jasher

Hello,

Hippo Point, an upmarket homestead within a game sanctuary on Lake Naivasha, Kenya, is seeking a lodge manager. They're looking for a couple in their 30's or a very experienced manager who will be assisted by local staff.

The qualities they are looking for are;

1. Experience of Africa and African wildlife. The candidate will have full responsibility in running a 600 acres property densely inhabited by wildlife.
2. A very pleasant way with guests who come for a few days in exclusive small groups (mainly from the U.S.A and U.K during the tourist season months and occasionally visited by family members otherwise). The manager will very closely follow our guests lives during those visits and will organize for them attractive outdoor activities within the farm and in their surrounding areas.
3. A passion for gourmet foods and the ability to make it happen.
4. A sharp eye for housekeeping as interiors of the homestead are quite sophisticated.
5. An organized mind for taking bookings, keeping contacts with various tour operators through our data bank, give the inputs to our simple accounting system.

If you're interested, take a look at their website - www.hippo-pointkenya.com. You can also speak to Dodo Cunningham-Reid on telephone +254 733 622634 or email her on [email protected]

Cheers,
Julian

cooncat3

Wow. That's quite stunning.

Bill_H

Before quitting one's day job and shipping off to Africa for this dream position you might look carefully at the inter-actions between the locals and the property owners at Lake Naivasha ...

I was interested in the people doing research and filming at Seronera (Serengeti) and did a Google search on Alan and Joan Root (famous National Geo film makers from the 60's and 70's who worked with George Schaller etc) to see what they were up to ... Joan Root had divorced Alan and moved to Lake Naivasha on their 88 acre homestead.

She was actively involved in conservation issues regarding the lake, especially overfishing by the locals and fertilizer run-off from the large scale flower growers.

Apparently for this she was murdered last January at the lake, shot seven times with AK-47's by locals in her bedroom.

According to one of the articles I stumbled across there were at least three other homesteaders killed in the last year (when a white settler dies the land goes to the locals) and also the manager of one of the tourist lodges was murdered as well.

You can find links to this by searching on Google with "joan root death" or similar or here are a couple of sample links regarding her death ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...984570,00.html

http://www.avelingartworks.com/toppage1.htm

So to Julian's list of desireable attributes for managing a local lodge you might add ...

6) Ability to interact and negotiate with locals.

7) Expertise with security systems and small arms, including automatic weapons.

Bill

Nyamera

Julian,
Where did you find this? “Experience of Africa”… it does sound like they’re looking for a foreigner – not just slightly colonial and against Kenyan law. It’s not like luxury lodges are a new concept in Kenya and that there aren’t any Kenyans with years of experience.
That said, I’d gladly have a finger chopped off to get the job. I can manage # 4 and 5, but I’d prefer to do 1 and 2. Anyone who would like to couple up (is this correct English?) and do 3-5? My problem with #3 is that I’m a vegetarian.

Bill,
Here you can read about a Rift Valley murderer of a paler shade: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/wo...amp;ei=5087%0A
Notice the bed-and-breakfast understatement.

sandi

There may very well be East African's living in the UK or elsewhere in Europe who could fit the bill. Probably the reason for the posting in a UK paper.

Bill_H

"Bill,
Here you can read about a Rift Valley murderer of a paler shade: "

Nyamera, I couldn't read this without registering with the NY Times but found a couple of other links ... seems like the hostilities are along black-white and have-land/no-land fault lines ... here are other links to this case for those who don't want to register at the NYT site ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/stor...774457,00.html (the 2nd shooting)
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/5-7-2005-69604.asp (the first shooting)

http://www.ethiomedia.com/carepress/...ey_murder.html (couldn't resist this one, from the "KENYA SCANDINAVIA DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT", which calls him a "blood thirsty white racist serial killer".

Too bad Joan Root had to get mixed up in this ...

Bill (who is still planning on spending two nights at Lake Naivasha next year to photograph birds)

jasher

Hello Nyamera,

Destiny Africa is a member of a number of different trade associations and sometimes we receive emails about openings in the industry. It was sent out to all members so it's not a UK-only ad.

I heard about the rising racial tension in Kenya after I'd posted this - maybe that's why they're looking for a new manager.

Cheers,
Julian

kimburu

Nyamera is the Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement, Bill.

Ke NYA dEMocRAtic ...see!! The Scandinavian part was the clue.

Powerful writing - no gray areas there, then.

"Couple up" MIGHT be the correct English, Nyamera - I certainly couldn't do any better offhand... although unfortunately to us British (and our American relatives Beavis and Butthead) any expression like this raises a giggle ... tee hee hee... coupling ... tee hee hee.

Bill_H

<b>Nyamera is the Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement, Bill.

Ke NYA dEMocRAtic ...see!! The Scandinavian part was the clue.</b>

LOL ... good catch! I thought using &quot;Nyamera&quot; was just her way of expressing a desire to roam the Serengeti plains like the Topi

Nyamera

Kimburu,
Nobody will believe me if I deny being the Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement. I got a bit carried away when I wrote that Samson ole Sisina was wearing full uniform when he was shot, but I’m exposing some issues that most tourists have never heard about.

Bill,
I had no idea I was registered, and logged in, with NY Times!

Julian,
Keep posting information about job openings, especially in Kenya. I did apply for the Zambia job you posted about, but was told my experience wasn’t relevant.

I had heard about the first shooting (the second had not yet happened) when I went on a solo game walk on the Delamere Estate last year. I was upset that Thomas Cholmondeley was just let go – I thought it was manslaughter at least - but I didn’t know that he was known for terrorizing people on a personal level. On the walk I met some firewood collecting women who were quite hostile towards me and now I think they must have thought that I was associated to Delamere in some way. I asked a lodge manager what he thought about the shooting and he thought that Cholmondeley was as innocent as Michael Jackson.

For some historical background there’s a new book that’s outrageously expensive – Moving the Maasai by Lotte Hughes. I think I’ll have to buy it. For some reason it’s a bit – not much -less expensive including shipping at amazon.com than at amazon.co.uk and bokus.se.
http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Maasai-...F8&amp;s=books

kimburu

Mr Cholmondeley is quite a story Nyamera as is the eviction of the masaai. I am not sure I want to think about them too much, but here I am...

A manslaughter conviction first time might have done a lot of good for everyone - even Mr Chormondeley seems to have got into worse trouble as a result.

kimburu

Oh and thank you for the update about the Spanish board... it's very interesting to get other perspective, and to be honest I just like the way you tell stories.

jasher

Hi Nyamera,

Sorry to hear about the Zambia job -- hopefully the right one is out there somewhere.

I've found that Amazon.com is almost always less expensive than Amazon.co.uk -- welcome to rip-off Britain!

Cheers,
Julian

Nyamera

I just want to say that I really don’t want to write anything that could hurt the Kenyan tourism industry and that Bill, who is a naughty, naughty Fodorite, started this.