Shifting into overdrive
It is the afternoon tea break and I have 20 minutes to type this… piece of cake. Before you mumble to yourself WTF is Chitty doing blogging from the game reserve, my eagerness to share this with you will become apparent as you read on. The next update may be days from now… so pipe it… and let me spin my web of intrigue. I exited the company parking lot at precisely 12:05 and headed north in the direction of Pretoria or Snor City as I heard someone refer to it recently. (For non-Saffas: snor=mustache… you do the math). It’s a glorious sunny day so I open the sunroof and put pedal to metal. I reckon I can miss the midday traffic in the Midrand area by going north on to the R21. Good idea – however a well placed traffic camera puts a damper on my mood as I catch the flashlight out of the corner of my eye as I zooooom pass at just under 160 km/h. Fuckit!! What can I say, I am a speed-hog… like so many law-abiding South Africans. To soothe my conscience I turn the volume on the CD player way up. It’s working and before I am singing along and a smile returns to my face. Life's great! At Pretoria I take the N1 north and head towards Petersburg on the toll road. What is it with the Bakwena Platinum toll road? Freakin’ toll plazas everywhere you look. How much money does it take to maintain a national road these days? It’s like a 380km dual carriageway casino with the toll plazas as the slot machines. Gimme… gimme… gimme… gimme all your hard-earned cash. Suddenly I regret not taking the bus. Anyway, it takes me less than an hour to get to the game farm (~100km from Snor City). I almost get lost when I get of the highway, but luckily I run into a friendly oom and tannie and they point me in the right direction (Note to self… do not trust a map downloaded from the Internet). A few km’s on a grondpad (dirt road) and I am finally there. I’m just in time for lunch too. I missed out on the morning session and the boss assures me that he will update me over lunch (see the eager anticipation in my left eye). The game farm is well… there are no better words for it… spectacularly beautiful!! More than 12 000 hectares of soft rolling hills teaming with bird and wildlife. Accommodation ranges from self-catering chalets to en-suite lodge rooms and rustic bush camps. Haha… I don’t think I’ll be sleeping in one of the bush camps very soon! I’m a city boy, ok... that says it all. When I sleep outside I prefer not to have wild animals roaming around. Furthermore there sre tennis courts, a swimming pool, a squash court, game drives, horse-riding, hiking trails, a restaurant, a boma and a bar (vital). Within 5 minutes of my arrival, an absolutely crucial tidbit of information is passed on to me by my cohorts. This information is so crucial it could actually make or break... ahem... the breakaway. Get this: WE ARE NOT THE ONLY GUESTS AT THE GAME FARM. A WELL KNOWN EUROPEAN AIRLINE HAS ORGANISED A STAY-OVER FOR THEIR AIRLINE PERSONNEL. Whoo-bloody-hoo!! I am not going to go into too much detail, but let the imagination go, think of the possibilties and you will understand my enthusiasm upon learning this. They are apparently on their way to Victoria Falls and this is a stop-over. The potential for fun and games, soap opera-ish antics … and DISASTER are endless!! Can it get any better than this? I am so happy right now I can cry. (As Terri pointed out, I am a pillar of virtue... and may I add... compassion, so my tears of joy are as innocent as they come) Thank you, God for making them invite me along!!!
