2016 - Let the Season commence!

The suitcases are packed, farewell's bade and in a short while we will be on our way to the airport to commence the trek from Durban via Dubai and the train between Paris and Brussels to Diksmuide.

Some parts of the past five and a half months since we returned from Belgium have really dragged, especially the month of December while Lynn agonised her way to recovery from her knee operation but latterly the weeks have passed in a blur; most sadly my neurosurgeon has been diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and our hopes and thoughts are with his family. I was advised however that a further back operation was not necessary and have been fairly diligent about building up core muscle strength.

Another trial has been attending french lessons at Alliance Francaise but after 45 hours of lectures and many more of self study I can now at least muddle through some basics.

We have spent weekends fishing for trout and bass with friends,

The view from our bedroom - eland and zebra.

spent a glorious Easter long weekend at Tembe Elephant Park

African leopard tortoise

Poached rhino skulls

and an equally fabulous week down on the Wild Coast at friends Gerd and Lesley's cottage - all almost déjà vu of our pre-September 2015 lifestyle!

Politically Team ZA has had a very tumultuous six months with the Minister of Finance hiring-and-firing-and-hiring saga, the departure from these fair shores of the organs-of-state-capture Gupta family who purportedly have taken billions with them, the Constitutional Court finding that President Jacob Zuma failed to uphold and defend the Constitution and his oath of office and that members of Parliament also violated the Constitution and their oath of office by failing to hold Zuma accountable - in most democracies that would have led to the resignation of the President but not the case in banana democracies!

But the good news is that Zuma has just been informed by the Supreme Court that the dropping of corruption charges against himself by the head of the National Prosecuting Authority and (Zuma appointee) was irrational and they must be reinstated - all 783 of them!

The weather in Kwa-Zulu Natal has been very hot and there are many areas on severe water restrictions; some towns have even run dry and are having to have water trucked in to their residents. On Saturday however a big cold front hit the mountains and the famous Sani Pass is now covered in a white blanket which, when it melts, will hopefully bring some relief to the eastern lowlands.

And now there is the little matter of 12,156 kilometres (as the crow flies) before we are back on board!