Following a life lived across continents, Ballito’s Sonia Douglas celebrates 100 years

Very few people reach the age of 100, but fewer still reach it after a life as full as Ballito resident Sonia Douglas.

Born in Durban on November 25, 1920, Sonia completed her schooling and made her way to London to study at the prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking school.

These skills stayed with her throughout her life, and her cooking is acclaimed by friends and family to this day.

“I still get calls from people who have discovered a recipe of hers in an old cookbook and there is always a lovely story to go along with it,” said her daughter, Sarah Preller.

“She could have been South Africa’s ‘Nigella’ because she is extremely articulate and able to demonstrate, cook and tell stories – all simultaneously!”

It was on a planned trip back to London via flying boat in 1946 that her life took an unexpected turn.

Landing on the Nile River at Khartoum in Sudan, the boat hit a hippo basking in the river and the damage was such that the journey could not continue.

Though skilled in many areas, a sense of direction was not one of them, and Sonia soon became lost as she explored the foreign city.

She took it upon herself to ask for directions at an official looking building and was knocked over by a hurried man in uniform as he left the building.

After helping her up, the man offered to take her back to the hotel and led her to a Rolls Royce with a British government pennant on the bonnet.

“After speaking to the driver in Arabic, the two took a 45 minute trip back to the hotel which was only two blocks away,” said Sarah.

This was the start of a love affair and Sonia married Lewis Wensley Bond Jennings – a British diplomat – in Khartoum a few months later.

The two spent another 5 years stationed across North Africa, spending time in present day South Sudan as well as in Kenya.

In 1951 they moved back to South Africa and bought the Oaks at Byrne, near Richmond, and transformed it into a country house hotel with renowned food and beautiful gardens.

“Her life has been so full that one could spend pages describing it, and although she has outlived most of her friends, Sonia is a favourite at Sunrey’s in Ballito where she now lives.” 

Now officially a centenarian, Sonia unfortunately lives with Alzheimers disease but is still as lively and enthusiastic as she was in her youth.

Her two children, Sarah and Brian, were born in 1947 and 1954 respectively, and she is a true matriarch with three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren spread across the world.