Hillandale Farm News -- August 2002

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Oh my goodness I am really in the dog box! I have been meaning to get a newsletter together for months now and have failed to do so till this weekend. The reason? Partly our usual farm activities that keep us busy month after month, and partly a most unusual event... we joined two other parties to tour Botswana last month.

Leaving the farm in winter is something we don't normally consider. It's always a busy time for us, as we entertain hunters and the midyear school holidays encourage folk from the wetter regions to travel to the "place of great dryness" which is the Karoo.

Much pressure was exerted on us this year, and we eventually capitulated. Much planning went into the trip as the route was going to take us all the way to the Victoria Falls, a distance of nearly three thousand kilometres and that in a series 3 Land Rover of the 1975 vintage! Quite a lot of work had to be done to the Landy to get it ready for the trip, not the least of which was rebuilding a canopy which came off a scrap heap!

After many hours of hard work we were fitted out for the three week trip. Our travelling companions came from Cape Town and Somerset West and we met them in Upington. So began the long journey through Botswana on many a sandy dirt track, camping in the same sand and washing and cooking with water brought from Hillandale. 		Our Landy wading through the Kwai River
Robin and Hilary, Sowa Pan, Kubu Island We were stunned by the incredible flatness of the countryside in some areas and the endless kilometres of mopani forests in other areas. We did not see a country teeming with animals as we were promised in the many books we had borrowed from the library, but we did see an awful lot of devastation due to overgrazing and damage by elephants.

The highlight of our trip was undoubtedly the Victoria Falls. Nothing that we have seen in books or on film could have prepared us for the magnificence and awe of the experience. We saw the Falls from the Zambian side as we were nervous to go into Zimbabwe and we were not disappointed. We spent most of a day there and we will go back to relive the experience.

We headed south through the Makgadikgadi Pans visiting Bains' Baobabs and Kubu Island. We learnt a lot about camping and camp sites and experienced all sorts of different "set-ups". We now know how Hillandale measures up against Botswana! Camping at Mankwe


Kubu Island sunset Our geriatric Landy did us proud and gave us very little trouble over the five and a half thousand kilometres we travelled. We were very glad to be home again and found the Karoo even more beautiful than when we had left it and the sunsets as glorious as any we saw in Botswana with the exception of Kubu Island where the sunset seemed to last forever over the pans. Our geriatric Landy posing beside one of Bain's Baobabs

Due to our trip to Botswana, our hunting season will be extended into September this year. We have noted with pleasure that hunting is not the "Man Thing" it used to be. More men are hunting for the experience of being out in the veld and being close to nature and are bringing their families with them to share the experience. We look forward to welcoming more families next season.

If you would like to visit Hillandale soon, or at any time, please contact us and we'll be delighted to help with information and bookings. Robin and Hilary




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