(eTN) – Senyati Safari Camp in Botswana has constructed an elephant bunker at their lodge near Kasane. It was a massive undertaking with huge earth works to dig a tunnel to allow people to walk quietly and unseen to the waterhole where they are allowed to watch and photograph wildlife at ground level.
Anyone who has visited Senyati will tell stories of hundreds of elephants at a time visiting the waterhole in front of the bar each afternoon and especially in the dry season when Oom Louw (Senyati’s owner) pumps fresh water in to give the desperate animals some respite from the bone dry savannah. Even from the raised bar it is a sight to behold so you can imagine what it looks like when you are right at the feet of these magnificent beasts looking upwards as they jostle for position.
We discussed the idea for a Bunker with Louw over a year ago and decided to wait until the middle of the rainy season to start construction as there is plenty of water around the region at this time and the waterhole is less busy, thus we would cause the minimum of disruptions. This was not really the case as during the pouring of the concrete several inquisitive herds visited making progress rather precarious to say the least!
The tunnel is 18 meters of well-lit passageway leading to a large room at the end with 8 viewing windows. During the times when the bunker is not in use the windows are sealed as is the main door. There is a fan in the tunnel to aid with circulation of air when the bunker is in use which creates a lovely cooling breeze through the windows.
We have included some shots of how the Bunker was built below (excuse the quality but generally only an iPhone was at hand). Guts built the tunnel and viewing room at Pangolin HQ and transported it in sections to Senyati where it was encased in re-enforced concrete up to 18″ thick on site over the course of three days. Anyone who knows Guts will tell you that when he sets his mind to a project is gets done and it gets done well no matter how long or how hard it becomes.
