A question often asked by our guests is how did we, Chris & Magda, end up living in such a beautiful spot? Answer – well someone has to do it and we are very happy that it is us!
From Kenya to Kwa Zulu Natal
Both of us were born and raised in Kenya by parents who were farmers, way back before the advent of computers or cell phones, during a time when people actually visited each other and the distances meant that this was the social media of the time. We grew up with wide-open spaces and the freedom to roam, climb trees – fall out of them – and the only provision was that we got back home before dark, preferably unscathed and in one piece. These are all the privileges we have now come to cherish. What it did leave us with was a strong ‘can do’ sense which later translated into an entrepreneurial outlook on life. We learned to ‘repair’, rather than just ‘replace’, and either go over, go round the mountain, but do not let the mountain get in the way of going forward!
1980 saw us – a family of four by then with two young sons – settle on a farm of our own in Kwa Zulu Natal after a 3-year detour in Saudi Arabia working for a Swiss construction company. Unfortunately, the universe decided that this was a good time to close the ‘rain taps’ for the next few years, making it kind of tough to realise our farming dream.
The ’90s decade found us looking for new pastures to put down our roots. The Drakensberg was fast becoming a major tourist destination which afforded us the opportunity to establish a fresh produce distribution business, whereby we supplied fruit and vegetables to a number of the resorts and lodges in the Central and Northern Drakensberg on a weekly basis. However, living where we do, it seemed a tragedy not to share our incredible vistas with other people. So another business shift was on the cards and Treks, Trips & Trails with self-catering accommodation was born.
We also decided to use our skills to offer guests ‘off the beaten track’ tailor-made trips. We learned very quickly that the tourism industry is only embarked upon by either the very brave or the very thick-skinned! We hope we qualify as the former!
Accommodation in the Drakensberg
2005 saw the construction of Bahati Tree Lodge – a timber chalet in amongst a copse of pine trees purpose-built as a honeymoon destination or romantic hideaway which has proved incredibly popular. The question often asked is who or what is ‘Bahati’ – to answer, it is a word in Swahili – which is the lingua franca language in Kenya, meaning ‘luck’. It was our very good ‘luck’ or good fortune to be right on the spot when it came up for sale. The volume of requests by families seeing it on our website wanting to stay at Bahati necessitated incorporating a second bedroom on the ground floor which includes a full-length glass-windowed shower, offering the unique African experience of showering with a view.
The road less travelled
Travel has always been our passion, especially if it involves the wide-open road – preferably on gravel – stretching out over the horizon. One of the first such trips we did was from Kenya to South Africa and back accompanied by our 8-month-old son Glenn who had the run of the back seat – that was way before the advent of seat belts or baby car seats. His ability to give the border officials a broad, toothless smile smoothed our passage through on many occasions. Something of that trip must have stuck because he has been an avid traveller since then.
Since our settling in South Africa we have managed to travel quite extensively both within our boundaries and the sub-continent, pretty much always in our trusty 1988 Toyota Hilux, fondly known as ‘Big Foot’ – whose big, expensive tyres have now kicked up the dust in 10 different African countries!
Several years ago ‘Big Foot’ was harnessed for a 3 month, 19,000km ‘Great Trek’ back to Kenya. We made ourselves as self-sufficient as possible – a rooftop tent (lions only climb trees, not ladders!) and all the rest of the necessary paraphernalia and set the compass to read ‘north’! What an amazing continent Africa is with its huge diversity of cultures and landscapes, ranging from the deserts of Namibia to the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya. And don’t forget the idyllic beaches of the East African coast or one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes at Lake Victoria. The superlatives goes on and on.
Post 1994, the growth in inbound overseas visitors to South Africa increased substantially, but was restricted primarily to visiting Kruger Game Reserve and Cape Town. So the decision was taken that if we wanted to remain relevant in the tourism industry as a region the Drakensberg needed to embark on a marketing campaign directly in Europe and the United Kingdom. So January 2016 saw a ‘delegation’ jet off to participate on the KZN stand in Vienna and we also used the opportunity to create important contacts within the tourism industry in both The Netherlands and France. Follow-up trips back to Holland and onto Germany and the UK paid handsome dividends with substantial growth to our visitor numbers from these countries. All of which came crashing down in March last year thanks to Covid.
Battered and a bit bruised Treks, Trips & Trails has survived everything this current pandemic has thrown at us and we are now moving forward gratefully, welcoming our local, South African travel-hungry tourists. We are also eagerly awaiting the day when we get to hear those delightful foreign accents again. The first of which actually happened this past weekend with a lovely Belgium family staying with us here at Treks, Trips & Trails. There is light in the tunnel at last.
