OMG, we had a lion roaring last night, one of those frustrated roars that went on all night, I hope he gets lucky today so we can all get some sleep tonight. In addition, there is a resident hippo that likes to walk around our camp site, so you just have to hope you don’t need to take a leak at night (getting out of the roof top tent and down the ladder in the pitch dark is in itself a mission).
We gave Robs a call early this morning, as she leaves for bush school today and we will not have contact with her for 3 weeks. The only form of communication with the girls is by writing letters. She sounded a little nervous but in good spirits and I got a “Happy Mother’s Day” wish – I didn’t even know it was mother’s day. We have been out of cell phone range for days but keep contact with the kids via satellite phone.
Gareth also called later in the morning to wish me – I was blown away, what 20 year old boy keeps track of such things (not even my 49 year old can) – he giggled when I asked him how he had remembered and said, the restaurant was fully booked for Mother’s Day, so he was rushed off his feet and could hardly forget.
Happy Mother’s day to Jill – Gray and I hope you have an awesome day and we are thinking of you.
We went for a drive into the park this morning, it was a pleasant drive but I was a little disappointed in that we didn’t see a hell of a lot; a snake, an ele, some impala and loads of puku (buck that look like they could be the cousins of the impala).
We returned to the camp and another couple had arrived; Nick and Sally are great, they are from Cape Town and doing a similar trip to us.
I caught up on some washing – Mother’s day or not, it was my turn. I didn’t get coffee in bed either (Gray says I’m not his Mother) but he is taking me to the restaurant at the lodge for dinner.
After a swim, it is sooooooooo hot here, we booked to go on a game drive with the lodge. We arrived at 4:00 to discover Nick, Sally and a couple from Holland were also on the drive. Hans and Maryke (from Holland) were covered in big welts from tsetse fly bites from the drive the day before. Sally took one look at this and headed back to camp, she returned with all sorts of paraphernalia.
We then took a motor boat across the Kafue to a waiting Land Cruiser – it was so nice going for a game dive in an open vehicle. We were fortunate enough to see a cheetah; apparently they are very rare in this area. The down side of the open vehicle is that we are exposed to tsetse fly. As soon as they arrived, we heard Hans (who has a wicked sense of humour and I thought Dutchmen were serious) giggling, I turned around and there was Sally, looking like an alien bee keeper; she was wearing a peak cap with her whole head covered by a green netting and tied at her neck, she was clothed from head to toe in khaki with her pants tucked into bright red socks. She was then armed with a huge spray bottle filled with diluted dettol. The tsetse’s took one look at this, fell over laughing and headed for the rest of us. We were fortunate enough to be sitting in the front row with Sally behind us, so we got a constant spray of dettol mix as the little buggers landed on us (my Avon ‘Skin so Soft’ didn’t stand a chance to prove itself). Hans and Maryke, sitting in the back, were not as fortunate; the spray flew back and misted up their glasses for most of the trip. I have written the above with permission from Sally, although she had had a couple of double Vodkas by that stage.
After a 3 hour game drive, with sundowners, we arrived back at the boat, smelling like we had been in a hospital ward rather than in the middle of the African bush and crossed the Kafue in the moonlight, it was awesome.
The 6 of us, together with Tyrone and Vic (the lodge managers) sat around a camp fire for drinks and then had a delicious meal to together with lots of laughter. It was a wonderful evening with good food, good wine and good people.
Gray and I are coping very well on our own, no domestics to date but after an evening like we have just had, we realise how much we miss our wonderful friends back home.
Golden Baboons
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