Tag Archives: South Africa

The best news is news where a horrible situation brings about good. It’s even better if we can play a part in bringing that good to be. On Saturday (14 May), most of us rejoiced in the out of season, unexpected rain, it was good news. The drought has been devastatingly long and every reprieve is a blessing. For Frank, ... Read More »

Arriving at a Lifelink benefit tea, the words “Pregnant and Alone” on the brochure jumped out and gut punched me. A kaleidoscope of memories whirled like leaves in a mental hurricane. I was 20 again. Telling my parents that I was pregnant. Telling the father from a phone-booth in Davenport centre and his echoing response “It’s your baby”. The horrible ... Read More »

Strangely I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black widow (button) spider before.  Now I discover that there’s one living in my herb box.  Discovery made when we found it preying on a carpenter bee stuck in it’s web.  Not entirely comfortable with this fact as I now read that their venom can be fatal to children.  PS, the first ... Read More »

  In 1999 my father married Charlotte at the Little Church in van Reenen. It seats 8 people and is the smallest consecrated church in the Southern Hemisphere. When the minister walked in to the full church with guest spilling out the back door, to conduct the wedding ceremony, he exclaimed “Hallelujah! It’s a revival”. Caught up in wedding festivities ... Read More »

School registrations in Gauteng for 2017 can be summed up with many choice words, “disaster” is probably the most family friendly to use in this instance.  Our government got clever, not really their strong suite.  They decided that in Gauteng only online school registrations will be accepted.  In theory this has potential.  In reality it falls way short of the ... Read More »

The day after reading Zululand Gold, we set off to visit Hilltop Camp and Mpila Camp in Hluhluwe / Imfolozi Game Reserve Zululand. This recent read added another dimension to our trip. This sequel to Zululand Snow proved to be equally enjoyable. The three main protagonists undertake an adventure in search of the fabled Kruger millions. Ian Tennant weaves elements ... Read More »

Four years ago at Mpila camp at Hluhluwe / Imfolozi game park in Zululand we had a night straight from a horror movie (except it would have seemed a bit far fetched). In short a man tried to rob us and a hyena almost made a light snack of my sleeping children. We were staying in the tented camp. This ... Read More »

Between the Hluhluwe / Umfolozi gate and Hilltop Camp, the bushveld reminded us of life where man has not throttled nature. As the dusty road ascended to Hilltop I felt a Carpenters song coming on. “I’m on top of the world, looking down on creation…” tra la la. While we were mere visitors, the permanent residents, Nyala, Samango Monkeys and ... Read More »

Sometimes the classic old recipes really are the best, I’ve had this one since my teens. What we in South Africa know as crumpets go by a crazy number of names, griddle scones, flapjacks, pancakes and more. It gets very confusing, what we call crunchies the Americans call flapjacks, and so on. Anyway here is my very simple but yummy ... Read More »

Discovering the Green Lantern Inn, in Van Reenen stirred unadulterated delight. This joy was marred by irritation and disappointment. How could we have missed this gem before?! We travel the Johannesburg / Durban route at least four times a year. I don’t even remember passing the Green Lantern signpost previously, so daft as the establishment has been around for well ... Read More »