During the night we heard lions, hyenas, hippos and Panda snoring but it sure beat the hell out of donkeys from the night before. In the morning we found hippo spoor outside the girl’s tent. While drinking our early morning cup of coffee, a breeding herd of ellie, including a really tiny one, calmly walked through the camp. They were so relaxed and we felt in no way threatened, we even moved a little closer to get some pictures.
Today was washing day and the rule is each camper for themselves. Kirst informed us she had packed enough clothes to see her through to the end of her trip, Robs felt too lazy but the surprise of the day goes to Gareth – off he headed to the basins and proceeded to separate his whites from his coloureds before hand washing them. I guess fending for himself for the last 7 months has done some good. Gray, the commando king, was first done, having no underwear/delicates to sort out.
After washing, we headed off to the pool, which is built on a raised pool deck, overlooking the Luangwa River; Ga was sitting on one of the chairs below reading. I heard a noise and looked down and there about 5m from him was the herd of ellies ambling past, stopping to break off the odd branch from one of the trees. Ga, who is also usually fairly tense around elephants (because over the years Gray has had this need to get as close as possible to every ellie he sees and some have not been this tame), was totally at ease, he now fancies himself as the next elephant whisperer.
A few hours later we set off for a walk and there was the herd again, they are clearly resident in our camp. We followed them into the camp next door, sending an unsuspecting camper heading for cover. Unfortunately, he left the zip of his tent open and within seconds the matriarch of the herd had cleared out his whole stash of food. They spent the next ½ hour wandering around before heading off into the bush.
Our plan for the afternoon was to go into the park and then again the next morning - on the 24 hour permit system. So all kitted out in Khaki (well Robs and Kirst were dressed for the occasion) we arrived at the gate to pay our US$165, to be informed that as from 1 July, they had changed the system and now the entry permits were only valid for one day i.e. from 6am to 6pm. We decided to return tomorrow.
Since we were out and the girls were dressed for the occasion, we got nosy and visited other camps and lodges in the area. We then headed into Mfuwe to buy coldrinks at the local stall and beers at the shabeen. Robs and Kirst fall in love with all the little local children and any child from the age of 9 months to 3 years is in danger of being kidnapped or adopted.
After a relaxing day, Ga made spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, he is clearly used to having deck scrubs around and must have used every utensil in our camp box. We again had a visit from an elephant and the baboons tried their best to raid our food boxes and car. We were all in bed by 7:30 and managed an hour of reading before passing out.
Gareth cooking dinner
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