It’s all just dung to me….

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Did you know the amazing things you can do with elephant dung?  Maybe not.  I certainly didn’t so I was interested to learn more about this on my recent trip back to South Africa.  I visited Kapama Private Game Reserve and spent two wonderful days in the African bush.   Harry, our game ranger, was fond of stopping here and there during our drives and giving us an update on local lore and customs.  Hence the information about elephant dung.  Apparently it is full of goodness and tannins that can cure a number of ailments.  Just boil, strain and drink…. no you don’t have to close your eyes when you do that.  I am sure it doesn’t taste great (I didn’t volunteer to try) but then the best medicine is generally the one that tastes most foul – e.g. Buckley’s cough syrup.

We had some wonderful sightings there and saw just about everything except leopard so we didn’t quite make the Big Five.  Talking of which someone called the other day about doing an African Safari but they were concerned about game reserves that guarantee seeing the Big Five as they wanted to see more than just five animals……  I know.

It’s a long way to South Africa but I really don’t mind the flying.  My preferred route is with KLM via Amsterdam.  I was lucky on the way there as we had booked two seats with the middle seat empty and it remained unbooked.  Not so lucky on the way back to Canada.  The last passengers boarded and the empty middle seat was assigned to the tallest man in the world.  I am not lying – he must have been 6ft 4 or more.  I took pity on him and moved over and took the middle seat.  He couldn’t even sit properly poor thing but had to spend the whole night in a sort of yoga type position with his knee encroaching into my personal space.  No – he wasn’t making a pass.  He was about 30 years younger than me.  After a night like that I did upgrade to premium economy and my oh my what a difference a few inches make.  Stop laughing now.  It’s true.   You can upgrade to premium economy once you have booked your economy ticket and go online to do seat selection.  It will cost about $190 per segment but worth every penny.