Kuzuko Game Park & Lodge...

We've been gone for almost a full week now. I haven't made blogging about this trip a priority, so there is a lot to catch up on. This morning we slept in, skipped the game drive and just finished massages instead. Now I'm feeling pretty relaxed. I finished one book yesterday and don't really feel like starting a new one.

So we left SBN last Saturday at 2pm. Flights to Atlanta, and then Johannesburg, and then Port Elizabeth were uneventful, though long. Fourteen hours and forty-five minutes from Atlanta to JOH. Coach is brutal, but we did it. Neither S. nor I sleep well on planes, so we were exhausted by the time we got in. Fortunately the flight into PE was on time and short, and we had a hotel just 5 minutes from the airport.

The next morning we picked up our car, and a cell phone. In spite of giving advance notice to my credit card company they started rejecting my card so I had to call them to straighten that out. But we'd still got out of town in good time, driving on the left. It isn't the fort time I've done that, and with the help of a GPS travel went smoothly.

It took probably 2 1/2 hours to get to our lodge, the last 1 1/2 hours on a regional dirt road. PE is an industrial city, but very quickly we were out in rural spaces. We arrived finally at the reception center, transferred our gear to a land cruiser and a ranger drove us the last 4km to our lodge. There we wre greeted with warm face clothes and a glass of cold apple juice. Our greeter gave us instructions for the day:

Game drives at 7am and 4pm, tea at 6am and 3pm, breakfast when we return from the morning drive, and dinner when we return from the afternoon drive. We can swap a massage for a game drive if we wish. Pretty easy to remember.

After that she escorted us to our cottage - excuse me, our chalet. We're in #6, if you want to know. Our chalet is very nice, with a walk out (and very private) patio, bed, couch, bath, and wifi connection. This is the view from our patio.

So we got moved in, and returned for tea about 3:15. The food has been fantastic. They've been very accommodating for my vegetarianism. They have a great baker (croissants to rival Rachel's).

So then we had our first game drive.

The days since have kind of blurred together. We've seen lots of wild animals - kudu, gnu, springbok, stainbok, water buffalo, cheetah, lion, elephant, and yesterday even the rhinoceros. We've seen lots of birds - none of them familiar but all of them beautiful.

Impressions...
Rather than itemize activities, here are some impressions.

This is a wild and beautiful country. Flying over south west Africa on the way I as struck by the lack of agriculture or evidence of even occupation. As I write this I'm looking out over thousands of acres of scrub desert. No hiking is permitted from our lodge because there are lions and other animals who would likely kill you if they found you. I don't think this is an exaggeration. So I this incredible space I feel cloistered and protected.

Living a five star lifestyle is nice - for awhile. The rich food and catering to my every whim will eventually wear thin. But I'm not quite there yet. :)

The vision behind this place - spearheaded by Kim Tan and the Transformational Business Network, is inspiring. We've met the people he is serving (the staff here at the lodge), and we see the poverty in the surrounding community. Dr. Tan has invested huge amounts of resources to create jobs, educate people, and help improve the welfare of the people. And it is working. Today we met Catherine, the co-gm of the lodge and got the inside story. It is very exciting what they're doing. For example, for a while they had an executive chef from the outside. When that person left a few years ago they promoted his assistant who had been in training for 4 or 5 years. This is a local man who might be farming, if he had any employment at all. I can tell you he is a great cook. And we met the woman in charge of the aforementioned baking - she was very shy to meet these white guests. But she is doing a great job.

All of this raises interesting questions about wealth and using eco-tourism to promote economic development. I have a hard time justifying the carbon footprint we made to get over here. It is like the well-placed scorn my fellow Mennonites heap on themselves at the MCC relief sale for over eating to solve world hunger - only more so.

Lest you think i'm saddled with guilt, I'm enjoying our vacation. This is the first time in 29 years that I've taken off two consecutive weeks. It is wonderful.

Water really does go down the drain backwards in the Southern Hemisphere. What is more disorienting is that if you want you windows to tach the sun, you face them to the north. So our patio faces north, and the sun rises on our right and sets on the left. That is very strange. And then at night there are no dippers. Orion is visible, and I actually lived to see the Southern Cross. But where is Polaris?