6. What is one thing that instantly makes your day brighter: At work, positive feedback from guests in the morning or on check-out. We have received great comments such as, ‘We have enjoyed our stay very much and we look forward to coming back’, ‘This is such a wonderful property’ and ‘You have a great team working here, they have made our stay extra special’.
7. An accomplishment that you are proud of: I was involved in a tree-planting project for a previous company. We enhanced the access road to the lodge and created a beautiful arrival experience for our guests.
8. Tell us one story or memory that you have while working at Wilderness: I joined the company in July 2023 at Il Moran Camp. One early morning, before the crack of dawn on my third day in camp, I was fast asleep and in the middle of a very interesting dream.
In my dream, I was walking in town with my best friend. As we walked in the middle of the city centre in the midday heat of Nairobi, I kept hearing the roar of a lion from a distance. With every roar, I kept turning back and trying to see where the lion was. My friend noticed this and asked me if I was alright. I told him I could hear a lion roaring behind us and was surprised he didn’t hear it.
He laughed it off and jokingly told me that, ‘You can get a man out of the bush, but not the bush out of the man’.
We continued walking and the roaring kept getting louder, almost as if the lion was catching up with us. Everyone around us kept walking, oblivious to the roar of the lion which made me get really worried.
In the past, there have been incidences of lions escaping from the National Park just outside Nairobi and finding their way to residential areas, and park authorities are called to come and dart them and take them back into the Park. but would they get to the city centre, I asked myself quietly.
At this point, I was not able to speak and just concentrated on turning my head every few metres to look back and see if the lion had caught up with us. There was a delay of about one minute and the next roar I heard was so loud that I thought the lion was now behind us. This startled me and I jumped as if trying to run, only to trip and knock myself out on a street light pole. This was so painful and I felt like I had passed out.
Am not sure how long I had been out, but I woke up only to realise that it was a dream and I was in my house at camp. I laughed at myself and before I could settle back down, the lion roared again and this time it was much louder and it felt like the house shook. All I could think about was the lion roaring and separating the two of us was only a wooden wall. I could almost hear my heart pumping as the adrenaline rushed throughout my body.
The first thought I had was that I had left the main door open and the lion was in my house. But when the next roar came, I realised the lion was outside the house.
I quickly got out of bed and peeped outside to see a majestic fully grown male lion walking around my house and then disappearing into the distant light of the forest sunrise.
It was the best bush welcome experience I received when I joined Wilderness.
Thank you for sharing your story with us Felix!