[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]In 2013, Graydon & Sarah Baker, Canadians, made the international flight to Tanzania, and the adjoining landcruiser drive down bush roads to visit the Rufiji lands surrounding the Selous Game Reserve. This was their first of what was to become many trips. Graydon had studied zoology from the University of Guelph, Ontario, and Sarah nursing from Queens University. She also attended the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. They had a mutual desire for the wilder challenges and untamed country, which led them together and eventually to Tanzania to seek-out the most isolated setting, the Selous and surrounding wilderness, rich in animal populations and local culture. It’s fair to say that the prevailing condition of the Selous – unpaved roads, inaccessible corners – have made it lesser known yet a gem on the safari circuit, unique in its own right and a truly authentic experience.
The couple negotiated with the governing council of the tribe whose land surrounds the Selous for a piece of property, 5 acres on the banks of the ancient Rufiji River, within ten minutes drive by bush road to the main Selous Reserve Gate, Mtemere. The property was overgrown, remnants of old safari camps and settlements reclaimed by the jungle and its inhabitants. The Bakers began construction first on a manager’s house, after all they had two young boys and one on the way. At the same time they hand-drilled down into the ground for water and built a utility station complete with solar panels for power. Engineering the camp to operate ‘off-the-grid’ was not a choice but born out of necessity. The guest lodge was built next. Almost all materials were sourced locally, the stone was trucked in from ten villages over, and the bricks were formed from the clay on the lower floodplain portion of the property. The stained wood pillars that make up the roof structures of our cottages had been ordered and the first local staff of Baker & Sons travelled into the forest on behalf of the company to select the best hardwood trees.
A little over a year after the land had been secured, ground first broken for lodge construction, and Baker & Sons Safari Company incorporated within the country of the United Republic of Tanzania, Graydon & Sarah Baker welcomed their first guests, two brothers from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The concrete was still curing on the floor of their cottage when the brothers arrived. Graydon & Sarah met the guests on arrival, the staff took their suitcases and after a couple cold drinks sent them on a safari game drive into the Selous. By the time the brothers returned from the game drive, the floor of the cottage was dry, their suitcases moved in and the cottage ready to receive its first guests for the night!
In the years that have followed, the Bakers have received guests from all over the world. Their guests have enjoyed the “rustic charm” of the cottages and setting full of life all-encompassing. It’s a privilege to sit back on the balcony with a cup of hot french press coffee as a troop of black and white colobus monkeys pass overhead, hippos grunt in the river beyond, sharing stories of the safari game drive the day before. That ‘vision’ was what Graydon saw and described to Sarah when they first cut a path by machete onto the overgrown property and dreamed of the lodge that had yet to be built.
This couple from Canada, transplanted to the outskirts of the Selous, live at the safari lodge in the manager’s house – the first construction – welcoming guests throughout the safari season, June until February when the big rains come. They have invested much as a family to pull back just enough of the ever-encroaching jungle and open a window to the great and special Selous, its four-legged citizens and tribal guardians. They’ve also invested themselves as a family into the local village, and through an intentional effort have brought development and relief. The Baker family are Christians. Their faith is a driving force that adds an extra flavour and resolve to everything they set their hands to. Building a safari company and lodge from scratch in a developing land carries with it an inherent challenge and resistance. It is this resolve and purpose the Bakers have that has made their lodge what it is today.
Come join Graydon & Sarah Baker, their family, the Rufiji River and the Great Selous, and follow the footsteps of explorers and pioneers past. Much history has found its way up to this part of the river. Whether you have come for a rest or an adventure, or to leave an impact, Baker & Sons Safari Company is ready for you.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”12″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1695274215880-393512109221187d0083c228ca43026c-1″ include=”9933″][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”12″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1695274215883-a74d52e139cc0cecc58e7ce67d1d405a-8″ include=”9919″][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”12″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1695274215885-fdf05686c1f4482383f1adb54a0ec6fc-8″ include=”9924″][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”12″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1695274215888-9d7cdab6ff26127108e269bbc7940121-1″ include=”9926″][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]