A blackout, snow, cheese and cheetahs

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For some reason I decided that a blackout was a good time to write my first South African blog entry. I should have realised when that the radio advert this morning from the government asking people to conserve electricity was serious. The power went out a few times this evening and then went out for half an hour. Considering that the only I had during that time was from candles and my laptop screen, it wasn't great. It was made worse as the only heat source I had in my guesthouse cottage is a little portable heater than runs on electricity. When it’s about zero outside it’s not a good thing! Anyway the power is back now and seems to be ok.

It snowed (albeit briefly in Pretoria) yesterday. This is a big thing for South Africans and will get office workers and school children alike outside to go and wonder at it. Apparently it’s the first time it’s snowed in Johannesburg for over thirty years and the first time ever there has been snow in all the South African provinces. On the plus side this cold spell is only meant to last a couple days and daytime temperatures will be back in the mid twenties (degrees Celsius that is) again by the weekend.

I discovered a cheese farm by accident when I went for a drive. If you’re in Pretoria and want some gouda or goats cheese it seems a good option. Also it has a small farm shop. I also discovered as a result that Pretoria has a microbrewery. I’ve now been given the task to work out how to smuggle / export some beer back to England for some friends back home.

Being here for work, I haven’t done that many touristy things yet, except for visiting the De Wildt Cheetah Park. One thing to note is that this shouldn’t be confused by the De Wildt 4x4 park , which is nearby and where I went to originally. If you have to pay on the entrance you know you have gone to the wrong place. Luckily the guy at the gate refunded me when he realised I was in the wrong place.

The Cheetah Park is really good value and you can do a three hour tour for about 200 rand, which I think is really good value. The Park has Cheetah Cubs, Badgers, Wild Dogs in enclosures. It also has an open area with wild dogs, fully grown cheetahs, Ostriches and Impala. If you want to visit the park, reserving a place in advance is a really good idea. Also if you go for a tour in early morning you can do a cheetah run.

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