Elephants seemed to be at the waterhole
almost all day and all evening – up to maybe 15 at a time, mostly large males. They appear quietly out of the bush, and then do a bit of a dash to the water. Sometimes they stick around for hours, drinking and socialising. We had an extra treat in the middle of the morning because seven wild dog (or African painted dog?) came to drink as well. These really are beautiful creatures, reputedly very difficult to see, and it was wonderful to be able to watch them for a while. They stuck around to play a bit before heading off back into the bush; probably to hunt, as their bellies looked quite empty. One of the elephants gave them a bit of a telling-off, but then everything settled down again, with different animals keeping to different sides of the pool.
We spent plenty of time socialising ourselves, mostly with Klaus and/or Jim, enjoying their stories about Africa and trying to remember all the travel tips they gave us. We spent a lot of time noting down on maps and notebooks the various bits of information they had for
us, Klaus’ lodge on Lake Tanganyika in the north of Zambia sounds and looks fabulous. Meanwhile a nasty cold wind blew all day, while a group of cyclists was gathering, ready for a 5-day trip on the pans leaving the next day. Rather them than us! Klaus and Jim both know the owner of Elephant Sands (Ben) and had both volunteered to go with the cyclists as support drivers – Klaus was particularly pleased as it meant that he’d be driving a large Ford 4x4 with the water trailer (all 2 tons of it) instead of his 2wd VW Combi. As the light started to fade, one of the local guides appeared holding a puff adder that he’d found basking itself on the paved area of the lodge, he kindly showed it to us – an absolutely
gorgeous snake, before releasing it just in front of the viewing area. Because of the wind, and as there were so many elephant to enjoy watching, we once again decided not to bother cooking and for dinner enjoyed the spread put on by the lodge instead.
It’s hard to put in writing the experience of being here. The lodge and campsite have been kept simple, and blend well with the natural environment, and here we were seeing the fabulous elephants come and go as we ate dinner. Really wonderful.
Wednesday 31st July
This morning there was a general bustle going on around the lodge – all the cyclists and their families getting ready – it seemed to take forever before they all got going, then suddenly we had the place to ourselves – almost literally. During the morning a solitary elephant came to drink – it almost seems as if they know that there’s no-one here to watch them! A group of 5 large kudu with some of the most magnificent horns we’ve seen came down nervously to drink in the early afternoon as we were trying to piece together a plan for Zambia from all the information gleaned from Klaus and Jim over the last 2 days. As I’m writing this, two elephant have finally decided to make an appearance, good news as the lodge generator is off and therefore there is no wifi at the moment!