Oh, the Meerkats!

Prior to our twilight zone experience at the no-you-can’t-do-that German-themed hotel, we encountered some adorable meerkats at Barkhan Dune Retreat where we spent two nights. (I just couldn’t get enough of the little guys!)

They weren’t quite pets, but they weren’t wild either, just semi-tame with luxurious abodes and hideaways dug up everywhere (ie, big holes that will break your ankle if you’re not careful). Although they’re not pets (they had each been orphaned and rescued), they do prefer to start their day by running through the entry way to the kitchen for a quick snack before setting off to find the really good stuff in the scrub and hills. They also like to explore everything and everywhere and they make sweet little sounds to one another as they do. 

The manager and her husband were wonderful. They  helped us check on road conditions and fed us great food (smoked zebra, oryx, veggies from the garden). We had planned to go the next morning to the dunes, but it turned out the entrance road was still flooded and we were both unwilling to walk the 10k round trip from parking to the dunes and back. Wimps, yep—did I mention the heat yet?

Also, note to self: Stop asking if there are snakes. Answer: yes (many and in great variety), with a follow up being some variation of “but don’t worry.”

Do you want to guess how long I stared at this thing?

I finally touched its tail to confirm it was plastic. The owner had probably placed it on the outside wall next to the shower to discourage birds, certainly not to cause momentary panic followed by lots of poking, prodding, and standing back, right?

Well, then, we did see a snake! We were enjoying the early evening at our little outside table when this long, thin snake with a big bulge in its middle came flying past us. It was so fast! I looked it up later to find it was a sand snake or whip snake. 

Our nights were hot and it was hard to sleep with the heat. We eventually got up and opened all the windows, which we were loathe to do at first because of the huge moths that were everywhere after dark, flopping around like bats against the walls and windows. I was hesitant, too, given that our cottage was partially built into an earthen mound, which is where Mr Whip Snake disappeared to. Luckily, the two windows behind our bed had screens, as they were just above the ground. First thing we did when we arrived was pushed these windows open as far as we could. And left them. Perfect. In the morning, we unfortunately discovered the screens were spring loaded and had not been adequately weighted down during the night—

There had been a lot of recent rain, and we were somewhat tormented by flies during the day, as well as by the aforementioned moths that came to life at night. The moisture-happy moths banged around so much at night, we actually had to turn on white noise to sleep. Crazy. I’d stay there again in a minute though. It was beautiful and the people were amazing. And how can you beat those outdoor showers, even (or especially) when they come with your own plastic snake?