Charlie and Tom spent Christmas 2001 under the African sun. It was a great experience for them meeting 31 of their South African relatives. We'll miss you guys. Come and visit us in England (Don't all come at the same time though!)

Here's Uncle Jim and Lawrence cooking our dinner on a braai.

It was great for Charles to see his two cousins, Jenny and Julie.

We spent 5 days, including Christmas Day in the Drakensberg mountains. What a wonderul place it was.

Uncle Jim would take us for long walks and enthrall us with his stories of wild animals.

At the end of each trek we'd drink from an icy cold mountain river.

We can't promise you sunny weather or a swimming pool. We don't even have exciting wildlife. Although we do have the occasion hedgehog in our back garden.

Charlie, Charles and Jim then spent three days game spotting game in Kruger National Park. This game reserve is the size of Wales and yet only 2,000 cars are allowed in the park at any one time. We saw elephant, giraffe, impala, crocs and hippo. The other 1,999 motorists used four-wheel-drive vehicles to tackle the dusty roads. We used a Daimler! Charlie with his head through the sunroof, looked like Romel!

Without a doubt it was the best holiday we've ever had and Charlie and Tom have never been so happy. All four of us were totally spoilt from the moment we landed. There was never a dull moment.

It was sad to leave our relatives behind. Bracing ourselves, we returned to our freezing cold English home. But there was one consolation; we'll go back soon and do it all over again.