Monty Brett

Environmental and Cultural Courses

Newsletter

February, 2009

Hello,

Well !!!  ... no-one could ever accuse South Africa of being a boring place to live.  What with the likes of Malema shooting his mouth off, controversial names appearing on the ruling party’s candidate list, and the strengthening of the breakaway party, the upcoming election promises to be a lively and interesting spectacle.  My only hope is that we can avoid a two-thirds majority.  Happy voting!

Detailed below are some of our upcoming events.  Remember:  if an event interests you and you’d like further information, you can click on the event name in bold, which will link you directly to the relevant page on our website. 

Our BIRD COURSE IN SOUTHBROOM starts on Monday 16^th March and runs each day that week until Friday 20^th.  Book soon to avoid disappointment.  The lectures start at 08h00 and end at 13h00 each day, with tea and coffee served at the half-time break.  This gives you a full 22 hours of birding tuition in all.  The cost of the course is R1 200 per person, which includes your own copy of our bird-call CD and a comprehensive book of notes.  The venue is the Riverbend Crocodile Farm in Southbroom.

We’ve had such a good response to our MARVELS OF MADAGASCAR trip in November, that we’ve decided to run another trip straight afterwards so we can accommodate everyone.  The dates are November 6^th to 18^th, and November 20^th to December 2^nd.  The cost will be €2 690 per person sharing – please note that this price is in Euros.  There is still space on both trips, so please contact me urgently if you’d like to book.

Our BIRD COURSE AT SKUKUZA in the Kruger Park, from September 30^th to October 4^th, is filling up very nicely.  The lecturers will be Clive Hopcroft, Marion Melville and Monty Brett.  The cost of the course is R1 400 which includes a bird-call CD and a comprehensive book of notes.  The accommodation costs an additional R1 330 to R1 440 per person for 4 nights, depending on whether you want a kitchenette or not.  Meals are for your own account.

For BAROQUE IN THE BUSH we book the whole of Shingwedzi Camp, including all of its 65 camping sites.  If you’d like to attend this year, but haven’t been able to get hutted accommodation, why not borrow a tent from a friend and come camping for the weekend?  You can put your tent close to the boundary fence and, after enjoying the evening concerts, you can be serenaded to sleep by the sounds of the bushveld.  Also, the gorgeous swimming pool is close-by, so you’ll get the best of all worlds.

And, if you do attend Baroque this year, you may want to extend your stay to include the Skukuza bird course (see above), and kill two birds with a single stone.

Monty leaves on April 4^th for his trip ZAMBIA: SHOEBILL OR BUST, so he’s madly busy putting the final touches to the arrangements.  You can contact us if you’re interested in joining in.  Marion Melville, who is also going on the trip, has produced the most superb booklet which will be given to all the participants at the start of the trip.  Thanks so much, Marion, for your extraordinary contribution – we really couldn’t do it without you.

Sadly, due to unforeseen medical circumstances, we’ve had to postpone our trip BATTLEFIELDS OF ANGOLA.  Because July and August is the best time of the year to travel to Angola, we’ll try to re-arrange the trip for the same time next year.  We’ll keep you posted of progress via the newsletters.

There is still plenty of space on our BIRD ID COURSE IN HOWICK, which takes place over 5 days in May, being 11^th, 13^th, 15^th, 18^th and 20^th.  The course runs from 08h00 to 13h00 daily, with a break half-way through for tea and coffee.  The cost is R1 200 per person, and includes your own copy of our bird-call CD and a comprehensive book of notes.  The venue is the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve, Karkloof Road in Howick.  Clive Hopcroft, Marion Melville and Monty Brett will be lecturing.

If owls interest you, don’t miss A PARLIAMENT OF OWLS with Geoff Lockwood, on 1^st and 4^th June, from 18h30 – 21h30 at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg.  Geoff, who has now fully recovered from his close encounter of the Boomslang kind, is simply riveting on the subject of owls.  His many experiences with owls have given him oodles of spell-binding stories to tell.  I’m sure his experience with the Boomslang will be added to his vast repertoire.  You don’t want to miss this course.

Don’t forget that all our Johannesburg-based courses will now take place at Wanderers Club.  We’ve received a wonderful offer from the club – if you attend one of our courses being held there this year, you will receive a 3-month, free trial-membership of the club.  This will entitle you to use all their facilities including the gym, squash and tennis courts, running club, member’s lounges, restaurants and bars, bowling greens, etc. for a full 3 months, so you can decide whether you’d like to join.

Enjoy the last gorgeous days of summer, and drop me a line if there’s anything you need to know.

Warm regards,

Kim

Monty Brett Courses

P O Box 314, Nottingham Road, 3280

Tel: (033) 266-6113  Fax: 086 652-7662  Cell: 082 824-9378

email:  kim@montybrett.com   website:  www.montybrett.com

Our contact details:

Monty & Kim Brett

P O Box 314

Nottingham Road

3280

Tel: (033) 266-6113

Email: kim@montybrett.com

Fax: 086 652-7662, or

(033) 266-6970

Web: www.montybrett.com

Quotes

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

Douglas Adams

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Albert Einstein

Computer Hint

When inserting a picture into a Word or Excel document, do you find that you can’t move it around freely – that it seems to be “stuck” in one place?

Try this solution:  double click on the picture which opens the Picture Toolbar.  Go to “text wrapping” and select “in front of text”.  This re-formats the picture so you can select it and move it to any position on the page.

Parting Thought

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

Thomas Jefferson

PS:

Unwanted emails are a headache.

If you would prefer not to receive our newsletters anymore, please reply and simply type “unsubscribe me” in the body of the email.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

If you’d like to print this calendar for your fridge door, instruct your printer to print only page 3.  To do this, press CTRL+P, and in the Print Menu, under “Page Range”, select the “Pages” option and type in “3”, then press OK.