Today was our normal routine except we asked for a slightly earlier wake up call at 5.45am, to allow a little more time to drink our tea and get ready; also today we got our shower.
Our first sighting was of a hippo sleeping under a bush; this was followed by an unsuccessful search for a leopard which we guessed was in the area because of frantic alarm calls from a group of baboons. Never mind I am sure they lived to fight another day and scared the leopard off.
We then focused on watching wildebeest mass on the opposite bank - they looked like crossing as they many stood on the edge, a couple even made it to the next level before they all had second thoughts and retreated to eat grass, then they ran to another crossing point we followed, they halted, ran back and ate grass- this remained the story at crossing points 6&7 as long as we watched ......including while having breakfast ...... eventually however we lost patience and went to find lion and leopard in the kopies.
Just before settling down to breakfast we identified a martial eagle with a baby warthog in its talons sitting in one of the trees close by and calling.
One American couple did persevere until 1400ish with the wildebeest and were rewarded with a crossing - instead we saw; a pride of lions relaxing on the Kopies, a dark chanting goshawk sitting on the ground and not to be forgotten we experienced a puncture and heard the sissing noise as an acacia thorn causes tyre deflation! - Jeremiah and Sheeja, along with a guide and spotter from another vehicle sorted it out in 10 minutes and we were back on the road heading to lunch in no time at all. (Today's photo is of the four of them putting the jack back on the front of the vehicle.)
After a leisurely lunch we relaxed until going out on a walk with our guide, spotter and a ranger with a big gun to protect us. We walked for about 2hrs 30minutes and saw a range of different things - it made a nice change from the vehicle. We saw lots of zebra, a herd of buffalo,impala, oribi, topi, slender mongoose, banded mongoose, two leopard trees - one with old kills in it, the other with scratch marks on the bark from it climbing up, a wildebeest snared by poachers but not taken and a poachers lair- in the bushes. We also saw lots of birds including white headed buffalo weavers, Senegal lapwings, marital eagle, tawny eagle, a brown snake eagle and grey backed shrikes. We also saw little things like safari ants and Matabele ants - neither to be toyed with as they can give a good nip. Importantly although the sky was dark we skirted around the rain and had a dry walk.
Back in camp we had a cup of tea before showering and dinner - guests now fall into two camps British and American - and fall is the right word as two Americans who were on the slight downslope side of the table, fell backwards, in unison, flat on their backs - while seated, and had to be recovered, chairs and all, and righted to the seated position .....we sniggered then when we knew they were ok we laughed out loud!