Good morning dear Lucie,
At last I have a quick moment to send an email…apologies that it has taken so long!
I got back to UK after an amazing month away in SA, and Debbie and the little girls were already here, so I’ve had more treats with my precious ones staying for 3 more wonderful weeks. Debbie left to fly back to Ab Dhabi on Thursday and we left early yesterday (Friday) to drive to Devon to visit friends. The journey took 6.5 hours as there were traffic delays all day!
I thought I’d get up at 6am today (Saturday) to catch up with overdue emails…so here I am watching the dawn in beautiful Salcombe as I send this to you…
It’s hard to put into words all that Entabeni meant to us as a family. It was a highlight of my life, a once in a lifetime experience where our entire family got together for the first time ever, apart from the Scottish members who we met up with two weeks prior to our trip as they just couldn’t get away sadly.
The bush reunion at Entabeni really worked, as we could all chat with each other and the children could play and have fun throughout the days and nights, in a most stunning spot, with great service, meals, game rides, and glorious weather. It was a perfect choice in every way.
Firstly a big ‘Thank You’ to you for finding this gem of a place for us. It suited us all exactly. Everyone loved it!
The setting was truly superb – magnificent lakeside with that beautiful, distinctive ‘cupcake’ mountain. A deck where we all gathered in the early afternoons for games, reading and chats.
The lodge was really comfortable, with clever decor African style yet mod cons such as tea/coffee stations with kettles in our rooms and fridges etc with well appointed bathrooms, and special touches like the rooms tidied up with electric blankets switched on in the evenings.
The staff were absolutely wonderful, always friendly and helpful, and especially the Game Rangers who were exceptional with all of us particularly the little children.
The meals were of an incredibly high standard. All our family have raved about the tasty food, the attractive presentation, and the variety of choices we enjoyed! Excellent 10/10.
Everything we asked for was done with a big smile. The boma’s at night were a great hit.
The game rides were always prompt and on time, with fun snacks and drinks. (The littlies missed having hot chocolate which unfortunately they didn’t have, and some of the adults wished for good quality coffee instead of the small sachets…but hey ho that’s such a tiny detail!!)
The game rangers were amazing with their knowledge of game and birds and a basic knowledge of plants and trees. We all really enjoyed hearing about the medicinal properties of plants from our ranger.
We really enjoyed the variety of scenery and appreciated the spots we stopped at for refreshments which were carefully chosen and absolutely beautiful.
We saw some fabulous game highlights – elephant on a charge, lion chomping a wildebeest, young cheetah’s in a chase, ostrich’s doing an impressive mating dance, baby giraffe’s, and several rhino’s up close and awesome, and a crocodile sunning itself right in the middle of our road so we had to reverse and go another route…sightings we’ll never forget.
On the last night, the staff came in singing ‘happy Birthday’ to me with a small candle lit cake, and singing and dancing by the staff. Our whole party erupted with joy! Soon we were all dancing, jiving to the African rhythms, and singing along to their beautiful melodies. It was a phenomenal experience we’ll never forget.
The family were all thrilled with the choice of venue for our reunion.
On the ‘down’ side, they just wished there was a more plentiful amount of game as on some game drives we saw very few of anything. On our last morning there was not even one impala or buck. The game ranger was wonderful in trying to show interesting plants and to give us a positive game drive…but it was a pity that absolutely nothing of the animal kingdom showed up. We all realise that this is how it is sometimes, as it’s not a zoo!
So, dear Lucie, a huge heartfelt ‘Thank you‘ for all you did to make this such an unforgettable holiday for us all, especially me!
It was a dream come true, in a far far better, happier, more glorious way that I could ever have hoped for.
Bless you,
Wendy xx