“Are you on Twitter”? I asked Desiree (left) and Helen, pictured above, as we got into the car on Sunday evening. “Oh yes”. They replied. “What are your Twitter addresses”? I continued. “Well” said Desiree “I’m @DezMzimela and I’m @helenthetruth” said Helen. “I knew it”! I said, which wasn’t quite the truth (sorry), but as the weekend had progressed, I’d had a sneaky feeling that this Helen was @helenthetruth whom I’ve been following on Twitter and whose been following me, for some time now. “Did you book to stay at Chanters Lodge because of Twitter”? I asked. “Yes” Helen replied. “Magic”! I said, and meant it. Then we were on our way to the Zambezi FM studios in Livingstone, where the girls had agreed to be our guests on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild, our regular Sunday night radio show – a great mixture of music and chat airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs.

Helen is an investment banker in South Africa and Desiree, a trained physiotherapist, is an assistant director (rehabilitation) with the Department of Health in the Eastern Cape. The girls met at secondary school – Hunt Road School in Durban – and have been friends ever since. They were great fun, telling listeners all they’d packed into their short stay in Livingstone. Desiree had taken the sunset cruise on the African Queen on Friday evening (before Helen had flown in) and had been clubbing the same night, dancing til the small hours. On Saturday evening they’d taken the Royal Livingstone Express enjoying a fabulous six course dinner with wine, on that lovely old reconditioned steam train. On the morning of the show I’d taken the girls to Victoria Falls, they’d loved the loud rushing water and had also managed to bungee jump, fly the flying fox and ride the zip line as well! From there they’d taken the elephant safari with Mukuni Big 5 and ended up having tea at the Royal Livingstone. Great itinerary!

The music on the show was smokin’ hot as usual. Akon’s ‘Love Handles’ and Diddy Dirty Money’s ‘Your Love’ featuring Trey Songz and Rick Ross made a racy start to the show. After some chat with the girls Milli Jam dropped ‘Mailo’ by Jay featuring Petersen, back to back with ‘Palamo’ by Karasa featuring Alpha. Half way through the show we spun Adele’s world-wide smash ‘Someone Like You’ coupled with Jennifer Hudson’s ‘I Remember You’ – title track of her cracking new album. Later we played Akon’s ‘Just A Man’ and Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Stereo Sun’ – a track from Lupe’s album ‘Lasers’ which had just reached number one in the US album charts. ‘Boom’ by Snoop Dogg closed the affair.

We gave away the usual dinner for two to the first person to text us our guests’ country of origin and Ivy was the first of many to get it right – South Africa. The girls told listeners they were both Zulu by tribe, and were clearly proud of it. Helen lives in Joahnnesburg and Desiree eNgocobo. When Milli Jam popped the question, Helen told listeners she was single and Desiree just giggled! They were asked where they’d like to be and what they’d like to be doing ten years from now and they both agreed that they wanted to have lots of money, a husband and children – in that order we gathered. They both planned to pursue their careers and charmingly their care for womens’ rights in Africa. I’d bet they achieve all of that – and more! Great show!