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Published: February 26th 2009
The Girls!
Christmas day - from Left to right:
Aryn, Jules, Louise, Hannah, Pam, Amanda S, Amanda R, Me and Debbie. Anna chose not to join in, naturally.The tree top platform was, as I'd anticipated, a disaster. I lay awake half the night listening to every creak, groan and crack of each branch as the heavy rains pelted the tree and rocked my unstable refuge. I awoke the next morning groggy and bleary eyed surveying the river running through my tent, the river that I was sitting in. Some 'shelter' I thought. The rain had all but collapsed the tent, the flysheet useless. I was surprised the weight hadden't collapsed the platform once and for all. I was going to have to get the tent down. Groaning at that realisation I put my head in my hands when I heard Sat calling from below, 'Jennet darling, we're ready to go' With all the rain I had almost forgotten the game drive. I climbed down and explained the situation to him; naturally he said he would help me get the tent down after the drive.
Our first game drive was a bit of a bust, it started to rain heavily and apart from the occasional elephant and gazelle we didn't really see much. I wasn't fazed, it was nice to be out and we had another game drive
African Elephant
Our first game drive, in the rain booked for that evening. We got back to camp at 10:00am, I was already soaked to the skin so I figured, 'what better time to take the tent down’ Louise and I hadn't been alone with the treetop idea, Troy and Amanda had also pitched in a tree and like me, nearly drowned in the night. 'Ya Gonna git it down?' Troy asked, gazing up at my tent.
'Mmmm I murmured, Sat's going to help me’ It was at that moment that my tent shuddered and crashed to the ground. Troy and I leapt back in surprise, 'Much better darling! Tell me where you want it and I'll move it into position’ it was then that I noticed Sat grinning above me. Together we strategically placed my tent under the tree on a slight rise, hung my sleeping bag and mat out to dry and then headed back to the truck so that I could resume my cook group obligations and prepare lunch.
We'd had a break in.
Grubby little paw prints and missing food items were the only indication that the monkey's had been in the truck, they were oddly considerate and hardly left any mess -
Night Terror
They just look so ridiculous! only taking food from one side of the truck and leaving the other side alone completely. Strange.
After lunch I felt a shower was much needed and sloshed my way over to the ablution block. I amused myself as the warm jets washed over me, by reading the 'safety' sign the camp had kindly thought to put up,
'Flatdogs is lucky enough to be situated in one of Africa's top National Parks and as such we are lucky enough to receive visits from the local wildlife. Lion, Leopard and Hyena have all been spotted in the camp. Hippo's, Elephants and Baboons are a daily occurrence. Under NO circumstances must you approach the wildlife. You MUST keep a distance of 20 metres at all times. If in danger run to the nearest vehicle, building or tree I snorted, 'run! have they seen me run? I might as well just roll over and sprinkle myself with salt and pepper.'
Later, the sun broke through the clouds and made everything washed everything in a luminous yellow glow. A few of us strolled to the river and watched the hippo's, listening to them grunting as they surfaced, yawned and then
submerged. Content, we made our way to the bar for drinks before our evening game drive.
Our drive was to start at 4pm, finishing at 8pm, with a break at 6pm for sundowners. The sun was out in full force and the evening was glorious - everyone was excited about this drive. We split into two groups and sped out in two different game vehicles. The first couple of hours were spent just enjoying the wildlife. We saw Crocs, Hippos, Elephants, Fish Eagles, Gazelle, Zebra, Impala, Vultures, and Hyena etc. By the time we stopped to get out and stretch our legs and enjoy the sundowners that our park ranger had kindly provided, we were all feeling relaxed and happy. It was, however the
night drive that excited me. 10 minutes later with the tables and beers cleared away, we got back into the vehicles and the guides pulled out the spot light. All other game become secondary - they were looking for cats. The inky night closed in and I found myself fighting a losing battle against the onslaught of flying beetles pelting me from all directions. Relentless, they got everywhere - hitting my face, my hair, they
went down my collar, in my sleeves and they would bite. I soon gave up; I was more interested in what was happening. For the first hour nothing
did happen. we would slow down suddenly, the guide sweeping the spotlight through the bush looking for the movement or eyes that he thought he had seen only for it to be an impala, gazelle or nothing at all. We would then speed back up, tearing through the bush, the light sweeping from side to side. It was amazing, the anticipation was incredible - it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't find anything the hunt was enough. Everyone was silently holding their breath, eyes straining to see
something It was then that we heard him.
Quietly and slowly we edged around the next corner - another vehicle was in front, its spotlight firmly fixed on something in the distance. We crept closer and killed the engine. Silence - followed by a low rumble. Across the veldt, amidst the bushes and illuminated only by the two lights focused on him, was a beautiful male Lion. He was still some distance away, as big as my fingernail in prospective but he
was there, snarling and snapping at something in the water he was standing in front of. It was a game, whatever it was, (a croc?) snapped back and he leapt away lithely and then he was facing us. We held our breaths as slowly, he started to walk towards us.
Then he was gone.
There was a dip in the valley and he disappeared from view. An excited buzz rang around the vehicle when then the guide suddenly hissed, 'shhhhh, sit down - he comes!'
He emerged through the bush seconds later, a meter from where I sat. He was
beautiful. He tipped his head back and sniffed the air, growling slightly in the back of his throat. Casually, nonchalant even he passed around the back of our vehicle and started walking down the road, spraying and marking his territory as he went. The driver gently turned us around and silently, we followed him. We followed him for about half an hour, (we didn't have much choice in the matter, he monopolized the road) He would stop only occasionally to sniff, spray and then saunter on. We came to a stream that flowed over a low bridge.
This confused him slightly and tentatively he dipped a paw in then shook it snarling, it was like watching a large disgruntled kitten. Eventually he ran through, slipping awkwardly to the other side before turning left and sauntering off into the bush, leaving us staring at him wistfully and full of admiration.
The drive was a success and elated we returned to the camp for drinks at the bar.
I slept better that night, despite the continual grunting and splashing from the hippos in the river. Even the Lions roaring were not enough to keep me awake as even though they sounded like they were right outside my tent, I knew logically that a lions roar can be heard over 5 miles and that in all likely hood these Lions were on the other side of the river. I slept soundly until about 4am, when I was jolted awake by what sounded, or felt like an earthquake. Bolting upright and gasping I fumbled with shaking fingers for my head torch and gingerly edged my way to the entrance of my tent. Straining I tried to listen for the sound of the disturbance, or ‘earthquake’ as I had original thought.
I could hear breathing. Something was just outside.
Groaning I retreated to the far corner of my tent and pulled my sleeping bag up around me. It was then that I heard a snort, the calm before the storm as my ‘visitor’ let out an ear splitting roar - no not a lion’s roar, a hippo’s. My tent shuddered with the force of the animal and as it grunted and roared I realized that I could hear more than one and that this thing wasn’t alone! What's more, they were
fighting. I could hear twigs snapping and branches moving, brushing my tent as they continued to brawl. It was a long wait until morning.
Morning finally arrived and cautiously I decided to step outside and survey the damage. Just meters from my tent there lay a bush, flattened. From memory I knew this bush used to be as big as a small family car. There was more, branches were snapped, debris lay all around and there was a large amount of blood at the scene. I decided to talk to Nick.
‘They won’t hurt you!’ he laughed, ‘they just see your tent as a giant rock and walk
around it’
I stared at him aghast, ‘yes,
Nick - but in case you haven’t notice the bloody big bush next to my tent that’s been reduced to firewood - when they fight, I don’t think there’re that
aware of what they ‘bump’ into. In fact, quite honestly - I don’t think they give a shit.’
He smiled, ‘you’ll be fine’
I fumed about that as I lay there the next night, listening to them grunt. I didn’t brood for long as an ear splitting scream split the night. Once again, fumbling for my torch I opened my tent flap praying that a hippo hadn’t actually killed someone. I screwed my eyes up to the night looking for the blood bath when two Australian girls opposite me caught my attention. The source of the disturbance hadn’t been an animal attack after all - the two blond bimbos had set their ‘wendy house’ of a tent up in a rain gully and the heavens had opened. A river had literally washed their tent away. Laughing, I crawled back into my warm, dry tent and settled in for the night.
We spent 5 nights in total at Flatdogs; I went
Zebra
I know you're not a moron, I'm only naming everything because it's 'required' on one other game drive in which I was able to see the rest of the pride which completed the magical experience. Christmas came and we girls gathered in Louise’s chalet to drink Champaign and get ready, straightening our hair, swapping make-up and putting on pretty dresses. The boys too, all made a similar effort in Sat’s chalet, all except Tiny who wore his usual denim shorts and grubby wife beater. We dined on roast turkey with all the trimmings and drank until late in the evening, playing drinking games and telling jokes. We swapped our secret Santa presents, most were travel games or edible treats and Richard, with his charming assistant, ‘Iainetta’ put on an impromptu magic show for the two young Swedish children also staying at the camp.
After 5 days of sitting by the river, fighting off hippo’s and going on Safari it was time to head to Lusaka - our pit-stop before Livingstone.
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