The People of Botlierskop: Colleagues, Missing Teeth & Guests

Episode 7 - The people of Botlierskop Game Reserve: Colleagues & Guests

Welcome to a new episode of Africa with André, where we celebrate Africa. One story at a Time.

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Welcome Jaco. Nice to have you with us.

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[00:00:31] André: We spoke quite a lot in the last two episodes about conservation at Botlierskop and on the African continent. But I want to talk about the people who work at Botlierskop because, that was actually the first impetus for arranging this interview with you.

How many people work on the reserve from the lodges and the Rangers through mechanics and whoever else.

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[00:00:59] André: And most of your staff come from the surrounding communities, if I understand it correctly. Is that right?

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[00:01:35] André: And, uh, the unemployment rate is very high in South Africa. And tourism has a very, very big role to play, not only as a part of the economy in South Africa but also in involving people from the neighbouring areas.

So a Game Reserve can keep people in their home communities and give them opportunities there. What I found fascinating when I visited your reserve in May this year, I spoke to your GM, Francina, and she told me about one or two of the projects where you help young men and women preparing to work at the lodge. And the story that I found fascinating, yeah, just, just a backstory in some parts of South Africa, there is a trend amongst young women and a couple of men to remove their two front teeth, when they're in their teenage years, partly a fashion thing, partly a status thing.

I think it’s sometimes very difficult to understand if you're not In that community or moving in those circles, a bit of peer pressure involved. And Francina told me about how young women come to the lodge and they're now adult, they finished school. They want to work with you. But obviously it's not ideal if someone with a couple of teeth missing for them to work at reception. So, then the lodge team will give them opportunities to work in housekeeping somewhere back of house and there gain some experience, save some money, and that you as Botlierskop, then help these young women, shall we say, to get their dental work done so that they can then carry on to a job of being a waitress or a reception.

And I found this very, very inspiring how you do that.

[: 00:03:20

But lots of time, the people from the rural communities don't even have the means to get to the city to go and look for jobs. And that's why we decided to help elevate people that won't be able to get a job anywhere else. I mean, it's quite bad, but people will judge your appearance.

And there will be no chance that that person might get work. And what's going to be the ripple effect of that? Now it's going to get worse and worse.

The poverty is going to get worse and worse in the community. They might have kids already. The kids are now being exposed to that. So why not help these people? There's nothing wrong with anyone who's maybe missing their teeth, from whichever reason.

We can then start, like you said, start a little bit in the back of house and learn, but not only when it comes to dental work, they'll teach these young girls how to do their makeup.

They'll even bring makeup to work. So that every morning they can do things like that. And I think not just the physical upliftment it provides for that person, but that they know that I'm accepted here, this is okay. I can actually become something here. They don't worry about what degree I have.

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And if I like it and I do it well, then my sister or my best friend can also apply for a job. And if you're turning people away because of how they look, then that will spread negatively in your community, which is also not good.

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[00:06:02] André: What you just mentioned is very important, especially when it comes to wildlife and the topic of poaching, which unfortunately is a massive problem. That community is the first line of defence against poachers, because if that community is working on your reserve and their livelihood depends on the reserve, they're not going to let some poachers hang out in their streets at night. So, it definitely is a win win win situation if we look at the animals as well.

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[00:06:34] André: We got a voice note from one of your colleagues. His name is Neil. I think he's a Ranger at Botlierskop. Let's have a quick listen.

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So, from then until now, I'm still working as a very happy guide at Botlierskop Private Game Reserve.

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[00:07:36] Jaco: I think Neil was one of those characters that from day one they could just see that there is real, real potential in this young gentleman when he just started off as a general farm work, you know, fixing fences and digging holes,

And he just wanted more, and as soon as we see that someone wants more, they're willing to do more, they want to better themselves, we give them those opportunities. So, with Neil, we noticed, from when he started here, he really had such an amazing way of speaking to people.

That's why they decided to give him the move up to a porter. And, I mean, a porter is a really important job here. Because if you think about it, a porter must be a super trustworthy person. Because that's the person that's handling every single guest that arrives here. He's handling their luggage. He's the first line of defence when it comes to the satisfaction of the guest.

And then with him being on the farm for a little bit they could see that he's got a real love, not only for nature, but for the animals and the wildlife around us.

So in around: 2009

And now he's one of our head guides and he can handle anyone. He can handle any story. He's the happiest chap. Always smiling. Always educating. Always just this amazing, amazing character.

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[00:09:32] Jaco: really?

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[00:09:38] Jaco: Let us know. We can organize some guiding courses for you.

[: 00:09:41

Are there one or two other people that you can think of where it maybe also was a benefit to their family?

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It's her kitchen. She was running it. And believe it or not, she literally started as a sculler. Washing dishes, kept on learning, kept on learning to the point where she got so skilled that she got this huge position that is responsible for all of the kitchen staff there. And what's even more incredible is, her daughter also works for us.

So, it's not only that we, have this upliftment of one or two people. We also have generations of our staff working here. And it sings to the type of team we have, that people are willing to bring their family members, and say, “she really wants to work here as well. What can we do?”

If I have a bit of a bad day, I'll always just go say, okay, listen, you know, I'm going to walk for five minutes and guess what? I'll go straight to Auntie Linda's kitchen, they always have music playing, she's the one singing the loudest, dancing along. Everyone knows exactly where they need to be. Everyone just knows what they're doing. And if you walk into her kitchen, it's always the biggest joy going on there. Your day is just immediately cheered up.

[: 00:11:34

Now, when I visited, it's more spacious. It's more elegant. It feels less like a tent, but it's still tented walls. Give us a quick overview of your lodges.

[: 00:12:00

So, the lodge you were staying at is our Tented Lodge. And the Tented Lodges now focus on your luxury and romantic getaways.

And as an effect of that, we can't have children under the age of six at this lodge. Now, for people wanting to travel with their young children and young families, wanting to expose their young children to, to wildlife, to nature, so that they can also fall in love with these beautiful elements.

That's why we have the Village Lodge which is our family friendly lodge where kids of all ages are welcome, and of course that lodge is geared towards families with children. So, over there we do have babysitting services, we've got a kids club the whole day where the kids can be entertained. They do stuff like the Junior Ranger Program. Lots of different family fun things. activities over there.

And then last but not the least is our self-catering Bush Villas. This is for a completely different market; let's say it's you and your family, you love spending time together cooking together, having a nice big barbecue outside, sitting on your big porch, you just see this giant water hole with hippos and all of these animals around.

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Tell us very briefly about the Junior Ranger program and from what age you take kids on game drives.

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So, what we'll do is, recommend them to book a private drive, that way it's just the family and the young kids.

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[00:14:32] Jaco: yeah, no, we had a couple of people who were upset with us because of this, but at the end of the day, people do understand that it's because of safety.

[: 00:14:41

[00:14:43] Jaco: Hmm. So, for the Junior Ranger, we do allow kids from three to four years old, up until around 12 years old. Normally when children are becoming a little bit older, maybe teenagers, they don't really want to walk and do the Junior Rangers.

[: 00:14:59

So, it's a bushwalk combined with a conservation lesson combined with, wildlife sightings. So, the ranger will drive onto a certain part of the property where he knows it is safe and then they'll start walking a little bit around, and doing different things there, maybe a little bit of small survival skills, as well.

So, while they're doing this bushwalk, they'll stop at a certain place next to the river, and they'll show the kids, you know, how to filter water with rocks and sand and get yourself nice, fresh drinking water, things like that. So, teaching them a little bit of bush skills, teaching them about the bush,

[: 00:15:41

[00:15:50] Jaco: Exactly. Lots of plants with, especially looking at the fynbos, there's lots of the medicinal values, of these plants.

[: 00:15:58

[00:16:15] Jaco: You're making me scared. What if they listen to this podcast?

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[00:16:25] Jaco: Ah,

[: 00:16:25

[00:16:28] Jaco: No, no, no, of course not, of course not. I've got, I've actually have so, so, so many.

Yeah, so one of my favourites, was a lady who was furious at us because she actually started feeding some of the vervet monkeys that are of course in the bushes all around the tents. So, she started feeding them, ordering room service breakfast every morning feeding these chaps the whole time.

And she left all of her windows, and her sliding doors open with a full spread of food on the bed. And, yeah, these gents came in and basically destroyed a Prada handbag to pieces.

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[00:17:17] Jaco: And it was our fault…

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[00:17:30] Jaco: At the end of the day, it comes down to communication.

The lady didn't understand English so she couldn't read the sign that said "don't feed the monkeys"

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[00:17:43] Jaco: at the end of the day even though she was very angry at us at first, she understood at the end.

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[00:17:50] Jaco: So we have a cocktail here and the specific lady was drinking these cocktails all weekend long. Literally, I almost want to say 10 o'clock in the morning next to the pool she ordered her first one and it was made with this very special gin.

Now the gin is called “Indlovu Gin”. And at the end of her stay, when she was checking out, she asked, where can she find some of this gin? And what's the story of this gin? Why does it taste so amazing?

[: 00:18:23

[00:18:24] Jaco: then the receptionist shared the story with her about just how special this gin actually is.

So, this gin gets made with the water that comes from pressing elephant dung, ah…

[: 00:18:42

[00:18:49] Jaco: It's, it's literally that. And the moment the receptionist told this lady, she immediately ran straight to the bathroom.

[: 00:19:01

[00:19:01] Jaco: But yeah, after she came back and after the initial shock of, hearing that she was like, but what do elephants eat? They eat leaves. So, what is the elephant poo? It's leaves and water.

But of course, the water does get, you know, purified and everything. It's not like they use the straight water from the dung it's of course goes through all of the necessary processes to actually make it, edible.

And the lady actually bought two bottles to take with her back to Germany.

[: 00:19:33

So, it really is just a grass filtration. And then you add high percentage alcohol to it. And yeah, okay. I'll have to try that next time I come down.

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[00:20:02] André: Great. And now just the very last question: who is your favourite South African person? Someone that inspires you or has taught you something?

[: 00:20:12

[00:20:48] André: He is indeed a very, very inspirational man.

Jaco, thank you so, so much for being a part of these episodes and sharing these stories of yourself and of your colleagues.

[: 00:20:59

[00:21:17] André: Thanks, Jaco. That, that means a lot.

And thank you all for listening to these three episodes of my podcast where we celebrate Africa.

We spoke again to Jaco from the Botlierskop Game Reserve on the Garden Route in South Africa, about some of the people that are employed there, the journeys that they've gone through, the development that their careers have done there.

We spoke to Neil and we heard a couple of interesting stories about some things that guests do, that they maybe shouldn't do. I hope it's been entertaining for you and that you have also learnt and enjoyed it. And please do give us a rate on your preferred podcast listening platform, leave a comment, leave some questions and share the podcast with your friends and family.