Day 6 - Kruger National Park, South Africa

I have done some idiotic things for this show ... but have felt always felt "in control" ... today I had three experiences that will - I am sure - give me sleepless nights.


More on that later ...


I have been visiting The Royal Malewane for over a decade. It opened in 2000 with just 6 suites. Then The Royal Suite (2 bedrooms) was added and then The Malewane Suite (2 bedrooms too). In 2010, Africa House opened as a 6-bedroom residence.


RM is owned by Phil & Liz Biden - two of the nicest people you will ever meet!


I am staying in a 2-bedroom suite - 510 square metres - jacuzzi, 5-metre pool, private boma, wi-fi, 2 thatched gazebos with sun loungers, 4-poster beds ... and my own private views of the Bush. I have a private guide, tracker, chef & butler.


The RM is located on The Thornybush Game Park.


So - up early and a "drive up" ... the staff were all waiting for me - singing and dancing. I was greeted by Liz and my dear old friend Juan Pinto - the Head Ranger ...


From there my Suite review (lovely ... ) and a cooking piece with the General Manager/Executive Chef John Jackson.


Tomorrow I start my game drives ...


On the way back to my suite this afternoon, I sat outside my door and a female nyala come and licked my hand. It was amazing ...


So - later this afternoon we drove 45-minutes to Moholoholo - a wildlife rehabilitation centre ...


I - cuddled a baby honey badger called Athena, cuddled a baby rhino called Danni, fed two giant vultures (so, so, so, so, SO FRIGHTENING), met a caged WILD male leopard (so, so, so, so, SO, SO FRIGHTENING) ... cuddled THREE baby cheetah (so, so, so, so LOVELY) and was roared at by a male lion (so, so, so, so, FRIGHTENING) ...


Yes - it was amazing ... but ... hmmm ... I am still shaking ... up early tomorrow.


I have photos from all of the above but will drip feed ... especially the baby cheetahs ... SO CUTE!

With Danni

The Royal Malewane staff

With Liz

My ENORMOUS shower

John Jackson - a prawn & salmon salad - YUM!

It's a REAL snake ... (!)

Day 5 - Kruger National Park - South Africa


Greetings from The Royal Malewane - my favourite safari lodge in Africa.


Left The Saxon hotel this morning. It is indeed one of the finest properties in the world ... I was actually quite surprised at how good it is ... mainly it's the staff, then it's the surroundings and finally ... the "feel" ... it has real heart n' soul.


We spent our last evening in J'burg with the delightful PR for the hotel - Chris! We miss you matey!


Anyway - it's just a 45 minute flight from J'burg to Hoedspruit and then a 45 minute drive to lodge.


I was met by dear old friends - Liz Biden (owner), Juan Pinto (guide) and John Jackson (GM) ... I have known them all for over a decade. This place is like my South African home ... I just LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it here!!!


After a quick lunch, the boys filmed the property while I lazed in the Spa for a two hour treatment ... ahhhhhhhhhh! Lucky me!


Tomorrow - I do some work too!

 Happy Spa

 Arrival at Hoedspruit

This cheeky monkey has just run off with my apple!

Day 4 - Johannesburg, South Africa


What a bizarre day.


We were in the cab by 0500 (!) to get to the Harbeetspoort Dam for a sunrise hot air balloon ride but guess what ... ? It was cancelled when we got there! What a truly wasteful morning! Back at the hotel for 0900 - picked up a few shots and spent some quality time ... doing nothing!


In the afternoon we headed to Braamfontein, the Wits University and the Origins Centre. I met with my guide Brian Mogaki who took me through the museum. The centre is a journey over 80,000 years to almost modern day (1,000 years) ... starting off with the DNA that proves that ALL man originates from Africa, the Sen people ... rock art, tools that date back 2 MILLION years ... and how the skulls of man have changed from that of a monkey shape to the one that it is today ... I don't mean to sound confusing but it was a lot of information!


Tomorrow - I am off on safari ... I am SO excited!


And YES - last night I did dream of cheetah!

Alas poor Yorick - etc ...

Brian

2 million year old tools ...

Tim doing some work ...

Sunrise 

Day 3 - Johannesburg, South Africa


I live for days like today.


We left the hotel at around 0800 and drove for an hour to The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre in Hartbeespoort ...


The centre was set up over 40 years ago by Ann to rescue the cheetah from extinction in South Africa. There are currently over 50 cheetah in the centre plus a raft of other cuties like the African Wild Dog, Anatolian Guard Dog, Wild Cats and Honey Badger ... and not so cuties ... vultures ... ostrich ... and hyena.


I met up with Marilyn Hull who runs the centre. She introduced me to to Byron - a 12 year old male - who give me a sniff and a lick.


These animals are WILD. These cheetah could - if they wish - swipe and kill BUT the handlers are trained to keep everyone calm and strict rules are followed ensuring that no-one has ever got hurt.


The Anatolian dog - Jedi - stole my heart. Just a delightful pooch who looks after his two bad-tempered goats. The stories of these dogs are amazing ... they look after goats ... they guard goats ... last year a farmer rang Marilyn to say that his dog had not come home but the herd had and he thought that the dog must have been killed defending the herd. The next day, the dog returned with a kid in his mouth ... and its mother in tow! He had stayed with the goat, helped her through kid-birth and carried the baby home! AWESOME!!!!!!!!


I had to be dragged away by the boys ... I could live at the Centre ... it's just a delightful place ... and a MUST on any visit to J'burg.


Back at the hotel and I have just experienced a unique spa treatment ... Sound Therapy.


I was placed on a warm water-bed and gongs, cymbals and Tibetan bowls & bells were gently thumped ... sending out vibrations through my body and clearing the chakras ... I fell asleep after around 10 minutes but awake feeling ... "new" and clear...


I have a lot on my mind at the moment ... but surely tonight I will dream of pups and cubs!

Marilyn and Byron

Gorgeous Jedi

Lauren the Honey Badger

Cute Wild Cat

Caracal

Hello Cheetah!

Day 2 - Johannesburg, South Africa


Today we have spent the day filming at The Saxon ... what a fabulous, FABULOUS hotel.


Back in the 1980s, the South African insurance magnate - Douw Steyne - bought a 6 acre estate, built a family home on it and christened it The Saxon. In the 90s, he decided to turn it into a luxury boutique hotel ... and in 2000, a 25-bedroom hotel was opened.


It rapidly gained the reputation as the finest luxury boutique hotel in Africa and one of the best in the world.


In 2010, he added 3 villas taking the inventory to 54 suites in total.


In 1994 - by the way - when Nelson Mandela was freed from jail - he spent 6 months living at the estate ... dotting the i's and crossing the t's on his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom.


I am staying in a Villa ... in a Presidential Suite ... It's 200 square metres in area, complimentary champagne, laundry, mini-bar, wi-fi (a laptop is placed in each suite), an enormous living room, free-standing bath and an AMAZING four-poster bed for sad & lonely me! Boohoo!


The Villa is VERY private ... and guest from the hotel (like Tim) aren't allowed to here ... BUT I am allowed into the hotel! Ha! The Villa is "connected" to the hotel by an amazing walkway ...


OK - the main lobby in the hotel is ... phallic! It's shaped like a womb! There are hundreds of fertility symbols ... the chandelier has "sperm lights" ... and the whole room is ... just "lovesexy"! My suite is also adorned this way ... my dreams should be interesting! Haha!


I interviewed the hotel's fabulous Concierge today ... and the Sommelier - some stunning wines were supped!


A lovely day ... I am SO excited about tomorrow!!


THANK YOU CHRIS!

Um ... the chandelier ... 

Hello The Saxon ... and the womb ... 

With Concierge - Denzel Arendse

In the metal spiral treetop walkway

... and the salmon that got away was this big ... 

My fabulous 4-poster bed! A total waste on me!

With Sommelier - Gareth Ferreira

Day 1 - Johannesburg, South Africa


Greetings from The Saxon - undoubtedly the finest city hotel in Africa.


It's been a rather long day so today's entry will be short.


The SAA flight from London was easy! No stress and great service ...


It took 1 hour to get from the airport to the hotel and we have now settled in ...


Filming starts tomorrow.


This is going to be a FABULOUS episode.

I am in there somewhere! The stunning foyer to the hotel ... 

There I am ........... !

And we're off ... to Johannesburg ... with South African Airways ... which I actually rather like ... a lot.


I am VERY much looking forward ... and by that I mean I am very, very, VERY excited to be going on safari - after filming in J'burg - at - what I believe to be - the finest African safari lodge on the continent.


Tim is looking tired ... Jack - well - is Jack ... and I feel somewhat ... hmmm ... out of sorts.


Am I getting tired of all the travelling? Am I getting fed-up of waking up alone in some of the greatest hotels in the world? You know, if we film another series, I am going to invite a random viewer to come on a trip and he/she/it can write the Diary ... and share the strange life we lead ...

This is Tim & I being told off for taking a photo in the lounge ....

This is Tim & I celebrating with hard booze ... drinking the pains away!

I'm back!


Yes, I have had SIX whole days off ... and I have loved every minute of them.


The boys - if you remember - flew back to the UK from Cyprus ... and I decided to stay on ... at the excellent, superb, wonderful Anassa ... where I slept, swam, floated, boated, munched, slurped, sloshed ... and basically enjoyed what I try to sell on my shows ... "holidays".


The weather was fabulous ... only one rain shower ... and I am rather "darker" in complexion than usual.


My batteries are full recharged and tomorrow we leave for filming in South Africa - Johannesburg and a safari in the Kruger National Park.


"Thank you" to Jack for holding the fort and writing the Diary for the last few days.


Jack suffers from arachnophobia ... and on my last day in Cyprus, I was "visited" by this rather scary creature. I will own up to the fact that I did have to call the maintenance department to remove it ... I have no issues with tigers, lions, sharks and crazy women ... but spiders ... I am with Jack on that one!

It really was as big as it looks! Around 15 centrimetres in length ... and in my bathroom!

My kind of furry friend ...

Today's blog is all about SPACE!

Seeing our planet from space must be an utterly bizarre experience because one would witness how small and insignificant we actually are. I have 3 things to direct your attention to. Firstly, is Don Petit’s long-exposure composite shots from 240 miles above the Earth. These photos are remarkably colourful and the star trails are mesmerising.

“My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes” Petit told NASA. “However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”

Secondly, I have here one single 121-megapixel photo. The colours differ from NASA's photos of Earth and this is achieved by combining visible and infrared wavelengths of light. Infrared light is used to see plants, hence the reason for the areas of the Earth that are usually expected to be green are shown as orange. 

The below video is comprised of around 350 shots, with one taken every 30 minutes, and 0.62 miles fitting into each pixel:

Thirdly, here's a timelapse video depicting the stars from low earth orbit, as viewed from the International Space Station (make sure you watch it in HD:

The film recommendation for today is Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'. This film is mysterious, existentialist, and visually superb. If you haven't seen it, you haven't lived.

Here's the opening!: 

Today I want to share with you my favourite television series, MAD MEN. I'm currently on season 5 and I'm absolutely loving it. Obviously, I'm not going to talk about the latest episode because it could ruin it for those of you who haven't seen it. Instead, I will just set the scene of the series. Based in New York City during the 1960s, the series follows the main character Don Draper who initially works for the ad agency, Sterling Cooper, later becomes a partner in the newly created firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Each season contains twists and turns throughout, and comments on the changing social climate in America during the 60s. The slick stye of 'Mad Men' will have you hooked from the first frame.

There's a reason why this series has won so many awards, and if you haven't seen it, you MUST!

There's no film recommendation for today because a television series as good as this offers you more than any 2 hour film could (in terms of character development). So today I only want you to start watching Mad Men, and if you have started already, then I salute you!

Season one trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuMhXcLa-Q

Hey it's Jack here, I hope you're having a happy Sunday. 

Today I'm going to show you the effort we go through to get the winning shot. Tim is a bit like action man, if action man had a camera and 3 legs. So today's post is dedicated to Tim and his camera.

We traverse land, air and sea because more often than not, the most difficult places to film are the most exciting and visually impressive. A strong connection is created by immersing ourselves with the elements and forces of this planet, and the camera is drawn to them like a magnet. 

Margaret River

Chiang Rai:

 Coast of Western Australia:

The film recommendation for today is House of Flying Daggers because the film has a strong affinity to nature and it's one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen. If you've already seen this film, I'd recommend Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower, which are all directed by the Chinese film director Yimou Zhang.

Trailers:

House of Flying Daggers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Hr9i3P8CU

Hero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh-gwDRjKXA

Curse of the Golden Flower: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEmjmXWAnKs

Hello!

on our travels we get to indulge ourselves with some of the best food from around the world. If it's really good then we are more than likely going to bring out our cameras and take a snap of the mouth-watering, lip-smacking, finger-licking food!

For me, the best food I've had in my life was at Heinz Winkler's restaurant. It boasts 2 Michelin stars and every meal I had was incredible. I could see colours when I closed my eyes the flavours were so inebriating.

Here's just some of the dishes we've been served up (warning they may make you salivate!)

Grand Cayman: 

 Thailand:

 Heinz:

Western Australia: 

Cyprus: 

And the film recommendation for today is Pixar's Ratatouille. I happen to love all Pixar films and the reason why I have chosen this film is because it couldn't be more relevant to today's blog about food! 

You can see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8yTKN32LLk

Jack x