Views of the Lupita shoreline

Lupita Island as seen from the lake, shows dense forrest with striking rock formations as seen from these photographs.

 

 

Chris' Spa

After owning a gym for two years, we realised how important exercise is for many people (ourselves included). With this in mind, we have persuaded Tom to add a Spa to the list of facilities offered at Lupita.

Chris has spent the past few weeks designing the structures that will house the massage rooms, gymnasium and yoga / meditation area. Tom and Belinda initially wanted to position the Spa on the south side of the island, but after spending some time at the proposed site, we realised that it is not tranquil enough for a Spa. So Chris, Madonna and I spent an afternoon rowing around the north side of the island and have found a gorgeous place for the Spa to be built.

As we will be running the lodge for at least a year, we are currently completing our Fitness and Nutrition Courses through ISSA. We plan to offer "Wellness Weeks" to the guests who would like to change the way that they look. We are looking forward to being able to help clients with guidance on their Nutrition and personalised Fitness routines during these weeks, and hopefully the Spa on Lupita will be a truly unique venue in which to do this.

Chris plans to build the three massage rooms around these lovely rocks, on stilts, over the water. They will all have glass floors so that guests can watch the fish in the lake below them while they are having a relaxing massage. Every room will be completely open at the front to take advantage of the spectacular views of the Congo and Mvuna Island. There will also be steps at the front of these rooms, leading down into the lake, so that guests can enjoy a cup of warm, ginger tea at the water's edge after their massage, manicure or pedicure, or even have a swim among the fish.

As you can see from this photograph, the water is very clear here, with shallow rocks that the fish love to swim around. 

The open air gym and yoga deck are to be built in the rocky bay close to the massage rooms. They will also be built on stilts over the water. Because these structures will have no walls, guests will be able to enjoy the uninterrupted views and cool lake breezes while they exercise. 

Our heavenly skies

I could post pages and pages of incredible photographs of the moods of the sky here. These are just a few pickies taken over the past month. They speak for themselves. 

 

 

 

 

The cycles of the moon

Full moon is a very special time of the month on Lupita. It usually rises behind our house, like a brilliant, white ball. Before we hung the blinds in our bedroom windows I would sometime wake up in the middle of the night thinking that I had left the bedroom light on, only to realise that it was the full moon shining in through our window that had woken me up.

Full moon for the fishermen along the banks of Lake Tanganyika means no fish for their families. Because these fishermen attract fish to their hand lines with kerosene lanterns, the bright light of the full moon dulls the intensity of their lanterns and so they do not go out to fish. On nights when the sky is dark, when it is new moon or before the moon has risen, the lake is adorned with the fairy lights from the fishing boats. I have counted 250 lanterns in one evening before.

The lights that you see in this photograph are not the lights from houses. They are fishing lights on hundreds of small, wooden, handmade boats.  

Another "spiritual" sunset from the island. This is our sundowner view every night, and some poor guys are stuck in traffic!

A view from the mainland, with Lupita and the distant DRC in the background. Scenes like this simply soak up stress!

The roof structure for the bar & lounge is coming along. It is a double-story building with a substantial viewing deck. The view of the lake from here is going to be AWESOME!

We are entering the second half of the contract for sure. The common areas are taking shape, and we can see progress on a daily basis, all the hard work is paying off. Here we can see the rear of the restaurant.

We hosted the inugural "Mr Lupita Competition" last weekend. There was a healthy line-up of 11 competitors, who took to their tasks with willingness and vigour. Tasks included several disciplines, similar to those found in "Strongman" competitions around the world. It was huge fun and was very well received. Training has already started for next year...........

Tom issued the three closest villages, with brand new schoolbooks last week. The looks of joy and excitement on the faces of the kids was lovely to watch. Because we are in such a remote area, most of the schools here have never had the privilege of studying from books. It is wonderful to be a part of such a worthy cause!

Chris' progress

Last year Chris concentrated on the building of the Staff Village. This was used as a training ground for the unskilled staff that were hired to do the building of this lodge. The Staff Village is now almost complete and consists of:

The Manager's House
2 x Sub-Manager's Houses (each with 2 rooms en-suite and 2 lounges)
2 x Senior Staff Houses (each with 4 rooms and 2 shared bathrooms)
3 x Staff Houses (each with 3 rooms and a shared lounge area)
Staff bathrooms and toilets
Staff Diningroom and Lounge
Staff Kitchen and Laundry

The Staff Village will house a total of 32 people, thus there will be more than 1 staff member per guest, even when the lodge is fully booked. This does not include the staff who will be coming accross daily from Kipili who will not need to sleep on the Island at night. All in all, the building of the Staff Village has been a very large, but important task, and it is very rewarding to find that it is almost complete.

Towards the end of last year Chris was then able to start focussing on the common areas for the guests. This will include:

the Diningroom
Lounge, Bar and Viewing Deck
Games room
Wine Cellar
Office and Shop
Kitchen
Swimming pool
Pool Bar
Swimming pool toilets

And this year he has started on the Guest rooms. There will be 14 rooms in total, 2 of which will be Presidential Suites. Below are some photographs of the various stages of progress that the rooms are currently at.