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Published: November 21st 2008
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Although breakfast was at 8, I awoke at 6.15 and heard everyone else moving around. I got up and by 6.45 we had the tents down and packed away. I sat to write my diary overlooking the watering hole. Saw the squirrel/chipmunk thing that I saw yesterday in the eaves of the bar (we also saw a big mouse/small rat scuttling along the beams at dinner). I also watched the yellow weavers building and some brown ones (social weavers) building hairier nests, all tweeting away at a fantastic rate. Saw many brown francolins walking around - like a big brown sandpiper (but fatter) and 2 yellow billed hornbills, which were quite tame and obliged by posing in a tree for me!
We had breakfast and my group washed up and then set off. Sonja gave us a talk on Botswana and explained about today. The first bit of the drive was very rough, but after it was fine. we saw elephant and sable antelope (rare) from the road. Overcast but a nice temperature. Spider bite fine now but prickly heat rash itching - have antihistamines though.
Some areas we drive though are bush with quite large trees but others
seem to be big swathes of dry land with little shrubs but not much else. Green in the bush but brown or sandy elsewhere. At Elephant Sands it was really white sand but because it had rained, little green shoots were poking through all over the place.
Botswana has foot and mouth but we havent yet been stopped and searched (fingers crossed) for animal products (though we have been through 4 checkpoints).
Arrived at Kasane campsite, which is v muddy. Put up the tents and I washed some clothes. Thee are a troop of banded mongoose scampering around the campsite - v cute and they stand up like meerkats, but are about the size of a cat. Ate lunch and then the group that are going to Nairobi (Ben, Becky, Hilde, Roeland, Tilly, Elsa, Vicky and I) went on the Chobe River Cruise. It was a raft with green flotation tanks and plastic chairs but it was quite quick and maneuverable. We saw loads of animals and it was hot and sunny. I really enjoyed it. I also saw loads of birds and used my binoculars lots more (thanks Mum!).
African Fish Eagles: loads of them with
the juveniles having speckled brown and white plumage. I can now recognize their cries, made by tilting the head back. Saw one with a massive fish (that can apparently grow to the size of a human).
Kudu: they were a lot calmer and didn't run off as before. There was one male with huge twisted horns and several females and juveniles. They were licking the earth for salt and minerals.
Monitor Lizard: about 1m long on strange turned out feet.
Nile Crocodile: including a breeding pair and a nest. On shore they keep their mouths open to regulate their body temps. Were not energetic - they hardly even blinked.
Hippos: tonnes of them (literally), a few on land (including a biggish baby) and most just eyes and ears in the water. They are huge and its still amazing that their little legs can hold up the bulk of such an animal. Three were feeding on the island in the middle of the river and the other 2 quickly slid into the water, but one was too busy mowing the grass to notice. When it suddenly realized it started running to the water!!
Elephants: about 40-50!! They were coming to the river for drinks. We were chugging along to one group when suddenly another herd broke over the bank, saw the water and started running gleefully towards it. There were little baby ones too, dwarfed by the others with tiny trunks! They all happily slurped up the water and splashed around in it. Because the babies can't yet control their trunks they have to submerge their mouths. This one baby was hurling its trunk at the water and generally having loads of fun. We watched them for about half an hour, until what i think was the matriarch rounded them up and they began to leave. It was incredible!
Pied Kingfisher: small kingfisher that is black and white - seen with binoculars on a tree.
African Darter: aka snakebird because of its long neck that kinks like a herons. Saw lots of these and then loads roosting in trees in the evening.
Cattle Egrets: beautiful white snowy egrets that accompany big herbivores (e.g. hippos) around feeding off the insects that get disturbed. Also fly in flocks to roost with their legs neatly gathered behind.
Maribou Stork: huge (1,5m) stork with ugly bald head and neck. Black and white plumage with a big pink airsac at the throat.
African-Open-Billed Stork: glossy brown/black bird which eats mussels and snails. At sunset they roost in huge numbers in the trees, but their guano is so acidic that it kills the trees within a year. Their legs are back but they poo on their legs for sunscreen.
Blacksmith Plover: beautiful lapwing with a patchwork of grey, black and white.
Guinea Fowl: loads again - they look like they are on wheels when they run!
When we got back the cooking group had already ,made dinner - bibourti - an Afrikaans dish with minced beef, bananas, onion, raisins and topped with egg (which I didn't have). Sonja talked to us afterward and it was horrible. The lights attracted everything insecty and horrid. I trod on a millipede accidentally and it crunched rather noisily.
We also saw a giant beetle with huge legs, which raised it about an inch off the ground. Erugh!
We had pudding afterwards, a vanilla sponge cake with creme anglais. I got a fruit juice ans we talked to Sebastian (a German) about Germany, Nazism and the BNP - deep!
Love Sally
xxxx
PS Missing my bed!
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