What a year this has turned out to be!   First the broken heart of losing a partner and lover after 25 years, then the healing process, Selati and the medicine my beloved nature offers and finally... a new love in my life.   Someone to build another 25 years with, or hopefully even longer than that.   Someone who accepts me as I am, a bit crazy, very, very busy, and once again, full of life and full of adventure spirit.   And how wonderful things have turned out for us.   Geraldine, my love, you are a tonic!

 

We have now settled back in Cape Town and have bought a lovely home into which we will soon move. Establish a new nest for our children, a place where we can love and be loved.   We now also own two lovely restaurants in Cape Town, both huge challenges, but also have huge potential.   More about these once we are in operation.

 

The best news is that we did not sell our Namibian paradise, but sold one third to our neighbors who will take the business to the next level.   We are now three equal partners, Gondwana, my ex and myself.  

 

I want to thank Him who has guided me through all of this and given me the courage to continue and start writing a new book of my life.   Thank you Lord.

A story I have to share...!   I recently spent 28 days in the Selati Game Reserve, a privately owned Game Reserve of 33 000 ha.  I was there to do an Eco Training 1 course, as well as to write my FGASA 1 exams.  Very intense training, what is normally a 1 year course, we did in 28 days....   When you're in your 50th year, it ain't easy, but I did it with honours!  My 13 years of guiding hikes in the Fish River Canyon gave me a slight edge on the younger students.

 

During our course we did many game drives.  The Reserve boasts with the big 4, being Elephant, White Rhino, Lion and Leopard.   There is one pride of Lions, and recently the owners introduced a new male, Mopani, to introduce new genes into the pride.   The older male, Shaka, is a beautiful speciman, but is now breeding with his own offspring, not good!   When introducing a new male, there is always a huge risk.  It can get into a fight with the existing Alpha Male, and be killed...!  Nature has to follow it's own rules, so during our stay, the owners opened the gates of the holding pen where they kept Mopani.  Let nature do it's thing!   Let's hope for the best.

 

Well, he decided to explore his new territory that night and ended up..... 20 m from our tents!  Woke up all of us with a mighty roar.   Awesome!   When you sleep in a flimsy little tent and hear an adult male lion 20 m away, you feel mighty small and insignificant.   It was unreal!   It was 03h30 at night, and I simply had to share this moment with someone, so I sent an SMS to my son, 16 year old Wynand, who recently had 9 lion encounters with me in the Kalagadi Game Reserve.  Needless to say, he did not enjoy the moment anywhere as much as I did.....

 

A week later we were fortunate enough to find the two males together!  They formed a coalition; nature was kind to Selati...   They had made a substantial kill the night before and were gorged with meat.  A male lion can eat as much as 50 kg of meat in one sitting.   Hell, the two of them can finish all of me in one sitting.... not a nice thought!  Imagine being turned into lion poo!   Ouch!  We were on an open Land Rover when we found the two 'blood brothers'.  Lions are incredibly lazy when they have a belly full of protein.   The digestive process for pure protein gives off a lot of heat, so they have to be very still as not to overheat during the hot daytime.   Thank God for that fact!  We ended up 8 m away from the pair with no obvious escape route, and they were huge and impressive.  

 

On the front of the Land Rover we have a tracker seat.   Just an few minutes before discovering the lions, I was on that seat.  Boy was I glad to have swapped with Paul, one of my much younger classmates.  At one point, Mopani stood up from his protein induced sleep and walked straight towards the Land Rover.   I could sense Paul's tention as he tried to seem like a proper 'hood ornament' as trackers are usually called when they do not do a decent job of finding tracks.  He wanted to become invisible.  Fortunately Mopani took only two steps and once again flopped down in a spot with slightly more shade.   It really seemed as if they were not even aware of our presence.  I guess being watched by a group of human researchers on a daily basis has the males totally habituated to the situation.  I must confess, none of us were used to being less than 8 m away from two full grown male lions on an open Land Rover...  Not something you forget very easily, and one of the highlights of my 28 days in Selati!   I do hope that Mopani will sire some lovely young lions, and succeed in securing his own bloodline.

I have decided to settle in Sedgefield.  What a lovely little town with huge lake and stunning ocean.   A new beginning with a new partner!   The thing I will enjoy most is to go for long canoe trips on the lake, exploring the entire area.  Been long since I worked out the upper body, and nothing makes you fitter than a long, hard row in your kayak.  Can't wait!

 

The time is right for me to start fresh.  My ex is now in a serious relationship so she and my kids will be fine.  I needed that to finally let go and move on.  So...., here goes with the next part of my life.   Will it be as exciting as the first half?   I am sure better!

 

Oh, forgot to tell you, I now own a new little farm near Touws River, right next to Aquilla big 5 Game farm.   Will develop that property as a part time project while establishing myself in Sedgefield.  It will be known as The Thorn Game Farm.   De Doorns means 'The Thorns', from that I derived the name.  May end up to be the Thorn of De Doorns.   Sharp!

A great journey came to an end yesterday.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) no sale of my property as yet.  Both parties very keen to buy but not yet convinced.  Well, two new players entered the scene and with all these potential buyers, sooner or later one will take the prize!

 

Lost my laptop during the travel, through a short circuit...   Will take it back to the supplier and hopefully get it fixed to download new pics.  I have some good ones to show y'all.  Thanks to all the new friends on my list.  Great to have you as buddies!

 

Lionheart

 

 

Hi to y'all

 

Travelled through our lovely country the past few days, wow!, it is still one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  In Sedgefield right now, revisited a favorite resort after being there last year during serious flooding.  Will add some of those pics later.  Off to CT to se the ex and my beloved children.  Missed them sooooo much.  One of the most painful things of divorce is not seeing them as often as I used to.  Will plan for that in future, may settle down in Sedgefield which is relatively close.

 

Next week I will visit my property at the Fish River Canyon and hopefully (but sadly) sell the farms to investors.  Another chapter done and behind me and looking forward to new challenges and opportunities.  What the hell, I LOVE adventure, and what is more exciting than starting a new adventure!!!

 

Ciauuu

 

Wow!!! Just added a blog last night and today met 5 new people, new friends.   Not bad, there are lovely people out there!  Thanks y'all!!

Now 4 months since getting my freedom (divorce), and still hanging in there.  Found new direction (actually, re-established and re-confirmed my old direction) by doing a Field Guide training in the bush near Kruger.  Had lions and hyaenas for company at night and rhino and elephant during the day.  Learnt more about the bush than I did in 13 years living in the FR Canyon.  Not exactly 'bush' at FRC, but still a brilliant teaching ground for surviving the wilderness.  I will now do the Trails Guide training and learn to approach the big 5 on foot without endangering either them or my guests.  Nice challenge!  Will walk out even wiser and better prepared for life after that little adventure.  Will keep y'all updated!

 

Bush Greetings

Louis

 

 The 7th of September was a milestone in my life.  The summons for divorce was delivered to me, and getting my freedom was suddenly a reality.   It came with mixed feelings, I have to admit.   It was also the day I had to drive back to Namibia.   My decision was to do a different route and I took the West Coast road.   How do you put 25 years behind you?   How do you suddenly wake up one morning and accept that the woman you loved for so long will no longer share your bed, your dreams, your love?   Not easy, and the emotion was raw as I drove along fields of colourful flowers, stretching sand dunes and West Coast schrubs.   I prayed to God to give me answers and help me ease the pain that was threatening to suffocate me.....

 

 

A very welcoming sign board with big bold letters saying 'LUNCH' caught my eye and it being around 12h30, I decided to see what was on offer.   I was about 25 km from Elands Bay.  I turned off the road into a vey beautiful thatch roof Lodge called 'Draaiberg' and was pleasantly surprised by the friendly hospitality offered by the hostess, Janine.  She immediately offered to show me their rooms.   WOW! was my first impression; this is sexy!!  The cost of R500 per single for the night was a bit steep for my budget, so I asked for a discount, explaining that 'we in the industry usually offer special deals'.  I ordered lunch, took out my brand new laptop with the Vodafone connection and checked my mails.  A lot of very beautiful women on the dating site I'm registered on were trying to establish contact with me.   This made me feel so much better and 'wanted', so I started to write mails to some of the ladies who appealed to me.  One particular Lady who caught my eye and writing under the pseudo name of 'aWoman2love' responded very favorably and we have since become great buddies.  You made my day, Colette, Baby!!!

 

After a very good lunch, Janine came back to me with an offer I could not resist... the room for R350 including breakfast.  'Sold' I said and booked in.  All this time I was talking to God asking for answers and some sign to ease my pain.   A broken heart is a tough thing to heal, I guess....  I walked to the beach which was very close and just ove a dune from the Lodge.  As I crossed the dune, my eye caught a bright yellow bouy that has washed up minutes ago, as it was still floating in the shallow water.  Being a pain in the ass when it comes to pollution, I walked up and picked it up.   'Is this my sign, God.....?   I asked as I turned the buoy in my hands.  I noticed so deep cuts on one end and after careful deliberation, realized that it was shark tooth marks.  This is special, I thought, and then the message hit me.  This buoy was trapped in a fishing net, no freedom to do it's own thing, just a tool in the fisherman's hands.  That was until a shark came by, took a bite at the fish trapped inside the net and in the process freed the buoy.  Those raizor sharp teeth cut right through the rope that was constraining the buoy, and now it was free, despite the few 'wounds' it suffered in the process, free to roam the ocean and find some lonely beach where it was to be discovered by.....ME!  Now it embarks on a journey with me, also free from a trap called 'marriage' and free to discover new places, new people and great adventures.  'Thank you, God, for making me realize this' was my prayer.   I should paint a face on my buoy and call it 'Wilson'....

 

I know that this journey will not always be easy, will have it's own obstacles, will provide much pleasure and will bring new and wonderful people into my life (already has).   For those of you out there who will become part of the journey, come aboard and enjoy the ride!!!

 

 

During a school holiday, I visited my Uncle's farm in the South of the then South West Africa.   We hiked, hunted and survived out in the veld and I loved it.  This was me, I realized.  I then made a pact with Namibia.  One day I will own a farm in this country, a farm so big I will not be able to see all the boundaries from any one point on the farm.   Well, in 1993 I had an opportunity to take a bite at this apple, and was given the whole damn apple.  I bought a 15 000 ha property bordering onto the world famous Fish River Canyon.  The most stunning natural beauty in the area, maybe even in Africa, was now mine!   WOW!   How lucky can one get, and the best of all, it was so cheap, I virtually paid cash for the land.   Now, what to do with the land...!   A mere 4 months after the purchase, I was retrenched by the company I then worked for.  I was given a handsome package, and there I was, money in the bank and a farm in the Namib.   The world was suddenly wide open for me, but I had a wife and two children to consider.   Not so easy then, is it?

 

 

A year after buying my Namibian dream farm, I took my bags and left Stellenbosch to tackle my dream in the Desert.   I wanted to establish a Guest Lodge on my property which abutted the Fish River Canyon.   With very little cash and a lot of courage, I bought an old Bedford 4X4 truck, loaded all my belongings and off I went into the unknown.   At this stage my wife, Riette, was working as a Town Planner in Stellenbosch.   We agreed that she would remain employed to earn some cash and I would establish some foundation for us to start our business from.  I was employed by a Distribution company to sell hardware to various Businesses on small towns in Namibia South.   This was an income, but did not make up for what I gave up in Stellenbosch, and kept me from my real dream, to start a business.   I soon tired of this job, and decided to tackle the bull by the horns and start working on establishing a Lodge on the farm.   We had an old Farmhouse with many rooms, so that had to do.   My first clients were Backpackers and Hikers.  I laid out the most beautiful hiking trail in the canyons on the farm.   Soon peole started talking and this became more and more popular.

 

To give you some idea of how it started, the first year (1994) we had 46 guests visiting us.   The next year 550.  At this stage Riette joined me and started running our booking office in Keetmanshoop while I managed the business and development.  Our young children had to go to school and we needed a computer to do the bookings and admin, so this worked out for us.  In the third year we had 1300 guests and so it went as more and more people came to know about this hidden jewel of the Fish River Canyon.   Soon I was well established and we let the business grow biologically, with the profits we made, living only very basically with not many luxuries.

 

Two years after settling in Keetmanshoop, Riette and I bought a house which we then turned into a B&B named Chapel Inn.   It was an old German house next to the Lutheran Church, formerly the Rectory of the church.   It was in the main street of Keetmanshoop and we soon had many people stopping over for a room.  It was an instant success as a B&B, and complimented our business on the farm.   We were by now well established and getting ahead with our lives.  The down side was that I was still living separate from my family, and although I saw them at least twice a week, I was getting lonely on the farm.   I am a passionate man and needed that in my life.   Riette was raising two children and did not have too much time to think about passion, I guess.

 

 

In 2002 I made the biggest mistake of my life.  I wanted to force my wife to move to the farm with me and help me run the business.  By then we had solar power on the farm and a sattelite phone, so she could do bookings etc.   I sold Chapel Inn at a handsome profit and Riette moved to the farm, into the same house as my mother who was then helping us with our business.   Big mistake, really big mistake!!   Riette lost her security of her own house and her business and became very distant.   Our relationship took a bad turn and we argued a lot.  I remember one specific Sunday in September that year.  She compared me to my sister that day and it really hurt.  I was so angry that I decided to take a walk just to clear my mind.  I drove down into the Canyon and started walking to the farm Vergelee which is quite a long way and one of the farms we were busy buying for an American friend who fell in love with Namibia.   It is on the opposite side of the Canyon, not accesible by road.

 

 

This walk turned out to be a very spiritual experience.   I wanted to see the Vergelee house, so I took a ravine to the West and climbed out to the plateau.   Then down another ravine which I instictively knew would take me close to the house.  I had no map, no food and no water with me, and September in the Canyon can already be very hot.  To give you an idea, two years ago to the date, a German tourist took a walk down into the Canyon from the Main Viewpoint at Hobas.  He had water, food and was very fit.  It became very hot that day and he disappeared never to be found again.   So my local knowledge and survival skills came in very handy that September Sunday.  I drank from the many springs in the area and reckoned that I had enough stored reserves in my then slightly overweight body to take the punch.

 

I finally found the entrance road towards the Vergelee farmhouse and found the house.   Not a very well kept house, telling the story of the old farmer who eeked out a poor, marginal existence on a very big farm (27 000 ha).   I spent about 2 hours at the house and drank water from the storage tanks, used the long drop toilet where I was attacked by fire ants (painfull when they discover your most sensitive areas....) and then decided to walk back to my farmhouse.   I guessed the time to be around 3 in the afternoon when I decided to return.  I also made the mistake to take a 'short cut' straight into the Canyon.   I took another ravine which I hoped would take me straight down to FR Canyon.  As it turned out, the ravine kept doubling up upon itself and I ended up walking at least 4 extra kilometres (or as my young 9 year old son once said: 'Kill You Metres').  It is a stunning ravine, though and I walked up upon a massive male Kudu and just stood watching him for minutes, only 10 metres away from me.   Him totally unaware of my presence.   I finally started talking to him, and he just looked up, 'smiled' and continued eating leaves off a tree.   Weird!   We had a strange connection, two alpha males not in competition with each other.   It was great!

 

I finally reached the Canyon in territory that I have not yet explored.   I was happy to see water, as the ravine I followed had no springs.  I drank at least 2 l of muddy Fish River water and it tasted like the best thing around.   It was by now getting late afternoon so I realized I had to push on.   I followed the Fish River back to familiar terrain and it took me half an hour before I recognized the area.  At least now I knew that I was about 6 k's away from the road to the canyon and another 7 k's from the house.   The sun was dropping fast and I had to move.  Around the next bend I had my next great experience for the day.  I came upon a herd of Hartman's Mountain Zebra.  There was a very small foal in the group which indicated that the mare was probably on heat, as they do so within 2 weeks after the birth of a foal.   The herd stallion was very protective and charged down upon me.   I stood my ground and laughed out very loud at him.  He skidded to an abrupt halt and eyed me, kicking up dust with his front hooves.   He was challenging me!   So I took on his challenge and charged him.   Hell, he ran hard, and I kept on laughing at him.   He looked so embarresed in front of his ladies.   Another Alpha male confrontation for the day...!

 

It was getting late and I had to make up for lost time.  By now I was handling a pace which I know is about 8 k's per hour.   I finally rounded the last bend before the climb out of the canyon.  iI was now getting seriously darker and I had the third experience for the day.  A troup of baboons had settled down against a cliff and were getting ready for the night of challenges.  We have many leopards around and baboons are always the favorite prey for them.   They saw me go by and started conversing with me in a strange guttaral language which I have never heard from baboons.  It was quite funny, the whole troup joining in and now and again a loud challenge by the Alpha male.  

'BoooohhhChommm......!'     'Is God trying to tell me something....' was my thoughts at that point.   I simply loved being out there and having these one on ones with the wildlife.   I felt so alive, like I have not felt in many days, weeks and months before that day.

 

I finally reached the place where I had to climb out.   it is a tough climb in daytime, by now it was pitch dark, only the light of Venus to navigate by.   Luckily I knew the way and after another hour of climbing and scuttling up cliff faces, I made it to the top.   Now I only have 7 k's of road left to get home!  I knew that by now the family would be worried about me, so I pushed hard.   The last drink I had was over an hour ago before I left the river.   I walked the final 7 k's in less than an hour and could eat a horse.   Needless to say they were happy to see me, and Riette learned one lesson that day.... NEVER AGAIN COMPARE LOUIS TO HIS SISTER.    Oh, and if you wondered, I took my maps the next day and calculated how far I walked.    It was 49 k's, without food and water.   If you wondered why I call myself a true survivor, now you know.   It was still one of the best days in my life, one that will remain with me forever.  God himself conversed with me that day, and in the strangest ways.   My biggest victory was that I took my anger away from the one who caused it, as it was not her fault that she was frustrated.   That day could have turned out very badly had I not done this.