Johannesburg 23/12/2025

I had an epiphany at breakfast this morning. I started sobbing for no reason whatsoever.

The last time I can remember shedding a tear was at the birth of my daughters a few decades ago however Lynda reminded me of the only time she saw me lose it.

It was as we entered The Cavern in Liverpool one afternoon and were hit with the pitch perfect harmonies of Lennon and McCartney only to discover it was two brothers on stage.

It just sounded so good. We both lost our ‘blob’ at the original home of The Beatles, albeit The Cavern having been shifted twenty metres along the street from its original home.

I had just finished another perfect bacon and eggs and I started thinking about our tour of Soweto yesterday and the remarkable class and generosity of our guide Thomas who was intermittently stopping to buy goods from street vendors at red lights or provide the odd donation to people he knew.

Then I looked around the dining room and its shiny fittings, trendy furniture and sparkling Xmas table settings.

Working diligently within these surrounds were the staff. Beautiful non-white boys and girls dressed to the nines in their black and white outfits waiting on imposters like me.

I thought about how little they have in material value and how hard they work for what is a very basic wage. Thomas explained that black culture is very much family-first much like our First Nations people.

What these kids bring home is instantly shared amongst siblings. Materialism isn’t a priority. Surviving and the family unit is first and foremost.

Anyway, that was it for me. It came out of nowhere. These people have no right to be as kind as they are and we left a big tip for all the staff this morning for converting me into an emotional wreck. They were typically gracious and we reluctantly said farewell.

As we sit in the lobby waiting to go the airport I remember the succinct words of Dr Thomas our wonderful guide.

“Thomas I read the other day that South Africa’s murder rate is approximately sixty a day. Is that about right?”

“Maybe, but it’s nothing like that in Jo-Burg.”

“What is it in Jo-Burg?”

“About twelve a day, but Monday’s always slow so just relax.”

“Sure.”

Idube Game Reserve somewhere in the Kruger National Park  24/12/2025

Well now that I’m over crying for the next twenty years, I’ll save the next salty discharge for The Saints next flag, which in all certainty, may will be in twenty years.

We arrived yesterday at Skukuza Airport from Jo-Burg in the afternoon. Skukusa is a pimple on the backside of the Kruger National Park which is approximately twenty thousand square kms, almost half the size of Tasmania.

Within ten minutes of leaving the airport for our lodge, two giraffes just wandered into the path of the car as though they owned the joint. Sheer contempt from them and a good sign that we were about to discover something special over the next few days.

It took another two hours to reach the lodge through mostly unsealed roads and checkpoints for quarantine and weapons. Poaching for rhino horns has dropped off thanks to the horns being regularly trimmed by the rangers but the insidious poachers are still hanging around.

We were late for the evening safari but the guide FJ (we call him Holden) was kind enough to turn around with a lovely American couple and pick us up. We barely had time to drop our bags and we were off for a two hour jaunt through the bush.

FJ is everything you could imagine a South African safari guide to be. Six foot ten and a booming Afrikaans accent that is so brutal in its delivery, it sounds like he is punching you in the head with every sentence.

He and his trusty offsider and soon to be fully qualified ranger Mike are a superb team. FJ is passionate about the country and it’s animals and Mike sits on the front in what could be called a reconnaissance chair, signalling FJ when animals or road dangers are spotted.

The animal danger is very real and we have been ordered to have a staff member escort us to our rooms in the evening even though its’ only a minute’s walk.

So…the accommodation and food. Well we have never experienced anything as luxurious as this. I did have my eyebrows raised when we received the invoice from the agent for this trip, but now I get it.

Everything here is five star without being the slightest bit ostentatious. Nothing is too much trouble with the staff and the food? My God I haven’t tasted anything as good as last night.

 I’m no foodie, in fact my approach could be described as ‘seafood’, ‘see it and inhale it.’ Last night I was forced to taste and savour. Cries of mmmm were emanating from our table…in a non-blue way of course.  🙂

The rooms have everything you could possibly need but again there’s heaps of room and creature comforts that have clearly been thought through. We even have a plunge pool that the local wildlife likes to visit occasionally.

We did our first morning safari at 5.30am today. This is the schedule which is typical of the lodges in Kruger.

0500-  Wake up call

0515- Coffee in dining room

0530- Depart for safari

0830- return and breakfast. Option of a bush walk after breakfast with guide and his rifle

1400- Lunch

1600- Depart for safari

1900- Return to lodge

1930- Dinner

Here are some photos from this morning. Now someone as cynical as me might say, “I can go to the Werribee Open Range Zoo and take these photos.”

Maybe, but as I’ve discovered, there’s much more to the safari than just a photo because I’m a pretty ordinary photographer anyway.

Firstly there is that indescribable energy you get from being that close to these gorgeous beasts and secondly there’s the guide.

FJ senses the tourist and allows you plenty of time to devour the moment. The deafening silence in particular, only broken by the sound of a lion licking his paw or a hippo or rhino snorting. It’s truly magical.

When FJ is content with the pause, he will then describe features and interesting facts about the animals that he’s probably rote learned by now but delivers them with such passion, Steve Irwin would wholeheartedly approve.

It’s getting close to lunch so we will catch you soon. Merry Xmas for tomorrow.

Lots of Love Willow and Lynda