Silonque and Our Bed in die Bos
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The last weekend of our trip was spent at Bed in die Bos--the bush camp of a lovely lodge called Silonque. One of the musical programs that Erika and Tony are involved with was held there and Tony fell in love with the place, so was thrilled when he won a weekend there in a drawing. He persuaded (very easily) us to stay longer so we could enjoy the place too. It was a wonderful, restful weekend for us, affording a good opportunity to unwind before the long trip home and be well rested for the flight.
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Here is a view of Silonque's main lodge. Because it is made of naural materials (termite mound cement for example) and painted and landscaped to disappear into the scenery, it's hard to photograph. It's quite modern in design and incorporates many environmentally sound elements and uses many recycled materials too.
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A separate area completely is called Bed in die Bos--Afrikaans for Bed in the Bush. That's where we stayed. It's so efficiently designed and built--all by Tom, the manager of the property. He is an extremely talented potter and one can see his design ideas in the camp everywhere. It too is hard to photograph. It's sort of an oval cement krall (enclosure) with a large open main area, a kitchen, three bedrooms and two baths.
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Another view of our digs. It has two more places in the main area that are couches in the daytime and can be beds at night, so ten can comfortably sleep, making it a wonderful for a family retreat.
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Here's a good example of Tom's design on the small wall around the back yard. We did wonder how something so easy to step over would protect us from elephants. Bridgie loved it here, but Tiger the cat had to be taken back home because he would not stay in the enclosure.
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The main area which is open to the air, but roofed over. Here is where we ate--that's the kitchen door in the back--read, talked, and lazed around.
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For example, here are Erika, son Justin, and daughter Kirstin lazing around on Mother's day.
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A peek into our bedroom--almost cell-like. The mattresses are on built-in platforms which pleased me--no creepy-crawlies under there. We were left alone completely except for an extremely fastidious young African man who came every day to rebuilt the wood for the evening brai in the brai "dish", and to make the beds. We got a kick out of how very fussy he was about getting the bed corners just right.
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There was a nice pool that had all fresh water put in for our visit. We found lots of elephant "evidence" in that area behind the pool, but we only saw them way out by the gate, not near us. There were birds around but the only wildlife we saw..........
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........were these two guys in the bathroom. Isn't that lizard beautiful! Except he was six inches from the toilet handle and I didn't know he was there--I thought I'd never go again.
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I forgot that we also took a nice hike and saw lots of interesting plants and birds. We teased Justin by tossing stones ahead of him into the bush to see him jump at the sound. We walked all around a koppie on the property and saw some hyrax up on the rocks. The last two pages will be about Kruger where we went for our last day in Africa.
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Click on the resting zebras to go to page eighteen.
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