Quarter of a Century

Just a quick note to say thanks for all the bday wishes! Sorry I wasnt home when some called, but I got the message :) Had a great day... nice and relaxing with a game drive at a nearby national park. Didnt see any rhinos like last time, but still saw plenty of other game. This was followed up by dinner out on the town... proper portuguese chicken (a tribute to my love for Nandos!) which was super yummy :) Anywhos, hope everyone is well! Nice to cath up with those I had a chance to chat to :) Other than that, I had a fabulous week and also did a fair bit- of coaching and riding, which was a bonus. It's great to already see improvements in a few of them and they really enjoy learning. A great bunch :) I'm also in charge of trying to teach this one horse flying changes because the owner is having troubles... and boy, it's a heavy HEAVY stubborn little bugger, but we're making progress :p Nothing like a weight-lifting workout to get the muscles in action again!! Well I better sc-daddle... hoping we can organise a chat session next weekend (see email that's coming your way!) Hehehe Cheerios

Magical Malilangwe!!

irst up, Happy Australia Day!!! Well, if you've been wondering why I've been out of comms recently it's because we've just gotten back from a place called Malilangwe. A privately owned game park (owned by the 5th richest guy in the world), this place was amazing! No expenses were spared in the making, running and maintenance of this place... absolutely fantastic. Managed to scam a spot with the Mas-East Natural History Society (a fancy name for a group of old farts that used to live near each other and are avid bird watchers), of which Mark's folks are members. An old mate is the head-vet at the place and recomended we come down and stay free of chrge whilst there were no tourists... and to our surprise we weere supplied 4 guides and two open-top landrovers, free of charge, to buzz around as we liked. They wrote it off as training for the guides, and we weren't complaining! Even though I could slaughter anyone else who wants idea another freaking bird, I'm not going to vent on that matter. I was thrilled to see my first ever hyaena, and have fallen in love. I will show photos of the one I dubbed Gorgeous George, a young hyaena who snuck up on our car. On top of that I had my frist ever serious close encounter with two bull elephants who were not further than 10m from me... my heart has never pounded like that... primeval fear!! I even filmed it expecting them to charge, but they were happy to let us sit and watch. Also saw my first ever Black Mamba (those who are unsure should read up on them!) and was happy to see it go away from us rather than attacking us, contrary to the impression I had gotten from all the horror stories... so typical! On top of that we also witnessed lions mating not 15m from our car.. not the slightest bit phased either!! And I also went on a horse-ride safari, but thankfully didn't run into any hungry bugger :p But we had a fantastic time, shame we couldn't stay longer... definately a place to head back to though! So my encounter with leopard, buffalo and black rhino will have to wait until next time :) Until next update, cheers big ears! PS. Photos most likely to be posted on the family site this weekend so stay tuned!

Happy 2009 Everyone!!

Happy New Years everyone!!! I trust you all had a great time wherever you are :) Sorry
I didnt get a chance to email sooner, we had last minute (and I mean very last minute)
plans to head out to the Eastern Highlands, a place called Nyanga, where a mate of ours
has a cottage. So there were 8 hooligans that raided the place and needless to say it
was a fun New Years. Played some useless golf (Tiger - no need to panic yet), hiked
what I considered Zim's Mt Everest, almost stepped on a venomous adder, there was a nasty bout of food poisoning for Mark, and we had car troubles that resulted in the 8 of us and our
accompanying luggage being squished into the one car!! All in all it was a hoot, and
it was nice to get out of town for a bit. Well now that it's 2009 it's time to get
back into work... or find some at least, heehee. Keep safe everyone!! Until next time,
Famba Mushe (look, I'm learning the lingo!! Hahahaha)

PS. I heard a new song by Chevelle... looks like they have a new album out... might be
worth a hunt down ;-)