In February 2007, Janet Cuthbertson from Suni-Ridge Org. ZA (013-525 NPO) contacted us asking if we’d promote Leopard Walk Lodge in Zululand, KwaZulu Natal. At the end of the e-mail, there were a few paragraphs about how they rehabilated an old pineapple farm and gave it back to nature, forming a wildlife reserve.

Among other things, they also mentioned False Bay School, which Janet established in 1992. I was so impressed by their achievements, that I offered to build a pro-bono website for Suni-Ridge. Read the rest »

Our RYA sailing course was cancelled at the last minute, so we booked a last minute trip to Hurghada on the Red Sea in Egypt. We snorkelled, scuba dived, quad biked and visited Luxor including Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple.

This was the first “last-minute” all-in booking that we’ve made. And we can see what the fuss is about. We’d booked a week from 28/08 until 05/09 in 2006 through a Dutch online travel agency at the Hilton Hurghada Long Beach in Egypt. Read the rest »

“No matter where you come from, as long as you’re a black man, you’re an African. No mind your nationality, you have got the identity of an African“. ~ Peter Tosh

Albeit in reverse, Peter Tosh sings about the way I felt a lot of the time while growing up in South Africa with my pale skin – I felt out of place in my country of birth. The old apartheid “European Only” signs indicated that a white skin meant that we were European, but we felt African. So, who and what are we? Are we South Africans? Are we English? Are we Dutch? None of the above? Read the rest »

During our Master Diving training course, we were instructed to do a shore-entry navigation dive in our buddy pairs. This meant kitting up on the beach, gently easing into the waves, setting the appropriate navigation course, putting fins on, submerging beneath the waves and setting off in the right direction.

The intention was to swim out 30m, surface, wave to the instructor, take another bearing back, submerge and return. Being near-professionals, currents and swell needed to be taken into consideration. We had calculated how long it took us to swim 30m, so the time had been set. Read the rest »