Mashatu Lodges in the bush

The camp was - just like in South-Africa camp Davidson - glamping luxury. We had a beautiful fireplace with comfortable seats, a cosy dining area and these amazing tents. All tents had lights working on solar energy and warm water, thanks to these cute stoves behind each tent. Every morning the staff would burn some fire in each stove to wash your faces and in evenings bigger ones to shower. The toilet was running with a flush and fresh water from the water whole beneath the jungle. It was amazing to see how comfortable and efficient you can camp in the middle of the jungle, with few resources and human waste.

We got some ruled for the camp to “survive” our 3 nights in the bush:

1) No walking around after 8pm in the camp, only from dinner to your tent and that was accompanied by one of the guides. At 6.30pm it already gets dark, so at 8pm I can tell you the bush is truly dark and ready for the night. Lions walk around, elephants search for comfort and leopards might be curious. So, you need guidance of an experienced staff member and you can never wander around by yourself. If you need a bathroom stop at night, luckily the bathroom was attached to the bedroom and fenced, so no animal could disturb you in your bedroom and bathroom.

2) Never leave human belongings on your terrace outside at night, because hyenas are keen to grasp them. Hyenas like anything that smells like humans or meat, so never leave out your riding boots, socks, wet towels etc. Once the hyenas run away with your riding gear, it might be hard to get new ones in the bush.

3) Never leave human belongings in your bathroom during the day for the baboons. At night the monkeys sleep inside the trees, so hyenas will take it away, but during the day the baboons are curious and will take away anything that seems new for them. Some stuff of the bathroom they’re already used to (e.g. Hand soap and shower gel tubes), but they’re always looking for new things. So, during the day, we had to leave our toothbrush and toiletries inside the room and leave our towels to dry at night.

4) Keep your tent closed at all times during day and night. As referred to in above points, during the day the baboons are keen to find new things and even enter your room, during night, the night animals (lion, hyena, leopard etc) are curious to smell our human activity and might try to enter. According to the staff, you were absolutely safe in your tent because the animals respect the tent, however you might always want to close it to avoid curious animals sneaking in. Once we had roaring lions at night, just right next to our heads with only the tent wall dividing the two of us. It was really scary, but once you realise you’re absolutely safe inside your tent, you continue to sleep and capture this moment as one of the best experiences of the bush.

5) Always shut down your lights when not needed during night and day, because they run on (limited) solar energy.

6) Always clean up the dining room area of human belongings, because just like with the tents, the baboons are curious animals that will steal all belongings if it’s laying around. This means or breakfast, dinner and lunch was always served when we were around, and quickly cleaned up afterwards, in order to avoid the baboons stealing. The baboons are even keen to steal your iPhone, so you will never see again your pictures and memories.

They also gave us some tips, which can be useful when preparing for your trip:

Tip: Keep a flashlight with you in your back pack, because in winter it gets dark quite soon (sunrise at 6.30am and sunset at 6.30pm approximately). To save your phone’s battery, you might want to have a good flashlight to find your way to your tent.

Tip: My sister and I each bought a battery charging unit (80k W), because there was limited electricity available at camp. This way we could charge our phones at night inside our tents. But no worries, there are still charging possibilities, just a bit more robust: you need to give your phone to the staff during the day and they will charge in the kitchen.Читать далее