Wally van Gass who was one of the founding members, said right at the beginning of SunEden's existence, and I have often quoted him: “when you come to SunEden for the first time you are a visitor, when you come to SunEden for the second time, then you are a friend, but the third time, when you come for the third time, then you are family".

I repeat his words because it says so much about SunEden, It states that SunEden is a family business and that we are an extended family of which not only the shareholders are members, but also all our regular day and weekend visitors. When reading the messages on the SunEden WhatsApp groups, it can be seen that there often is reference to "my SunEden family". This aspect is extremely important because it tells us a lot about the people of SunEden. One should never underestimate the importance of people. When marketing we often think that we should boast about our beautiful pool, our spa, our shop and bar and our beautiful accommodation. But that's not what it's about, there are many resorts and lodges that have the same and better. It's the people that are important. No one comes to SunEden because there is a nice pool to swim in, or a hot spa bath where you can relax in until your skin wrinkle, or a Pub where you can watch the Saturday’s night rugby. No, you come to SunEden because there you can be with like-minded people. Look again at SunEden's mission statement. “To promote and grow naturism in a safe environment where naturists from all walks of life can experience the exhilaration and freedom of being able to be themselves, in the nude, without judgment or prejudice”.

SunEden’s unique selling point is its commitment to naturism This brings me back to the family story. Families are people who live together, eat together, play together and work together. And that's exactly what we're doing at SunEden. I am super excited by the practice of communal braais at the lapa. The atmosphere there is always fantastic. There are volunteers helping with a variety of tasks, assisting with stocktaking in the Kraaines and the bar, helping out in the restaurant, helping to patrol our borders, helping with the eradication of invasive weeds and introducing the recycling program and much more. One of the forthcoming events is the SunEden O Games and we are looking for guests with a special skill e.g. dancing, drum majorettes, acrobatics, etc. to be part of our opening ceremony. Our people, shareholders family want to be involved, want to work together to make our resort even more beautiful and better place. And it's not just for the few lucky people who are shareholders, it's for everyone. The day and weekend visitors are also part of the family.

This is perhaps a good time to reflect on who we are and why we are naturists. There are probably as many reasons as there are naturists but the one common denominator is that it feels good to be naked. We enjoy to be clothes-free because we are comfortable in our own skins and we enjoy socializing naked with like-minded people.

Then there is this nature thing. Being naked brings us closer to nature and allows us to interact with our surroundings and become part of it. When you take your clothes off, you become a part of nature and even the animals start accepting you as such. We have many beautiful animals at SunEden and we have many beautiful people and they interact. SunEden is a naturist resort but also a nature area where a large variety of animals and plants can be found. We now have a reasonable and manageable herd of nyalas, impalas, and also blesbok. The latest arrivals are springboks. Sadly our first 2 baby springboks disappeared, probably fell prey to jackals that we often hear at night. Since the establishment of SunEden we have imported game on different occasions and we have now reached the maximum carrying capacity of our veld and are forced to sell a limited number of our animals. It is always hard to see them go but with the revenue that we earn from our sales we would like to purchase a few new animals to strengthen the bloodlines. Then there are many species that have always been here and that come and go as they please. The most striking are probably the little grey duikers with the tuft of hair on their heads. Then there are hares, squirrels, porcupines, genets and occasionally a river otter to name just the more common. We have a rich birdlife and even a bird-hide from where we can observe and photograph. We also have banded mongooses. They are small carnivores, native to sub- Saharan Africa. They, like naturists, live in family groups or packs of up to 75 individuals led by a dominant female. They function as a unit and sleep together in groups at night in their dens. They change dens often, about every 2-3 days. Little ones are cared for by the whole pack and the sick or frail are protected by the strong.

I hope that I have given you some food for thought and perhaps a subtle encouragement to visit.

Please give us your feedback! We would like to hear from you, what you like about SunEden and what you dislike and what we can do to make it even more attractive and to add more value to your stay at SunEden.