Have begun the process of planning a trip to Namibia and beyond next September/October. Very early to start I know but want to fly on points and Aeroplan Business Class points bookings, even this far in advance, are scarce and require convoluted itineraries.

I have a ton of points that I want to burn and then will never bother with Aeroplan again. Reasons why to follow in another post when I'm feeling appropriately cranky.

Last night I was idly reading a NY Times Sunday magazine, one of a stack that had piled up when we were in France, and came across the following article by Helen Macdonald. I'm quoting it in its entirety as I was strongly caught by its message and I really wanted to share it.....

Birthday dinner great fun, V had arranged for champagne and a birthday cake. Dinner is eaten as a group with David, our 4 other photogs and V and I all at our own table. Everyone sang Happy Birthday, I made a speech, can't ever resist, and the cake was brought in by all the staff of the camp singing Maasai songs, clapping and in the spirit of the moment. There is only one other group at the camp, 5 Japanese photographers with massive amounts of Canon video and still equipment and their table joined in the birthday singing. Between the balloon ride and the birthday dinner surrounded by new friends, it was one of the better celebrations. Broke up at about 22:30 since we needed to be up at 5:30 for our morning game drive.....

Up early for a 7:00 am breakfast with David Lloyd and the other 4 members of our group. V and I had had gone for an early dinner the evening before and an early bed so we were in relatively good shape but the other 4 guys in our group had hijacked David in the bar and had made a night of it. Needless to say V and I were in much better nick than the others.

Flying a small chartered plane from Nairobi to a landing strip in the Maasai Mara where we were to be met by our cars for the 1 hour drive to our Entim Camp, our home for the next 7 days. Luggage restrictions very tight on the flight, 15k, so a Land Rover left our hotel at 8:00 am with everyone's luggage for the 9 hour drive to the camp, allowing us to carry only minimal luggage, essentially what we require for our first game drive at 4, since the luggage car will not have arrived by then....