The wakeup call came at 5am, with a light breakfast at 5:30. Alex suggested we hang around camp for a while, just in case the wild dogs came through on a hunt.
No sign of the dogs so we set off on foot. It was such a beautiful place to walk - a mix of dry browns and greys with bright green leaves, red kigelia flowers, yellow wild mangos and the bright red of a tree top creeper.
Gradually we wandered on, stopping to learn about the different plants as we came across them. A very pleasant hour or so was spent at Ndundugu pan quietly watching baboons, impala, banded mongoose and so many birds.
Yellow Billed Stork
A male Giant African Kingfisher was spotted very close to where we were sitting. Just as Ben was getting ready for a shot the male was chased off by a female. She very obliging posed on the branch for a long time, then dived into the water right in front of us, completely submerging. No photo, but it was a beautiful thing to watch.
The beautiful female Giant Kingfisher, keeping a sharp eye out for fish
Moving on we came across more elephants. We sat with Alex on the ground under some little trees and watched them approach and notice us.
Waiting for elephants to come closer
Faith in the guide is so important with a large female elephant approaching. She came fairly close with her ears flared and Alex tossed his hat gently to one side to distract her. She backed off and peacefully walked away.
Moving off
We wandered our way toward the river, passing zebra and impala and pausing to watch baboons. The male baboons will carry the babies if the mother is far away when danger threatens.
A warthog burrow prompted Alex to tell us how aardvark dig all the tunnels when foraging, then other animals, including wild dog and warthog, turn them into dens. Aardvark are nomadic and nocturnal and, as you cannot do night drives in the park, virtually impossible to see.
Down to the river bank again, to make our way slowly back towards camp. The sun was so high that photos were tricky, but we still spent a happy time watching the bee eaters.
A devine Little Bee-eater living up to his name
Ben in the scorching sun taking photos of Bee-eater on the banks of the Zambezi River
The food of Mana - the albida pod
By this stage the heat was intense, camp was in sight and icy cold drinks were on my mind when I thought I could see something, or several somethings, moving amongst the tents.
Turned out there was a small herd of elephants in camp. We hot footed it back to the dining tent and were delighted to spend time watching the elephants so close that Ben's lens was too big 😉
Here's some video of our first elephant encounter of the morning and the elephants in camp.
Up close shot from the safety of the dining tent
It was a whole family group, including some adorable babies
Thoughtful elephant - possibly trying to remember where lunch is
A short cold shower was a welcome relief after lunch, even if the effects wore off rather fast! Followed by a short nap - it was hard work being on holiday.
The other guests who we would spend the rest of our stay with turned up about 3pm. Lennart, Martin & Frode were all keen photographers and came equiped with an immense array of camera gear.
Eventually we all got organised and climbed in the Landy for the afternoon drive. The light was gorgeous and we spent quite a bit of time at another pan with more elephants.
Majestic male Kudu
Not so majestic but often very entertaining baboon
Some of the small herd
The photographers in their natural environment
The drive finished with sundowners on the riverbank. Hippos in the water, the red sun sinking over the mountains - a perfect Mana Pools moment.
Dinner was not interrupted by any unexpected guest, but was very enjoyable with great conversation. It was hard to leave the table and go to bed but there would be more wonderful things to see in the morning and 5am would come all too soon.
There were more noises in the night, but I barely noticed.
Somehow four days had flown past and already it was our last day. I couldn't believe how fast the time had flown. Mana seems to offer something new every day and this morning it was a very large bull elephant, flat out asleep behind the cook tents. We watched from a distance, reluctant to disturb him and speculating if he was ok - it's very unusual behaviour. We were pleased to see him wandering around like normal when we drove out of camp. Very unusual pose for an elephant Cooking facilities are interesting when there isn't any power - the termite mound pizza oven! Delivered great pizzas and the termites are still happily living in the top part. Everyone was very quiet on the morning drive. It seemed to be all about birds, with virtually no game. "Squirrel!" Slender mongoose who posed nicely for us and didn't just disappear instantly Soaring juvenile bateleur eagle Bateleur boogie - a fu...
The drive was fairly slow to start, a few eagles in distant treetops but not much else. A short walk was tried in the hopes of finding lion tracks but no bueno. We did see a giant eagle owl fly past extremely briefly. Of course even if there isn't anything "exciting" there is always something beautiful - like waterbuck Driving on - "lions!" The same four lionesses that had walked through camp last night. Lounging on a little rise, very relaxed in the morning sun. We spent a long time watching them, with a photographer from National Geographic. He is doing a lot of filming of the lionesses and was hoping that they'd bring out a cub. Lounging lioness Once the lionesses had moved off over the hill we moved on as well, stopping at Long Pool. Photographers getting ready . . . . . . for this. After that we drove through the open plains for a while - quite different from the bush and forest we'd been in up un...
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