Sunday brunch at the river

Of the eleven properties on our reserve, six have homes on. Well, to call them homes is a little generous – lets just say semi-livable structures.  The Bean and I are the only people living on the reserve permanently.  A few of the other owners pop in a few times a year.  This weekend though, five of the six homes have been occupied.  I wouldn’t like it to be like this all the time, but it has been rather nice seeing everyone and visiting a bit.

This morning we were invited to Lawyer P’s house for brunch. (Three of the owners here are lawyers).  He is the purchaser of my hornbill painting.  Doctor H has a wooden hut on the property next door to Lawyer P and he offered to cook.  Both of their homes are built out of wood – I guess we could call them cabins.  They are situated right on the river, built in the riverine forest.

 It’s a good idea to build in the forest if you have a wooden house – just to keep it cool in summer.  They do not have electricity, and they pump their water from the river.  Hot water for showering is warmed in a donkey (a tin drum with a fire under it.)

Here is the view of Lawyer P’s house – taken from the river bank.

Breakfast was prepared on an open fire – we ate sausages and bacon and scrambled eggs, served with bread and a glass of fresh fruit juice for the Bean and I.  P & H had beer!!

This is the view from the deck.

The reflections on the river were just beautiful this morning.

The water looked so inviting – if you didn’t know any better you would dive right in but …..

Yep, that’s right – no swimming in the river here. Crocodile and hippo are spotted regularly.

These cabins can sleep 6 people comfortably but story has it that in the past they have had 30 people stay over.  The great thing is that we can use the cabins when the owners are not here – just for a riverside meal or when we have more people staying over than our cottages can handle.

On our way home we saw so many animals too – everything is coming alive as the bush slowly turns green.