The New Decks

Another scorcher of a day, with not a cloud in the sky! Great for our builders I guess.

The latest addition to our EWL family arrived quite recently, he is a lovely puppy! Too gorgeous, so sweet and very boisterous! At the moment he is sleeping through the heat of the day – this is great because much like a baby, he is at his most angelic when asleep. This unfortunately leads to him thinking that nighttime is playtime - as it is a little cooler. He is a very clever little pup and easily trainable, we have had him for less than a week and already he is listening to VERY basic commands. It’s like having another baby!

We decided on a name - after 5 days! His name is Ependa - it means Hero/Courage/ Brave in Oshivamobo (one of our local languages).

Please excuse the photo quality - at the moment it's the only photo of The "Monster" that we have

"Ependa- our brave little puppy"

Today, I thought I would update you on the general goings on at the lodge – a while back we undertook to beautify the deck in front of the restaurant. We went from having a small-ish, cozy deck to a lovely newer and slightly larger deck and another extra added deck just off the side because we could.

"A sideview of both decks"

The little deck is a lovely place to watch the sun wave goodbye and sink behind the mountains, whilst sipping a gin and tonic and make the difficult decision of what one will have for dinner.

The big deck is the perfect spot to serve dinner – under the stars, next to fire, with some great wine. What better way to wind down from a hectic day of doing just as you please and follow with a seriously relaxing meal at the dinner table.

The fire is a lovely spot for nightcaps after a charming dinner with great company. There is nothing better than staring into the depths of a fire, contemplating the events of a fulfilling day while a cup of Vanilla flavoured Black tea finishes the evening off perfectly.

"Nightcap Fire"

And all this is possible because of the best new decks!

Come, see for yourself!

Changes-a-foot

What a ridiculously hot day! Walking to the building site is tiring… yet it’s not that far, to be honest! It’s probably just less than 100m, but wow, by the time you get there you could have a nap if it wasn’t so scorching! There are some little clouds in the sky – they look a lot like sheep and not a lot like rain to me at all! I went to take a photo of the sheep-clouds but they seem to have disappeared. Sad. Right?

(I may sound obsessed with the weather – I am! It’s dry and we need/want/would like to have some rain…but this should not interfere with the building please!)

Tent  7 has doors! Very exciting and so lovely to finally see the inside of the tent! And then next…the doors need glass! But, slowly and surely we are getting there. At one point it felt like we would never have lift-off with the 1^st tent…. and here we are.

"Tent 7 Interior"

"View of the Verandah&Entrance"

"The Verandah" 

Tent 8 was hung yesterday and has been tightened today! The doors are being cut and put in, once this is done, they will be fastened into place. We are at that point where we may just be closer to finishing the big stuff…and then the fun starts; doing the finishes, clearing and cleaning the decks, making sure that the furniture is in the right place and then to accessorise the new tents.

"Tent 8 is up"

"Tent 8's doors being measured and cut"

The destruction of tent 4 continues! Only, now it is nearly complete!  Then the real work starts (again). Fixing/making the deck, putting up the poles with a 7-odd-metre tent and 2 canvas fly sheets/shade netting in the heat of today! Rather them than me…I am happy to do the finer details…I know that I would be a vegetable after a day the building team normally has! I have a lot of respect for these guys!

"Tent4, Not a lapa anymore"

Wishing you a very happy, peaceful afternoon and a lovely weekend.

This Week's Update

After 10 years of being in operation Big Sky Lodges has decided it is time to do a refurb on Erongo Wilderness Lodge! The tents are being redone – not just redone, replaced entirely with brand new ones! The new ones will be a little more lush, a little bigger, a little more luxurious and a touch more resistant to the elements! We are so looking forward to seeing the end result.

" Interior of our original tents"

" Profile View of an Original Tent"

The team of expert camp builders started on Sunday, the 13^th November 2011. The first 2 tents were taken down – thatch roofing, canvas and everything in between! This itself a 2 - 3 day procedure and takes patience and intense energy, from all involved, the builders, our amazing staff, and ourselves. Things need to be boxed, labeled and stored in such a manner that everybody knows instantly what is what! Possible, you'd think? We'll let you know when we start moving stuff back in!

" Tent 7 coming down"

Since then Pepe and his team have been working at the speed of lightning to finish these 2 tents, in order to move on!  As with all things building, there are always complications or little unexpected hiccups. A week into these projects and (as to be expected) 2 days behind schedule, Tent 7 is up…albeit with no doors at this point, but it is up.

"The Poles that will hold Tent7 up"

" Tent7 going up"

"Tent 7's new Shell" 

The new tent structure for Tent 8 is up…well sort of. The poles which need to be fitted into each other and become a Meru shaped form of copper/steel piping ribbing are up, and it’s being double checked that these are right.  So far so good and it seems to be standing! Hoorrah!

"Tent 8 New decking"

"Tent 8's basic structure"

Last week we met with a tiny little glitch – luckily for us though this was fixable. Unfortunately for us it did mean that we are now little behind schedule again…or still…or as expected with these things.

As a result of the glitch we have an expert tent builder coming in to assist with the finer details of the finishes in the Tents. The plan is he will be showing us (by this I meant the builders) what needs doing and how this will need doing.  Hopefully his presence and his assistance will mean that overall the process of getting the tents up and furnished will be an easier and quicker one.

The tents do not have doors in them, as this is left to the builder's/owner's discretion to do - what needs to happen is the door shapes get cut into the canvas and the Wooden door frames get slotted in and secured by the same poles used for the structure. This sounds quite simple, but is in truth quite complicated.

Yesterday , Tent 4 was started on, this means, that all furniture was removed, the thatching is being taken down and the canvas of the old tents has been removed. Now…we have a little lapa! There is still a little thatch left on the roof! If all goes according to plan, the full tent 4 will be down by tomorrow!

"Tent 4 being taken down, bit by bit"

We had a few days of crazy cloud build up with massive humidity and weather reports promising rain! It seemed this was not to be, as this went on for 6 days, we smelt the rain, we saw the clouds, we got to savour the anticipation of it with no rain! In a way this was great, as rain really would have slowed the renovating process quite a lot, on the other hand, this was sad, as it would have been lovely to see our first real rain of the season. No rain is great for the building as it means zero interference and no unwanted delays or breaks in the work. 

"Clouds looming overhead"

"Another threat of Rain"

Now it is back to being hot and dry with curious gusts of wind. The wind is quite pleasant, but doesn’t cool one down for long.

I am secretly hoping it will rain in the middle of the night, just a little bit, without getting in the way of our guests' enjoyment, without interfering in the building and without wetting the boxes which hold the tents.


Here's to lovely breezes, great days and a nearing weekend and to  holding thumbs that it all goes according to plan!
Cheers once more,
Back tomorrow for news on this exciting project!

An Introduction

"Magic in The Mountains"

Welcome To our Blog

There is a special wilderness area in Namibia, encircled by the Erongo Mountains
where the desert, mountain, and bushveld ecosystems combine.

Here, in a secluded valley, you will find a lodge with ten luxury tented chalets
in a dramatic setting of granite boulders and breathtaking views.

We invite you to luxuriate in this richness of nature.

"Relaxation at her best"

  Erongo Wilderness Lodge is nestled amid granite formations on the outskirts of an ancient volcano. These are the Erongo Mountains – a spectacular feature in the heart of a country renowned for it's scenic beauty.

Flanked by the Namib Desert to the West and mixed-woodland savannah to the East, the mountains form a rare confluence of ecosystems that give rise to remarkable biodiversity,including a vast array of plant, reptile, mammal and bird species that are endemic to Namibia.

The lodge is a founder member of The Erongo Mountain Nature Conservancy, joining 30 private landowners in a collective effort to conserve and protect this natural treasure of over 200 000ha in extent.

The Conservancy's mission includes the preservation of the rich cultural heritage in the form of rock paintings and engravings that are found throughout the area, such as at the Paula's Cave rock art site at Erongo Wilderness Lodge.

"Boulders by Sunset"

This blog has been created to keep you informed and abreast of what is happening at Erongo Wlderness Lodge, whilst we are renovationg and thereafter when we are back in full swing.

Please keep reading and if there are any questions, suggestions or enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us!

May you have a charming afternoon and a lovely sunset