Up at 37,000 feet I can see the drifting blue-grey of the massive fires that have been steadily burning their way through the Hottentots Holland Mountains for over a week now. Separate fires have also been ravaging the Overberg in the last few days and it looks like the fire fighting services have their hands very full.
The flight is one of those small pencil-like jets that run the bus routes between the smaller regional cities of South Africa, an ERJ 135-LR according to the well-thumbed and tatty-cornered in-flight magazine in the seat pouch in front of me. The plane is no more than a third full and the pilot sounded bored and tired over the pre-taxi intercom.
I’m pretty excited though. I’ve been away from the Braai4Heritage tour since Friday afternoon and am now very much looking forward to rejoining the adventure in Upington later today.
When I left them in Springbok on Friday, they were off to drink springboks (shots of crème de menthe and amarula) at the Springbok Lodge, eat springbok biltong and listen to Springbok Nude Girls, all the while waxing lyrical about the many fine qualities of the Springbok rugby team. Good day I thought, and I was sad to miss it, though the wedding of a best friend of 18 years is not something I would miss for just about anything and so it was back to Cape Town for me.
Last night, while I was sipping bubbly under the mountain and enjoying one of Cape Town’s truly perfect summer days, the tour was partying it up in Augrabies, checking out the falls and by the sounds of it having a really lekker jol.
Before take-off I spoke to Frans and it seems I’m going to have a few hours to kill at the airport while they finish shooting some white-water rafting footage on the Orange River. It’s all work and no play on the great Braai4Heritage tour of South Africa, no doubt about that.
Tonight we stay at the Sun River Kalahari Lodge which looks like a beautiful spot, right on the river, then it’s off to Kimberley tomorrow for a braai overlooking Kimberley’s Big Hole. It’s going to be awesome and I can’t wait.
