What a paradise we live in, here at Senuko in the Save Valley Conservancy. Hyenas and lions have been regularly calling all night-I have Kelli with me in the bush and we drove home from a bush dinner a few nights ago through two groups of hyenas, one youngster coming so close to our car that we could see into his ears….

spotted hyena and cub

but there is a  downside -no electricity for two days now due to bad winds knocking down poles which are not fixed yet, and so no water is getting pumped to our hilltop house. The heavy rains and winds have knocked down trees in the neighbouring towns of Chiredzi and Triangle, school was closed monday after a large tree fell and  cut a classroom block in half, on a sunday morning when no children were sitting inside………..

Our generator is dead, so no back up power…we are cooking on fire and bathing in buckets, and only limited internet till inverter dies….sigh! It’s tough in paradise!…………..

ok, two days later…. Power is back on at our bush house, Tsavene, but still no water due to failure of water-pump on the flooding Mkwasine river-so we continue to bucket bath-which is fine, but yesterday afternoon a black mamba decided to try the bucket bath in Kelli’s bathroom…luckily she was not sharing the bucket at the same time…………………………….
Despite all hazards, such as snakes and raging rivers, this is still a safer environment to live in than downtown London,Miami, Houston or Cape Town!
Not that I did not LOVE living in those places, I love the contrast of buzzy city life, art exhibitions, food and theatre, with the wholly different but just as exciting bush life…..

Lions rumbling  and ground hornbills booming this morning at dawn……….
Kelli has decided to create a blog, going to be called Best of Both Worlds, can’t wait to read her stories……