We set off just after 7.15am to walk to fly camp 12 km away - our luggage followed on behind with Noelle. It was a lovely walk; we passed giraffe near camp, saw Ellie's trumpet and run upset by something - we searched for lion but couldn't see any- we then crept up on a warthog - who ran off tail erect when he finally sensed us ( today's photo),saw a big male eland who predictably ran off when he finally realised our presence, saw several bands of banded mongoose, heard dwarf mongoose and saw a greater eagle owl but the last hour and half was quite hard as we pushed towards the river via bushbuck island to the camp as it was through quite thick vegetation. Moli hadn't been there since November and it was clear the floods had had a marked impact not least on the shape of the river. The grasses were still tall and there were deep, now dry, hazardous ruts caused by big elephant feet when they were walking through the wet mud - you could definitely see how fossilised footprints were formed. We saw bushbuck as we crossed a dry river just before bushbuck island.
Interestingly we were now on the go away bird boundary and the bare faced which we saw in the east gave way to the white bellied here.
We arrived around midday and were welcomed with a much needed cold towel, drink and lunch. It was definitely hot walking in the sun especially in the dry river bed but the choice was impenetrable bush or open sand!
The team had been preparing the campsite,overlooking the river for a couple of days - they intended to keep the camp there for the season. There had been much hacking of vegetation to give us a lovely view of the river.
There was an enormous sandbank in the river adjacent to camp which apparently wasn't there last year!
Our bell tent was small but very functional and importantly it had two camp beds - which were amazingly comfortable.
In the afternoon we went for a drive, Noelle came along to, up a rarely used road to a river which was almost dry except for a large algae covered pool, with fish surfacing for oxygen, by the crossing.
We saw a new bird a violet tipped coarser.
The landscape was very different - less baobabs and fewer animals but it made a nice change. The drive enabled us to see more of this national park which is the largest in Tanzania and holds an area the size of Switzerland.
The return to camp was fun - we saw a white tailed mongoose then watched a genet in the dark which meant Moli had an excuse for missing the turning back to camp, but in the pitch black the twisty not totally bedded in track was difficult to follow.
A much welcomed dinner was outside under the trees after we had taken in the starry skies with a drink on the sandbank around a lovely fire.