The Astronomer's Wife

I’m not sure how many of you have seen the “Time Traveler’s Wife” (I sobbed uncontrollably on a plane once while watching it) but over our past several outings I’ve been inspired to write of my life as the “Astronomer’s Wife.” Unlike the movie, I don’t change time periods when I travel but rather socioeconomic statuses. On a recent trip to Eagle Island – a luxury tented lodge in Moremi Game Reserve I found myself transported to an unfamiliar world of opulence. The  cost per person per night ranges from a low of $580 to a high of $1280 (that’s more than our monthly mortgage for one person for one night during the highly season!).

This amazing lodge is only reachable by small aircraft and our short flight not only had us leaving Maun but leaving our usual social class. With only twelve tents the staff caters to the wishes of its limited pool of clients. So Paul, the telescope and I are transported by  private plane for an evening star show. After landing we are greeted by six staff clapping and singing “Dumela” (hello) in three part harmony before we are handed a cool wet wash cloth and cold lemonade to drink. It feels a bit like a luxury Disney World!

The setting is stunning. All luxury tents have lovely views of the delta. The tents themselves are posh – but eerily identical to their other camp in Savute. Guests are often sold two night at each of their three camps as they make a circuit from one to the next. It seemed a little odd to me that they were so similar – no wonder people at times do not know where they are or where they have been when traveling like this.

The tents are super clean and creature free (for all of you who hesitate when reading about my adventures – somehow they manage to create an almost sterile environment smack in the middle of the bush). There are more living creatures in our house in Maun than out here (we have a resident lizard who lives under our couch and sometimes scares the crap out of me as he scampers down the long hall between the kitchen and the living room).

We arrive at high tea and are dismissed by the woman we are meeting when her employee tries to introduce us to which she hisses with a sideways glance, “Not at high tea.” There are way too many rules here and I stress a bit about the meaning of “smart casual” which is listed as appropriate attire for dinner. I’ve really got to work more on my “bush glam” (what I call women who somehow achieve an impressive level of “glamorous” in the bush).

I can’t help but wonder about the people that work at these camps. Most camps run with a three months on, one month off schedule which means employees see their family/friends only three months out of the year (less than Paul and I and we live on different continents!). How do they access health care? Who cares for their children? How do THEY feel about the clients that pay more for one night’s stay than they probably make in a year? 

And what about the management couples that run the camps? They are the last to bed at night and first up in the morning and during their waking hours they have to deal with guests who complain that they got cold on the boat ride they just took because it rained and they didn’t bring a coat. I actually heard a client making this precise complaint to which the employee initially responded by stating that the weather front was unanticipated and brought in cold air but ultimately relented acknowledging that he, the staff person, was to blame for not telling the guest to plan ahead. Really? Is this what paying this amount of money gets you? Can one buy rudeness?

We struggled with the clouds for the star show in the evening but things clear up enough to see some things. We spent a nice leisurely morning enjoying the view from our veranda with me reading my Kindle (which I think I’m becoming addicted to! Thank you family for the wonderful Christmas gift). After several changes of our flight time we are jettisoned off to return to Maun about mid-day.

The nice thing about being the “Astronomer’s Wife” is you do get to meet some very interesting people. Our New Year’s Eve night at Meno a Kwena was shared with a family from Germany, another from the Netherlands, a couple from England (who told lymrics and sang songs that had us all doubled over with laughter) and two sisters (and one the spouse of one of them) with a wicked sense of humor and contagious laughter. If you can’t be with family and friends on New Year’s Eve, at least you can be with interesting people.

  

Since our return from the two star show trips we have been in the office. I’ve been busily working on the final details for the study away trip and Paul has been making a map of Maun for tourists (amazingly, there aren’t any maps of Maun, the tourist capital of Botswana). We are anxiously awaiting the return of his passport from the American Embassy down in Gabarone as he needed more pages sewn in before we could cross any borders as he was almost out. We are thinking now of perhaps going over to Northern Namibia (instead of Malawi because we have less time to travel and it is closer) but we can’t leave until the passport returns. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I'll keep you posted.