We had a great wedding day yesterday, starting with the brutally early game drive (wake up @ 5:30am) where we saw elephant, rhino, giraffe, kudu and other antelope, and many more animals. The morning was spent lazing on the bungalow porch watching the waterhole, followed by lunch with the Reverend Ron Howard and his wife Sue. We had a great chat, getting to know one another in person after the various email exchanges before we left.

Di looked stunning in her latte-coloured dress which had little crystal-beads lining the bodice and down the front of the dress. I was very very impressed since it was the first time I’d seen the dress (we wanted to have at least one element of surprise on the day). The brown tones of the dress really suited the African earthy tones surrounding us and the metallic elements caused it to appear more silver as day turned to night.

We drove to the top of a mountain in a bridal-decorated Land Rover open-air jeep and stood on a rocky outcrop looking out over 8000 hectares of Bongani private game reserve to our left, Kruger National Park to our right and the Crocodile River marking the boundary between them. It was breathtaking and majestic and exactly what we wanted. The sunset was a fiery red as we had hoped (although we had some inadvertent help there because there have been many fires lately so the smoke in the air turns the sunsets redder than usual).

Our vows complete, we had sundowners and fresh strawberries (grown in elephant dung - yummy!) and watched the final signs of the day ebb away. Back at the lodge we had our own private table (though mixed in with the rest of the lodge visitors, as requested) and an ENORMOUS cake. We did tell them there were only two of us there but even after we gave cake to anyone else who wanted some, there was still half a cake. It felt only right to donate it to the staff because just before the cake cutting the entire staff of the lodge came out on the decking, surrounding our table and singing in the most beautiful voices. It was the true African sound and we loved it.

Categories: Travel, Africa 2007