First day on safari
We met our Safari team yesterday at 4pm and had a bit of a briefing and learned how to put our tents up.
We have very substantial tents that are easy to erect and fit our 2 minimal mattresses in with a wee bit to spare.
It was such a relief to sleep outside after overheated brick houses with unreliable power supply for the fans. The night got quite cool and this was the first morning I have woken without a headache.
Our driver, Zandré, who is from South Africa, sorted a simple breakfast for us and we packed up and headed off at 8am. Zandré had to shop first for 5 days food for us which must have been quite a mission and took a couple of hours by the time we managed to pack it and all our water into our trailer and hit the road.
We had about a 3 hour drive north during which we all dozed. The truck has aircon but not exactly cold and it was mighty hot.
Endless villages and towns. People selling stuff on the roadside like a man with a couple of live chooks, another with a live rabbit in each hand and a 3rd with a live dove in each hand. At least the dinner would be fresh. Yesterday we saw mice on skewers.
Many of the villages have a pump for water and there are always women and children gathered around the village pump.
We are camped by the lake tonight having already had a 4 wheel drive experience. We got bogged in the sand on the way in and managed with the help of many willing hands to push the vehicle out after unhitching the trailer which was winched up later.
There is a pleasant breeze blowing and we are looking forward to another good night.
Our 2 German travelling companions are both very experienced African Safari goers and have been with our company many times before so we are the real green horns.