And this place has laundry as well, and they will even iron the clothes if you wish. So I put all my dirty clothes out, and by the time I got back to camp, the were washed and on a large bush, drying in the sun.
Unfortunately, Daphne got what Charlie had had, and was very indisposed. She remained in bed, while the rest of us had breakfast and prepared to go for our morning walk. Bono and Champion led the way, and Bono had acquired a rifle for everyone's protection. We spent a fair time looking at the droppings of various animals - impalas, elephants, wart hogs, buffalo, zebras, water bucks, and so on. Even saw some scat from a lion. We were in an area where there was likely a lion, so we took it quite slowly and carefully.
We decided that it was better not to provoke whatever was in one group of bushes we passed (we had heard something large move), so went around it and kept going.
After a bit, we came across a hippo sleeping. He was a fair ways above the water, sleeping on his side, and we were able to get quite close to him. We got some pictures before he opened his eyes, raised his head, and spotted us.
He was on his feet and facing us, looking like he was about to charge. We backed off, and he went the other way to the water. Whew!
Then on and across some very interesting terrain. Some of it was like typical savannah, some of it muddy flats, dried and deeply fissured,
some of it was sandy riverbed, some of it was more like a forest. Very unusual for an Ontario boy. We saw lots of impalas, some water bucks, a few wart hogs, and some zebras. And then we saw some elephants. There was a family of them, with a mother, a cub, and some other mothers in the vicinity.
And there was a lone, young, male. He seemed to be disoriented a bit, came over towards us and looked a bit like he was going to charge towards us. Bono told us to back away slowly to a nearby tree, and we didn't need to be told twice. He stayed forward, and yelled at the elephant to scare it. It worked, and he turned away, but it took a while for our hearts to slow down.
We also came across a Snake Eagle which was on the ground, alive, but clearly dying. We thought perhaps it had been bitten by the snakes it was trying to catch.
We walked a long ways after this, going altogether about eighteen km. Then stopped for lunch. My foot was hurting by this time, so I decided not to walk the afternoon. I came back in the car with Daphne (who recovered enough to join us for lunch, although not for walking at all), stopping along the way to see water bucks, kudus, baboons, impalas, zebras, and so on. Also stopped to look at the skull of an elephant who died two years ago in an outbreak of anthrax they had here.
Then back to camp, I sat by the water and read while the sun went down. Chatted with the guides when they got back, had a wonderful supper complete with Mopone worms, sadza, beef stew, and cooked veggies, and have come to bed. I understand that this is a bad area for hyenas, so we are careful to bring all our things into the tents.
Tomorrow we will see if any of us can walk with Bono: Charlie went to bed early feeling unwell; Daphne is just recovering from her gastro; and my foot is now sore from today. So it may be a very lazy day tomorrow.
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Location:Mana Pools
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