Meet the Van Den Berg family. Oom Dries & Tannie Lizelle, their son Dries, their daughter Karin and Dries’ wife, Minette and the dog Abby. I met them more than a decade ago, my brother and Dries have been friends since high school, they used to play all the latest computer games on the market…they kind of still do!

Minette phoned me about a year ago to tell me that they want to have a family shoot on their farm. Their family farm has been in their family for 44 years. Oom Dries’ father, Andries bought it in 1968 from a Mr. Dixon, who called the farm Red Ivory Farm, because he farmed with tomatoes. Once Andries bought the farm he renamed the farm Panorama, because of the view from a hill, he then built his house on it. The farm consisted of 1 hectare Litchis & 1 hectare Mangoes, by 1986 the farm had expanded and 40 hectare was irrigated. Oom Dries bought the farm over from his dad in 1986 and since then the farm has expanded to 124 hectare, containing Litchis, Mangoes & Sugarcane.

The perk of having Dries as my brother’s friend meant that we got to eat a lot of their Litches – boxes & boxes – by the way, they are the best litches in the world – my mouth just waters thinking about them! It gets exported to UK, Holland, France, Germany and the Middle East! Unfortunately they had to sell the farm back to the government due to land claims and will be leaving this beautiful piece of land, I am sure they will miss it dearly as it has been the only home they’ve ever known. My family has been in a similar position and had to move from their farm in 2007, I miss our old farm house with the endless supply of garden & open landscapes – plus the limitless amount of fruit produce that was always in the house! But with new beginnings comes new adventure, always remember its the people that make the home!

Those Litchis will be missed!!! Thank you to Oom Dries who gave me 12 boxes of litchis after the shoot…It was finished in a matter of days!