We started our day be assisting with the daily elephant training. We worked with Ntombi who is 26 years old. They train them with positive reinforcement so when they do what they are told to they get a reward. We were given handfuls of pellets to give her each time she did an action she was asked to do. Some of the elephants are trained to track down poachers which they can do by scent. Elephants are incredibly clever creatures with strong family/herd ties. They ...

Tessa here. Today started in the best way and just got better. My alarm was set for 5:55 but it took until 5:59 for me to wake up, work my way out of my woolly hat and start my day of Lions. Five of us headed out for a Lion walk, this is a opportunity for the lions to become more acclimatised to the bush and gain confidence in the wild before they start hunting, once ready they are then released for breeding. We were walking with two lions cubs of 13 and 18...

We started the day with a quick supermarket shop whilst Driver Dave went and got more paper work done to be able to continue with the truck through Zimbabwe. Then we had a 6 hour drive to get us to Antelope Park. It would have taken less time but there were many roadworks, the occasional police check point where much discussion had to be done about where we were going and what was a truck load of white people doing in Zim. There was also rather a long wait at a t...

Our final morning on the boat was more relaxation. We paused for another swim and this time Tessa jumped out of her bedroom window whilst Vikki bombed from the upper deck. Tessa then joined some others in jumping from the roof. Lots of fun! Straight on the truck for a four hour drive that took us half way to our next activity destination. We stayed in a campsite that Ali had never been to before near the town of Chinhoyi. After dinner Ali gave us a brief histor...

All we had to do today was relax. So we did. Tessa led the way in diving off the boat - although others just bombed. We were taken across the lake to Matusadona National Park. We moored up and went on the launches for a game drive cruising gently through the drowned trees to see elephants, crocodiles, hippos, fish eagles and antelope. The sunset was beautiful. We were thoroughly spoilt by the chef for dinner - having a choice of roast pork and roast chicken.