In the blog about planning a safari I mentioned that Wooksie, a woman who has suffered many holiday traumas in her life, was absolutely adamant that she would not be camping among wild beasts and creatures of the night on the safari.
So in my discussions with Erick of Joining Safaris, I made it abundantly clear that a small tent would not be acceptable, but something with a bed would be fine, as long as it had a door.
After the day chasing elephants in the truck we were heading to our accommodation. We had seen our companions camp site in the morning when we collected the gear, so we assumed we would be staying there in a bungalow or something similar.
When we pulled off the highway onto this dusty road and Rashid (our guide) shouted out that we had arrived, it’s fair to say we were a bit nervous and I got a look from Wooksie that said “I warned you”.
We pulled up to some steel gates, that opened automatically and we drove into the parking area. It was like one of those scenes from a dystopian film where the people on the outside of the walls were living in squalor and the rich people inside the walls were living in luxury.
Looking at the photos I still can’t quite believe how this oasis of greenery could exist in such a barren landscape. There were gardeners tending flowers and mowing the lawn, it was stunning, in fact, jaw dropping.
Even more weirdly we were the only people staying at the complex. I can only imagine that this had been built for the American tourist market and there weren’t many around so we got it cheap.
Even Wooksie was happy and enjoyed the benefits of a warm shower, a comfy bed and protection from the mosquitoes. When we went to dinner, they even sent a chap come around to put mosquito treatment in the room, there were some big flying beasties around so we were grateful.
Dinner was spent celebrating Argyle’s home win over Luton, which turned out to be one of the high points of the season as Wayne Rooney took us to mid table mediocrity, a place we wouldn’t see again all season !
Meanwhile, our travelling companions had indeed been camping in some very nice tents and with some close up encounters with creatures of the night, so we kept a bit quiet about our luxury so we wouldn’t lose street cred.
In fact they meet creatures of many kinds and I’m glad I didn’t have to accompany Wooksie to the loo overnight
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