HERE we are a couple of months later, and we have not only managed to re-build our bridge (a few feet higher) but also re-do our entire Swimming Pool, Bar and Pizza Oven area. It has been a labour of love, again, and as you may remember we were just two weeks into the building when the heavens opened and the whole swimming pool and surrounds disappeared under a torrent of water. This delayed the build by more than a month, and as we wind up the high season we are hugely grateful for the patience and tolerance of all of our supporters who have visited with us over the last few months as we struggled to finish the renovations.
We are a lifetime away, it seems, from Wednesday 24th of April. I still wake in the night every time there is a scatter of rain on my roof, remembering that terrible night when we lost the whole bridge downriver, and I think this reaction will continue for a long time to come. The “short” rainy season is just around the corner and it won’t be long before we can see if our bridge will be able to cope with what Mother Nature has in store for us.
As we wait for the next deluge, we are really enjoying the new pool and bar area which has been well worth all the delay. The Infinity Pool has been used by everyone – in particular our lovely male Black Rhino who has become a part of the lodge furniture. My youngest likes to sit on the pool edge and watch him sleeping under the tree which shades a part of the pool – the odd ear twitch, coupled by shrieks of laughter from her. We believe this is the young male who won the territorial dispute last year with our old boy, and now he is luxuriating in his new kingdom – complete with water trough from the infinity spill-over.
Our family finally, got to do our COVID trip to the US in the summer which was epic. Although we only managed to stay on the East Coast of Florida, it was quite the eye-opener for my children who have never really ventured further than the United Kingdom, and even more of an eye-opener for the locals who ended up filming Anthony as he roared across a road in hot pursuit of an Iguana. He and my son managed to have it up a tree where it then tried to launch itself to safety but fortunately was grabbed by Anthony…………We were mortally embarrassed by this mad bushman running around Florida barefoot in just his shorts – but the locals seemed to love it and were in awe of what I can only describe as a neanderthal.
The kids were dying to try out all the junk food so although we did manage to eat some exceptionally good food, each day was littered with the odd ‘Wendy’s, Shake Shack and McDonalds’ (sigh). We managed to visit some of the Tarpon hot spots and my kids spent hours fighting off pelicans and feeding these magnificent fish, my eldest daughter getting quite the bite! My son managed to find a ‘bale’ of turtles – the up and coming guide that he is – and he spent some time strolling around the shallows of Jupiter with them. We had some exceptional ocean sightings, the kids were swimming in the sea of Jupiter ( no thanks to Peter Benchley, the screen writer for Jaws, it took us 6 out of 7 days to convince my kids that there were no Great Whites out there waiting to eat them) and a huge bait ball of mullet came tearing through the water with Tarpon and Barracuda hunting them. All of a sudden out of nowhere a stunning Osprey launched off a pier and was in the water with everything – moments later coming out with a handful of fish – quite an amazing sighting which we felt so lucky to see.
As for boss baby, this was her first big trip and the big planes literally blew her mind. I do not think I got a second of sleep on the first leg of the journey to London as I was constantly being prodded to help change a channel or look at something. Gosh I wished for the days when there was only one small TV and one film played on a flight. We had told her that if she wanted to cross the road the only way to stop traffic was to hold one of our hands and put her hand up and shout stop at all the cars…….we obviously timed our street crossings with red stop lights and the walking man and to this day she thinks that she literally has super powers far superior to her mother. On top of this new supreme mightiness, anyone who said to her ‘oh you are so pretty or darling’ was very quickly put into their place with ‘I am not pretty I am HOT’………. Thank you for that eldest siblings!
America was just incredible and we are busy planning our next trip across the country, perhaps to tie in with the LA Olympics, my daughter assures me she will be there with her cricket……hopefully my son will finally be able to sink his teeth into an In and Out burger and our baby girl will be at an age where travelling on planes is so ‘blah’.
Now it is September and schools have gone back (thank goodness) and there is a sense of normality returning to our quiet corner of the world. The Genets are back in residence, a couple more in tow and our beautiful bush baby is busy entertaining guests after the sun has gone down. A sigh of relief that all is now well again at The Emakoko.
As always, we have had the most amazing guests coming through, always wonderful to meet people from far corners of the world and also people who live just across the park. Everything is drying up and temperatures are soaring, which is a little unusual given the time of year. The wildlife is exceptional and it was super to fly back home the other day, having dropped our middle child at boarding school, to drive into a pride of lions on the park roads as we made our way home. Although this is a common sighting for us, it really is a pinch yourself moment to know that less then 10 hours prior to that we were sitting in the bustling Heathrow Airport. A wonderful way for anyone to start a safari in East Africa.
Karibuni Kenya
