Day 3 – 13.03.2018
We woke up fairly early, (I was too hot and then too cold and then there was no point of continuing sleeping), had our showers and then took down our tents before breakfast. We washed up and filled the truck with all our little bits and bobs and of we went for about a 3,5 hour drive to our next campsite.
Along the way we saw different types of landscape, from luscious greens to the area where there are a lot of coal mines.
We also passed by several villages with huts and independent agriculture. When Zimbabwe reached its own independence a lot of land was taken away from white farmers and „returned“ to local Zimbabwians. Some of them knew how to plant and harvest crop, others didnt and starved to death.
We finally reached our next campsite „Tuskers Campsite“ and saw that it had a lookout onto a waterhole.
Here we had lunch before we were picked up to go to our first game drive! We had some simple sandwiches, topped with vegetable achar, which is pretty much a pickled and „drier“ version of a vegetable soup.
After lunch we went to the adjacent lodge to go pay for our game drive in the afternoon. Most campsites here are bound to lodges, one more beautiful than the next! Check out the view from the office from this one out onto the water hole.
After about 2 hours of downtime, we were eventually pick up by Shimusa that was going to take us out into the Hwange National Park for our first game drive.
It was about a 45 minute ride, on which we saw several monkees and a couple of impala.
We also learned about the painted dog that isnt quite a hyena but also not a a normal dog. More like a wild dog. We never saw one, but the signs were all over.
We also saw several birds, such as this specimen, a yellow hornbill. (Zazu from the lion king...)
We finally arrived at the national park, eager to see the animals there!
We drove along in the park and eventually came by the backs of some elephants in the distance. It was a quick spot as otherwise we would have missed them. Even though they are such large animals, you would be surprised as to how well they camouflage between the shrubs.
We continued on as our guide had seen a pride of lions the day before and wanted to check whether they were still there.
First we smelt it. It was the smell of rotting meat or drying skin. Then we heard heard the flies that were on the carcass, and then we saw it. I first thought it was a killed antilope, but it turned out to be a dead giraffe.
You can see a bit of the pattern of the fur on the leg, as well as a bit of hair from its tail or neck poking out. This meant that the lions were close by. Usually they would have stayed close to the carcass, but since they had eaten every bit of meat from the bones, they now lay in the shade about 50 meters from us. Good luck spotting them! Ive chosen the photos where at least I can see a lions head or the silhouette of a lions head :) .
As it was the midday heat, the lions had no intention of moving closer or leaving their spot, so we continued on to see more animals.
We drove up to a waterhole where they use solar pumps to artificially pump water into during the dry season when there is not enough rain for all the animals. Here we spotted zebras and kudus (a form of antilope).
Close by on the banks of this water hole there were apparently 3, I only spotted two, crocodiles. Again, good luck spotting this one crocodile:
As we continued on to find more elephants we came across a flock of storks – they are some very large birds!
We also saw some beautiful birds with the most amazing greenish blue feathers (a lilac breasted roller):
We took a turn and then suddenly we were surrounded by elephants. Young, old, small, large – you name it!
As we took our pictures we headed on around the next corner and just as we were startled to find even more elephants, it seems as the young elephant in the front was startled too.
There were so many elephants, I reckon between 40 – 60, altogether as one herd, grazing peacefully away. As you can see from the photos, the it was getting darker and darker and we were really looking forward to the sunset!
We headed out of the park, and just as we were leaving, we saw a giraffe on the side of the road, ready to cross some train tracks. We asked our guides what happened to game that just crossed while a train was approaching – she said, hopefully a quick death, because the trains wont slow down fast enough to not hit the animal.
It was dark now and we still had about 45 minutes to return to the campsite. Where as we hadnt seen that many groups of animals in the park, the cool night spat out more herds of elephants!
We then moved on after a large herd had crossed, and came along another group! This time there was a very large – we assume matron – that was keeping the rest of the herd safe by blocking us passage with her entire body. This was quite a tense situation, since she didnt react to the headlights, neither on nor off, and she started rolling her foot along the floor ( a first sign of aggression). At that point we had turned off the motor as to not startle the animals, but it also meant that in order for us to quietly reverse we would need to turn it back on, potentially aggrevating this female even further. Eventually she walked on, but it gave us quite a fright!
Suddenly from further on we heard loud screems from the baboons up in the trees. We were soon to find out why they were making such a fuss. Two lions turned up on the side of the road – the baboons had obviously warned each other to quickly climb the surrounding trees for safety. It was a young male and a young female, probably brother and sister. The walked on slowly and with the help of another cars headlights we were able to take pictures and see them off into the night.
After we drove on, we could see that some of the baboons (especially the young ones) were hanging on as tightly as possible on the smallest of branches. Quite a sight!
Back at the campsite we talked about our sightings, had spaghetti bolognese and enjoyed the evening.
Apparently, as the campsite is so close to the waterhole, it often happens that either a herd or a lonely bull come walking through the campsite. Another couple that was staying at the campsite, had said that the couple of lions we had seen earlier had charged their vehicle when they were just coming in. All in all, a great set of stories to hear when you are about to sleep outside in tents. The problem with the elephants is if they think that the large object on the plain is a rock and not a tent and decide that they want to scratch their bodies on it, and with the lions, well, they have been known to scratch tent walls down, but usually when they can smell food inside of the tent.
This meant that our normal campsite set up was slightly mixed up – our driver decided to sleep under the roof of our dining room area – apparently as it was about to rain and he didnt want to get wet : ) and one of our tour members decided he would rather stay and sleep in the truck – for safety and all... So both of us girls remained in our tents, trying not to need the bathroom at night. Who knew what was walking around in the late hours of the day?
