Writers’ Block

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travelmag@sundaytimes.co.za Fax: 011 280 5151 or PO Box 1742, Saxonwold, 2132

A goodie for oldies Referring to the letter from Margaret Graff regarding tours for over-60s, I can recommend Landscape Tours & Safaris, based in Somerset West, which caters specifically for over-55s.

My husband, some friends and I recently went to Namibia with this company. In all, we were six: two married couples and two single women. We were all over 60 and were accompanied from our homes by their courier, met in Windhoek by our guide and returned to our homes in South Africa at the end. Every detail was pre-arranged. All we had to do was pack our cases and pick up our passports. — Anne Clark

Those huge herds I enjoyed the article “Wild Things” by Ebrahim Jogee in last week’s Travel magazine.

I also left Zimbabwe 23 years ago and often yearn to visit the Hwange National Park. There are, however, certain comments in his article with which I do not agree.

The name Hwange does not translate as “The place of the elephant”. It was named after Chief Whanga, head of the Abananza people.

The town Wankie was founded in 1900 and changed to Hwange in 1982. The English-speaking settlers heard the name Whanga as Wankie and thus named it as such. The park was named Wankie National Park.

Jogee also mentions herds of 20 000 elephants. If a herd that big walked in single file, as they often do, the column would stretch for 100km. That is allowing 5m for each elephant.

The total population for the park is estimated at 40 000 elephants. Herds are usually 20 to 30 but sometimes join up to reach numbers of up to 100 — definitely not as many as 20 000.

I agree that the park is still one of the world’s greatest nature reserves.

— Doug Lynch, Johannesburg