A lie in this morning as we were transferring to Ngaga camp for the gorilla focussed part of the trip - we however opted for a 5.30 delivery of tea as we would be awake - there is nothing better than an unhurried cup of tea in bed in John's book. Imagine our surprise when the call came at 4.40am - Patrick, the assistant manager, had set his watch on by an hour and unperturbed by the lack of staff in the kitchen he set about the making and delivery himself....unlu...

Another 5.00am wake up, today we were out early to drive to the boat jetty on the Lekoli river to search for primates and other animals on a boat trip along the river. Enroute a marsh mongoose scampered across the road, then as we passed an old camp, being renovated by Wilderness for future guests who want to stay near the river, we got good views of another bull elephant eating his way through the tall grass; and saw a male buffalo seeking sanctuary under what w...

The routine was wake up call, with tea, at 5am, breakfast at 0530 and off at 6.00am. Today we were off to do a forest walk in secondary rainforest about a 45 minute drive away. The Austrian couple had opted to do the walk in the bai that they had missed last night - relations remained strained! As we were leaving with the American couple - Lee and Danielle who were both in their 70s - one of the cooks ran to say that there was an elephant in the staff quarters -...

At breakfast we looked to see if anymore people were likely travel companions - there was one couple popping malaria pills but we decided unlikely as the lady had pink suede shoes and normal clothes on - the others looked like single business people. At 0830 we checked out ready for our departure at 0845. All seven who came from South Africa were ready; we were told that we were waiting another couple - we all got on the bus - a man and the couple with the pink...

It was another very cold start but it was the last hurrah of the passing cold front that had been with us for 2 days; the temperature steadily climbed as we wended our way back to Upington for our 1720 flight to Johannesburg. To make sure we made it we had to leave Nossob at 7.30 as the gates opened and agreed only to stop for the famous male black maned Kalahari lions or meerkats. Not long after leaving we picked up lion tracks and with luck behind us we found ...