Welcome to the Wilderness family

Born – and married – at Ruckomechi!

Christine Atkinson’s dad is Tich Atkinson, who managed and guided at Wilderness Ruckomechi around 1990. One February, Christine’s pregnant mum, Caroline paid her dad a visit when the camp was closed during the summer rainy season. Soon followed a remarkable storm and it was in camp that Christine was born. In this image with her dad, they are standing next to Tent 1, which is where she was born.

After Christine's engagement to her now-husband Simon at Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls, Caroline mentioned that it would make a great story to get married in the camp where she was born. And so it transpired that she had a small wedding ceremony in Mana Pools, followed by a larger celebration in Harare for her extended family and friends.

“When we arrived in camp we discovered that Little Ruckomechi is now situated where Ruckomechi had originally been all those years ago, and the manager Eddie and his team made a huge effort to turn their camp into the most beautiful wedding location. Our fantastic guide Englebert, along with a few members of the team, played mbiras through the ceremony, after which we had some delicious snacks and Champagne to celebrate. We then went back to main camp for lunch followed by a stunning sunset cruise. The team had prepared a special cake for us, which we continued to enjoy over the next few days. We were extremely lucky at that time of year to see some fantastic game, including elephant coming through camp, and watched a stunning young male leopard sawing in the river bed and shortly after a herd of elephant with some tiny babies. A huge thank you must go to the teams at both camps for making it such a truly spectacular and memorable day!”

After spending a night in the company of hippos, they continued to paddle their makeshift mokoro, “slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly,” until they reached Shumba. These intrepid explorers were hired on the spot to help build the new lodge, and their makeshift boat bought from them for a tidy sum. It can still be seen in the main area, pride of place in a great photo.

When the new safari camp opened, Chrispin was trained and employed as a housekeeper in the camp, working his way up to waiter in just one year. Now, more than 16 years on, Chrispin is still following his wilderness dream, employed as Head Waiter at Wilderness Shumba. In his words, “It is my favourite job. I like it very much”.