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Our house is situated on top of one of the four hills
which make up the Samanave estate. |
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| Swimming in the pool gives you the impression you are on your way out into the ocean. |
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| In them we trust. |
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This is our early-warning-system.
She hears everything... |
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| Then the security specialist is called in... |
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| .... and his lady friend. |
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| The Dominican Republic is said to have no railway system. But that's not true. |
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| From our terrace you will have a wide view of the Atlantic Ocean. The scenery drops down to the sea, about 1000 feet below. |
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| It takes about 15 minutes to drive down to Las Terrenas. The beaches there are among the finest of the country. |
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We, however, prefer the country life, away from tourism.
Up here it's cooler and quieter; the air is fresh and clean. We are air conditioned by a constant breeze. The environment is (still) unspoilt. |
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Samanave's basic idea is, to be self-sufficient as much as possible.
Electricity is generated by an economic 4-cylinder diesel engine (Yanmar). |
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A Direct Digital Control Unit (Siemens) is used to operate the engine automatically.
It can also be controlled by a wireless remote transmitter. |
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| There is sufficient fuel for more than 6 months. |
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However, the diesel generator only runs less than two hours a day.
During this time the 16 batteries are charged... |
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| ...the pool is filtered and... |
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| ...drinking water is pumped from a depth of 300 feet into the storage cistern. |
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| For the remaining 22 hours of the day power is provided by two inverters (115/230 V, 60 Hz). |
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| Two satellite dishes connect us to the internet and international TV channels. |
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| ... which seems to be of interest to our pets as well. |
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| Our cattle groom the landscape, the finca has about 20 acres. |
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| In our traditional brick oven we bake... |
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| ...our wholesome "Frankonian style sour dough rye bread". (Recipe by "Muehlbeck", Egloffstein, Germany) |
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