Visit Africa Without Leaving the U.S.

The Serengeti Resort

The Heart of Africa in the Hill Country of Texas

As darkness slowly surrendered to the early morning light the silhouette of a tall giraffe came clear behind the tall honey mesquite covering the dew moistened savanna. The dramatic backdrop of stands of trees partially hid the majesty of the long necked beast. Straining and twisting its neck the species known as camelopardalis carefully stepped over the knotted roots of the nearby foliage making sure as not to stumble in the dawn. Not to be forgotten were the herds of gazelles ever so alert for approaching danger as the males darted back and forth in a seemingly frenzied state keeping a watchful eye on the females and their young.

Never have visited the Serengeti before we marveled how so many animals seemed to naturally co-exist in relative peace. This was Africa at its best but not the great dark continent over eight thousand miles across the Atlantic but a small secluded piece of Africa in the hill country of Texas just a short drive north of San Antonio near the small city of Bergheim. This is a piece of wild nature waiting for the adventurer to investigate all from an incredibly lavish resort.

The Serengeti Resort is a one stop destination where daily stress seems to melt away while one sits on the many beautifully designed verandas watching the great variety of exotic creatures interacting with each other. The sounds of animals breaking through the underbrush is almost unnerving but yet comforting knowing you are witnessing sights many people only dream of.  The elands and zebras blend in so well it comes as a pleasant surprise to see these large four legged beasts emerge from the forest of trees across the plains heading to take water from the troughs laid across the land

Visiting the resort means spending time in a very magical place. It is where a person can sit back and take in the beauty of what Africa truly looks like or simply take a walk around the acreage smelling the semi-arid lands where the Serengeti is located.

Spending  time in the Zafara Lodge while sipping a glass of wine from any of the seventy-five different varieties of  grapes from the southern hemisphere or something just as inviting from the large well-stocked bar in the lodge lets the traveler know why they came to this spot in south-west Texas. The lodge is home to everything an exclusive resort would be made of in the deepest reaches of Africa itself. Thick wooden planked exterior and interior walls, heads of game lining the room, comfortable and soft leather chairs and sofas in which to rest, slowly winding fans attached in the ceiling to move the air, and rustic but highly polished tables to enjoy a midday meal or evening faire while looking through expansive floor to ceiling glass walls taking in the wildlife strolling the savanna beyond the lodge.

On the weekends enjoy a wonderful breakfast buffet or order something just as tasty from the more than generous hosts who go out of their way to ensure your visit is truly a once in a lifetime experience. The food is fabulous and more than enough to make the palate satisfied.

Plan to spend an evening or two in the various accommodations available at the Serengeti from large plush bungalows that sleep eight which directly look over the grasslands to the more modest but equally well appointed pool side suites which sleep four. All accommodations are unique in their individual designs and decorations but each gives the visitor a true feeling of having spent the night on safari.

While staying at the resort, ensure there is plenty of time in which to travel among the animals themselves in the nearly one hundred acres where they are fenced. Golf carts are available to rent so the guests can patrol the resort unguided to take in the marvels of the Serengeti and to possibly hand feed the giraffe, the elands, the ostriches, and the other such animals making up the resort’s inhabitants. The favorite is a young camel by the name of ‘Clyde’ who will come when called and faster if he knows there is food held in a hand.

The total experience of the Serengeti Resort is that of relaxation, exhilaration, and the thrill of being in the Heart of Africa but with never leaving the comfort of the United States.

Contact Information:

The Serengeti Resort

Phone – 830.816.3600

Fax -      207.226.5280

Email -   serengetiresort@gmail.com

Also found on ‘Facebook’

Location:

408 Fuller Dr, Bergheim, TX 78004 (the Hill Country)

Accommodations:

Prices for resort range from $149 to $495, depending on the outfitter tent, bungalow or suite available.

Hours:

Open to the Public for wine tasting on Saturdays from 12 – 5 p.m.

 Resort may also be rented for special events.

Resort guests have lodging available 7 days per week/24 hours per day

Manzanar

One of the darkest days in the history of the United States was when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. This document allowed local military commanders to remove any person from the West Coast of the country who had Japanese ancestry. The illogical reasoning behind this was that the United States was now at war with the Imperial country of Japan the American military wanted to ensure no one of Japanese descent would willingly aide the enemy by allowing access to the western coastline. So, over 110,000 Japanese-Americans were taken from their homes and businesses and distributed through the country into ten different relocation camps.

One in Utah, one in Idaho, one in Colorado, one in Wyoming, two in Arizona, two in Arkansas, and two in California.

With this in mind J & L took a brief trip to visit one out of the relocation camps in California. A visit to Manzanar, just south of the town of Independence and about 230 miles north of Los Angeles along Highway 395, will let the visitor to get a first hand glance at the isolation and breath taking emptiness of the area. It would be enough to make a corpse cold.

Main Entrance to Manzanar

The eastern edge of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains is a postcard in perfection. Towering mountain peaks stretch into the clear blue skies like fingers looking for freedom. The majestic mountains on the western edge of Owens Valley with Mount Whitney to the north reaching over 14,500 feet in elevation are things of beauty. This is an area in which to camp, hike, travel, and reside if that is your choice. It is not a place to be suddenly dropped into because of your ancestry.

The stark reality of Manzanar is made more than apparent when you drive through the one square mile camp with the nicely folded auto tour pamphlet given out at the Forest Service headquarters at the entrance.

Reconstructed Guard Tower

Row upon row of vacant lots depicting where barracks were set up for the internees are a reminder of what ‘we’ did to fellow citizens. As stated earlier, a very dark chapter in our often glorious history.

One famous internee was Ralph Lazo who was both of Mexican and Irish descent who felt, at the young age of 16 felt that if the United States could simply place citizens into ‘holding facilities’ because of their nationality then he should, in protest, join the deportation. He jumped aboard a train out of Los Angeles in May of 1942 and in solidarity went voluntarily to Manzanar with his fellow neighbors and friends.

“Internment was immoral. It was wrong, and I couldn’t accept it. These people hadn’t done anything that I hadn’t done except to go to a Japanese language school,” Lazo told the Los Angeles Times.

Not once did anyone in authority ask for his identity papers but placed him behind the barbed wired fences just east of the Sierra Nevada’s. He stayed there until the end of the war when the rest of the internees were released and sent home.

A hero? We think so as researchers and Americans.

Another famous person interned during World War II for the fact they were of Japanese descent was the actor George Takei, fame from all the Star Trek series and films as Hikaru Sulu. He was not at Manzanar but in two different camps, Camp Rohwer in Arkansas and Camp Tule Lake in California.  

Takei Family (George in inset)

Famous now, a mere child at the time, like the tens of thousands of other everyday citizens, living  and growing up inn a relocation camp -- it numbs the mind. Hard working, loving, and peaceful friends, co-workers, and neighbors were treated as though they were criminals.

They weren’t and in honor of these people put through hell because of a random genetic moment it would behoove all those who read this blog to take the time to visit Manzanar or what remains of the other nine internment camps. It would be this reflection remembering what we put our fellow citizens through during a given time of extreme caution that will make us stronger individuals.

I wonder if it's fair to question what we did to our citizens to what Nazi Germany to the Jewish population. With the exception of the attempt for a final extermination of a race, how fine is the line? The Japanese-Americans only lost their respect, property, and dignity but not their lives.

Or did they in some abstract manner?

Quiet on the Set

2nd of a two-part series

On the first of July of this year J & L were thrilled to be invited behind the scenes for the making of 'Tales of the Frontier' by TwoGunProductions in the picturesque town of Crestline. It was here on the set we learned how truly difficult filming an action packed western series can be considering the number of people needed to film, the exercise involved in climbing up and down the natural surroundings near Lake Gregory in the forest of the San Bernardino Mountains, to get the perfect film angle, and the many, many 'takes' for a seemingly simple ten second shot.

Tino Luciano, director/producer, and his business partner Garry Lee Brooks, writer/producer, allowed a behind the scene glimpse giving us the rare chance to see a television series being created. The day of the shoot was the final scene when the hero, played by actor Chris Hlovek, saved the heroine, played by actress Candice Bolek, from a group of ruthless and rather nasty looking hooligans. These 'bad guys' were played by the Pioneer Gunfighters. Little did we realize as we drove our more than competent steed, played by our Toyota FJ Cruiser, down some pretty narrow, steep, and twisting forest roads to the location that we would spend the next four hours enthralled in watching scenes being filmed which, and we're not experts in this field, probably would only end up as minutes on the screen.

We have to give a lot of kudos to the film crew who used patience, humor, and genuine concern for the actors, horse handlers, horses, and everyone else who was on set. Even we visitors were treated with kindness and not stares of 'why are you here watching our filming magic.. Magic it was as we witnessed the chemistry of the TwoGunProductions crew in action filming, directing, applying make-up, making sure everyone was safe during the live gun fire (blanks of course), moving cameras/lights/etc., and the rest which make up a fine tuned company. These people sincerely enjoy each others company and seemed more like a family than those with strictly a working relationship. Of course, http://www.two-gunproductions.com/ is a small company and perhaps as it becomes known for great story telling, as discussed in the previous article, they will grow to the size of a major Hollywood studio but doubtful they would ever forget about being genuinely nice to each other.  Though, we at J & L truly doubt that would happen - these people are just nice, period.

Tom Girt and his spouse Paula are responsible for the Pioneer Gunfighters action group who have been playing gunfighters in Southern California and beyond for over 30 years. This group, made up of at least seven gunfighters, brings the realistic attitude and behavior of what life must have been like in the late nineteenth century when honor was all important and a gun generally solved the issue when that honor was disrespected. I spoke to Mark Elsey, one of the gunfighters who advised me he loved the group and enjoyed every time they went out into public to display their 'gunfighter antics' be that at Calico, Colton Frontier Town, or any of the other numerous venues where they entertain visitors and guests. Looking at the outfits he and his fellow gunfighters wore shows that they take their job very seriously and mean business. This happened to be one of the first ventures for the group into a filming career.

But it was not all dress up and play acting for the gunfighters and the main characters for this day's shoot.  The temperature was hovering in the low eighties, dirt was flying everywhere with the horses tramping about, flies and mosquitoes buzzing about our heads, and the sun peeking in and out of the tall tree branches making the director and cinematographer Jake Borowski scratch their heads looking for the best lighting. Watching the Best Boy, Andrew Piovet, and the Key Grip, Vincent Luciano, bounding from tree to tree with gear in their hands to make the director and cinematographer happy was enough to exhaust anyone.

Filming a television series, which can be seen on AskMilton.tv, is no easy matter and those with poor tempers need not apply. It is an avenue which leads to wait, move, wait, get it right, wait, try again, and finally 'cut'.  How many times we heard James Fuentez, Asst. Director, yell 'quiet on the set' is unknown but when he warned us he meant it.

To name everyone involved with this wonderfully wholesome and entertaining series would be a tough job but one only needs to visit Terry Kurtz's website terrykurtz.com , a dear friend and the one who initially invited J & L to the filming, and who is in charge in filming the series 'behind the scenes' action to get the full flavor of what goes on behind the camera.

It was a fascinating experience and one which will not be forgotten. A special thanks to all those on that July 1st who allowed a couple of explorers to watch what few get a chance to see. We only hope they will keep up the good work and perhaps the message that there are true heroes will resonate across this great land of ours. We can only pray and hope.