September 8 -
Today was our last full day at this camp. On our morning game
drive, we found the elusive African Civets that we didn’t see yesterday. They
were far away and I shot blindly with my iPhone, so not great shots by any
means but I managed to get them.
The sunrise this morning on the drive was lovely. I don’t
think I’ve mentioned that for the cool mornings they provide blankets and hot
water bottles that kept us toasty. One day I got one that leaked and my lap was
getting warmer by the minute. Of course, in the dry air the SPF pants dried
quickly.
Tabo started the drive by asking if there was anything else
we wanted to see. Of course, I was still hoping for Painted Dogs, but they
hadn’t been seen in a couple of weeks. I heard others talk about a Hippo pool
and I asked if we could see some hippos. We jokingly asked to find a Pangolin.
We got to the Kwando River with the hippos and the sunrise
made for some interesting shots. There were LOTS of Hippos and one side was
shooting photos right into the sun and the ones much further away had the sun
shining on them. Tabo said they were two different groups and Hippos are
territorial. We did see some minor posturing between a couple of Hippos in the
water. I took a video of one leaving one group and going to the other, but
nothing really happened. I had the movie Fantasia of dancing hippos playing in
my head.
The rest of the morning was spent watching the grazers. The 6
Giraffe were entertaining, and we came across a Kori Bustard, another Steenbok,
some Guinea Fowl, a Kudu buried in the brush, and a Tsesessebe.
We had our midday break, and we spent some time up in the
animal hide and watched the elephants as several came out of the tall grass and
waded through the water. It was then time for a shower and then we spent some time at
the lodge until the afternoon snacks came and we left for the afternoon game
drive. Lunch today was cold meatballs & roasted potatoes. They were good,
but like most lunches here, most things were cold not hot.
On our evening game drive, we saw some Elephants eating salt
(I took a video), Impala, White-faced Whistling Ducks, Open-billed Stork, 2 Wattled
Cranes, Squacco Heron, Winged Googe, African Jacana and an African Hoopoe. We
didn’t get great shots of any of them, but I will include a few anyway.
We had our sundowner and came back to the lodge, and we were
taken to a separate place to have a special good-bye dinner. It was a lovely
setting and Ocean served us. For our stay here she always had a smile and was
just so sweet. The other server at the lodge I’m sure was nice, but she always
seemed annoyed. The beef for dinner was Kudu and it was very good. There was a
nice dessert which really capped off our evening. There were also after dinner
drinks. Since we had a special dinner for just us, Tabo was able to get to bed
for some extra rest. Unfortunately, we had a difference of opinion on the plan
for tomorrow morning, and they had to go wake him. In the vehicle he said it
would be easier in the morning if we got up at our usual time, have breakfast,
and then game drive until it was time to drive to the airstrip.
A compromise was reached and we did the game drive and left
the game drive early to drive back to the lodge. It was nice to get a bathroom
break before going to the airstrip.
One of the things we learned early in the trip was that when
the tracker left his seat out front to get into the vehicle, we were going to
find something good. (Lions or Cheetahs) We also learned the term ALT which
stands for “animal looking thing”. I added BLT for “bird looking thing”. While
we did night drives, we did see a few interesting things, but unlike at other
camps where they light up the subject for photos instead using a night vision
light that they kept moving. They did light up the eye glow of a Honey Badger
and the funniest animal we saw were these Spring Hares that hopped like
Kangaroos. They were bouncing all over the place.
gift left on our bed the last night - beaded elephants
Tomorrow, we have a game drive and then we will fly to Kwara
Camp in the Okavango Delta.
Online photos & videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/r7mYMKDjGUpXHjSd7
