Sylvia's Journal

I am now installed in a ‘case’ a traditional round hut. In Southern Africa they call these ‘rondavels.’ It is a luxurious hut in that it has a shower and a bath (and hot water). It has an air conditioner that works quite well and is very welcome in this heat. There is a refrigerator with a bottle of red wine in it. It is not clear whether this is a welcoming gift or left behind by the previous occupant. The refrigerator door doesn’t close and soon there is water all over the floor. I also have a flat screen TV with a cable connection (Canal+), requiring two remotes. Some huts got a router to serve surrounding huts but the passwords don’t match the router name and even where it does, the internet doesn’t work. I have surrendered to not being connected.

The huts, as well as some two-story buildings are built close together in clusters on the grounds along winding paths. The style is ‘faux rustic,’ with cement logs along the paths and as hand railings that are made to look like fallen trees, tree branches or trunks. The paths are zigzagging around a beautiful and very large swimming pool that seems to be mostly used by the wild life – two Peking ducks were happily swimming in the cloudy green water of the children’s wading pool – making it even cloudier. I was discouraged from using the pool (which looked like it was swimmable) as the maintenance and filtering systems were not to be trusted. Too bad.

There are many animals here – it’s like a small private zoo. Some animals are in pens: five ostriches in a small enclosure seem to be, if not happy then at least curious about us, the new arrivals.  The porcupines stay mostly inside their faux grotto, understandable given how many of their quills are missing or broken, and raise their quills when they think there is a reason to go outside (food).  At least 20 snow white geese are clustered together in another enclosed area, making a mess and much noise. They have a blue bottomed pool that is rather dirty. There are a few animals roaming around loose: golden cranes, some peacocks and a very large turtle.  A teak-planked bridge, flanked by banana trees goes over another blue bottomed pull that may or may not have animals in it – I can’t see as the water is filled with algae.