Here we are at the start of October and there are no raging torrents; although we did have a torrential downpour measuring 26mm, it has merely settled the dust and allowed the Mbagathi river to flow. Throughout the park there are tufts of new green grass one day which are then munched down to nothing the next, but I am happy to report that all the wildlife in the area appear to be doing amazingly well, and despite the drought there are expectant Mums and new births everywhere. Photo credit to Rihaz Sidi!!
Our quintuplet of Genet Cats – yes, now there are five of them – have become extreemly bold. One individual in particular has decided, after months of careful observation, the food on the tables and especially the butter is perfectly safe. ‘Kamakazi’, our appropriately-named youngest, was in the habit of launching himself off the lounge area into the darkness like a small, spotted missile, at the first sniff of danger. He has come to realize that such exertion is unnecessary as humans around the dinner table appear to be no threat, and we are particularly grateful our guest Chris Swindal for taking this amazing picture of KK using Anthony as a personal bridge to the delights of the Emakoko cuisine!
With the ongoing drought we still have our resident herd of buffalos, led by The General. To my personal annoyance, at the end of a night of eating and drinking they seem to be on a mission to knock over my precious pot-plants by the pool. It has become a battle that I am afraid we are losing and despite sending a strong protest (bearing in mind that these are extremely dangerous animals when roused) the Buffalo have come to realise that a torch and clapping hands, with the odd stone hurled in their direction are minor irritations which can safely be ignored.
We have, however in the last few days had a VERY frequent night-time big cat visitor who is our little Leopard cub – now not so little any more. As he strolls past the pool the buffalo panic and rush in all directions, and the Leopard has proved a valuable ally for our team in moving them away from the pool. I am not sure however, if our cub can be relied upon to appear every night, but for now we really do appreciate his visits – as do our guests!
Our other piece of exciting news is the arrival of our new Chef’s uniforms with which I am delighted. Unfortunately our culinary experts are not impressed with this new look and feel like they are in their ‘pyjamas’. Thankfully we had a wonderful Professional Chef as a visiting guest who showed them images of what his team looked like. I think he may have won them over, and I am delighted that our kitchen is back to a happy group of smiling faces, instead of a mournful chain gang!
