Lamai Locals

Lamai is generally a hive of activity, the comings and goings of local wildlife providing endless entertainment.

Nature, a huge male leopard, often wonders through in the evenings and the early hours of the morning; we caught him in the bar once with one of his lady friends, and lucky guests get a glimpse of him on their room decks from time to time.

Snakes are rare and not often seen but due to the large population of rock hyraxes (food) they stick around; rock pythons (not venomous) are one of our favourites and given the chance we play with them a little. Our resident snake wrangler, Ibra (staff cook) is quick to catch any slithering intruder and releases them far from camp….

Lions surround Lamai, lots of rocks serving as vantage points and plenty of wildlife to keep their bellies full. It’s rare for an evening to go by without a roar or two, or three….. kills around camp are common, especially during the migration season.

We have a family of klipspringers in camp – the literal translation is ‘rock jumper’. Mom, dad and little one. We have named them Brandy, Coke, and Ice; after a popular South African drink: Klipies and coke (a type of brandy with a coke mixer).

The vervet monkeys are naughty and have taken a liking to the deck chairs at the pool, hanging out with a family of rock hyraxes, who live under the pool decking, with visits from our resident troop of dwarf mongooses. You will notice that the mongoose and hyraxes like to cuddle, often seen in a pile; they do this to keep warm and is an important part of their social makeup.

Peter Parker (Spiderman) is our handsome rock agama, he knows it, and loves people to take his photo.

Fauna, big and small at Lamai is a constant reminder of how fortunate we are, it’s a privilege to live and work in such an amazing pat of the world.