Living in a Lodge like Kings Camp isn’t all good food, Big 5 game drives and epic safari adventures; it’s also about snakes, scorpions, spiders and things that roar in the night…
I’m sure people who’ve been in the industry longer that I have will have great anecdotes to share but here are just some recent examples of little incidents that become routine when you live at a lodge…
The other evening we had a leopard just waltz though reception like he owned the place. He walked calmly through the main hall past the bar and the pool and stopped to peer into the massage lapa. Apparently deciding he was relaxed enough and all was in order at ‘his’ camp, he headed off into the night.
I heard a strange noise outside my window recently. Looking out to investigate I saw a tusk gleaming in the moonlight. It was a huge elephant bull who had decided that the creeper outside my bedroom window looked like a tasty snack. Well I just stayed safely right where I was and listened to his tummy rumble as I fell asleep – no worries.
Then our assistant manager was bitten by a scorpion. It affected her pretty strangely the first night but the next morning she was up and hosting Bush Breakfast as if getting an injection of neuro-toxins was just part of the job. Hah!
Finally I was munched on by a spider during the night. Identified as a Palpimanid. It’s apparently harmless to most humans but I seem to be having a serious reaction to it as you can see. Yuck! But hey I’m not climbing walls or shooting web from my wrists so no serious long term effects.
So life at Kings Camp lodge goes on. We have lions roaring, hyenas whooping nd lots of things that go bump in the night… please do come join us again soon;)
