When guests visit our world renowned lodges, they encounter a whole host of our wonderful staff members that take care of their needs; be it our “behind the scenes” employees or “front of house” managers and hospitality staff – from our chambermaids, executive housekeepers, waiters and those staff that keep the lodges in top notch condition.

Well, from Head Office we have a lovely lady that takes care of most of these responsibilities from a housekeeping point of view and that is the role of our Executive Housekeeper – Rebecca Makaoe. When we arrive at the office in the morning, everything in terms of cleanliness and general housekeeping has been taken care of and during the day Rebecca takes care of us in her usual “nothing is too much” attitude. Without her, it would be somewhat challenging for the rest of the office to operate efficiently.

Rebecca recently celebrated a birthday, and not only that, she has celebrated 15 years of service with Sabi Sabi. With this combined celebration, management wanted to spoil her with a trip to Sabi Sabi and convinced her to agree to fly to our private airstrip. Not ever having been in a small aircraft, this was a source of excitement – albeit with a sense of trepidation – and together with a handful of key staff from head office, off they went on their journey to visit Sabi Sabi.

And what a time Rebecca had – she was welcomed by many of the staff that she has known for many years and even though the aim was to have the stay from that of a guest perspective, Rebecca could not resist falling into the quintessential role of a true Sabi Sabi ambassador and acted as one of our hosts welcoming guests, asking them how their safari was and smiling – as she does – from ear to ear.

In her own words – “The weekend was so wonderful. The safari, the food, the accommodation was amazing. It was lovely to spend time with my colleagues in the bush and experience life as a guest. I am so proud to be part of this family and I hope to come back again soon and speak to all our visitors from all over the world.

I have never flown in a small aircraft but I was excited and nervous at the same time. The flight was very quick. The rangers welcomed us and even on the way to the lodge, we saw a lot of animals.

I did not want to leave but also I knew I wanted to go back to my office in Johannesburg and tell my family of my experience and also my colleagues at the office. It was the perfect birthday present.

“Giya bonka Ka Khulu Sabi Sabi” (Thank you so much Sabi Sabi).”