 I showered in Today, which is where I want to be.
Amongst the many original and innovative ablution facilities at Ngepi Camp in north-eastern Namibia – called the Garden of Eden, Royal Flush, Thunderbox, The Throne and Unlimited Star Bathroom – are Today and Tomorrow, two reed-enclosed showers. ‘Today’ is a magical symbiosis of bathroom and outdoor oasis, where the water runs through the wooden deck of the floor into the garden. ‘Tomorrow (if you allow it)’ is the exact opposite. It has a barren, sandy floor of over-utilised space with the water pipe passing through a green bucket on which ‘recycled toxic waste’ is written. On the floor of the shower, a small cement symbolic model of London, Cairo, Hong Kong and New York represents North, South, East and West, with a line of green toxic water running from the four into the drain, poisoning the earth. This is our tomorrow, ‘if we allow it’. Surrounding the drain is a big smiling mouth.
The ablutions are funny, teasing you into rethinking your frame of reference, whether you are in the Garden of Eden, bathing with a magnificent view of the Okavango River, on The Throne, or enjoying the beauty of Today. The signposts around the camp do the same, with one at reception saying ‘Please tell reception immediately if you lose your sense of humour’ and another, ‘Please keep on the grass’.
The tree-filled haven of the camp is where owner Mark Adcock arrived 20 years ago searching for and finding the meaning of life. He explains how he was privileged to come here searching for his soul and to find this place that gave immense value to his life. He is here to share this privilege. When he designs the natural open-walled tree houses, the choice accommodation at Ngepi, he says, “It is my soul speaking.”
There are no banisters on the edge of the decks or railings on the walkways, for the purpose of adding that element of awareness, responsibility and real experience. All the tree houses are east-facing and Mark stresses that when you sleep, the blind must be up so that when you wake, “You will have sunrise between your toes.”
The area makes you appreciate the natural experience, perhaps realising how far removed you are from it in your everyday existence. Mark has owned businesses and been on the rat-race treadmill, giving him the clarity to understand what life is about. He has discovered that being close to nature is the answer. This is what he gives to the guest. He sells sunrise between your toes.
With camping along the tree-lined grassy riverbank, bush huts and tree houses comprising the accommodation options at the camp, nature and life have a chance to communicate with your soul, if you allow them. The responsibility that comes with winning the Getaway Camp of the Year award twice and having a hoard of visitors coming through every year, is a large one for someone who wants to tread lightly on the earth. It is this consciousness and awareness that runs through the camp and which has been used in its construction. The tree houses have one main room. “It is enough,” says Mark, who wants to convince the visitor that sustainable is just enough, meaning that it is not necessary to take more than you need.
The tree houses are carefully positioned amongst the trees for guests to enjoy their natural beauty to the full. The reed walls and grass thatch roofs are indigenous renewable material from the immediate environment and the treated poles and wooden decks are from commercially grown timber so as not to denude the forest. The environmentally friendly room makes use of solar power for lighting and hot water. With a taste of Africa combined with good mattresses and feather pillows and a view to tempt the gods into earthly habituation, what more can you want in life?
This self-imposed responsibility is taken further, with Mark acting as chairman of the Hambukushu Lodge Owners’ Association for the accommodation establishments in the Okavango River area, and paying more than the lease agreement to the traditional tribal authority to preserve the local traditions, to restart, rekindle and reinstate the old traditions and customs. With the youth forgetting their roots and following western ideals, the old ways of the land are being lost and the core of the community is being eroded.
Mark believes that the community is the solution to conserving the environment, if empowered to return to their traditional ways. The simple way of life is often rich and wise beyond measure, irrespective of monetary accumulation. This requires a paradigm shift from the western value system that associates success and wealth with possession and does not equate it with happiness and fullness of spirit. Allowing the community its self-respect without imposing western ideals of development, may preserve a culture and conserve a paradise. It also makes us westerners re-evaluate our value system.
The Lodge Owners’ Association is attempting to put back rather than just take out and pressurise limited resources. Recycling schemes are in place. Garbage is separated to be transported to various recycling plants in Southern Africa, indigenous trees are being nurtured and replanted, the design of river boats and their engines are being modified to reduce noise pollution and to prevent the water from the wake eroding the banks and flooding the nesting birds and small wildlife living on the banks.
Listening to Mark and his wife Margie, makes you realise that everything you do in life makes a difference. Changing even one thing is immensely powerful. It is important to be aware of what has value and to respect that, to take time to make the choices and decisions that matter, not because they build up the bank balance but because they are real, have worth, heart and soul. We must realise that we have a responsibility to live in symbiosis with our environment, to give and put back reciprocally, so that the paradise we call earth will continue to be our beloved home.
www.ngepicamp.com
Author and photos: Ron Swilling |
