Friday 11 March 2022, Day 162 of Level 1 😷

Corona Lockdown Gratitude 🙏

#grateful for a full busy day at Botlierskop, with a very early start at 6h00, surviving on 3 hours of sleep, going on a 4 hour game drive on the 5000 ha private game reserve, seeing springboks, impala, bontebok, waterbok, zebras, rhinos, eland, ostriches ….. but the lions were hiding; for a refreshment stop with hot chocolate and Amarula and rusks 💙; for surviving the game drive, feeling nauseous and fearful, it feeling like turbulence, driving in a 4 wheel drive vehicle on rough terrain, our driver David doing a great job; for the huge number of steps I picked up from the hopping up and down in my seat on the game drive; for a lovely breakfast buffet as well as a cooked breakfast; for posting for my clients this afternoon; for a dramatic thunderstorm late afternoon and lots of rain, another one just starting now; for a lovely dinner, being far cleverer in what we ordered tonight after last night’s heavy dinner; for a special person looking after my two babies, even tomorrow 😻😻; and for being happy, healthy and free. 🙏💙

The Sweet Service Award went to Camps Bay Hardware; the Sour Service Award went to 95 at Parks of Chef Giorgio Nava, the latter nominated by Hans-Werner Klein.

Sweet Service Award goes to Camps Bay Hardware; Sour Service Award goes to 95 at Parks!

For a private game reserve of this calibre we have experienced too many service issues, including a terrible check-in, no Manager on the floor to check how we are doing, for not being collected with a cart this morning, despite having booked it last night and double checked, being at the bottom of an extremely steep driveway, for my door lock being fixed, but not given the key for the new lock; for being called ‘guys’ by the staff, my pet hate, and for being disturbed every half hour this afternoon by calls from Reception. I did get the chance to meet with the GM Amelia, but she blamed everything on miscommunication! No apology! 😱

There is a 100 person wedding at another part of Botlierskop and Remax is holding an agent Indaba here too. I get the feeling that Botlierskop has been fully booked with international tourists since February and after experiencing a quiet two years of Lockdown, they cannot cope with the sudden busyness again. 😱😱😱

I declined an afternoon Game Drive, but my clients went on it, getting sopping wet when the storm started. ☔️

SA Corona Status:  3,691,962 cases 99709 deaths  32,517,834 vaccinations 

FitBit 10000 steps 8 km 👣

LovemylifeandloveGaryslife 💙❤️

 

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March 2020 and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December,  extended to 15 February on 11 January 2021, extended but relaxed on 1 February, and relaxed back to Level 1 on 1 March 2021, moved back to Adjusted Level 2 on 31 May, moved back to level 3 on 16 June, and moved back to Adjusted Level 4 on 28 June, extended by two weeks on 11 July,  returned to Level 3 on 26 July, returned to Level 2 on 13 September, returned to Level 1 on 1 October,  and the Curfew Curfew lifted on 30 December 2021 is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide