BETINA IN AFRICA

I might be doing my dream job in one of the most wonderful places in the world, but not every day is amazing… Today has been a particularly challenging one and it is making me feel like a bit of a failure!

I am acutely aware that this is my first ‘high-profile’ job as an independent consultant and that I am still proving myself and up until now, I feel that I have been reasonably successful. I have had good feedback and the company has asked me to consider returning later in the year, which I would LOVE to do. But I still have so much to learn – and I really felt that today!

Of course, I cannot share any details – a coaching relationship is a little like a ‘doctor-patient confidentiality’ thing – but when I am not able to break through to someone, it can feel like I am not the right person for the job. I know everybody learns differently and has different desires to learn, so I can just hope that I will get better at ‘cracking the difficult nuts’ with experience.

So, these are my reflections with a glass of wine on curry night at the staff restaurant. Writing reports seems to be difficult and I am certainly not in a social mood, so hiding in the corner with my laptop.

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day. A new challenge! Being pushed out of our comfort zone into the scary world of a steep learning curve is not always fun, but as I say to my students, it’s sometimes necessary. So, I guess I should be grateful really!

In exactly one month I will leave the bush. It feels like I have been here forever… the many new impressions and the challenging & rewarding work has made the time go so fast and so slow at the same time.

I am now at my penultimate lodge – Sasakwa Lodge – this is the largest lodge of the portfolio here in Tanzania and I will for the first time not be living in guest accommodation. Instead I am in the nearby staff village which houses all the managers/senior staff as well as all the game drive guides and the staff from the Grumeti Fund (will talk about that organisation at a different time).

At this staff village there is a restaurant and a bar to socialise, and although I have missed a social setting from time to time, it is of course the same people as you work with so still not really a place to be ‘free’… but it is certainly an advantage to be able to buy a bottle of wine to drink with the rather dull report-writing duties.

I will stay here for the remainder of the time except when I do re-visits to a couple of the other camps later this month / early April.

I am also in the process of designing the final workshop with the 10 participants for the 4-5 April, but before then I have been asked to do a workshop with the lodge managers on how they can now support these middle managers with their PDPs and development in general when I am not here. Even though this was not in the original scope, I am very proud to be asked, so will work hard to fit it in to my schedule and do a great job of it.

Quick health check – haven’t done one of those for a while:

– Daily mosquito bites (argh!) – itch, itch, itch
– Seeing the beginnings of a cold – sniffle & sneeze
– Missing my cod liver oil & calcium tablets (stolen!), so the arthritis in my fingers is playing up a bit
– Fatigue (too many consecutive days of work)

Am otherwise feeling good! The pleasure I get from the work is by far outweighing the little issues along the way. But next time (if there is one), I will certainly make sure that I build in some rest days on a regular basis!

But when I can jump on a quick game drive to enjoy the nature here, everything else is forgotten… pics below are from this past weekend, when I was lucky enough to do so! Even though it was incredible and wonderful, it was also a little sad.

The hyena den was so cool – this poor mama had NINE babies of different ages – hope she was babysitting some of them otherwise she has been very busy! And who knew that hyena babies were so cute!

But here’s the sad part… The even cuter baby lion you see in the pictures is very unlikely to survive… ☹ None of the females in that pride was its mother, so unless the mother will be back to find it (if she is not dead of course), it will most likely die very soon… and even though that is the way things are here –  ‘circle of life’ and all that jazz – it is still super sad. I just wanted to jump out of the car and take it home!

Have a wonderful week everyone! Missing you all and love hearing from you!

 

I have been working at Singita for almost six weeks now… it has been, and still is, so amazing. I truly love the work I do here and am happier than I have been for a long time, so it feels wrong that I am writing this, but there are some things that I really miss:

1. cooking
2. going to the shops
3. crisps
4. being able to go for a walk
5. good bread with real butter
6. meeting friends at the pub (or anywhere really)
7. eating whenever and whatever I fancy
8. and did I mention crisps?! 😉

Just realised that it’s very food-based! Never really thought that I was so ‘needy’ in terms of food, but seems that I am. It truly made me very happy to have toast with breakfast yesterday, has been weeks since that happened, breakfast mainly consists of something egg-based.

But what I miss the most is having people around me. That sounds stupid because I’m with people most of the day, but I miss ‘my’ people, I guess. Let me explain…

I met a university lecturer earlier this month – she was a guest at one of the lodges and she mentioned a study she had done about consultants and other people who work on their own and how it can be such a difficult thing to do. The study showed that these people often feel isolated, lonely and lack motivation, but that the way to combat this is to make sure you have 1) a purpose, 2) a place and 3) people.

I definitely have a purpose [tick]. Will be difficult to have a place as such as I move around a lot. And when it comes to people, I’m not sure. I have so many great friends who are supporting me and are ready to listen and chat whenever I need it (thank you!), but those were not the people she meant… it was more like ‘work people’ and I don’t have them… yet! Anyway, it was quite interesting to talk to this lady – she gave me many things to think about.

Right, back to work… but really do wish I had a bag of smokey bacon crisps to enjoy with my beer! [sigh] 😉

Monday was moving day – I was going back north to the Mara River camp inside the Serengeti National Park, which I have found to be my favourite Singita property here in Tanzania.

Under normal circumstances, it would be a 3-4 hour journey, but this is Africa!

Even though it was another emotional goodbye at Sabora, it was a great start to the day. I jumped in the camp transport with the lodge manager’s young daughter, who was heading to school. The rest of the car was full of staff going on leave and materials to be delivered to other camps. The driver played some East African church music and I enjoyed the views of ostriches, buffaloes, warthogs, giraffes and secretary birds on the way – the best commute ever!

I was dropped off for breakfast as I waited for the second transport to pick me up. What was supposed to be an hour’s wait turned into 3 hrs and then we had 2 hours of errands to run before heading north… hmm!

OK, so I wrote about patience last year… about having patience with reaching my dream and I feel like I am getting good at that, but having patience with waiting for people and/or transport and accepting inefficiency… NOPE! So I was in a pretty ratty mood when I arrived at Mara River at 5pm, but after a nice shower, a homemade juice and an hour enjoying the view, the smile was back on my face!

Anyway, the car journey up was actually really nice… driving through the villages and towns was a welcome contrast to the luxurious camps and as usual it was rather thought-provoking to see day-to-day life here. At one point we saw 50-60 young school children of the ages of 5-12 walking down the street with tools ready for ploughing the field… made me think how kids here don’t really get to have a childhood like mine, they have to grow up so fast to help support their families. Good or bad? Well, I cannot judge, but I am certainly grateful that I had the childhood that I had…

As most of you will know I am not a great fan of Valentine’s! I’ve always felt it is bullshit that people only do special things or show/say that they care about each other on one day of the year when that should be every day really!

But maybe it’s not all bad! Today I have had more Valentine’s messages than I have had in my entire life up until now and it has felt pretty special… especially when totally isolated here on the savannah. I have amazing friends! 😊

And the staff here left me this in my room today – so sweet!

But it is also totally cool that my Valentine’s date right now consists of a glass of wine and a herd of buffaloes! I could wish for nothing more!

Anyway, what I really wanted to say was…

Love is for every day! 

New camp, new setting, new experiences, same job!

Of course it is not the exact same job when working with individuals. Each have their strengths, each have their challenges and each have their goals and priorities, but ultimately I am here to listen, to coach and to develop them into better managers. And it continues to be amazingly rewarding. One of the guys I teach here said to me last night: “Betina, I have never had to think so much in my life before”. I took that as a great compliment!

This Sabora camp is pretty amazing – sure, they all are – but this is a little different. It is a tented camp, in an Out of Africa style, right on the savannah. First morning I got woken up by buffaloes right outside my tent and I was showering (outdoor shower) with the view of a dazzle of zebras! Doesn’t happen in an office in London!

Even though it really is one of the most amazing places to work, ‘life in the bush’ is not easy. I’ve been here close to a month now and I see why many of the people here dream of a job in the city. There is nothing to do here, you can only socialise with people that you work with, you can’t just pop to the shops and most are far away from their families as there are no good schools out here.

For me a three month stint is perfect, but I could not see myself living here full-time. Maybe that is mainly because I am working as a consultant, I am always ‘on’, can never really be 100% myself. Of course people get leave – frontline staff work 6 weeks and then have 2 weeks off, managers work 3 months and take 1 month’s leave, which is a great but it’s still a difficult life, I think.

Anyway, the guys and girls make the most of their life here for sure and the other day there was a football match against a team from a nearby village (mainly made up of employees from other camps). It was a lot of fun – I have never been a football spectator where there was a risk of play being stopped because of a warthog or a buffalo on the pitch – although no such thing happened (sadly)! It was super hot, but the guys had lots of energy and the quality was not bad actually – was thinking that one or two of them might make it into Charlton’s current squad – haha! ‘Our’ team won, so everybody was very happy!

I am staying here until the 18th Feb when I move again. Back to Mara River in the Serengeti National Park. Still a lot to do with my students here, Sam and Mayenga, so it will be some busy days, so early night for me! Night night all – miss you!

Today is my last day here at the first lodge – it’s making me quite sad (I suck at goodbyes) but of course the new lodge and the challenge there will be as exciting as this one has been. It has been quite intense actually but also very rewarding, a little exhausting and so much fun. Not only have I thoroughly enjoyed working with my two students, but it has been so great to be back on the front-line of hospitality service… didn’t realise how much I have missed serving people!

“Surely that is not your job there!?”, I hear you say. And of course it’s not, but when shadowing my students I just cannot help it and it would also be weird if I was just not helping out. I have met the most wonderful guests as well… I actually think I am using it as quite a good networking opportunity – am handing out a lot of business cards!! [tapping myself on the shoulder]

So Jacquelyn and I were talking about why I love it so much, and I remembered the activity that I did with my life coach about values. Like businesses have values so have people and and one of mine is ‘service’, the others are ‘plan’, ‘learn’, ‘support’ and ‘sport’ in case you’re interested. And I remember the advice she gave me… “Find a job that includes as many of your values as possible and you’ll be much happier” and she was so right – I feel like I’ve hit four out of five with my life right now. The only sport I get to ‘do’ is listen to cricket on the radio, so am not counting that one!

But I do think that ‘service’ is my strongest core value (if that’s a thing), it just comes so naturally to me and it is lovely to see a few people here (yeah, just a few – for most of the guys and girls it’s just a job) have that same passion and we have some good – slightly geeky – chats!

Anyway, I better get on to those Personal Development Plans – they need to be ready by lunchtime.

 

I’ve been banging on about this workshop since the beginning of the year and last week it finally happened. I didn’t sleep much up to the days and hardly ate throughout it, but I really enjoyed it!

There were 10 students and Jacquelyn (the person who sorted this contract for me), she was there as a subject matter expert for anything specifically related to the company standards and procedures.

Everybody seemed quite excited to be out of the ‘front of house’ environment and to get on with the training. They all participated well in the group activities and had lots of great questions, but the role plays were my absolute favourite! When asking people to do role play activities you normally have to drag them kicking and screaming, but not in Africa! They love it. And the effort they put into the acting is immense – Oscars all round! It was so much fun.

I was also super pleased that I got so much good feedback afterwards. The only real complaint was that it was only two days! Of course there were a few things I would change for next time. A couple of the activities were perhaps a little too complex for them, both due to their English skills and their level of experience, so that was a big learning for me.

I was so exhausted after those two days so was happy to have a couple of admin days where I could stay in bed and watch a bit of Netflix in the mornings! But today I started my stint of 55 consecutive days of one-to-one training, observation and coaching. I have started at Faru Faru where I will stay until the 7th or 8th February to work with Charles and Gekuli. Nice to be in a place for a little longer to settle down a bit and unpack the suitcase etc.

In general, I am feeling great. The peaceful atmosphere of the bush & the plains combined with some really lovely people has totally lifted my spirits and I am enjoying life again.

Oh and a couple of my favourite staff members here at Faru Faru are…

• My housekeeper, Jalia (sounds ridiculously pretentious to have a housekeeper… haha), he is super sweet and refuses to speak English to me, even though he can, because I need to learn more Swahili, he says! And he is not wrong – haha!
• The intern, Benedict. He apparently just rocked up one day to say that he really wanted to learn to work in a hotel. He doesn’t get paid, he doesn’t get a share in the tips, but he works hard and always smiles! I have been training him a little on the side, as he really deserves it!

Now time for a nap – have been doing the split shift with Charles today (7:30am – 2pm + 5pm – close), so it becomes a long day without a little siesta!

It has only been 19 days since I left London – less than three weeks – I can’t believe it! So much has happened that it seems more like three months to be honest. And the last 11 days with Singita have been some of the most wonderful days at work ever. Imagine getting paid to stay in luxury lodges, go on game drives, talk to great people and eat delicious food – it’s quite unreal!

This week I have been staying at the Faru Faru lodge. It has recently been refurbished and has a very Scandinavian feel to it. It is very beautiful.

In between prepping for the workshop (will post separately about that…) I have also been on a couple of game drives. Absolute highlight was the hyenas the other night – I have never seen them so soon after a kill! The dinner menu was baby zebra. It was quite extraordinary to witness.

But there were also many other wonderful wildlife experiences. Being out in nature with these amazing animals just makes me so happy! For anyone who has not been on a safari before, I just cannot recommend it highly enough! It’s not cheap, but it is worth it! 🙂

And just to round off the wildlife stories, look what interrupted my work yesterday lunchtime – first time seeing so many elephants together, there must have been around 80-100 of them walking just below the camp on their way to the river! Love, love, love!

Today is the start of the ‘big’ workshop! This is the first time I have delivered a two-day workshop on my own – eeeek. A lot of the content is new as well; have had to design and develop based on my first week of observations and requests from managers here, so only finished everything late last night! Not ideal prep and I am quite nervous…! But have met all the participants and they are so excited and ready to learn, so that helps!

Read a tweet the other day from Barack Obama who quoted Martin Luther King… “What are you doing for others?” and it made me feel good about the fact that at least I am trying to do something. And I would really love it if, because of what I am doing here, one of these participants will run their own lodge or hotel one day soon. Doesn’t happen here very often that the locals are the senior managers… I really wish that can be different in the future!

Anyway, twende! (let’s go in Swahili)