Busy days

Hi,

Hard to keep track of the days, yesterday my tour ended and on tuesday a new one is starting. By now all is old routines:) We are flying to Cape Town tomorrow morning early, 6h00, we have to leave the house about 4h30. It is nicer to be one day earlier there before the group of 23 people arrive. It will be a similar tour as over christmas. Elizma( Nicos sister) is also joining us.
Feels like today has goeb by too fast, I have been organizing everything I can for the upcoming tour, and the problem is that my computer I have everything stored on is not working and no chance finding anyone oer christmas to fix it, lets hope it is possibel to fix and all my data on it will be saved, otherwise I have quite a job of getting everyones email addresses again....but lets hope the best. That is the reason I like to print out a lot of things, one never knows when the computer decides to tak a break.
Christmas was hot,we stayed at a lodge called Kwamadwala, with the group, and Elizma and Nicoa parents join us, and Kira & Jukka. The heat was unbearlable for many( I like the heat:)), over +40*, and some aircons did not work properly.... But food was good and we sang some finnish christas songs. Santa claus visited us also before we had dinner with the group, all the way from Finland( Nico) and Liina and Viivi where so excied when he came trough the bush with the presents.
I knwo I have been vey lazy with pictures, I will try to get a gap and get some downloaded...soon!
Time to go and pack again for 2 weeks,and get a good 6 hours sleep.

Byebye:)

trip nr 2 on go!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I havent written for a while, but I have had my hands full! Last weekend, saturday night at midnight, we started our drive down to Cape town....from Johannesburg, over 1400km, and believe it or not, the trip went quick and Liina& Viivi behaved the whole trip,slept and laughed and all happy.
When we arrived here in Cape Town on sunday afternoon we though the car was going to blow off the road, it really was stormy here. We stayed the whole week in Camps Bay , we went down to the beach a few mornings and the girls got to play in the sand and jump in the waves,they love the beach and water:) And we also went to see the penguines one day, we walked along the beach and between rocks to get as close as possible to the penguines,we actually walked between them.
Otherwise we have met a few friends while here and not really planned to much , as on thursday my group number two arrived, 26 people. And once again Im fortunate to have a wonderful group. Yesterday was a long day as we left in the morning at 8h30 for Cape point and the penguines, and did not arrive back to the hotel until 19h00, as we visited a wine estate on our way back and table mountain was clear( no clouds hanging over it as so often) so we took this chance to go up, as there might not be another chance because of the weather. People loved it and even if they where tired when we came back, they where very happy with the day.
The weather here has been ok, a bit windy, but the sun is shining and it is summer.
Nico and the girls left for Jburg this morning while I was on the township tour , so Im a bit sad as I wont see Nico and the girls until christmas again. Next time I do not want them to leave before me, it gets really quite around when the girls arent here.
They left today to drive back the whole 1400km to Jburg because Kiras boyfriend Jukka is arriving tomorrow for a 3 weeks visit.Kira is very happy as she hasnt seen him for over 6 weeks.
Cant believe we have been here already 2 months! Almost half the time.
About christmas cards, I havent had time to send anyone a card, but you will all be in my thoughts on christmas:)
Tomorrow we are going to the wine area for a wine tour and on monday we are flying up north to contínue our journey with the group. Tonight I have the afternoon-evening off and are busy planning the tours for next year as I got one more group booking, for next year november, by now I have 5 tours for next season, I think that is enough! But Im very happy I can plan ahead and the tours to SA are so popular.
Have a great saturday eve all of you.

Jannika

On the road!

On our way back from a few site insopections , a few nights in the bush..I will put in some pictures when we come to Johannesburg, at the moment it is 19h00 and we are sitting in the car drivng back trough the mountains, it is getting dark quick. Liina and Viivia are having fun in the back seat, we will be in Jburg around 22h00 tonight.
We left beginning of the week to check out Makalali game reserve, just needed to see how it looks now days and can I use it for my tours next years.The staff was very friendly, even Liina and Viivi got to come on BIG FIVE game drive! We had our own private game drive...just incase so the other guests didnt need to listen to screams and laughs of the girls. The girls liked it and behaved well, and we came very close to the lions, I will put pictures in from the whole trip tomorrow. We also saw rhinos and zebras, giraffes, bushbuck, impala, waterbuck, kudu.....Liina already starts to see the differences, a quick learner....she loved the lion and thought it is Alex from Madagascar movie:)
We have seen some snakes and other small creepy creeps, as usually in the bush. We liked it at Makalali, even if a few thinbgs needs to be upgraded, but that is the future plans for the lodge, we like it! After relaxing, being on game drives, swimming, sitting by the fire every night, we left this morning to check out Hans Merensky Golf Estate, and that was a real suprise, very nice! And tehn we went to have a look at the Shangana cultural village, also good, will use it in future, already with my next tour.So it has been a long day, 11 hours on the road and the girls are still laughing...they really must like travelling:) And my dear husband has been driving non stop...he probably dreams of getting home.
I cant see so well anymore what Im writing here in the car, , so I say good night and I will be back tomorrow again, with some pictures, bye bye

more pictures

pictuires

And some pictures:)

weekend

A week has gone by again and I havent really done much, just been preparing for the next 2 tours coming up over christmas and new year, Im looking forward to the tours, everything will go so much easier this time....not that it was tough in any way with the first tour, but I was more nervous for the first tour as it is a while since I last took a group aroound.
This week we have been lazy, been to gym, seen some friends and tonight me and Nico went to the movies...it is about a year since we last went together to the movies, it is not so easy with 2 girls who wants all attention and needs all our time. We saw the movie `new moon´ , i have read the book so the movie wasnt as good, but I needed to see it:)...and Nico had no choice...hhehee...his choice next time.
Good news, I already have 3 sure group bookings for nest year, means we will be coming back for 4 months next year again...so Hanna & Basse, you can be house watchers again then if you want:)

I will try to download a few pictures now, so no more writing for tonight.

Goodnight to everyone.