AN ALBERTA COWBOY COMES TO AFRICA – SPRING 1990

Back in South Africa, back at work and the time is passing quickly. I have been given a promotion and am now heading up a department that was established to oversee the engineering, specification, identification, storage and distribution of all materials and equipment required in the execution of major Projects in South Africa. At this point it appears that we will remain in South Africa for the future. A new Mercedes had been ordered for me and life seemed to be going well.

We then, start to receive visitors. Like anywhere else we had ever been, having family and friends visit us was a highlite. In some ways we felt a bit out of touch with family and the girls were missing that sort of family bond as they grew. Deysi came from a very large and tight family, and I believe had the hardest time being separated for long stretches at a time. Since our marriage we had always tried to get her home to her family every year. However, there were just times and situations where this was just not possible. She knew before anyone, whether or not she could go away. When she knew it wasn’t the correct timing, she just sucked it up without whimper. Our first major visitor was my father.

Dad arrived in Johannesburg in early 1990, not too many months after the passing of my mother. It had been a lonesome time for him and we had decided that it was time for him to get away and to change his perspective a bit. Both of my parents loved to travel, but because mom was wheelchair bound, the later years had proved very difficult for them to move around. I believe Dad came to South Africa, partly as a dedication to mom and mostly in memory of her. He was a sad, but not broken man. Just as tough as a piece of haywire.

My brother had arrived around the same time, so the three of us had some time together. I will deal with my brother’s trip in another section following this post. So Dad arrived, armed with Cowboy Hat and camera and ready to take on Africa. He loved the country, way of life, the climate and especially he loved being around Deysi and the girls. I was working, in my new position, at this time, it was extremely busy, so Dad spent a great deal of time with the girls. It was great, it provided an opportunity for them to get to know their grampa. He thought they were pretty neat. During his visit we made a few excursions out into Africa.

One of the first trips we made was to Kruger Park to see the animals. It was something that Dad had read about, but also was something, that until you have been there, you have no concept of the sheer magnitude and magnificence of this place. Deysi booked us into a Portugese Hotel just outside of the gates of Kruger Park. It was pretty much first class. The gardens surrounding it were beautiful, large and well manicured.

Dad spent a great deal of his first afternoon just walking them and looking at Africa. In the morning, very early, before our trip into the park, this hotel had laid out a breakfast like none other. It was a European spread of gastronomical delights and included things like smoked herring, pigeon eggs, mussels, game sausages, crepes, canned preserves, tea, coffee, exotic juices from Africa, and that was just the “starter” table. Dad figured that he had finally “arrived”. We entered Kruger Park shortly after 7:00am and started our quest for animals.

Dad was fascinated. Very quickly we came upon the baboons, lots of them. Funny thing is, we did not end up with many baboon pictures. Hmmmmm? We soon discovered a major pile of elephant crap. Looked like a small dump truck had unloaded in the middle of the road. This elephant must have eaten some significant forage, as about every hundred yards he unloaded another steaming pile. I put dad, the Canadian cowboy tracker on the hunt and we followed elephant crap for most of the morning. We finally caught them and how magnificent they were.

Lunch time arrived and we unloaded our packed basket from the hotel. There was a fenced compound you could enter for a break and lunch if you had some. Well we unpacked this lunch and spectacular it was! My god, first came out the linen for the table, china for the settings (no shit), and then the food, drinks and desserts. It made you feel like you were “royalty” on safari. Unbelievable. Dad was impressed. You may read about treatment like that, but until you experience it you never quite get the feel. The girls were naturals, they took to this type of pampering as if they had a “talent” for it. We spent the day tracking game and loved it. I will post a video I took of this trip as soon as I can get it chopped down to a decent size.