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Published: June 17th 2017
02 Camp Site
Our camp site by the river.Geo: -15.9455, 29.3115
Paul got up quite early, some time before 6am. I heard him rattling about, the monkeys came and I went back to sleep. I woke up again and looked out of the tent to see him chasing after monkeys with pieces of firewood. It was a funny sight – seeing Paul chase the monkeys and throwing firewood at them! I got up and kept him company and together we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. In the river I could see a few hippos floating about. The camp site was pretty quiet, there were only about 5 other vehicles.
About 20 minutes later Paul, John and I went for a game drive. We were very eager to get out and explore a new national park - I had heard amazing things about Mana Pools. The drive was very bumpy and bouncy due to the popped shock absorbers - luckily we don't suffer from travel sickness. Paul had to drive very carefully. A few minutes after leaving the camp site, we stopped to identify various birds in a wetland area.
A further along the road we came across a spotted hyena and followed it. It was running along and joined up with 4
03 Sunrise
A beautiful sunrise. other hyenas. They were quite active and took off into the bush. We were not able to drive off road to follow them, so continued on.
We saw 2 waterbuck standing on a little mound of dirt, looking at us, their posing made a very nice photo. Paul got out of the car to get closer to take a photo. The waterbuck just stared at Paul as he slowly approached them. On our drive we saw many animal tracks, small herd of breeding elephants, waterbuck, ground squirrels, kudus, wetlands, baboons, crocodiles, impalas, warthogs and a muddy dagga boy.
We came to the river and there was a large herd of waterbuck. Nearby Paul discovered a great place to fish, an open area by the river. From here it was only a 10 minute drive to the campsite. I then spotted a muddy dagga boy – so far we have seen two of the big five in one drive.
Just after 9 we returned from our game drive. We had been driving for a while but had not driven very far from camp. We had toasted jaffles and coffee for breakfast. We then noticed many hyena tracks all around our camp site
04 Zambia
On the other side of the river is Zambia. from their visit last night.
Paul, Francois and I went for a walk through the camp site and along the river towards the park's office. I saw a funny sight – a barbecue all covered in hippo poo. A male hippo has marked this barbecue as his territoriy. I'm glad this one wasn't our camp site! We walked through another interesting camp site – there were huge traps everywhere. I wonder how many monkeys have been tricked and if it deters them from raiding this camp site.
Along the walk Paul would stop and have a cast, but he had no luck. Francois walked on ahead. Paul walked ahead and in the grass he saw a snake, which caused me to panic and I think my heart stopped – I am petrified of snakes. It was actually a water monitor which climbed up a tree after I screamed. I gained my composure and as I was about to continue walking an actual snake slithered in front of me! I screamed again, Paul identified the snake as a Black Mamba, it took off and there was a big splash as the water monitor fell from the tree into the river! Paul
05 Wetland
A bit of a wetland area with a variety of birds. found all this amusing and had a big giggle at my expense. My heart was pounding so fast. I was now not in a good mood, it was our first day here and I had already seen a snake.
We continued walking and came to the river's edge. Paul and Francois did some fishing. From here I could see a couple of hippos lying in the sun on an island in the middle of the river. There was no shade here, it was a very open area. After about 10 minutes I was ready to go back and there was no way I was walking by myself with so many reptiles around. So Paul walked me back to the camp site and he returned to the spot to continue fishing.
I happily sat in my chair by the river, looking out over the Zambezi River and at the Zambian hills on the other side. This gave me some time to read my magazine.
Paul and Francois returned about an hour later. They had no luck with fishing.
The sky started to darken, clouds were approaching. We thought that there was going to be a storm. In some ways a storm
06 Birds
Various birds in the wetland area. would be great- a chance to cool down in the rain. Unfortunately the sky cleared up very quickly and there wasn't a drop of rain.
Paul, Francois and I went for a short drive to the place that we saw this morning. The boys did some fishing while I went for a little walk around. From the river's edge was a huge crocodile basking in the sun on a little island in the river. The large herd of waterbuck were in the same place on the river as they were this morning. There was also a large flock of White Fronted Bee Eaters.
In less than an hour of fishing, Paul finally had some success, a small fish – a Chessa. He used it as bait in the hope of catching a larger fish. I was getting bored so I went for a small game drive. It was a very quiet game drive. The hi-light was 3 White Backed Vultures in a tree. I also enjoyed watching a troop of baboons eating leaves & roots and grooming each other. I returned to where I left the guys. They had not had much luck with their fishing. From here we enjoyed a
07 Hyena
Two of the spotted hyenas that we were following. beautiful sunset as a large bull elephant was eating in the distance on an island.
We then headed back to camp where John had started the fire for our dinner. While we waited for coals to be ready for cooking I had a shower. The shower and toilet block was about 20 metres from our camp site and unpowered, so I showered by moonlight and light from my head torch. On my way out of the shower I saw a hyena that was looking at me, so I called out to Paul to escort me back to the camp site. I was a bit scared of the hyena, as it was looking at me with its many sharp teeth.
Francois, Paul and I were getting things ready for dinner when Francois spotted a snake. It was a huge Snouted Cobra which slithered out from under our tent. Paul and Francois chased it into the river. This was a very stressful day for me. So I had enjoyed a sundowner of vodka, lime and soda to settle my nerves.
Later that evening as we sat around the fire, I was frequently scanning the immediate area with my head torch. I saw a
08 Hyena
A spotted hyena. spotted hyena, it was so close behind me, only 5 metres away. The hyena was looking for scraps, I wish it would wait for us to go to bed!
That night I feel asleep to the sound of hippos calling and 1 loud snorer....
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