Ten Years of ‘Remember When’

'I remember...'

• When Steve first stood on the lookout rock at North Camp and fell in love, probably around 2005, and dreamed of building a lodge 
• The phone ringing on that fateful April day in 2013  
• Seeing the logo for the first time, and unanimously, we all said, 'there it is'
• Choosing red and blue   
• The first international sales calls with nothing to show but architectural drawings, not even renders, and selling a dream   
• Welcoming all the staff to the Nairobi office over the past 10 years  
• Thursday family lunches in all offices and the joy and laughter around the table  - they continue to this day  

• Turning Nairobi upside down and shaking it, to source items for the lodge – we went into the belly of the beast   
• Watching the first truck offload building materials on 14 August 2014   
• Having to redesign the tents from scratch at the very last moment   
• The endless stream of containers offloading furniture in the godown   
• Having our meals on the verandah outside block one. The kitchen used to be room one, and the dining room was the verandah. This gave us many opportunities to bond with each other by sharing stories and playing games. There was no WIFI, electricity or hot water, but we had a lot of fun with each other 
• ⁠Sharing Block One / Pioneer Camp with Nicky, Mzee Fitz, Kate, Tyler and Shannon 
• Getting our first test of the pool water during pre-opening training  
• Somehow charming the T+L photographer (from Paris) and making him fall in love, and photograph an empty lodge, in the mist and rain, with no furniture, and make it look beautiful   
• Receiving our very first food supply truck, and it got stuck outside the General Manager’s house, 100m from the kitchen!  
• The kitchen being commissioned only 48 hours before the first guests  arrived  
• Watching John Vogel training and working with the safari Shop Mama's on how to bead the Guest Tent’s door handles  
• Getting our first set of uniforms at the canteen, with our names being read out loud 

• Welcoming our first guests, Nathan and Charles, when we still had no furniture, and instead had placed canteen tables on the deck  
• Welcoming that (in)famous US press group and Arancini Tuesday  - a day that is scarred into many Angama team members’ memories  
• Working long hours – crying and laughing through it all   
• All the women in Angama falling pregnant within two years of each other – it was like the babies were in the water we drank!   
• Serving a guest a hamburger with ham   
• Stitching up ripped jeans   
• Cash flow crises in the early days   
• How we won over our guests one heart at a time   
• One night on patrol in South Camp, I had a frightening encounter with a lion. It opened its mouth towards me, and the sight was enough to send a chill down my spine 
• Kosher weddings  
• Open Houses, and our voices being heard   
• 10 years of daily morning briefs  

• Working as a family through Steve’s illness and final days – how the team prayed during and after his heart transplant and the four weeks that followed   
• How the Angama family supported Kate and me as we worked through our loss and found a new way of being without Steve – and his beautiful memorial service in the pouring rain   
• Single red roses in the library windows  
• Announcing the opening of Angama Safari Camp on Valentine’s Day 2020, not knowing what the next month would bring   
• How we pulled together as a team during Covid and kept our beautiful lodge sparkling and filled with light and laughter, and the support offices digitally connected, fun and sharp 

• WhatsApp creative competitions: Madaraka Day 2020 and NF’s retirement   
• In 2020, I was chosen to go to Cape Town to learn about wine. I visited the vineyards, learnt a lot, and started taking my wine lessons seriously. I then enrolled in an online wine masterclass. I am now the best sommelier at Angama 
• A million COVID-19 tests endured by everyone   
• Salary sacrifices  
• Salary sacrifices being fully paid back in 2021 and 2022 
• The great feedback   
• The bad feedback and being heartbroken   
• Football matches, the fencing off and layout of the shamba, school building openings, marathons, cooking competitions, the opening of the Clinic, the Chapel and the Map Room 
• Holding our cookbook, Out of an African Kitchen, for the first time   
• Nicky’s retirement flight in the yellow bi-plane   
• Seeing the Amboseli Pinch Point for the first time, and the reality of the importance of protecting this conservation corridor setting in   

• When I went to Kimana Sanctuary for the first time and was told there would be a lodge one day, I wondered how, where, and whether it was even possible. 
• Seeing Angama Amboseli for the first time. Like meeting a second child 
• Chartreuse and elephant dung   
• Cultural nights and Christmas parties   
• The Angama Way   
• 3 CEOs in one year   
• Saying goodbye to a family business, and hello to an exceptionally strong team   
• Being taken to Steve Fitzgerald's Tree in the Mara for my final interview 
• Leading a yoga class for the leadership team 
• Watching the leadership team build trust 
• That we are a pomegranate (ancient, yet new, exciting, surprising in flavour, and of course, red)  
• When Nicky pushed me into the swimming pool with all my clothes!  
• The spirit of Ubuntu that has guided us to where we are today – a little lodge on the edge of the Great Rift Valley, recognised as one of the world's best hotels, year after year. And that only because of the people that call Angama home. We overcame every hurdle and challenge and came out the other side stronger, braver and even more determined to grow Angama’s legacy from strength to strength 
• Turning 10. Here we are, where we ought to be