After 4 weeks of sunshine, there's no doubt that I've come back to November in the UK. But the sheer pleasure of the past month is sustaining my bouncy mood. It really was a fabulous trip. After the clients left I stayed overnight with Jannie from Signature Tours. He and his wife made me hugely welcome and we were joined by Ince (who had been our guide and is a partner in the business) and her husband as well as Susan who had at one time been the ship's doctor on the Royal Mail Ship and had introduced me to Jannie and Ince. We had an indoor braai (Afrikans for BBQ)and the entertainment of the evening was enhanced by an 8-week-old puppy!
The next day it was off to Durban where I was met by Adam and Matthew from Rockjumper Birding Tours. It was an hour's drive north to Pietermaritzburg where they are based and where I would be staying at Adam's beautiful home for the next three nights. We had a hugely enjoyable and also productive time. On the first day I worked in the office and it was great to be in the midst of a vibrant, buzzing environment - so many young people bursting with enthusiasm and energy. I remember those
days - JUST. Then it was play time - Adam took me out birding and what a wonderful day it was. Nearly everything I saw was new and we even found two of the critically endangered Wattled Cranes - and they had a chick. Seeing this rare bird wasn't pure luck - it was because I was with someone who knew where to look. I added more than 80 new species to my South Africa list! As an aside, there was a real coincidence. We had just finished having lunch when someone approached the table - it was Lloyd, one of the passengers who had been on the Royal Mail Ship! Now what were the chances of that happening?
All too soon it was time to leave and return to Cape Town where Marie-Louise from Avian Leisure was waiting to meet me and whisk me to their beautiful home in Simonstown. Patrick was waiting and, being a Keeper of the Quaich, he was soon dishing out a rather excellent malt whisky. It was fairly late but there was plenty of time to chat and we were also entertained by a porcupine which had come to feed off the fruit left out for it in the "garden". By the way - you too can have this experience as Patrick and Marie-Louise not only guide birding and wildlife tours (they are organising our Namibia trip at the end of the next St Helena voyage) but also run their home as self-catering apartments - and they are to die for.
Over the week there was much chat and discussion about business which, after all, was the whole point of staying on. I'm now looking at enhancing the service offered by Island Holidays to incorporate offering tours run by local operators worldwide, providing I know the people involved and that they are of like mind in terms of ethics and service. The advantage to my clients will be that they will be financially protected by our ATOL licence (which isn't the case if you book direct with an overseas company) and also that their contract will be with a British company. We're not giving up our own tours - this will simply be an additional service. Much work needs to be done on it - and talking of work, it's about time I stopped wittering on and did some! I'm off to Perth shortly to get my spex mended (I've lost count of the number of times I've managed to break them on overnight flights!) and pick up the newsletter which will be posted out over today and tomorrow. You can beat the game and check it out on our website (unless you read this in the next couple of hours - I don't have the electronic version from the printer yet and so can't post it on the website. That will happen later today.
Cheers!
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