Ursula & Tony's Wedding

Rushing back for Zim, flights all day. A transfer from Zimbabwe to Zambia, a flight to Johannesburg then a flight to Durban and a night in Durban. JET LEGGGG!!! lol

After the most amazing trip to the Vic falls I'm ending my vac in Port St Johns taking pictures at Ursula and Tony's wedding.

Its 2pm and the wedding is suppose to start. Upon arrival at the wedding, I find Ursula still running around in her "bride to be" little ears!

She even made sure Hamida and I get settled in in a room where Hamida can chill and rest from the jet leg. This awesome bride still took time to welcome soooo many people before putting on her beautiful white dress and talking down the... erm... stairs to meet her future husband.



This was no traditional wedding, it was totally different! It was fun and entertaining, from the goom wearing an African shirt, to everyone being bare foot to the fire dancers!

The deco was second to non!

 

 

Some fun with the bride and bridesmaids :)

 

The entertainment... The fire dancers from Port St. Johns



Fun pictures with the family

Since I met the family there has never been a moment without smiles and laughter. Ursula and Tony are the bubbliest couple I've met, love ya lots Ursh, may you and Tony have a awesome life together as husband and wife... Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Gaitskill :)

Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe

Originally Hamida and I had decided to take a trip to Namibia for a week, while planning the trip and trying to get our flights sorted out we found that our flights from Durban - Jhb - Windhoek will cost over R10 000 for both of us! Ridiculous! So thats when we decided that we should change the plans and rather go else where, thats when we found an advert saying "Victoria Falls from as little as R2499.99" and we were stuck! Eventually we found the perfect package to the Vic Falls for 3 nights accommodation, flights and breakfast included for a fraction of the Namibia trip!

Hamida wanted to spend her birthday in South Africa so we organised with a family friend of ours, whom we havent seen in 10 years, to spend the weekend with her and her daughters. So we spend Friday til Monday with them, what an eventful weekend. We met her kids for the first time, Layla - 10 years and Zeena - 8 years old, we also met Simon and his two sons, Dylan - 15 years and Gareth - 11. Jhb was awesome we had lovely family dinners and even went ice skating on Hamida's birthday (Sunday). Unfortunately our stay came to an end on Monday morning when we had to catch our flight out from O.R Tambo international to Zambia International airport.

Upon arrival in Zambia we had Thompson's Travel waiting for us to take us to Zimbabwe - We decided to stay in Zim because all our activities would take place there. We checked in at the hotel and rested a bit before going on our Game Drive where we saw 3 of the big five, we had dinner at the game park and returned back to the hotel to rest. Tuesday we went for a helicopter flight "flight of the angels" over the Victoria Falls as well as up the Zambizi River. Later that day we were signed up to walk with lions in the game park, they were three cubs ages 12 months, 15 months and 18 months. As young as they were, they were huge!

Wednesday we took the long walk along the Victoria Falls and learned about David Livingstone and the Falls. Unfortunately or fortunately we went when the falls werent as huge as in June/July so we got to take lots of pictures and enjoy getting drenched in the mist. Later the afternoon we went on a cruise up the Zambizi and experienced the first rain in 5 months. Thursday it was back to Jhb with a connecting flight to Dbn where we spent the night and back home on Friday afternoon.

Zim was amazing, everyone was super friendly and more importantly we felt completely safe, we didnt have to worry about anyone robbing us or messing with us. SA could learn a lot from them. We could feel the difference in service when we got to OR Tambo international, SA people in service are sooo sour! You getting paid to do a job, deliver and deliver well... with a smile ;)

It was a life changing experience for me, it wasnt just one of those holidays that when you get back and return to work it feels like you never left. NO! This was the best holiday ever! Definitely heading back to Zim next year :)

The Adventures of Puppy

I've had puppy for a good number of years and I decided since I take him everywhere, we have traveled SA and crossed a border or two. The idea came to me beginning of October when I looked at all the places I've traveled and realized that he was there with me wherever I went. So now I decided to take him out of my bad and get some shots of him in various places.

The first shot I got of him was on the bus. As seen below



To date he has crossed 4 borders (Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe and RSA). Something else is that I will take pix of him supporting people, brands & towns. Like below



Our latest trip was to the Victoria Falls



If you've got any ideas on where puppy should be next for a pic... let me know

The longest but most beautiful 8km ever!

This past weekend saw now the bus from Mthatha to Kokstad on Friday afternoon and back on the bus from Kokstad to Mthatha on Sunday morning...

Why all the travelling???

Well my sistet - Hamida and her friend decided they want to take a trip up Sani Pass on Saturday - 9 October 2010.

The trip started off Saturday morning having to wake up at 6am to drive up to Underberg where we switched cars and started our journey with our tour guide. Our trip was in the comfort of a Land Rover Discovery 4... by far the most comfortable car I've been in. We were a small group, just the 3 of us, a elderly couple and Luyanda (our tour guide).

There are honestly no words to describe how beautiful the scenery was. There were endless mountains (before the Lesotho boarder, baboons, green grass and not forgetting clouds! There was a point where we got to an out look point where the wind was so strong you could see how the clouds were being pushing against the mountains then disperse once they meet with the breeze from the top of the mountain.

Sani Pass boasts one of a kind animals which include a ice rat, mohair sheep and a tiny little bird which I've included a picture of below.

Here's a little geography and history: It is the gateway to the ‘Roof of Africa’ scenic route that links the spectacular scenery of the Drakensberg with the mountains of northern Lesotho. The Sani Pass is the only border post between Kwazulu-Natal and Lesotho. As you cross the boarder of Lesotho you standing at the height of 2,873m above sea level, for those of you who don't know Table Mountain is 1,084.6m above sea level which means Sani Pass is almost 2 times higher than Table Mountain. Problem is when you get to the top your lungs almost feel like they going to collapse because of the high altitude. So you have to take a moment to literally catch your breath!

In Lesotho we met with a family where we were introduced to the Basotho culture and got to eat home made bread prepared by a friendly lady who opens her home to tourist and welcomes you with a smile. One of the coolest things I learnt from this experience was how people live without electricity, water, cellphone coverage and how they have to travel many hours just to get to towns... We were 5 hours away from Maseru and 2 hours from Underberg... which is their closet town for food supplies.

Lunch was served at the Highest Pub in Africa followed by our descend back to South Africa. As you can imagine I took hundreds of pictures to capture every moment of our trip. Oh and the reason of the name of this blog-post is because it took us over an hour to drive 8km up the pass, the road was crazy which only a 4x4 can climb. Two words sum up the experience... breath-taking!







P.S - More pictures will be uploaded to my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ayesha-van-Staaden-Photography/138756376153287?ref=ts

Update

Hey hey!

So its been over 2 months that I last posted an entry. Over the month of Ramadaan (the month of fasting for Muslim people) I decided not to post anything.

Well here's a catch up of all thats happening and thats going to happen over the last 3 months of 2010

2 months ago (3rd Aug)I took school pictures at a pre-school called Crafty Kids. It was my first school shoot. As expected some kids has a mind of their own and just refused to sit still, then there were those few who just sat down and gave a perfect smile.

When I started photography one of my missions were and still is to have every parent have a perfect picture of their little ones.

BEN 10!!! Spur hosted a fun day for all kids and Ben 10 was the star attraction, kids were taken and just wanted to see Ben 10 do his thing! lol. However all of them got a picture next to Ben 10 or on his lap. This and Crafty kids was perfect practice for next year when I take school pictures at the various schools

Couples Photoshoot... So the winners for the FREE Couples Photoshoot were announced last week Monday (20 October 2010) CONTRATS TO Caryn Walker and Wayne Barton

Whats Next??? Well next will be Caryn and Wayne's photoshoot next weekend then its off to capture Usula and Tony's beach wedding in Port St. Johns the 23rd Oct. After that its family shoots and more weddings in December! TONS of pictures will be coming soon on my blog, my website http://ayeshavanstaaden.com/ and on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ayesha-van-Staaden-Photography/138756376153287?ref=ts