Gary and Dianne Hampton share their island adventure.

It all started back in 2019 when Gary and Dianne Hampton decided to sell up everything they owned in South Africa to make a lifelong dream of living on the tropical island of Belize come true.

They had worked for 3 decades, their 3 children had long flown the nest and they thought that it was time to leave the rat race of corporate business and head off into the sunset to pursue their dreams.

Gary had owned a decking business in South Africa and had visions of building wooden homes on a tropical island, while Dianne, a Reiki practitioner, thought that the island setting would be ideal to continue her practice.

In February 2020 they climbed on board a Belize bound flight with all their worldly possessions in 4 suitcases to begin the new chapter in their lives.

They explained: “Within a month we had got our business licenses and were ready to get our work permits so that we could start working. We had rented an apartment and were all set to start our new life in

Belize”.

Then in March, the pandemic hit and we were placed into 3 months of quarantine and not having had the opportunity to build up any sort of businesses, we saw our dreams starting to unravel. The exchange rate skyrocketed and we had to find alternative accommodation and work opportunities. Not easily done for ‘newbies’ in a foreign culture.

We had to make a decision to return to South Africa, where we could work, or to stay on in Belize and become destitute. We no longer had the option of applying for work permits as our budget could no longer cover the cost of this as everything was so much more expensive.

It was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to our island dreams and returned to South Africa and arrived in Hoedspruit in November 2020. Our dream had lasted less than a year thanks to the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic.

“The people in Hoedspruit have welcomed us and are so friendly. They have been supportive and it seems that we were destined to settle here”.

Dianne was even able to connect with a friend that she had worked with 19 years ago.

Both Dianne and Gary are hard at work reestablishing their respective decking and Reiki businesses.

Gary’s new Kiddies Furniture range is proving to be very popular while Dianne has branched out, doing Reiki on animals.

“I can connect with them on the same gentle energy level and can assist with pain and discomfort” concluded Dianne.

Kruger2Canyon wishes both Gary and Dianne well and hopes that all their aspirations can be realized here in Hoedspruit.