Well folks the dream is over. I am now officially unemployed. Myself and my boss didn’t see eye to eye and I had to quit for the sake of my sanity. It turns out that I probably got out at the right time as apparently on Thursday, the day after my resignation a sub adult male Lion killed one of the Wildebeest on the conservancy!
My guess was that he came under the fence after the heavy rains we had last week washed out the base of the fence. It just shows you that you can’t be too complacent even in an area where you’re not supposed to have these animals predators! We all knew that there was a Leopard on the premises but you can’t keep Leopards out with fences. The fences are supposed to keep Lions out though! Guernsey conservancy can say that they’ve had 3 of the Big 5. I had just been pointing out the holes to some Dutch guests the week before and said that a Lion could easily come under through the gap. I didn’t realise at the time how prophetic those words would turn out to be. As well as that we had hunters in to cull some of the Impala and the Wildebeest on the conservancy. It looks like all you have to do is make a hole in your fence and let nature take its course. It adds a bit of extra adrenalin to your game walks when you could possibly have a Lion on your land!
Kevin and Ruth had come to stay with me for a few days and to say my boss and his wife were embarrassing hosts would be an understatement! Ruth and Kevin had been on a horse back safari in “Big 5,” country for a week and were amazed with the care they were given by their hosts. I think it was a great contrast to see the difference that a personality makes to the guests experience. Anyway we had a great time for the few days regardless. We went to Kruger the first day and as we were driving towards the park we saw a White Lion on the fence. I was actually driving along and my phone rang and I just spotted this shape in the corner of my eye and there it was, a beautiful White Lioness! I’m here eight months now and it’s the first one I’ve seen. Kevin and Ruth got some nice pictures! We headed on to Kruger and the lads wanted to see Elephants and Buffalo’s and we saw a herd of Elephants quite soon after driving into the park. Ruth loved the cute little baby and we have some nice pictures of a five legged Elephant male! Kevin got his Buffalo’s as well by the end of the day and all were happy!
We went to see the animals in Moholoholo the second day and Jessica the Hippo on the third day. I think the guys got a real impression as to how big the likes of Lions are in real life when they met “Big Boy,” the male Lion. He’s an awesome sight! We got back one of the evenings to see chaos on the road into Pezulu. A couple of cars had gotten stuck in the mud and this caused a pile up. Nobody could get in or out. We abandoned ship on the road and called for Jeff (The other guide in Pezulu) to come out and collect us. It was a cold and miserable evening. I stepped out of the car and I could hear snorting. It turns out there was a herd of Buffalo watching us through the fence. Ruthie was a little bit freaked out and she kept shining her torch on the fence to make sure nothing could creep up on us! Good girl Ruthie! We got back to the lodge and of course my inconsiderate boss had set a table for three with a big roaring fire on to warm up her hungry wet and cold guests! (NOT!) The thick bitch had set up two places and no fire. I think she expected me to eat down in the kitchen! At least she had left enough food for us tonight just about. You wouldn’t have wanted to be hungry is all I’ll say! Kevin loved his pint sized slice of Cheesecake. You know Kevin and desserts!
Anyway the straw that broke the Camel’s back regarding my resignation was when Claude came back and told me that he and some guests had been chased by a male Giraffe. The Giraffe had tried to kick one of the guests! He recounted the story while getting stuck into his 7th Klipdrift and Coke of the evening. I couldn’t believe that a lodge owner would be so irresponsible to bring 1.guests out when not qualified to do so 2. To let his dogs chase the Giraffes 3. To laugh about it afterwards. If a Giraffe kicks you, you are dead full stop! This was one of a good few incidents involving the owners of the lodge regarding animals. He had previously been calling Hyaena and making a fool of himself in front of a game vehicle full of guests and chasing Giraffe and worse again letting his dogs chase Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, cars, Cats and guests!
I told him the next day that I had had enough and was leaving. The conversation went something like this. “Claude I’ve some bad news, I’m leaving. You’re leaving? For where? No, I’m leaving Pezulu, I’m quitting! Oh, why, are we not treating you well? Are we not nice? Well actually now that you mention it, no you’re not nice and you can’t pretend to be nice when you’re not! Are you leaving because the ranger life is not what you expected? It’s great but I’m not a ranger. A ranger looks after the animals and manages a reserve. I’m a guide. (The guy is as thick as a plank) What are you going to do? I don’t know but I’ll figure it out. I know that I can’t stay here working for you anyway. Well I can’t stop you from leaving if you want to. Yeh well that’s the first thing that you’ve been right about for a while. Good luck with your business!”
If I was to make a prediction on the future of Pezulu lodge I would say that it will be sold within two years. The old ninety ten rule comes to mind. The rule goes something like this about 90% of people think they should be in business and 10% actually should. Take a guess which side Claude and Lydia are on?
I’m gonna try and look for a job in the area, failing that I’m going to do some travelling through the country and stay in backpackers and see how things go. I’ve a few friends coming over to visit in the not so distant future and I’m really looking forward to that! Things could be worse!
My guess was that he came under the fence after the heavy rains we had last week washed out the base of the fence. It just shows you that you can’t be too complacent even in an area where you’re not supposed to have these animals predators! We all knew that there was a Leopard on the premises but you can’t keep Leopards out with fences. The fences are supposed to keep Lions out though! Guernsey conservancy can say that they’ve had 3 of the Big 5. I had just been pointing out the holes to some Dutch guests the week before and said that a Lion could easily come under through the gap. I didn’t realise at the time how prophetic those words would turn out to be. As well as that we had hunters in to cull some of the Impala and the Wildebeest on the conservancy. It looks like all you have to do is make a hole in your fence and let nature take its course. It adds a bit of extra adrenalin to your game walks when you could possibly have a Lion on your land!
Kevin and Ruth had come to stay with me for a few days and to say my boss and his wife were embarrassing hosts would be an understatement! Ruth and Kevin had been on a horse back safari in “Big 5,” country for a week and were amazed with the care they were given by their hosts. I think it was a great contrast to see the difference that a personality makes to the guests experience. Anyway we had a great time for the few days regardless. We went to Kruger the first day and as we were driving towards the park we saw a White Lion on the fence. I was actually driving along and my phone rang and I just spotted this shape in the corner of my eye and there it was, a beautiful White Lioness! I’m here eight months now and it’s the first one I’ve seen. Kevin and Ruth got some nice pictures! We headed on to Kruger and the lads wanted to see Elephants and Buffalo’s and we saw a herd of Elephants quite soon after driving into the park. Ruth loved the cute little baby and we have some nice pictures of a five legged Elephant male! Kevin got his Buffalo’s as well by the end of the day and all were happy!
We went to see the animals in Moholoholo the second day and Jessica the Hippo on the third day. I think the guys got a real impression as to how big the likes of Lions are in real life when they met “Big Boy,” the male Lion. He’s an awesome sight! We got back one of the evenings to see chaos on the road into Pezulu. A couple of cars had gotten stuck in the mud and this caused a pile up. Nobody could get in or out. We abandoned ship on the road and called for Jeff (The other guide in Pezulu) to come out and collect us. It was a cold and miserable evening. I stepped out of the car and I could hear snorting. It turns out there was a herd of Buffalo watching us through the fence. Ruthie was a little bit freaked out and she kept shining her torch on the fence to make sure nothing could creep up on us! Good girl Ruthie! We got back to the lodge and of course my inconsiderate boss had set a table for three with a big roaring fire on to warm up her hungry wet and cold guests! (NOT!) The thick bitch had set up two places and no fire. I think she expected me to eat down in the kitchen! At least she had left enough food for us tonight just about. You wouldn’t have wanted to be hungry is all I’ll say! Kevin loved his pint sized slice of Cheesecake. You know Kevin and desserts!
Anyway the straw that broke the Camel’s back regarding my resignation was when Claude came back and told me that he and some guests had been chased by a male Giraffe. The Giraffe had tried to kick one of the guests! He recounted the story while getting stuck into his 7th Klipdrift and Coke of the evening. I couldn’t believe that a lodge owner would be so irresponsible to bring 1.guests out when not qualified to do so 2. To let his dogs chase the Giraffes 3. To laugh about it afterwards. If a Giraffe kicks you, you are dead full stop! This was one of a good few incidents involving the owners of the lodge regarding animals. He had previously been calling Hyaena and making a fool of himself in front of a game vehicle full of guests and chasing Giraffe and worse again letting his dogs chase Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, cars, Cats and guests!
I told him the next day that I had had enough and was leaving. The conversation went something like this. “Claude I’ve some bad news, I’m leaving. You’re leaving? For where? No, I’m leaving Pezulu, I’m quitting! Oh, why, are we not treating you well? Are we not nice? Well actually now that you mention it, no you’re not nice and you can’t pretend to be nice when you’re not! Are you leaving because the ranger life is not what you expected? It’s great but I’m not a ranger. A ranger looks after the animals and manages a reserve. I’m a guide. (The guy is as thick as a plank) What are you going to do? I don’t know but I’ll figure it out. I know that I can’t stay here working for you anyway. Well I can’t stop you from leaving if you want to. Yeh well that’s the first thing that you’ve been right about for a while. Good luck with your business!”
If I was to make a prediction on the future of Pezulu lodge I would say that it will be sold within two years. The old ninety ten rule comes to mind. The rule goes something like this about 90% of people think they should be in business and 10% actually should. Take a guess which side Claude and Lydia are on?
I’m gonna try and look for a job in the area, failing that I’m going to do some travelling through the country and stay in backpackers and see how things go. I’ve a few friends coming over to visit in the not so distant future and I’m really looking forward to that! Things could be worse!
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