- Had a meeting with the Maasai village council, where they accused me of practising witchcraft. This is due to the fact that we started removing cow bells from the cows illegally grazing on our land.
- I was charged at the local police station for practising witchcraft - the charges were eventually dropped.
- I was expected to pay the Maasai who's cows were dying because I took their bells, but further proof showed they were just trying to extort money off me once a gain, as their cows were seen grazing the next day on our land - illegally.
- In the same breath they asked me for money too make improvements in their clinic.
- Cows continued to graze on our land every day for the whole month, most cows belonging to the village council members who we pay a lease to use the land and whereby they ensure it is free of cows - what a JOKE!! ........ There is one thing about a Maasai - they want everything and cannot honour an agreement. It is not within their capabilities.
- Both our washing machines broke. Our poor laundry okes are washing sheets and clothes etc. by hand. They are still broken, as we can't get the parts here in TZ.
- Room 6 flooded, due to a burst tap.
- Had one guest who was given a private vehicle by the agent for 3 weeks, so had a shortage of rangers and vehicles for the whole month, in which we have had our highest occupancy ever. It was a complete logistical nightmare.
- This one guest got stranded in the Serengeti due a to the back diff's tube housing snapping on his way back from seeing the migration. Another logistical nightmare!
- Most staff had a brain fart at some point in the month and just couldn't remember how to do their jobs - very tiring!
- Spent 5 days in Arusha for the 4th round of wage negotiations, which were thankfully completed. I was exhausted, but did get to play 2 rounds of golf :-)
- To top off the month (before I had to deal with financial month end on the 31st). I was hosting bush dinner one night before the heavens opened. Myself and the staff got completely drenched packing up, and while Tiff and I were lying in bed at about 23h00 we heard a massive crack and a thump and our house was hit by lightning. We had 50mm of rain and we woke up to a flooded house. It took a week to get online, and the support team worked their butts off too.
- The following items were ruined by the lightning: -
- Repeater radio station
- Telephones - burnt out our system in the office
- Satellite internet (router burnt)
- Therefore no communication with the outside world and considering we don't get cell phone signal except for the occasional SMS - we had a tough time trying to organise running the camp
- 5 wireless D-Link boxes
- 4 network switches
- 1 DSTV decoder and an LNB
- 2 TV's (including ours). Not sure when the company will buy us another one, so no CBeebies for Jackson for a while
- Mine and Tiff's Laptops - have gone to SA to get repaired
- 1 Desktop PC
- 1 credit card machine
- About 20 light bulbs
- 2 plug points
- Month End happened :-) as it does every month
The drive to Bilila
On the upside, Tiff, Jackie and I did get to spend 2 nights at Bilila Lodge in the central Serengeti for free, as I know the manager there, however all the extras were exhorbitant to say the least. However it was worth it. The short break was so needed and so appreciated by all of us and was a little blessing.
Our swimming pool in our junior suite at Bilila
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