Ordinary drive turns exciting!!

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Geo: -12.8546, 31.311

drive to bush camp elephant eating from winterthorn tree and lion kill on the sand

Up and decided to go on our regular walk and Patrick and Verena asked if they could go along. Sure, why not? So off we head toward reception and the chalets. Ran into Conrad and he was getting ready to go out to the bush camp to deliver some firewood and pick up the people that were staying overnight at the camp. Hopped into the vehicle and off we went.

We came upon a very large elephant feeding and we stopped to watch him. He then moved on to a winter thorn tree which is one of those trees the elephants love to eat! Problem for the elephant was that the limbs were too far for him to reach. No problem as we have seen before. Step, step then lift up and extend the trunk and bring down the branches. We watched for awhile enjoying such a great sight.

As we got the river back in view, we could see the park on the other side and there were three or four old buffalo moving about and looked like they were nervous. Conrad commented that maybe they could see the lions that we had seen the night before on the drive with Ryvers down on the sand eating.

We got to camp just in time to see what the buffalo were so nervous about. Right there across the river five lions had just brought down another one of the old buffalo. We saw the one lion riding the back of the buffalo and the others move in for the kill. Not really what I had planned to see but once again this is nature as I must remember.

You could see the lions moving about and more of the pride showing up to join in the kill. The people at the camp were eating breakfast at the moment this had happened. Not the best in breakfast entertainment for most.

Evidently someone had called to the office because Dora arrives on the scene to check things out. We could see game drive vehicles that had driven up just as the kill was taking place and had "ringside" seats you might say.

One of the people that was at the bush camp was the gentleman from the Norwegian embassy in Llongwe we had talked to about his camera problems and to his wife about budget travel. They are getting ready to retire from the embassy but still want to travel in Africa. He came over and told us he had gotten his camera fixed and then Dora asks him how everything was going. He says they were have a very nice quiet breakfast and then the lions had to nerve to cause all this excitement. Of course was just kidding and said they had had quite an experience both in the evening and then that morning!

Of course not all trips to a bush camp would be like this or on any game drive for that matter. We delivered the firewood, gathered the overnight bags from the guests and got ready to head back. Dora's vehicle had a low tire so she caught a ride back with us.

What an experience from just a ride to something pretty exciting. We walked on back to the campsite and fixed our food. That afternoon we were treated to some hippos jousting down the river carrying on with quite a bit of roaring, jaws open and the whole show.

We also saw some elephants playing in the river as they crossed. Some of younger ones would lift up and then fall over backwards. So funny to watch. Of course, while all this is going on we are waiting to see who will take the space between Patrick/Verena and our campsite and we then saw a "old hippie van" as they would say complete with painting on the side, things hanging down from rearview mirror and up they come, pull in and get out and start setting up their camp. Say hello and they say they have heard about us??!!! Turns out he is Herman's nephew and they are staying here before they head off to Malawi. More on them later.

Patrick and Verena had decided to stay one more day and so we went to their campsite and had another sundowner, cooked our sausage and had a hiho time with chateau cardboard!

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Photos

male dipping horns in mud
we asked why they did this and the answer was it is a mating display of sorts