How to fight a raging bushfire

First, get a stick.

Now, I know this may seem rather counter- intuitive, given that wood is actually fuel for fire. And I'm not gonna lie to ya...I was thinking exactly the same thing as I ran at the fire armed with my stick.

Next, name your stick.

I chose the name Bram for mine (as in Stoker-again maybe a little ironic given that I wanted to put the fire out and not stoke it, but it was MY stick) , but anything you choose will be fine (it is only essential that you name your stick, otherwise it will not help you!).

Next, beat the fire as hard as you can with your newly named stick.

Last, run like hell...especially when the flames get to be twice as high as you!

Repeat as needed.

So, we were having a regular day on Saturday at the Lion Encounter when we got a call that flames were nearing out lodge. Our Duty Guide, Nathan, piled three volunteers (me, Nicola-from England, and Zowi-from the Netherlands) and four Zimbabwean staff members in the van to go scope it out. We were armed only with two litres of water and an axe. I figured we were just going to check it out (for evacuation purposes) and then call in the fire brigade! How wrong was I?! Nathan said we would fight it if it wasn't too big and I found myself feeling that an axe and what amounted to a small puddle of water might not be entirely effective. Then the lad busted out with the idea of using sticks...

Confused but undaunted, I charged into the bush after Nathan (who used his axe to cut me a nice leafy Bram), ran full-tilt towards the flames, and proceeded to whack the crap out of everything on fire. I even perfected a wonderful slap-shot technique to douse the fire (keeping close to my Edmonton roots!). I was so charged with adrenalin that it was a least an hour until I noticed that my hands were bleeding. Frickin' amazing!!!

The fire brigade never did show up and in the end about 40 locals and us three foreigners (armed with Bram, Sam, and Danny) defeated the beast!!! I know I used the word exhilarating to describe my experience with Phoenix, but it doesn't get much more exhilarating than fighting a fire with a stick.

I hope this finds everyone well! Thank you very much to those of you who replied to me, as I love to hear from you. Sorry these e-mails are so few and far between but be assured that I am thinking of you and miss you all!

For those keeping track, I received my first bite from a lion on Sunday. It was from our 5 month old Amanzi who is so cute you forget he is a wild beast, but he did his best to remind me! Thankfully I was wearing a sweater, so he didn't break the skin, but I have a nice bruise on my right bicep.

Last night I went out for dinner and ate some warthog, crocodile and a disgusting, black, size of my index finger mopane worm (Survivor, here I come!). I went on a game-drive to Botswanna today (Tuesday) and got to see zebras, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, hippos, impalas and anything else you might remember from The Lion King! Life is good!

J