"Welcome back!" Just giving you a rest from the splurge and now I can really get stuck in. So much has been happening; where do we start! Wacko Jacko sadly kicking the bucket in strange circumstances. As great as his music was it didn't take long for those "black" Jokes (as in black comedy, before I'm arrested by the PC brigade!) to come rolling in. BO in the US seems to be having a bit of a rough time now with his health care plans. A few of the guys who started the recession are now in jail - good riddance; long may you rot there!

Here in SA it is "strike season". Ridiculous scenes of municipality workers on the rampage throwing rubbish all over the streets showing off in front of cameras etc. Once it was settled who had to pick up the rubbish?! brains! They thought they said "drains"! You know the one. Then it was the mineworkers, doctors, and soon the power people; so watch the lights go out in South Africa next week. It's the worst recession encountered here and they are asking for ridiculous increases. I don't think they QUITE get it.

GB in GB seems to struggle along. Why can't he be put out of his misery? He looks worn out completely.

Change. Let's see what happens.

Adriaan reading out the results and presenting the awards to Garonga Safari Guides

Sport - it's been great ALMOST. The Ashes - now there is a chance as big mouth Glen McGrath opened his famous mouth and quoted a whitewash to the Aussies. The last time he did that you know what happened. I'm sure good old Ricky P. will be saying "Why can't he keep his...!" The Lions Rugby Tour was fantastic rugby albeit in dubious circumstances. The Boks coach has not won any friends by his very poor unsportsmanlike remarks. As far as he is concerned as long as they win, that is all that matters - SAD really, as the Boks are such a respected team. In the second game there were far more Red Shirts than green and gold amongst the supporters. Maybe the green and gold thought better of the Coach!

Wimbledon - fantastic. Fed deserved it. Now the Tri- nations rugby is on here and so MORE RUGBY! More hangovers!

The Guys posing ................ as if they WOULD!

Enough! June was an OK Month achieving 56% Occupancy at safari Camp and 16% at Little Garonga. July was better achieving 61% in Safari Camp and 49% at Little Garonga. It was great to welcome back my Bro who came out with a gang of Lions friends, most of whom have been here before - Aidan, Steve, and Jonathan. It was good fun! Also a warm welcome to Bettina whose company supports us nicely in Germany - thanks Bettina and glad you could finally make it. A warm welcome back to Detlef, Gabriel and Imke; also to Anne and Lucas who stayed at LG to celebrate a 40th Birthday! A inal welcome back to Chris from Rissingtons; good to see you again Chris after this time. Then a welcome to Helen and Dale from Reef and Rainforest Travel Company in UK and New frontiers in SA. Andrew who now represents us in SA, and finally Amanda from Ethos in UK who came out to check out LG; welcome back! Finally, yes finally, but by no means least many congratulations to Frank and Ilona from the Netherlands who tied the knot here at Garonga!

Andy and the Garonga veggie garden!

The weather has also been strange; we even had 7mm of rain recently - I've never seen that before at this time of the year. Of course that night it rained we had guests sleeping out! The sleep outs have been extremely popular and difficult to get everybody in there. We have had some extremely cold periods, but his is now dramatically changing. Spring is in the air and it is getting hot. There's still plenty of grass and water around. The game viewing has been brilliant. Stats here we come - 11 x Sightings of leopard ( 4 in the same week) , 12 of ellie, 18 of rhinos, 16 of lions, 11 of cheetah. "Aya" the female cheetah has just been released and seems to be working out alright.

Also on the safari front we had Adriaan back doing some serious tracker training with all the guides and trackers. Obie and Brayn got level 1, Julius, Musa and CJ level 2, and jaffeth achieved the "new level" 4 which is a tremendous achievement. I then sent him on a senior trackers course evaluation as Adriaan reckoned he would perform well. This was done at Singita Lebombo in the Sabi Sands. He did brilliantly coming in the top 3 and achieving "Senior Tracker". There are not many in the country let alone in the province. So, well done Jaff!

Aya just before release and being very hard to leave the Boma

In the Kitchen the chefs have been really doing brilliantly and the feedback has been truly excellent for them. Now we are in our last month of winter routine, they are getting their "summer heads" on ready for picnics, lunches and so on.

Garonga Recipe

Garonga Muesli

200g Corn Flakes
200g All Bran Flakes
100g Puff Wheat
100g Honey
50g Low fat Butter
25g Poppy seeds
50g Sunflower seeds
100g Mixed Nuts
50g Sesame seeds
100g Coconut shavings

In a large, shallow roasting tray, mix all ingredients whilst adding melted butter. Pour honey over the cereal using a metal spoon. Mix until thoroughly covered with butter and honey mixture. Roast in oven at 180 degrees C for about 10 minutes. Turn mixture every 10min to avoid it sticking to tray, until cereal is golden in colour (about 45min)

Enjoy Your Garonga Muesli!

Garonga Bush Breakfast

On the marketing front Dave Rogers returned to Garonga for two nights and has produced some really stunning new imagery. We will certainly be placing this soon on to the website. Thanks Dave for a job well done! Also we had Ian Thompson here from Ikhona TV doing some videoing of the camps and sleep out. They will be sending this on to International travel programmes and every now and again we will get a 4 minute slot. Brilliant. Not sure when it comes out though - some time next year I believe. We had to ask for volunteers of course to be "guests", and the obvious choice were the students doing the 6 month guide training course at the farmhouse! They had to drink cocktails in the swimming pool; sounds great but it was pretty damn nippy in there when I put my "pinkie" (finger!!)in. But they also had the luxury of eating at the sleep out deck and so it wasn't all bad. Thanks guys!

The Guys at feeding Time

On the staff front it was a sad farewell to Charlene who "misses" home and family. Thanks for the therapies - she was brilliant. Welcome to Yolandi!

August is looking very busy although there are a few slots available mid month, and also at LG. September is chockers! LG - there is space for the last half of the month, but Safari Camp, there are no real gaps at all! It will be a good tester as we have never been that busy before, and we start with lunches and picnics, sleep outs, weddings x 2. Ummm! Thanks indeed for the support, and we look forward to welcoming you all soon.

Organised Chaos!

Unfortunately we do end on a sad note with the tragic deaths of servicemen in Afghanistan, including 4 from the 2nd Rifles (Used to be Green jackets) and more high profile the sad loss of life in action of the CO of the Welsh Guards. We will remember you all for your sacrifice you have given for us to be safe!

Garonga hopes to set up an auction night in London sometime at the end of the year or the beginning of next. Whereby we can sponsor at least 3 trips a year to S.Africa for wounded servicemen in conjunction with some other properties. Hopefully one of the airlines will come on board. If anybody can assist here with donations or ideas etc please do email me.

Here is a link to the latest "Help For Heroes" newsletter which is well worth reading and it goes without saying of supporting!

Keep well and all the best

Bernie

feedback  •   subscribe


Garonga Safari Camp, PO Box 737, Hoedspruit 1380, South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)87 806 2080/1 E Mail: safari@garonga.com

 


Copyright Garonga Safari Camp, 2009