"So much in such little time! Swine Flu now. You can’t call it swine as it upsets the pig farmers and those little piggy’s; nor Mexican Flu as it upsets the ………….ans, and so it is officially called N1 or something strain – "nanu nanu!!” This has nothing of course to do with the results of the S.African elections, has it? Zuma sweeps in on a mini tidal wave which could have repercussions in Mexico! Actually, thankfully the ANC did not get their 2/3 majority and Helen Zilla (voted mayor of the year in the world) gets a comfortable majority in Cape Town to become premier. Already the ANC has brought out the usual "play card" – race; and started calling her "a racist”! Yawn yawn yawn! The elections all went off pretty smoothly since the opposition party agents kept a careful eye on the election monitors/counters – the IEC who are very ANC biased. Zuma as you have gathered was "let off the hook" on his corruption charges; he still vows his innocence yet fights every inch to "avoid going to court".

The Dali Lama was prevented access to South Africa by the government citing some nonsense. Truth of course being that the Chinese spend a lot of money here and also fund the… no guesses there.

G20 riots in London – cannot understand why it is not made an offence to wear masks etc. A friend of mine was overseeing the march from the bank of England and he could not understand why the police we re getting hammered yet doing nothing. Send in the French CRS – no nonsense there. Recession caused by Gordon Brown’s wonky eye (Jeremy Clarkson!); obviously he used this one to keep an eye on things.

Sport – well SA have certainly become flavor of the month now with the IPL coming here for May, then the Lions Tour in June and the Confederation Cup.

Now that we have reopened from the end of March after our annual clean up things have started picking up after a quiet first few months. It was great to welcome back… my mother, after 11 years.

Also Mandy, Thaine and Andrew (thanks for the hangover!); Tesna (who used to be with Ethos marketing) and Daryn – congratulations on your wedding! Ellie and Jacqueline! Jennifer! Last but by no means least Tom and Jacquie (thanks also for the hangover!) who have decided to leave "Africa" and set up in… Wales! A very warm welcome to Vicky from Farside Africa who supports us nicely who came to check us out (The Camp!). Also to Petra and Thomas from Albatross Travel. And to Andreas from Boomerang Travel. Finally to congratulate Joachim and Ulrike for tying the knot here at Garonga! Many congratulations to you both.

As I said it has been picking up nicely now where we achieved a respectable 66% occupancy in April at Safari Camp and just over 16% in Little Garonga. I won’t include March as we were closed for most of it. Bookings ahead are looking ok. Still plenty of room in June and July for those who want to catch the Lions Tour

Now is a great time in the bush –hot days and cool nights and mornings. The skies at night are becoming spectacular and I saw the first shooting star which lasted a few seconds. The guides have been doing exceptionally well locating leopards (3 sightings in a week), the lions, although on some days it was a struggle, the cheetah brothers (garonga), and finally some ellies. The ellies have actually been playing hard to get and have been in the thickest block on the reserve. Some sad, yet not unexpected news, is the "disappearance” of one of the two old cheetah guys. We can only assume he has been killed by other predators. He did not have any teeth left and so was obviously struggling. His brother on the other hand is still hunting and doing pretty well for a 14 year old! As a result the two young brothers are expanding their area and every now and again go a long distance away to hunt, but then always return to Garonga. On the good side, another rhino calf has been born and also a hippo calf!

I have also purchased another cheetah; this time she is female and 17 months old. She is however very big for her age. I will attach some pictures in the letter. She was delivered on Thursday 30th April and so due for release in late June. Her name – "AYA"! To join her with "Browning" and "Purdey" when she is released. Yep, no prizes! She was delivered by the same programme as before – The "De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust". Thanks also to Kellogs for donating the collar.

With the weather being more consistent now, the sleep outs have been proving very popular indeed. We had five in a row one week! Also the picnics . However on that note from May we go into Winter routine (god, how time flies). No more lunches or picnics until September. The drives are now returning in the morning at 1015 hrs (departing at 0700hrs) and then a large breakfast. We then do a "high tea” at 1530 hrs with the afternoon Game Drive departing at 1600 hrs. As time progresses this will come forward by about 15 Minutes. Those who are driving in, please take note as the drives leave promptly. It is almost dark now by 1800 hrs.