The holidays are officially over now for me after a week of enjoying the sunshine that is typical for Clarens and a week in the unexpectedly green and rainy place that is St Lucia. I made the most of my free time with multifarious walks and cycles around Clarens that went some way towards improving my non-existent tan, helping organise resource cupboards at work which threw up the strange discovery of a science experiment book…that was my brother’s when he was 10…which was 15 years ago. If ever there were a perfect example of Freud’s unheimlich, opening a book on the other side of the world that’s over 15 years old with your mother’s handwriting in is it. Finding a clarinet in one of the cupboards was also a pleasant surprise and I had a quick tootle to make sure it worked before replacing it.

I’ve also been playing tennis more than I’ve done in years (which isn’t saying much as I haven’t played it since P.E in secondary school), and let’s just say I’ve a lot of practice to do! Thankfully, my lack of skill in tennis playing has been compensated by some level of competence in game nights where sheer violence, shouting and frustrated cries follow the game that is nertz. From the occasional slaps and name calling to accidental facial punches it certainly eliminates the need to watch action movies!

Sadly with the arrival of the school holidays and my cheeky extension of it with a trip to St Lucia my Sotho hasn’t improved much, if at all. I can sometimes remember the word for listen? Alas, my knowledge of the Basotho culture also hasn’t made any headway either. However, during the 620km long car journey to St Lucia I experienced what I could only describe as a sort of reverse culture shock as we neared larger cities, i.e. Durban. The sight of a train-track felt so alien and out of place in my experiences of South Africa, and seeing more than 10 cars on the road at one time felt like a traffic-jam. And the sea! It was so pleasant to hear the sound of waves crashing, and an even greater surprise to feel how warm it was in comparison to my native chilly Atlantic Ocean. Because of the difference in altitude between Clarens and St Lucia, the humidity levels were significantly higher by the coast and made even the gloomiest days warm enough for shorts and t-shirts. It also meant everything was a bright green without the tell-tale scars on the landscape of wildfires that are common higher up, and super-sized or brightly coloured. Gigantic palm trees, a multitude of hibiscus plants, freakishly sized flying beetles and frightening huge insects were wherever you looked.

Undeterred by the weather, the group I went on holiday with embraced our British heritage and ignored the rain and wind we’re so used to back home. We thoroughly enjoyed a blustery boat tour of the estuary in St Lucia and were rewarded with close encounters of the fauna and flora including a shark, hippos and a giant kingfisher. Thankfully our trip to the Hluhluwe and Imfolozi Game Reserve was joined by glorious sunshine and enabled some fantastic photographing opportunities of the landscape and animals. At one point on the journey we were actually able to see three of the Big Five standing in the same place and rotating. Behind us was a herd of buffalo, in the distance crossing the river was a whole family of elephants (babies included), in front of us was an island of vultures who fancied themselves important enough to make an appearance in the panoramic of iconic animals, and to our right basking in the sun underneath a tree was a lioness also admiring the view. Throughout the rest of the day we were blessed with incredibly close encounters of various rhinos (no more than 10 ft away), elephants, giraffes, countless buck, warthogs, zebras and baboons. They were all very kind and posed for the camera with smiles and what felt like practised stances. Cape Vidal was next on our list of places to visit, and again our car journey was occupied by staring out of the window trying to spot animals, and interrupted by shouts of ‘stop!’ and ungainly uphill reverses to stare at kudus, stripy or horned nyalas (depending on the sex), more impala and what I can only describe as miniature red deer whose name I’ve forgotten. Stops at viewing points fraught with expectation were rewarded with sightings of fisher eagles, more hippos and when eating lunch whilst avoiding the rain at the beach we were even graced by fleeting glimpses and spouts of water from whales.

Impromptu visits to the nearby butterfly dome and cheese farm provided light entertainment and more wildlife sightings such as sunbirds, and the less glamorous goat. Overall, besides ooh-ing and ahh-ing (and a few ewws too) over impressive animals there was plentiful card playing, reading, relaxing, walking and haggling done in the general location. What more could you ask for from a holiday?