I don't believe it. The Chinese takeaway actually is closing in Hoedspruit after all. I thought it was a malicious rumour spread by the "fat" police! It would be so great to have a KFC and a "Nando's" there!

What a month in the halls of Westminster eh? As though we didn't realize they were crooks anyway! What I think is great is their general response - "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was doing something wrong". Used to use that excuse at school when we were 8 years old! Then of all the nerve - "I'll give it back to charity". Do they really think we are that stupid. Unfortunately their arrogance suggests so. So GB wants to set up an Independent body to sort out this whole corrupt fiasco. If any politician even touches it or has anything to do with it, you may as well forget it. I mean the politicians have all said that the banks must change their ways or else. Hypocrisy astounds me.

Moving on to GB - surely he must go now. Call an election and lets get Joanna Lumley in as prime minister. Look what she did for the Gurkhas; she ran circles round the government. Absolutely fabulous it was. Obviously he is just waiting for a recovery and then say "look what I have done - I have rescued the Country". Yeah, and didn't you have something to do with this whole mess in the first place, Gordon old mate!

And BO in the USA. Seems to be doing a bit of a U turn now and again. At least he's honest in that if he realizes something won't work he'll change it. Not much happening there in Zim; Mugabe and his team still seem completely against any form of co-operation. Here in SA there's the continuing ranting between the ANC and the DA. The ANC love democracy as long as they are winning. Carry on Helen Zille!

On the sports front the IPL cricket is over and was an astounding success. Now the rugby tour has started with Lions and they seem to be performing well - early days. 1st test very soon! The 20/20 in UK started, and hopefully the Aussies will have their nose rubbed in. Not long before the BIG game! Should be interesting cricket.

Well May has been a good month indeed for us. Safari Camp with 68% occupancy and Little Garonga 38%.Many congratulations to Martin ∓ Tanya and Andreas & Natalie for tying the knot here at Garonga! Wishing you all the best in your futures together. All Guests on honeymoon of which there have been quite a number; great to have you all come and stay and just very envious when you reveal where you are going on to next! I have been known to make a very good cup of tea, and so if you need a tea boy... A very warm welcome back to Geoff and Anne who have been here a number of times. Sorry to have missed you both! Duty called. Also to Gary and Maria; Gary entertained the "troops" at Indaba. That's another story, and some interesting pics as well! Denise who represents Garonga in Scandinavia came to check out the Camp, and I understand had an interesting time with the car. I know... I can hear some saying about that road in! Just don't drive group b car; just something that has a bit more clearance than an ant. Sleep outs have proven VERY popular, and you know we only have ONE. We try and oblige where we can, but if guests rock up at the same time and also leave at the same time, somebody is going to lose out somewhere. Bush bath the same. It is a fantastic experience, especially with the clear night skies and beautiful sunrises.

The bush is still looking pretty good. We had 20 mm of rain in May; what IS going on! All great though and we won't complain. Generally though the weather is cool to cold now especially first thing in the mornings, and early evenings. Come prepared. The swimming pool is... well... COLD! I'm still swimming at home and I'm pretty sure I could give some of those Olympic swimmers a run for their money now when I jump in and do a few lengths!

The kitchen have been serving up some incredible nosh! Well done ladies. As I said before, those cakes are just death by chocolate. The health meals are still proving popular, and we are pretty flexible on any old favourites. Nobody has yet used the new private BBQ. It is there for you if you want your own private BBQ dinner. A great recipe to be attached as ever.

Garonga Recipe

Sage and black cherry stuffed loin of pork with Moroccan cous-cous and an apple and honey coulis

Pork loin (cleaned of fat)
Fresh sage
Can of black cherries
Cous-cous
Black olives (Pitted)
Parsley
Mixed peppers (bruinoise)
Apples (Thinly sliced)
honey

Separate cherries from preserving juice, set juice aside, sear pork in pan for 10 min until good colour is achieved, layer tin foil (4 lg pieces) overlapping eachother, place cherries on tinfoil so they will lie under pork, now rub pork with little olive oil and the the chopped fresh sage, s&p, and place on top of cherries, wrap up tin foil and place in oven at med heat for 1 hour constantly checking, deglaze pan with left over cherry juice, set aside. Chop black olives and parsley, add to cous-cous with peppers, mix adding little lemon juice and butter, season. When pork is cooked, remove off tin foil and place now cooked cherries (and pork juice) in reduced cherry juice and the blend in blender, strain and return back to heat. In a sauce pan place the apples and honey and 250 ml of water cook until water is 3/4 gone then blend, strain.

"My favorite animal is steak." Fran Lebowitz

On the staff front we say a sad farewell to Tamsin who has gone to join the boyfriend in KZN at a new lodge just starting up. Good luck! Charlene is doing great with the massages and they are proving very very popular. Welcome to Claudia who is helping out for 3 months. From the UK and in a "gap" period.

Also on this note we say farewell to TSA marketing. Thanks so much to Tish who started her company many years ago and was recently joined by Marion and Emanuela. We have been represented by them since we started in 1997 and so it has been a long and strong relationship. Times change and we all move on. Garonga is now being represented in South Africa by Andrew McEwan with his company called "Africa in Focus" which also has a number of sterling properties on board. I look forward to working with Andrew.

May is the month where there is the travel show in Durban - called "Indaba". Definitely quieter this time but you know what, a lot more focused and you actually had time to talk to serious people. Of course you can never measure success from these shows. However there is always a "Fun" side to these shows and after a few years we had another Garonga Party! The theme was "British bulldog" as in John Bull. It was great fun and this is where Gary came in and did his singing bit. This time we also did a "singalong". It was very well sung by us all - some very enthusiastic that they actually stood up and sung. It was hilarious. On a more serious note the charity for the event was "Help For Heroes" and we managed to raise GBP 650.00! The troops out there now in Afghanistan are having a pretty tough time as the weather is now more amenable to these terrorists. Please lets not forget them, and support them as they look after us!