Out and About July 2022 issue199

JULY 2022 | 25
pass his briefcase to the front. He opened it,
got out a map and using a protractor like
instrument fiddled about for a while.
I know piloting a plane is not the same as
driving a car but he wasn’t watching where
we were going and that made me very
nervous. He then enquired if anyone had a
cell phone? Weren’t they dangerous to use in
planes? Apparently not in this case.
We suddenly dived down and he spied a
brown patch and suggested we land there
for a while. My cameraman who had a
pilot’s licence at one time grabbed his arm
shouting “No! It’s a ploughed field.”
Up we went again into the thick allenveloping
fog. For those familiar with the
Drakensburg Mountains, they are very tall,
largely uninhabited and have lots of sharp,
craggy peaks along the top.
Luckily the airport control staff in
Pietermaritzburg answered the mobile call
and guided us into their small airport. So
far, it had taken us three hours to cover the
one-hour distance by car.
We arrived at the resort late afternoon,
to be met by a disgruntled group of Zula
dancers who’d been waiting for hours to
perform their welcome dance and looked
less than enthusiastic on camera. Even the
costumes were wilting by then.
We raced around as if on speed taking
shots of the gym, ballroom, spas and so on
before we sped back to the plane sitting on
the grass nearby. As we bounced over the
air strip, trying to ignore the wind socks
being blasted off their poles, the pilot kindly
shared with us he didn’t have a licence to fly
at night. He hadn’t passed all the right tests
yet, but he was working on it.
As we looked down at the twinkling lights
of Durban coming ever closer, and when I
tumbled out of the craft on rubber legs, for
the first and only time, I knelt down and
kissed the tarmac.
By Dee Tavener-Craig
All proceeds are for the needy animals of Calpe
A difficult year for all of us but we still need to raise money for Calpe’s lost or abandoned
dogs and cats.
Our shop is an Aladdin’s cave of clothing, books, DVDs, bric-a-brac and household goods
so come along and snap up a bargain. The shop is situated in the lower ground floor of
Edificio Perlamar on the Gabriel Miro, Calpe and is open from 10am until 1pm
Mondays to Fridays.
The president, Elinor Gonzalez lives in Las Bassetes where she cares for
Calpe’s abandoned and sick animals, bringing them back to health and
finding new caring owners for them. Her telephone number is
620 106 733
and she also has a stall on the Wednesday and
Saturday market in Calpe if you wish to offer help
or Dog walk, or adopt one of the lovely dogs
Elinor would be so pleased to hear from you.