didn’t get the Spice Girls this time. Naomi Campbell plays the “race card” for her trial. All too familiar; especially down here in SA. Renaldo – any bets where he goes? June has been a quiet month in that we closed “Safari Camp” for its annual clean up, although Little Garonga kept the pulse going. Welcome back Brenda! Our occupancy for Safari Camp was 41% and Little Garonga was 23%; so slowly picking up there. Congratulations to all those on honeymoon – trusting you had a great onward journey to Seychelles, Mozambique. Jealous or what! We reopen Safari Camp on the 08th July and then it’s back to normal.

It goes without saying that the Bush is incredibly dry, and its going to be a long hard winter before the first rains. Come October it will be a dust bowl. However it is brilliant weather – about 25 degrees in the day and dropping to a cool 5 degrees at night. Electric blankets will be on the beds, and by God it is difficult to get out of bed in the morning for those crisp game drives! The sunsets are staggering, and the full moon nights and star gazing amazing. The sleep out is best to do now; it is surprisingly warmer up there, and no flies, bugs, mozzies etc. On the game front the usual suspects have been found – no leopard this month. Walks are proving more popular due to the cold starts in the mornings. We are leaving slightly earlier now in the afternoon now, having high tea at 1515 hrs and departing at 1545hrs. Wake up in the mornings now is at 0630 hrs with tea and coffee in the main lounge from 0645 hrs. I do intend purchasing some more cheetah over the next two months. Having spoken with one of the guys involved in relocating cheetah he informed me that there are only 300 in South Africa. The De Wildt project team basically persuade farmers not to shoot cheetah on their farms, but rather to pay them for not shooting them and have them relocated in private reserves. So the citrus orchard will be split in half now with half having a new vegetable and Herb Garden grown and a few Mango, Paw Paw, Lime, and Peach Trees planted, and the other half split again in order to put in two males, and one female separated, and then another female later on. They do have to be enclosed in a boma for up to two months and then released. Collars unfortunately will have to be put on certainly for the first 18 months in order for them to be exposed on a very regular basis to game drives and people, otherwise they go wild very quickly and the whole exercise is wasted.
Garonga Recipe Bacon wrapped & camembert stuffed chicken breast, cranberry jus, roasted spiced baby potatoes Bacon (pref. streaky) Camembert Chicken breast (de-boned) Can of cranberries Chicken stock Whole peeled baby potatoes Make pocket in chicken; slice camembert; stuff camembert into pocket of breast and wrap with bacon; sear bacon; place pan in oven and cook until bacon is crisp and chicken is moist. Make chic stock and reduce until just about to coat back of spoon, then add cranberries, reduce further until spoon is coated. Roll potatoes in olive oil and spice (dry pan fry coriander seeds, grind, add tblsp cayenne pepper), place in oven on high till golden brown. Add vegetable of choice, slice chic in half, place potatoes, drizzle jus. “Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you!” Tommy Smothers
On the staff front, CJ (head guide at Little Garonga and assistant manager) got MARRIED! Congratulations CJ! I was present on the day and it was my first traditional African wedding. It was extremely well done, very well prepared (Choirs etc) and a very humbling experience. There were about 150 people attending, and lots of kiddies on looking. Great fun. I will enclose some pictures. It was also great to see Percy (his brother) who used to track here.

The happy couple	Proud Dad and Mum

The choir	Percy (Right) with Other Staff
All the safari teams and Lisa (Little Garonga manageress) were put through an intense grueling 4 days Level 1 and level 2 first aid course. A great thank-you to Andrew for such a passionate, professional Instructor. It was a pleasure to watch. They all passed which is no mean feat believe me! Now they must carry their CPR Kits 24/7. Those of you coming to Garonga; you catch them without it and it is a R 20.00 fine! All the staff are back after 3 weeks annual leave and I’m sure raring to go!?

Not quite the same as Baywatch	1st Aid Training

Issuing of Certificates to Jaffeth	Farewell to Andrew and Thanks!
Christine has now officially left Classic safari Camps of Africa and has ably handed over to Pauline (www.classicsafaricamps.com). Finally commiserations to those who lost their loved ones in the line of duty in Afghanistan over this past month, especially to Sarah Bryant (First female Soldier to be KIA in Afghanistan). Sky news – well done for showing a whole focus on troops in Afghanistan. Here’s to you all! Days getting longer here now and shorter over there – light at the end of the you know what! Take care and all the best! - Bernie