May Speaker - Touring South Africa

This mionth's speaker was June Hook, a member of Seaholme Probus Club. June, who was born in South Africa, gave a talk last year about her youth in South Africa and her decision to emigrate to Australia. In this month's talk June described a trip to the land of her birth many years later.

The initial idea of a return tour of South Africa came from June's husband, a keen golfer, who harboured a desire to play a round (or two) at the magnificent courses at Sun City near Johannesburg. Even non golfers can appreciate that idea after looking at photos of Sun City like the one shown below.

The tour started at the unforgettable Kruger National Park. June was a bit wary when she heard that accommodation was to be in a tent, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the "tent" had all of the luxuries you could hope for. The first safari of the day started before dawn, in a vehicle like the one opposite. June was lucky enough to see all of the big five - elephant, lion, buffalo, rhinoceros and leopard!

After returning from the first safari, word spead around the camp that two large bull elephants were in the vicinity. The guides discovered that they were heading directly for the camp. The guides were up for the challenge and managed to shepheard the huge animals safely through the encampment.

June and here husband were born in villages near the major city Durban. Their desire to visit their home villages was thwarted by increasing signs of unrest in the country side as they traveled from Durban. They decided to keep their "rose coloured" memories than see the modern reality of their birthplaces.

Another important destination was Cape Town, where June's parents had lived for some time. She was unable to visit Robben Island because the harbour was too rough. Robben Ialand was where Nelson Mandella was held for more than 20 years. As well the top of Table Mountain could not be seen because it had its "table Cloth" as illustrated below.



They finished the tour in the restful surroundings of Sun City.

Thank you to June for this very interesting and informative talk.

Report written by Stephen Spencer