Rats!

Africa has its share of Rats –like our car shady salesman. The other rodents are less threatening; they just keep you up at night, and give you rabies in exchange for food –sometimes, these nuisances turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

We’ve been staying at a lodge for a negotiated rate of $20 a night (down from $30) for a two-week period. The reason why we are at a lodge and not camping in the village is because we have a Choice. And we choose hot showers, a bed, and electricity. One comes at a cost of feeling inconvenienced by a tent, rains, complex cooking, bathing gymnastics and rats. The other, as we mentioned, at a cost of $20 and rats.


The hut we stayed in prior to the rat-inspired move.


Our previous room.

A-ha! But it was the rats that brought us to Shangri-La. Four days into our two-week stint at the lodge in our barebones thatched hut, we found rats in our room. Kate rationally weighed her options and combated her rat-disease-paranoia by sleeping in the car. I irrationally decided sleep on a mattress was worth the gamble that I may need rabies shots in my stomach when I woke up the next morning.

I tallied four hours of restless REM that night, and Kate clocked a solid hour in the SUV.

We reported our displeasure the following morning and the staff, (fortunately this is the low season) upgraded us into an enclosed chalet (i.e. concrete walls everywhere) with en suite shower and toilet (previously we had to walk to use communal facilities). They gave us this $70 room at the same $20 rate as before. Wow! We were absolutely taken aback by this kind gesture because it was of no fault of theirs that the rats came –in fact it was all OUR fault, we had left some food out.


Our new digs. for 7 more days till we depart for Botswana.


Our Shangri-La. Paradise was not lost. This felt like the Four Seasons after the last few hectic weeks.

Whoops.

The staff at Pioneer Camp were aware of this and still insisted we moved to a better room, partly because (1) the 21 year old in charge (son of parent owners who are away) wanted to sleep in our room the following night with his shotgun while baiting the rodents out. And (2) the place is out in the boonies, no other guests are around and they might as well be nice and move two cheap buggers to their “Shangri-La” suite.

Rodents may look mean, but good fortune comes in many forms.


The common area of the lodge is a very comfortable place where we cook ourselves meals, work, watch satellite TV, and get bitten by mosquitoes.

(1/31/06)