Sunday the 30th of March was a very early start. The start was made even earlier by the switch to British summer time meaning what was always going to be a short night of sleep was even shorter. We flew from Bristol to Cape Town via Amsterdam. The flights were uneventful by both of our standards. We were met at the airport by Sam’s parents which is always a lovely way to arrive in South Africa.

The first week was always going to be chaos but neither of us were ready for how crazy it was actually going to be. The Hayward house was nothing short of a bustling train station for the next week. Graham and Jess’ wedding was on Saturday the 5th of April. Sam was a bridesmaid and the cake baker, while Rhys was the man on honour. Monday was Rhys’ suit fitting for the wedding, Tuesday Sam gave a lecture at UCT. Wednesday was the bachelors and bachelorettes which were fantastic, Thursday Sam baked the cake while Rhys slept on the couch recovering from his hangover.

On Friday the wedding started with the rehearsal. But before any of that we had to get from Rondebosch to Hout bay with the cake. On the way we needed to collect flowers from Woolies (This did not go well) and pick up my suit (This went just as badly) which meant that we arrived at the Airbnb 30 minutes after the rehearsal started and at Suikerbossie (the venue) a solid 45 minutes after it started. It was a roasty toasty 33 degrees so afterwards we headed down to the beach so that Sam could collect her rocks. The next day Sam was up early to decorate the cake and have her hair done while the boys had our photos taken at the Airbnb. The wedding was wonderful and very special. We even used the opportunity to recreate a boys photo from first year.

Sunday was understandably a bit slower with a lovely lunch at the Haywards before heading to our friends Ash and Dave for Sunday night in anticipation for an early morning flight to Hoedspruit. We spent the next week with Ash and Dave and had some lovely sightings the highlight was a Leopard next to the road which we spent a long time with. We also saw some lion, elephant and good general game.

An advantage of visiting in summer (autumnish) was the abundance of smaller animals such as frogs, spiders, chameleons and other bugs. One afternoon we spent an entire drive just stopping for flowers and grasses as they were so interesting and pretty. On Sunday the 13th Ash and Dave flew back to Cape Town, Sam and I did some shopping in town.

It was a quiet Monday around the bungalow before heading out on Tuesday (My moms birthday) to pick my mom, dad and brother up from the airport. Sam made a delicious cake which is always a challenge in a 30+ year old gas oven and even with limited supplied made it look stunning. We had a lovely few days with a special highlight of Rhino on the main road near Cass-argyle. With it being easter Ingwelala organised two talks the first on Friday about technology in conservation which was facinating. The second talk, which was extremely well attended was a snakes and scorpions demonstration which Sam braved. However, as is always the case the holiday was over too soon and on Sunday the 20th we made our long trek home with flights from HDS-JNB-AMS-BRS. Luckily for us we had found an amazing deal on KLM flying on easter Sunday which meant Sam got her first experience of business class travel. She said she felt rather out of place.

“The food highlight of the trip had to be the gorgeous wedding cake Sam made in Cape Town”

South Africa - April 2025