3 Weeks Late!

I can’t believe that it has been three weeks since my last update! We have been very busy and life here at Ulovane has been very different over the last three weeks.

Since my last update, we have been on a field trip to The Hogsbackmountains, I have been to Cape Town for a lovely weekend withPaul, and then Paul flew back to Port Elizabeth and spent a week here on Amakhala. I have also completed my First Aid course, which was much more fun and highly entertaining!

The field trip to The Hogsbackended up being more of a holiday than I first expected! As we were down to study trees and shrubs and amphibians that week, I was expecting it to be quite a lot more hard work educationally! Having said that it was knackering, having spent the last month or so studying in camp, or going out on drive, I found myself even dreadfully unfit. We spent the days, walking in the Hogsback mountains, visiting various waterfalls, enjoying stunning views and studying the trees in the Forest Biome, which is very different from the Thicket biome where Amakhala is located. A biome is basically a group of ecosystems, in South Africa these are primarily defined by the dominant vegetation that grows there and the climate.

The Hogsback is about 100 miles North East of us, and is renowned as the place that JRR Tolkeincame up with the idea for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It even has it’s own Hobbiton! We stayed at an exatraordinary backpackers, aptly named “Away with the Fairies”. The walls of the communal areas were festooned with trippy pictures of goblins, pixies and fairies, all indulging in some kind of smoking, drinking or tripping! What we were later to realise was that our bar was alosone of the liveliest spots in town. A huge night with far to much alcohol, made the following day’s walking even harder!

One night back at Ulovane, and just enough time to unpack one lot of bags, and re-pack another, and I was off to Cape Town to meet Paul. It was 16th May, our 5thwedding anniversary! I was relieved to get on my plane from Port Elizabethand get to Cape Town without incident! I flew with 1tme a lcalbudget airline that was surprisingly good, after the original airline that I had booked with (Nationwide) went bust! Boy was it good to be back in a city! Yaseen from Discovery Toursmet me and it was great to catch up and chat to a fellow guide about how my course was going. After checking back in to a beautiful room at An African Villa I headed into town for a hair cut and manicure! So nice to be pampered! A quick shower and change and it was off to the airport to see Paul! I was soooexcited, it was wonderful to see him again! We had a quiet night in with a bottle of champagne courtesy of Louis and Jimmy!

On Saturday we headed to KirstenboschBotanical Gardens which are located in the foothills of Table Mountain. They are really beautiful and I was able to dazzle Paul with my knowledge of Trees and flowers! I think he was kind of taken aback! Check out this beutiful protea! The birdlifewas amazing too, and I wish I had taken my Bird book with me!

In the afternoon we visited Gourmet SA a food and wine show in Cape Town and watched a demonstaration by Cyrus Todiwala from Cafe Spice Namaste in London. We also saw this great banner which Chris Bromham my mate should really have embalzoned on a T-shirt , it read “My only regret in life is that I did not drink more champagne….”, Chris down to a tee!

Paul and I headed back up to Ulovane on Sunday, only to discover that everyone had been out all day at a Kudu Poitje (pronounced Poike) at Schalk’s house. We were very disappointed to miss it, as it is an amazing South African Dish made in a small metal pot over the camp fire. Having never tasted Kudu, it would have been great to try it.

Paul stayed at Reed Valley Inn while he was here, and I have to say not only did Rod and Tracy who own the place give us a fantastic rate, they were so welcoming that it really felt like home. With all the personality clashes going on back at camp, it was quite tempting to check in for the rest of the course!

We had our First Aid Course for the first 3 days of Paul’s stay, so Paul went out on Game drives at Reed Valley and had a wonderful time. I was able to spend a bit more time with him in the evenings and toward the end of the week, and at the weeken. It was lovely to see him, but the week went so quickly I can’t believe that he’s been and gone already!

This week has been studying hard and we prepared for the AGM dinner which we hosted. It was a nice evening and Ulovane looked wonderful. All the students managed to stay sober and the evening was judged to be a great success! For a change it was one of the Ulovane staff instead of a student that got trashed, and Candice had a ball of a time licking all the blokes eyeballs! Yuk! Luckily it was after all the directors and landowners had left the party!

The next month or so is going to be hard work preparing for exams and assessment drives. We have asked Schalk for the Landrover for the weekend so that we can practice! It is time to have a serious think about the future, will I return to Ulovane to do Level 2, go elsewhere to do the same, or get some practical experience? Life is emotionally and mentally very draining at the moment, and what seems as clear as mud one moment, is not at all clear the next.

~ by ritathomas on May 30, 2008.