Hoedspruit gets hammered!

So just to see whats happening - send whatever you can to help the folks.  Contact your estate agents such as Century 21, Remax, Engel&Voelkers and Pam Golding to see what you can do to assist these good folks.  I know they need fresh water, lamps, paraffin, food, blankets, bedding etc, so do your thing folks!!

Floods in Hoedspruit area

So today I spoke to my friend Annie from Remax in Hoedspruit and she sounded very worried, with all the rain.

More than 30 people have been airlifted to safety in Hoedspruit, in Limpopo, due to flooding in the region, the SABC reported this week.

"The bridge between the air force base and the town has been washed away, and several roads are impassable," air force spokesperson Pete Paxton told the broadcaster.

"There is a lot of water and there is a lot of areas flooded after heavy rainfalls over the past two days, but especially on Tuesday

"We then embarked on search and rescue operations with helicopters and we rescued about 30 people from either islands or treetops, or the roofs of houses and we evacuated them to safety to the air force base in Hoedspruit."

Kruger National Park spokesperson William Mabasa said the park had experienced heavy rains, affecting roads in the area.

"The most important thing is to avoid all gravel roads in the Kruger National Park. We have issued a statement this morning to warn people about the water situation. Crocodile Bridge is closed because the bridge is overflowing.

"We have closed Phalaborwa Gate as well, and bridges leading to Letaba and Mopani camps are overflowing at this stage."

We now see more closures have been issued today.

Visitors to the park should contact the public relations office to ask about the condition of the roads they intended using.

Mpumalanga community safety department spokesperson Joseph Mabuza said drivers should be extremely careful.

"We received reports that some of the bridges have been affected by rains, so we request all road users to be cautious when using the roads. 

If a driver sees water on a bridge or near a bridge that is partially submerged, we request they assess the situation, whether it is safe to cross, and if there is any doubt, they must not use the bridge and find an alternative route."

Mabuza said heavy rains often created pot holes, which led to accidents as drivers tried to avoid them.

SA Weather Service senior forecaster William Msimanga said the strong downpours had been caused by the sub-tropical depression Banbo, the fourth of the season.

"We had issued a warning for persistent heavy falls in the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo for the rest of Wednesday" he said.

Over the past 48 hours, 109mm of rain was recorded around Mbombela, 139mm around Skukuza, and 270.9mm around Hoedspruit.

About 170mm was recorded to have fallen around Phalaborwa over the last 24 hours.

So be cool people!

Wedding bliss at Thonga beach lodge, Mabibi

I recently attended an awesome private wedding at Thonga Beach lodge which was simply put awesome.  We had three nights and four days with the wedding party and in so doing were privileged to some of the best breakfasts, lunches and dinners never mind the Wedding lunch on the deck on the beach.

Taking over the 24 people / 12 roomed lodge was a fantastic idea and the management team and staff just blew us away with their "No problem" attitude.  And the demands were high.

The wedding on the beach, snorkeling in the sanctuary, mucking about in the waves, tranquility, African fish eagles, yellow billed kites, turtles, whales and an amazing diving setup just make this the ultimate wedding.

The Thonga Lodge is committed to the heritage of the Mabibi tribe and all the staff are involved in this project.

The 250 odd clan or tribe have children that walk to and from school each day for 15 km each way and I am hoping that i can find like minded people who are interested in setting up a Mabibi Trust to raise money to buy a mini bus for the school children.  My goal is to raise R 25,000.00 by July 2012 which will go to a second hand minibus.  So if anyone is interested and has some ideas please email me and lets see if we can do something.  Use it or lose it!

So this is next to the inland fresh water lake Lake Sibaya which has no rivers running into it.

Do yourself a favour go see Thonga Beach lodge - at least once in your lifetime.

Paris Hotels

Well sometimes its great to get out of the bush and slum it in a city - and the only city to do this in is Paris, where the women are sophisticated, the Paris Hotels are awesome and the food is......french je ne sais quoi!

Love to buy a place in the bush - what do the banks offer?

So you have now been for a weekend away and have just fallen in love with the bush and always wanting to own your personal piece of bush heaven, you meet with a great agent who finds you exactly what you want.


The only problem is you need some finance assistance, because sure you have a deposit in pounds or dollars and getting that across is quite simple because you can arrange a free money transfer from England to South Africa and all you need is a mortgage for the balance.  But what are the restrictions, what are the costs and how do you get a home loan on a piece of vacant land or on your bush house or bush lodge.


So here are some thoughts and scenarios' but if you want details email a property finance specialist today!


Vacant Land - well Nedbank do not offer loans on vacant land. ABSA and FNB offer 60% loan and Standard bank offer 65% and 75%.  The rule of size is maximum 8,5 Hectares but under certain circumstances up to 20 Hectares may be considered.


Bush House or Bush Lodge - well depending on the value and lloan required and whether you are a non-resident (50% max) or a non-resident with work permits (80% max) to SA citizens (up to 100% depending on the property value) - once again speak to your property finance specialist. The rule of size is maximum 8,5 Hectares but under certain circumstances up to 20 Hectares may be considered.


If this is a commercial undertaking then a different loan is applied for and the maximum loans are 60% but you will pay a raising fee of up to 2% and even then there is no guarantee of getting a loan.  Business plans, financials and forecasts together with the seller and buyers pedigree is required.


So can you do it, yes!  Is it easy no!  Speak to your property finance specialist first!  All good!