Now we are really ready!!!

This morning we said goodbye to the Bink family from the Netherlands. They stayed with us for 8 nights and we had a great time together. They found our lodge via friends (thanx Stef and Kaat) and arrived here with their 3 children. Although we had an elephant in our garden the first night they arrived, we did not see many big animals for the rest of the week (it was hot, so the animals probably prefer to stay in the shade) but they enjoyed watching the vervet monkeys, the warthogs, bosbokkies, crocodiles and kudus. The day they arrived the guests from Australia left. They also stayed with us for 9 days. Furthermore we had people from Pretoria staying the night and a family of 3 from Holland. The messages they leave in our guestbook are great and we really enjoy the fact that everybody so far loves the place :).

As we told in the blog from September, we decided to go to the Kruger Park for a couple of days. We pitched our tent in Satara and met Hans and Erna to have a talk and a braai. They left the next morning to drive slowly towards the Drakensbergen and then Johannesburg, while we had some nice game drives throughout the day. Although the Kruger Park is our back yard it is a little holiday for us every time. To sit outside your tent, having some boerewors on the braai, while the hyena’s are walking up and down the fence is a lovely experience. The camp site turns quiet at about 21.00 because everybody wants to get up early the next morning to do a drive. Well normally the camp site will turn quiet at 21.00. Unless you have a group of teenagers that decides to have a party for hours and you find out, oh horror that they are Dutch!!! Not so difficult when they are screaming with their beer filled heads: "I come from Holland". Nice to know, can you please keep quiet?

When we came back, we had to face the leakages in room 1 and 3…. The plumber came (a good one this time, with certificate) and fixed it in an hour. We put the tiles back ourselves and closed the wall of room 3 and 4. Finally it was all finished! Although we had some major hick ups, we did the whole renovation within 7 months, which is quite unique for South African standards. It was a hell of a job but we would not want to have missed it. We grew closer together and learned more about ourselves.

Sometimes we were very happy that the property is big, because we were not friends every day ;-). I (Kim) want to do everything myself, because I want to learn and because I like to be busy. But some jobs are for professionals, so I will never put an epoxy layer on the swimming pool again! I also learned to be more patience and that South African people do not keep their promises. I’ll call you, I’ll come tomorrow to fix the leak… yeah right!!!!! Sander learned that you never take a concrete wall down wearing flip-flops and never cut a branch above your head, it hurts!!! Furthermore you do not say: “I cannot do that” without trying first (especially with a wife that wants to do everything herself) and that people see you as a very rich guy and will always try to get the most out of it. Overall we think we did a very nice job and by the judgement of others we succeeded. There will always be something to be done in and around the lodge, but the big building project is over! At least for this year :).

Now we need to make sure that we get bookings and fill the lodge with guests. November is a very busy month, but the reservations in December are a little bit behind. Well we just have to be patience and keep the faith. At least we know that we have done everything possible to make this place better then it was before.

We want to thank family and friends who have faith in us and cheer us up when things turn wrong. We love receiving your e-mails, cards and little presents. Although we live far away from each other, those things make the world smaller for a moment.

Big kiss from to very happy people, Sander and Kim