We woke early and discovered a sight so different from the African bush we are used to. In front of us was this moor, covered in mist. Once again, we would have been forgiven for thinking we were staying in the English countryside.
The camp site itself has 3 large covered areas, complete with table and fireplace. We have nice hot showers, flushing toilets and a kitchen area with a fire stove. All this set on a large grassed field surrounded by forest on 3 sides and opening up onto the moors, teaming with antelope. As we sat drinking coffee, the mist lifted and on the hills in front of us were roan, eland, bush buck, reedbuck, zebra and jackal.
This morning we went for a drive. The scenery on the plateau is beautiful; rolling hills as far as the eye can see, interspersed with lakes and clumps of forest. We saw teams of the above mentioned antelope. Nyika has the most roan, we have ever seen in one place, it is quite spectacular.
Again, the staff in the reserve and at our camp site so friendly and so helpful – I wasn’t even allowed to do the dishes this morning (I might just stay here for a while).
We had a very lazy afternoon, tinkering around the camp site and reading. Occasionally we were distracted by bushbuck playing on the field or zebra wandering through. Our one big distraction, were these pesky ravens that steal any food left out; we were trying to dry out some shelled peanuts in the sun and the birds had a feast on these.
It gets so cold up at this altitude, especially as the sun goes down, so we decided to cook in the ‘kitchen hut’. We have 2 nights of meat left and not sure where or when our next shop will be. We had a choice or mince or chicken – so curried mince and rice was on the menu. It was such a novelty to cook on a wood stove, Gray filling it with wood and stoking it, while did the cooking. I guess this is how our great grandmothers cooked every night. It was fun but I think I still need my microwave, gas stove, electric oven, hot pot and so on.
After dinner, we sat around the fire trying to keep warm with Amarula (Gray is being fired as barman – no ‘Old Brown’ Sherry). We gave up and snuggled into bed at 7:30 to read, Gray was asleep by 7:40 and I think I made it through to 8:00.
The misty moors
Our camp area
Roan Antelope
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