Immy 4x4ing in the African Bush!!

I'm a fairly competent driver when it comes to scooting around Norfolk on back roads and round blind corners, avoiding black ice and remembering to be "careful when it hasn't rained for a while" (thank you Granny I don't think I will ever forget that).  But for some reason I've been nervous about driving out here.  I think it's a bit of driving a car that's not yours but most of it was pure chicken livered.  So I have been slowly coaxing myself on little excursions into the wild.  Obviously never alone!!  Have to take someone to change my tyre!!  Who also doubles up as a cameraman when needed.

So I took myself and Monty down to the bushcamps to say hi to everybody and to visit Bili which is busy being rebuilt for next year.  In true African style of course I loaded the car up on the way back trying to reduce the amount of stuff they have in camps to make closing up not such a big headache.  We had a great day and saw some great game too.  Here's a bit of what we saw.

Spring is Here

I always look forward to Spring in England with the daffodils out, blossom on the trees and the lambs bouncing around.

Spring here in Luangwa is very different.  Temperatures sawing into the 40s being a big part of it.  Leaves falling to the ground to make room for the new leaves feels very strange to me.  It hasn't rained here now since when I first arrived in April so everything is looking a faded yellow colour and with all the leaves on the ground to me it looks more like the end of summer turning to Autumn.  But the most obvious sign pointing to the fact that Spring is well upon us is the sightings of babies!!  The most special is 2 seperate sightings of a lioness with cubs.  There is one near Kapamba (one of our bushcamps) with 2 cubs and then one a bit closer to home which is just around the corner.  Which our cameram has caught on video.  If you follow the link below you will get the most amazing clip of the lioness with her 3 cubs who are about 10days to 2 weeks old in the clip.

http://vimeo.com/15665401

Day in the life of an Ops Manager in Africa!!

I had a transfer scheduled to leave the lodge this morning at 7am with ice for all the camps.  The transfer was supposed to be taking staff in who had been on leave.  One of them didn’t turn up and when I spoke to him he claimed he wasn’t supposed to be back in until tomorrow when he knows full well that I have no relief chef for him.  He lives too far away to send someone to go and pick him up in time either.  So I've had to make a Kitchen Porters day and promote him to head chef for this evening!!  I then opened the freezer which the ice is kept in to find it empty.  It’s Sunday and the workshop is closed on a Sunday and they’re supposed to fill up the freezer with the blocks of ice that our machine makes.  So I had to go and get our workshop manager out of bed to get the keys to get the ice.  So in reality my 0700 transfer left at 0815!!  Very annoying.

On top of that the power was going on and off all day yesterday so the aircon in my office has decided not to work today and it’s about 38 degrees.

I then finally made it to our 8am meeting at 8:45 this morning as I'd been running round like a mad woman.  It was all made worthwhile when we got marooned on the library deck when “Wonky” (who is famous for walking through the lodge) and her family decided to pay us a visit.  They walked straight through the lodge one of them actually rang the reception bell was very funny.  I unfortunately didn’t have my camera on me, we made a sneaky exit round the back and managed to get back to our offices.  Where I was thrown back into work as my radio was buzzing from the camps calling out for all sorts.

I then looked up to see an elephant just outside my office window.  What a world I've ended up living in.

Malaria!!

Ok so I am now officially a true British Campaigner in Africa; I have just got over my first bout of malaria!!


I got to have a drip and everything!! Tristan (my brother) is very jealous he’s very romantic and always wanted malaria picturing himself as one of those stoic African Explorers like Livingstone. Unfortunately for him you can’t get malaria in Ballito. I also wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It’s a very weird illness but then I’m not used to being ill and feeling so helpless.

I started feeling sick Friday morning when I sat in my office shivering for about 2hrs. It was horrible it was warm outside but I just couldn’t shake off the goose bumps. I even had goose bumps on my face and head. I decided this wasn’t quite right so I took myself off to bed. Then I was sick so Nurse Chooks came to take control of the situation. I had horrible tingly feelings in my arms & legs, my temperature was going up and down so Chooks decided to do a malaria test. So she stabs me with a needle and sucks some blood up with this little plastic device & puts into a little testing tray. We then wait for 15 minutes and of course it comes up positive & she puts me on coartem. I was dreading going on the coartem because it’s supposed to make you feel really awful first before you start to feel better again.

The next morning after a very restless night I woke up and thought that I didn’t feel half as bad as I thought I should feel so I decided to get out of bed. I was craving an orange so I went into the kitchen. As I was peeling the orange and talking to Chooks I collapsed onto the floor. Unfortunately I hit my head quite hard on our wooden sofa before hitting the concrete floor. Chooks quickly ran round to help me & I had no idea where I was when I came round. I thought I’d fallen out of bed. Chooks then part carried me to my room and just as we reached the doorway I passed out again but this time Chooks couldn’t wake me up and she started to get quite worried. I finally came round and told her she was like Hitler (obviously delirious) and insisted I was fine and could do it on my own….obviously not fine Immy.

Anyway the doctor was called and I was put straight on a drip. My first drip too. I was pretty nervous. I’d only had my first antibiotics the week before so I’m very new to all this being sick thing.

Although maybe not quite Hitler, Chooks did make sure I was tied to my bed with my drip so I couldn’t actually leave my bed unless with her for the rest of the day. She then decided to kidnap me!! She was off to Ballito on the Sunday and didn’t want to leave me behind. It was a very tiring trip and despite being totally embarrassed by it I was relieved for Chooks insisting on booking a wheel chair at each airport. But here I am now back in David’s room in Ballito. Not too bad a place to be kidnapped to but wish I was able to enjoy it a bit better than from my bed. Although things could be worse I could be tied to it!!

Wow what a wild couple of months

Wow I can't believe it has been over two months since I last wrote on this.  I have been completely absorbed by my new life in the South Luangwa and boy has it been busy.  I have been busy opening camps as well as running them when open and we have had a new camp open pretty much every 2 weeks since the 1st of June.  I now have 5 camps open with an average occupancy across the camps of about 80% so it's very hectic here.  Unfortunately I do find a lot of my time behind a computer screen mapping out guest movements, which are constantly changing due to new bookings or cancellations or lack of vehicles etc etc.  I do try to get out into the bush as much as possible and have managed to get down to all the camps before each opened and then ever so once in a while to see the staff and check everybody is ok.
I spend an hour of every morning doing my radio calls to camps, which is like having my own radio show.  "Immy's Hour" on Radio South Luangwa.  This is when I find out how everybody is in camps, check the guests are happy and that the camp has no maintenance issues and also the daily sightings from the camps.

I managed to get a day off last Sunday and drove myself down to Zungulila, our most recent camp to open and my favourite.  It was my first 4x4 driving experience so I was a bit nervous.  I wasn't alone either, which was a good thing but also meant I had an audience.  But we made it safely down to Zungulila and in time for sundowners despite our late start and deliveries which I had to make at each camp on the way down.  We picked up Zillah (Chamilandu's manager) up on the way as she had no guests and we had a brilliant night.  Starting with a little bit of fishing from the bridge, then sundowners on the beach and then an amazing candle lit supper on the deck.

After supper Mike the manager at Zungulila had asked the staff to put on their dance show for us as I'd never seen it.  It was hilarious especially as I'm getting to know the staff quite well now.  They transformed the boma into a theatre and we sat in a semi circle to watch.

I then managed to have a lie in until 0630!!  Can you believe it??  Typical isn't it.  I didn't mind too much as the view you wake up to in the morning at Zungulila is just too special for words.  So I went down onto the deck and cuddled up in one of their woolen blankets and wrote in my diary and realised what a long time ago it was since my last post.  So here I am trying to catch up with the last few months.  So bare with me.

Mfuwe Lodge

Just a quick clip of where I work....I think you'll understand why I love my job so much.  Just follow the link.

http://www.vimeo.com/12202548

Opening of Chindeni

It has been an incredibly busy couple of weeks here in the South Luangwa. We opened our 2nd bush camp, Chindeni at the weekend and it was extremely hectic and stressful but great fun. As always a lot of it came together at the last minute. So much so that we actually flew four sets of sanitary wear up from Jo’burg to Lusaka. We then chartered a 206 to fly them to us at Mfuwe!! Amazingly it worked and they arrived safely. The cisterns however didn’t make their first flight so we booked them seats on the Proflight to Mfuwe the next day; obviously they were enjoying Lusaka duty free too much. Of course this caused us lots of giggles especially when in the morning meeting of the day Cisterns x 4 were expected on the 0910 Proflight, our Head Housekeeper asked, which rooms she should make up for them!!

Lucy and I decided last minute that we were missing out on all the fun of setting up Chindeni so we caught a ride down with the opening stock going into camp on the Samil (ex South African Military vehicle) on Friday. We were opening on the Saturday!! We were supposed to set off at 12pm so I think we finally left the Lodge at 4pm. We spent the afternoon frantically gathering last minute requests from the construction team down in camp; from paint, mattress protectors to beer. At about 2pm when we were just about to leave, a freight truck from South Africa arrived with the remaining furniture for Chindeni. To stop the guys from just throwing the load up on top of all the veggies Luce and I climbed up on top of the Samil and directed. Everyone around of course thought this was hilarious.

Once packed we were ready to go, Luce and I opened the door to the cab and I jumped in to find there is actually one passenger seat and my seat was in the middle on top of the engine!! I managed to get myself comfortable with my feet up on the dash board (I have to add that the wind screen was completely broken). There was a bit of sponge for me to sit on, which I was very appreciative for it was half an hour in when I realised. We were quite snug as we’d got all our luggage in with us plus our cooler box of drinks and chocolates (essential) and three trays of eggs, which Luce hugged protectively for the whole journey down. It was now 3pm and we were finally off we drove round to the front of the lodge to pick up a radio as we didn’t have one. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a spare one so Lucy and I sat cooking in the sun while someone went off to search for one. With no luck on the radio front we decided to head off anyway. We got about 1km down the road when Lucy who still had mobile signal got a call saying we had to come back. The construction team had remembered something else they wanted. So back we went and found ourselves back outside the front of the lodge for another half an hour. Someone did manage to find us a radio this time so it was worth going back for.

So finally we were on the road only 4hrs after our scheduled departure, which after living in Africa for 5 years and working in the bush for 6 weeks I’d say that that’s pretty good going actually. Of course about half an hour into our trip we got a flat tyre. So we all piled out of the samil. Luce and I weren’t the only passengers we had about 6 guys on the back. The tyres for the Samil are so big and heavy it took all of them to lift the spare down to change. Thankfully it only took them about 15 minutes to change the tyre; I was starting to get a bit nervous about standing around in the middle of the bush. The cat density here is amazing and although I’d have loved to see one our way down, I’d rather it wasn’t whilst I was standing in the middle of the road.

Just before we got to Chindeni I saw a leopard in a little gulley stalking a herd of implala. I shouted to the driver to stop but we were going pretty quickly for such a big truck and about 500m later we finally came to a halt. We flashed my tiny little LED light at it and got a glimpse of it but we also got a glimpse of one of our safari vehicles, which then flashed their lights at us. Feeling very guilty for ruining their sighting we carried on our way. We then continued to tare through the park, which almost led to us having buffalo for supper as the driver finally heard Luce and I screaming buffalo over the noise of the engine. Was quite an adventurous journey and we were very relieved to finally arrive at Chindeni. It was by this time 8pm so we got straight to work. We had no idea where we were going to sleep as the rest of the crew were staying at another camp of ours which isn’t opening this year called Billimongwe. But Billi’s was pretty full so around supper time Andy suggested that we test drive one of the chalets, which had just been made up. So we did and I have completely and utterly fallen in love with Chindeni. The shower is amazing, the beds are the comfiest I’ve ever slept in and the sheets are divine, you just slip into them they’re so soft.

Luce had set her alarm for 0630 but unfortunately I’d forgotten to turn mine off, so it went off at 0600 and of course it was in Lucy’s bag and I couldn’t find it. So by the time I found it I was awake. Luce had also woken up and had suddenly remembered that she thought Andy had told the electrician to start work again in our chalet at 0600. It was at that moment that we heard one of the guys outside asking when we were going to get up as they needed to start work. So our night in the amazing Chindeni beds and sheets was over.

We started work straight away and got the kitchen sorted out. We’d finished unpacking and tidying in the kitchen just as the construction crew turned up, which earned us some brownie points. It was a great day despite the running around and hard work we all put in. I felt a bit like I was a part of Ground Force as every half hour I’d do a radio call to the main Lodge to see if they’d left and then to their guide along the way; I’d then go and tell everybody we’ got 2hours left or half an until they arrive. The whole camp worked so hard and we got everything finished in time and it just looks amazing. The deck is just breath taking.  It was creatively designed around three big trees, 2 Tamarind and and an Ebony; which appear to be growing out of the middle.  Although with the view where the camp is situated, the place would be amazing with just a roll mat and a torch. Instead it is pure luxury, well as much luxury as you’d want in a bush camp. They thankfully haven’t destroyed the essence of the bush camp experience.

The guests arrived and we sneaked off out the back as if we’d never been there.

We had a couple of more things to tweak in the morning, which we could do while the guests were out on their morning walk so I agreed to stay another night. I wasn’t lucky enough to spend another night in one of the Chindeni tents and was dragged back to Billi’s. We turned up in the dark and unfortunately I don’t think Chris Botha (who’s guarding Billis) was expecting us. We’d brought food over with us but there were no lights or water. Instead of letting this get us down, Monty, Phil, Caline and I celebrated the success of Chindeni with a whole bottle of whiskey!! Phil was actually drinking warm beer (also no ice) so it was just the three of us who polished off the whiskey round the camp fire. Chris managed to create something out of the food we’d given him (I’m not really sure what it was). I think he must have cooked a huge bag of rice as it looked like we had about 500g of rice on each of our plates. I have to admit I was very nervous at Billis because it was so dark and I’d never been there before so had no idea where anything was. That nervousness seemed to leave as the night went on, which of course was due to the whiskey.

We did a swing by of Chindeni in the morning for some last minute tweaking and then over to Kapamba to check all was well there. We’d planned to be back at Mfuwe around lunch time for a well deserved massage but of course keeping to bush times we arrived after dark. We did get to see a baby elephant and its mother playing in a lagoon on the way home though, which was lovely. Unfortunately I didn’t get a great photo as I had Chooks’ camera with me and I was trying to work out settings on it.

That night it absolutely tipped it down with rain, which is very unusual for this time of year. I got a very early night and had a very well deserved sleep.