The next part of the journey was onward to the Zambezi river between Namibia and Botswana. We drove some more and stopped at a back packers lodge that was for some reason amazingly fun. I think this was because they had amazing showers and no one had showered for a few days and had not only been trudging through mud but rolling in dirt as well. Plus I could still feel the spiders crawling all over mey boday.
More about the elephant family—They were so cute, the baby fit right under the mother’s legs and I desperately wanted to go and pet them but another girl (hated by almost all and leader of the “other” girls party) voiced this same thought, but in an annoying, horrid voice and was shot down vehemently so I kept my mouth shut. She was pretty dumb though and said it in a dumb voice so I can see where people were coming from with their annoyance at the comment. Yet, The two groups that night (our group plus two wicked chill boys vs. a party of girls who were kind of the worst) combined and we all had fun.
That night seven of us put our sleeping mats and bags on top of the truck to sleep under the stars. In hindsight not the brightest idea. It was the coldest night ever and you couldn’t see the stars because you were wrapped up so tight in your sleeping bag. BUT there were wild dogs barking all around and we saw paw prints on the ground in the morning so I suppose we were technically the safest up there on the truck.
That night after setting up our tents- which we could do now with amazing speed- we went on a sunset cruise along the river. This was so cool. We first got on and I figured we would see nothing, but then out in the distance there were some blobs that looked suspiciously like wild life. turns out they were. In the middle of the river there was an island type land form and on it were- no lie- more than one hundred and one elephants!! They were all just chilling or going for a dip or eating some nice grass. Then they took us to the other side of the river where we saw crocodiles, a massive herd of antelope (I think spring bok their national animal) and some baboons! I absolutely hate monkeys, especially baboons, but they are pretty nifty when you see them in person. Especially when there is a river creating a barrier between you and there nasty little clawed hands that could steel your food or rip your face off. Around the bend we saw some hippos in both the water and on land. I thought they were beautiful but other disagreed- to each this own. Finally, we saw some awkward giraffe trying to drink some water. Giraffes really are weird. I love them all the same.
The Elephants
Hippos
The Crocodiles
Baboons: there were a ton in the tree but I couldn't get a nice pic
Water Buffalo
The Giraffes and Warthogs
The next morning a few of us went on a mini safari drive. I had full faith we were going to get mauled by some lions and was looking forward to it but to no avail. All we saw were about a billion antelope of every type. There were literally trillions of them. My favorites were either the huge ones that look like horses with horns or the baby boy spring boks. They are so effing cute with their little faces and miniature horns. Apparently we missed a pack of 6 lions by about a minute BUT we did see TWO dead elephant carcasses. Jealous? One had the skin as a shell left over- it was really sickanating, but the skull and bones were cool. The other we didn’t actually see but smelt. All of us at the same time started looking around and questioning the stench in the air when the driver casually mentioned the carcass rotting on the other side of the hill right next to us. Cool. But, on this drive we got to see a giraffe FAMILY! There was a baby who left in the air and kicked about. The rest of the family just ate some leaves off branches and were the epitamy of awesome. Despite there being a lack of animals that could potentially kill us i had fun on the “safari.” I do think I’ll try to go on another safari if I can in south Africa.
Next stop- Zimbabwe, Victoria falls.
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