SMILES

There is certainly lots to see when walking in the village! Children running around, chickens, goats, cows, crazy people and just plain village life. Though the one thing you never forget when doing so, are the friendly faces an welcoming smiles!

THE RAINS HAVE STARTED

The rain season is here..... well almost. Normally we get a huge storm when theres rain, though we only
had a few drops yesterday. Each rainy season the rain comes and after about an hour of stormy weather the "Tangadzi river", about 1km from our house, comes up and we are closed in for the whole day! There are only 2 exits from our aea to get to Bangula town, and each one you have to cross the river! So I think this year we are going to get alot of rian!

Soccer

Every Sunday we take a walk into the village to the soccer feild, to watch the soccer. Its very different to most soccer matches as the rules are very confusing. In other words " anything goes"! There are cheerleaders on the sides of the field from each team motivating the players.  Kristen has joined the cheerleading team, certainly something to see!  Chipembere soccer team comprises of the staff members here at Chipembere camp and some other village people. We have also made a deal with Chipembere team for when they play, if they win they score a new soccer ball.

October

So far we have survived the October month. Last year we almost died in the heat!
Though this year it was not to bad, it was still hot though we did not reach 50 degrees!
Though the lions have taken strain in this heat, the only time they exit their sleeping enclosure
is when the sun starts to set!  They also enjoy water, they often tipple their water bowl over and roll
in it to cool down. Their new enclosure has a small pool they can lie in on hot days, so im sure they are
going to enjoy that.
The other problem is we dont have power in the day, so when we want to run a fan to cool down, we cant!
So we often put it on when the generator is on in the evenings.
Though November the rains start which should cool things down a bit, which is a relief!

Felex

Felex the servel is getting really big and extremely naughty. He can climb practically anything with no problem, and enjoys chewing on things like school work papers! He's really cute and fluffy, but don't get in his way when he wants to do something you don't approve of, otherwise you tend to walk away with a few scratches.
He loves water, which is no suprise with this terrible heat! Though he's a lovely "pet", and we love him to bits!

Lodge opening

After about 7 months of building and decorating the lodge, we finally had the official opening.
The day started of with taking a drive to the lodge with the caterers to set up tables and chairs and to get lunch on its way. Our staff who were involved in the building of the lodge were there of course! Later on after setting up, the local chiefs and TA's arrived. A while later some reporters arrived and got there notes going! Finally my mom arrived and thats when the waiting began! Some few other people arrived like the police and some other important people; but in their millions!! The waiting for the Minister lasted for 2 hours, we were hot and bothered and getting really impatient. Finally he arrived and the show went on. To cut long story short we were apost to cater for only 100 people, but ended up with feeding about 240 people! I cant say it was the most enjoyable day, as I was running around serving people the whole day; but it was an eye opener! Overall the caterers did a very good job and the lodge is finally open

THE NEW ARRIVAL

Is it a Leopard?

Today we got a phone call from a man in Bangula who my dad is friendly with, he claimed that his friend
had a leopard that he had found! Well we were excited, though when we thought a little, we realised that it cant be. We drove; or should I say flew to bangula, and awaited its arrival! After about 10 minutes a motorbike pulled up with two men on it and a small box. We then after seeing the box realised its not a leopard! My dad reached in the box and a small servel appeared out of it, we seem to think its about a week old! Its really the sweetest! So as usual, Sasha our dog has taken on the mother role; and is loving it dearly! So its another addition to the Kerr family! If all goes well we will either keep it or release it when its older.

Maron and Amayi

The lions are really photo genic.

Orphans

Its school holidays so we have had all the orpahans coming to Chipembere for almost a month now! We have had so much fun with them its been great. I love seeing them smile and enjoy themselves, its makes my day. Kristen showed them what a balloon is and we allowed them to play with them. They really enjoyed themselves! These are pics of them playing and myself with Ruth(right) and Mercy(left).