As our flight was @ 1000am we opted for a 0700 am breakfast and a wake up with meerkats ( today's photo). We headed off to the burrow system they were seen to go to bed in and waited - it was thought they had split and were in two not far apart.
We saw one come out, go back then come out and sun itself - but no others - a late start due to the windy weather we thought- wrong as Ben spied 90% of the family in the distance at the other system of burrows and they were just finishing warming up and were off foraging - wake up missed!
That said we had a good time watching them feed and forage with a big male giraffe as an onlooker. We also got to see their rare pronking behaviour which they did in the readiness to fight as they spied an alien group straying too close. Clearly disturbed the aliens disappeared and our group continued to forage.
Time was pressing so we made our way to the airstrip, passing a group of 9 mountain zebra on the hillside as we we went - through binoculars you could see their wide black and white stripes, white belly and a dewlap on the male. We had a coffee, to warm up, and goodies from the tiffin box; we then chilled until our 10.20 departure time. We were the only ones leaving today so now we know what it's like to be flown on your own private jet - very nice!
On arrival into Johannesburg we were whisked to the international terminal, where we checked in, and had a leisurely lunch, before our 3.45pm departure to Lusaka. We arrived in Lusaka on time, were first off the flight, efficiently met by Tour Africa - who amazingly remembered us from last November, even remembering the colour of our bags. Consequently we breezed through immigration and into a car to take us to Latitude 15 - a nice new hotel, a 45 minute drive from the airport. The roads were quiet probably because of the Presidential election - the results were announced today. Some feared disorder as the opposition lost for the 5th time but the fear was unfounded - all was quiet.
We had a relaxing dinner, caught up with the Olympics and had a relatively early night.