By Roxanne Reid
When you arrive on the main deck of DumaTau Camp in Botswana’s Linyanti, you’ll be blown away by the fresh, neutral-toned spaces and the sweeping views over a lagoon. The next thing you’ll notice is a skinny man peering at you from behind thick glasses, a broad grin on his face. He’s the front of house supervisor affectionately known as Mr B.
When you arrive on the main deck of DumaTau Camp in Botswana’s Linyanti, you’ll be blown away by the fresh, neutral-toned spaces and the sweeping views over a lagoon. The next thing you’ll notice is a skinny man peering at you from behind thick glasses, a broad grin on his face. He’s the front of house supervisor affectionately known as Mr B.
His full name is Bodule Motlhanka and he comes from Central Botswana. He began his journey with Wilderness Safaris in 2007 at Mombo Camp in the Okavango Delta. ‘I was a waiter there for three or four months before I went into bar-tending,’ he says.
Life in the bush has not been without its lighter moments. ‘One early morning shift I was setting up for breakfast. When I brought the last items I noticed the bowl of yoghurt was missing. I looked around and saw a spotted hyena near the pool, running away with the bowl. I tried to follow but it disappeared into the bush. When I told my manager she laughed.’
Life in the bush has not been without its lighter moments. ‘One early morning shift I was setting up for breakfast. When I brought the last items I noticed the bowl of yoghurt was missing. I looked around and saw a spotted hyena near the pool, running away with the bowl. I tried to follow but it disappeared into the bush. When I told my manager she laughed.’
After three years at Mombo, Mr B moved to DumaTau in the Linyanti. ‘At the time it was still the old camp, before this new one opened in 2012. When the new camp opened,’ he remembers, ‘we sent our last guests out from the old camp for a full-day safari so we could move everything while they were gone. When they came back in the evening they came straight to the new camp.’
DumaTau Camp is beautiful, with its lagoon-side bar and pool, its floating deck and its romantic tents, each with a view over the water. Service here is friendly and smooth so it’s difficult for a guest to understand how much work goes on behind the scenes. ‘Without teamwork, without communication, nothing works well,’ he says.
‘Wilderness Safaris does a good job with training and empowering local people,’ he adds. Its philosophy is to use eco-tourism to create sustainable jobs for local people, show respect for community and culture, build eco-friendly camps, and conserve wildlife and nature for future generations. People are encouraged to move through the ranks and grow into management level jobs.
‘It takes a long time but eventually you can get there,’ says Mr B, whose five-year plan is to become a manager. But whatever his job title, he’ll still be treating guests to his sunny nature and trademark grin, still holding their happiness in his hands.
‘It takes a long time but eventually you can get there,’ says Mr B, whose five-year plan is to become a manager. But whatever his job title, he’ll still be treating guests to his sunny nature and trademark grin, still holding their happiness in his hands.
This is part of a series called Voices of Botswana, which shares the stories of some of the people we met on our Botswana adventure. You can find them all in the people category of this blog.
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