Josephat’s Book

My name is Josephat Mwateri and I am a Camp Manager at Angama Mara and this is a typical ‘day in my life’ …

My day in fact starts before my day. The very last thing I do before I go to sleep is refer to my little book to ensure I have my guest plan in place for tomorrow. I then ‘set my brain’ to wake me up at 5.30am sharp – it never let’s me down. I start each day with a prayer because I believe in God and following that I take a shower. Now I am ready.

Back to my book (Josephat’s Book) – what are my guests up to today? Who is going out early on safari? Who is arriving? Who is (sadly) departing? I pray my balloon guests who left camp at 5am are going to have a beautiful flight this morning.

First stop is the turning circle where I check in with the night askaris that all is well in our little kingdom. No elephants around? Good. Guests all safe and sound? Even better. I can’t help myself but the very first thing I do when I enter the guest area is to make sure our long table is in a straight line. I always take a clockwise direction: check the armoire’s lights are off, pop into the cloakroom, stroll through the library where there are always books to be straightened, scope out the butler’s pantry and finish up on the deck as the sun is rising.

I greet my early guests and wish them well on safari having first chatted to their guide to find out what his plan for them is. I work very closely with the guiding team here – they are a good source of information on how my guests are enjoying their stay. As I walk back into the lodge I unroll and reroll the umbrellas – God is in the detail here.

I check in with Chef for the daily breakfast dish then I rush to the canteen for breakfast: brown bread, tea no sugar, sweet potatoes and bananas – big breakfast as I often miss lunch. Back to the lodge and final check on the butlers on their breakfast set up. Over to them and now I can go quietly through the lodge day sheet – without this I am powerless. It’s always in my book.

11.30 is tent-check-time: children arriving so remove the alcohol and replace with fresh juice; twin bed set up as requested; reset the guests’ safe; and final wipe down with my famous yellow cloth. I scoot back to the guest area to greet my new guests. First thing I point out the loo then the view. A quick briefing on the Mara Triangle below and while the guests are at a loss as to what to say because the view is so beautiful I tell them their days here with us are for them to spend as they please. They like that. We then do ‘Hello the Tent’ and I wait for them to come back for lunch (that’s why I often miss lunch – too much going on).

I try and have a mid afternoon quick lie-down before an early evening shower and it’s off to the Maasai Boma I go. I love our Boma and watching our guests’ expressions when the warriors arrive. Dinner is served and I wish my guests ‘lala salama’ and head back to my room.

You guessed it – the last thing I do before I switch off the light is to check my book for tomorrow’s plan ….