The brakes of the small propeller airplane of the South African Airways squeal on the runway of the tiny airport in Hoedspruit.

By Jan Roelfs

About Jan Roelfs

Jan Roelfs is one of the senior sport commentators from the NOS, the Dutch national broadcaster.

Based in the bush, as he says himself, between Polokwane and Nelspruit, in the North East part of South Africa, Jan writes a blog - World Cup in the Bush - for Radio Netherlands Worldwide, sharing with us in a professional capacity but also as a fervent soccer fan his experience during the whole 2010 World Cup.

"I don't know what I will write about. It could be the cultural aspect, political aspect, football aspect... I don't know. I also need to surprise myself" says Jan.

Watch this video and get to know him better.

Impalas appear in front of the plane and get back jumping to the bush. The pilot laughs through his microphone: "Sorry, that's South Africa! . Hoedspruit lies at the foot of the Drakensberg mountain, not far from the huge Krugerpark.

Daktari
When I look out the window, I can’t help seeing a scene that comes straight out of the series Daktari. The huge savannah, dotted with small trees and bushes. It’s hard to imagine that football matches will be held here in Polokwane and Nelspruit, the two most exotic destinations of the 2010 World Cup. Safaris and walks in the savannah are generally on the program for  tourists and South Africans visiting Hoedspruit. Yet even here, the presence of the World Cup is tangible. The small wooden building that serves as the arrival hall is decorated with a multitude of souvenirs of the World Cup.

Even here the South African Airways employees wear proudly the yellow t-shirt of the Bafana Bafana. Corne, our local correspondent at the NOS (The Dutch national TV) who has opened a lodge together with his wife, picks me up at the airport. Corne is crazy about football anda firm supporter of PSV Eindhoven. He is the one to drive me to Polokwane and Nelspruit in the coming days. He has lived here for eight years and knows well the codes of living in the bush: do not run in the morning because it might scare the wild animals who see this as a sign of aggression, do not leave food in the lodge because the hungry baboons break the windows for it, and beware of  the lions while leaving the lodge to go to the restaurant! No theft or crime on the horizon. Here the danger is the big five!

Historic moment
My lodge is in the middle of the bush. The nearest supermarket is 45 minutes by car. The safari jeeps parked outside the main building are ready to go. But I'm here for football! Algeria plays against Slovenia in Polokwane and Chile against Honduras in Nelspruit. The Krugerpark rangers we’ll have to get used to this! And yet the World Cup is present in and around the lodge. Most of the black employees have painted the South African flag on their cheeks and also wear the Bafana Bafana t-shirt. I gradually realise that this is going to be a historic moment for world football.

The whole of South Africa is at 2 pm in front of the TV. Life has stopped in the chic restaurants in the Cape Town harbour, in the shacks of the poorest townships and even in the depths of the bush. The kickoff of the World Cup at 16:05 June 11, 2010 in Johannesburg is the most important historical moment of this beautiful country since the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990.

Restless monkeys
Armed with my flashlight, I go to my room after the opening match between South Africa and Mexico. I try to get some sleep after the match France-Uruguay because life in the bush always starts early. I hear the baboons swinging from branch to branch. They are going at each other. The owner of the lodge told me to chase them if they become too noisy, something I do not see myself still doing this late at night ... even monkeys are restless, they know that the World Cup has started! They have this amazing instinct...

I listen to them walking on the roof and I realise this amazing privilege to live this wonderful event in such a unique place. Welcome to the World Cup in South Africa!