Thursday 3 September 2015

Day 22: Kunene River Lodge

We had breakfast on the deck, overlooking a perfectly clear river, the past few mornings have been a bit hazy.  Today the greens were greener and the water more sparkling.  We had a chilled start to the morning, I spent some time in the only wi-fi spot -  an open thatched roof hut, that I shared with an Angolan fruit bat  - painstakingly trying to send off blogs. All comms is soooooo slow here.

Around 10:30, George and Sue took a drive to the Ehomba area in search of the Cinderella Waxbill, a little-known bird with a restricted range in this area. Tony, Al, Gray and I hitched a ride a couple a kilometers upstream with 2 x 2 man croc rubber dinghies. The trip started off really well with me slipping down the muddy bank and landing up full of mud, much to amusement of the others. We spent the next few hours drifting and paddling down the Kunene River to the lodge.

Feeling a little rebellious, we paddled across to the other side and touched Angolan soil, unofficially, a first for me and Panda is making a habit of it, having done it regularly 35 years ago. The vegetation was less jungle like, with fewer palms and more acacias, leadwoods and thorn trees.  We saw lots of water birds but the highlight was a crocodile slithering into the water about 2m from us and swimming under our dingy. I loved this morning on the river.

We returned to a delighted pair of birders who had seen a whole flock of Cindies and a whole herd of other birds. The girls spent the afternoon chilling around the swimming pool and the boys pottered around the camp, sorted out car maintenance and read.

At 5 we walked down to the river, boarded the boat and headed upriver on a booze cruise.
I love being on water, especially cruising on African rivers, another really happy place for me. On our way up the Kunene, the sun went down through the Africa bush, leaving us with a gentle hue of pinks and blues.  We crossed over rapids and ended at a mini waterfall, in the rainy season, they would form a more hectic section of rapids. Along the way way we saw baboons and crocodiles – bit stupid to have been swimming in this river – and BIRDS.

As you may have gathered, a number of my traveling companions are bird mad. I love birds too and keep a bird list for each trip, enjoy the summer migrants and get a thrill out of seeing something new and special. Big birders, however, take it to a different level…there are other species out there; mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plants and trees. Our skipper for the trip was Peter Morgan, owner of the lodge and ornithologist. Our reason for arriving back in camp long after the sun’s rays had said goodnight was that we stopped numerous times for birds. I really didn't mind as I loved the scenery while sipping on my Gin and tonic. However, I would liked to have spent at least a few seconds looking at a baby croc I had spotted on the banks (clearly I was looking down, not up). At our next bird sighting, in the dark, there  were a troop of baboons roosting in the next tree, despite mentioning this twice, all lights and binoculars were on the birds – turned out to be Angolan fruit bats. As we set bank off down the river, my birder friends just smiled at me indulgently. I really do admire their passion and at times it is infectious but I haven't moved over completely, I still have an affinity for the animals who keep their paws and hooves on the ground.

Another Kak night in Africa; great meal, red moon rising, awesome mates and a wonderful husband.






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