We pick up our journey from last time. We are cruising along comfortably with clear skies above, blue waters below, and a bright and hopeful horizon ahead.
In October 2017 we received all the design plans for the lodge which had been professionally drawn up by PDI design consultant Phil Darby. The building project tender was awarded to Rainer von Urff Kaufeld of The Project Management Company.
We were excited to receive the PDI visuals of the family room with loft, and the king/twin room. We were super excited when the white out visuals of the reception area came through! To actually see our dreams and plans coming alive brought tears to our eyes.
We welcomed a steady stream of family and friends in the first half of 2018. It’s always special seeing Victoria Falls through the eyes of our visitors.
There is a term in aviation called ‘PNR’, or ‘Point of No Return’. This is the point beyond which you must continue on your flight path. Turning back is not an option, because it is dangerous and physically impossible.
Demolition Day – aka ‘Pamarah’s Point of No Return’ – had arrived. It was time to rock and roll with the sledgehammer! It’s easy to knock a building down, but not so easy to put it all back together again, as we were about to find out … but we had committed to the journey and from now on there was no turning back.
We had no idea how long we were going to be surrounded by bricks, cement, scaffolding, wheelbarrows and rubble. Looking back on it now, perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. We were in the thick of it, living and working on a construction site, taking it one day at a time and making big decisions for our future. At the same time we were providing work and a steady income for more than 30 builders and artisans and skilled and unskilled labourers from around the country. We were working hard and tirelessly together as a team and celebrated moments of achievement every time a broken wall was built up again.
Moments of respite from the continual noise and dust of our construction site came with regular trips into the Zambezi National Park for some peace and quiet, and a very special family celebration when our daughter Holly graduated from the University of St Andrews in Scotland in June 2018.
Photo credit: Sarah Kerr
Photo credit: Caitlin Macdonald
But the storm clouds were gathering on the horizon, and we were not prepared for what was going to happen next…
