This morning we got up, packed up our tents and got on the road towards Elephant sands. A big 8 hour day of driving.
I spent most of the trip reading my swahili book and trying to catch up on some learning of the language. It's difficult to practice it down here- because. I have met no one that speaks it yet!
A lot of our drive was through the national park, which meant that at times we had to slow down for the bamboons to get off the road, and even wait for the elephants to cross! The first elephant we saw was the most exciting! It was so close and just trying to hide behind this tiny little tree- he wasn't fooling anyone, poor little buddy! He was just gorgeous!
When we arrived at our new campsite there were people everywhere- mainly other tour groups. It so funny to see how territorial everyone became when we saw another tour group, as it it was 'them' and 'us'- and of course we were always the better group! What we have noticed for most of our campsites is that we never camped with fences, we were in with the animals for the night! When I mean with the animals for the night, I mean they literally set up a pool, a bar, a restaurant and a campsite right next to the waterhole! Which meant that when you sit down to have a drink at the bar- there is a very real elephant having a drink 20 meters away from you! Very surreal!
We went of a game park drive through the park that afternoon, however we were not as lucky as our first game drive. We saw a few birds and a few Elephants- but still no lion or leopard! It just seemed there was not a great deal of animals around, unfortunately.
That night we had another buffet dinner at the restaurant where we had the choices of chicken casserole, ox tail casserole, Pep, rice and salad. Callum and I challenged each other that we had to eat at least a little bit of everything! I tried everything- but I think he was the clear winner as he even went back for seconds! The food is very filling and rich here. Ox tail was interesting, but actually just tasted like tough beef! I think the trick is to mainly avoid the meat and try and scavenge out the veggies!
While we were eating, Elephants were constantly making their way down to the waterhole for a drink. It was amazing to just sit there and watch them so close!
All night we were dodging dung beetles that seem to fly around with seriously no direction or purpose- it's as if they have no control and they constantly run into you! It's a good little thump too when they hit- they are fairly massive for beetles- and everywhere! You had to just move them out of the way when you try to wash your hands or brush your teeth in the bathroom- they seem to be in every sink! As if they had somehow flown in there and now can't get out! Strange little creatures- Tsepo tried to make Lisa hold one and I've never seen her scream so much!
Tomorrow we have to cross the Botswana border into Zimbabwe. We never want to experience the Botswana border crossing incident again, so as a group we decided to have an extremely early start. 2.45 wake up call! Wish me luck!
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I spent most of the trip reading my swahili book and trying to catch up on some learning of the language. It's difficult to practice it down here- because. I have met no one that speaks it yet!
A lot of our drive was through the national park, which meant that at times we had to slow down for the bamboons to get off the road, and even wait for the elephants to cross! The first elephant we saw was the most exciting! It was so close and just trying to hide behind this tiny little tree- he wasn't fooling anyone, poor little buddy! He was just gorgeous!
When we arrived at our new campsite there were people everywhere- mainly other tour groups. It so funny to see how territorial everyone became when we saw another tour group, as it it was 'them' and 'us'- and of course we were always the better group! What we have noticed for most of our campsites is that we never camped with fences, we were in with the animals for the night! When I mean with the animals for the night, I mean they literally set up a pool, a bar, a restaurant and a campsite right next to the waterhole! Which meant that when you sit down to have a drink at the bar- there is a very real elephant having a drink 20 meters away from you! Very surreal!
We went of a game park drive through the park that afternoon, however we were not as lucky as our first game drive. We saw a few birds and a few Elephants- but still no lion or leopard! It just seemed there was not a great deal of animals around, unfortunately.
That night we had another buffet dinner at the restaurant where we had the choices of chicken casserole, ox tail casserole, Pep, rice and salad. Callum and I challenged each other that we had to eat at least a little bit of everything! I tried everything- but I think he was the clear winner as he even went back for seconds! The food is very filling and rich here. Ox tail was interesting, but actually just tasted like tough beef! I think the trick is to mainly avoid the meat and try and scavenge out the veggies!
While we were eating, Elephants were constantly making their way down to the waterhole for a drink. It was amazing to just sit there and watch them so close!
All night we were dodging dung beetles that seem to fly around with seriously no direction or purpose- it's as if they have no control and they constantly run into you! It's a good little thump too when they hit- they are fairly massive for beetles- and everywhere! You had to just move them out of the way when you try to wash your hands or brush your teeth in the bathroom- they seem to be in every sink! As if they had somehow flown in there and now can't get out! Strange little creatures- Tsepo tried to make Lisa hold one and I've never seen her scream so much!
Tomorrow we have to cross the Botswana border into Zimbabwe. We never want to experience the Botswana border crossing incident again, so as a group we decided to have an extremely early start. 2.45 wake up call! Wish me luck!
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