It is hard to even look back 2 days when so much seems to happen and I can't afford to get behind with my writing but haven't had a chance until now.
Our last day at Wild life camp was filled with amazing experiences. We decided to take our own vehicle into the park without a local guide and explore a bit deeper. Zandré got some local knowledge and we were away by 6.30 with the promise of our hottest day yet.
We stopped on a bridge and watched hundreds of baboons in the dry riverbed preparing for their day. Could watch them forever.
From the. Ext bridge we could see a dead hippo slowly decomposing and being eaten by predators. The rivers are filled with hippo and crocs. The hippo make lots of noise at times. They stay cool and conserve their energy during the day then go out to eat at night. Sometimes we see a hungry hippo wandering around during the day.
We had requested zebra closer to us and Zandré quickly obliged.
We left the camp Safaris behind and ventured further on. Suddenly we spotted a huge herd of buffalo. Maybe 150. Fortunately they didn't come too close and were amazing to watch.
We sat quietly watching a giraffe having a feed and there are always elephants wandering by. 20000 in south Luangwa area. So much fun to watch them drinking, feeding and cooling themselves. The Mopane forests are all cropped and they also feed on sausages from the sausage trees.
There were impalas leaping and twisting in the air. My most favourite sight.
Suddenly someone called " lion" and we came slowly to a halt, opened the windows and watched a pride of 7 lions quietly crushing around. Some were in trees and they moved about seeking shade. They were only a couple of metres from us but showed no interest.
We watched them for ages before heading off again. It was very very hot.
We drove off across a big sandy expanse and came to a sudden halt buried deep in soft sand. Thank goodness for 4 practical men, a great team leader and a well coordinated team. It took about an hour to get ourselves out. There was no shelter, we heard it was 45 degrees, there was nothing to winch from. It was hard to find a hard surface for the jack so lots of digging was done. We collected brush and random bits of wood and whatever we could find as the sweat poured off us. Zandré is really strong and bent the jack I think.
Fortunately we had lots of water and rehydration salts. We were aware of scorpions in the sand and the lions not far away and it did seem possible we would be stranded in the scorching heat til 8 pm when it would be noticed that we hadn't returned.
Anyway, that didn't happen and a very exhausted group returned to camp about 2 pm. Another adventure under our belt.
Next morning we watched the elephants filling up with water as the red red sun rose behind them then watched the monkeys at play while we ate breakfast. Reluctantly we said goodbye and headed off on our next adventure.