I am always pleased to see that quasi all our guests stay almost a week here at the Vuyani Safari Lodge. The reason is that when guests stay shorter, they are, pun intended, changing themselves short.

A visit in the African bush (we call it “veld”) is not about ticking off the Big 5. It is about so much more. It is about letting yourself immerse into pure wild nature, detaching from the stressful modern tech world, back to an ancient way of things being, and soon, you will get back in touch with our human roots and origins in nature. This in itself is an enormously powerful, and liberating, effect, and it leaves our guests with lasting memories and lessons learnt, the most important one probably that in times immortal, our daily worries and ambitions are probably a little exaggerated and that there is something much bigger out there that does what it does, no matter what. It is that thing call planet, a huge eco-system, where millions and millions of small and large random events form an intricate self-healing system, where daily struggles and challenges make sure that only the fittest survive, producing wildlife that takes your breath away: the tallest, the fastest, the strongest and the heaviest animals that roam the earth all call this part of the world their home, on our reserve. It is nature on steroids, and the impact on our psyche is overwhelming.

Maybe that’s why we always say: “You can leave Africa, but Africa will never leave you”.

 

Sometimes (in fact, not that seldomly) I get emailed photos that guests have taken on our reserve, and they are always beautiful. When the subjet is stuning, then the result can only be very good.

But sometimes I get SPECTACULAR photos. The sort of hobby photographers who, whatever other jobs they do, they could always also become professional photographers, and one of our very recent guests, Biplab, is certainly one of that rare kind of people. So let me just publish all his photos here, and you can pick your favourites. I tried, but I could not. I love them all.

And by the way … I LOVED the fact it seems that Biplab is one of the very seldom people who have noticed the many antique African artworks in our lodge and has captured them so well. And yes, they are all original pieces, from all over Africa. A true collection of the fascinating artwork that this rich continent has on offer!