Took
the back roads from Petauke to the national park, hoping it would be a
short cut. Well, the road we chose appeared to be no more than a donkey
track. There have been some terrible floods here recently and the damage
was horrendous. We stopped several times to check with the locals if we
were in fact on the right road and they ensured us we were. After
driving through fields of cotton plants and sunflowers, negotiating our
way across a small river and towing some locals out that were stuck in
the mud, we were still some distance from the camp and it was dark
already. There was an immense amount of wildlife (elephants and more)
about, so not sure if stopping and camping in the bush was an option.
Decided to push on in the dark and we finally reached the camp of Track
and Trail. We set up camp in the dark, while the manager warned us not
to walk around alone in the dark. Excellent, no way am I peeing in the
middle of the night tonight then! After a quick dinner of suprisingly
delicious nshima and meatballs, we climbed into bed. At 2am, I heard the
familiar cracking of branches outside, (always indicates the presence of
elephants) I nudged (okay, poked!) Rob in the ribs. "Honey, I think
there are elephants outside" As he unzipped the tiniest peekhole in
the tent, I heard "Holy crap, they're right here" They were
literally about one or two metres away from our tent. Turns out we had
parked right next the tree that they usually frequent for scratching
their bums on! Awesome experience just watching this family of five
hefalumps wandering around. Suddenly the main dude was staring right at
me, eye to eye and we wondered just then how much Dino resembled an
elephant with the Hannibal tent open on the roof. An hour or so later, a
group of hyenas passed through followed by a few hippos. Geesh, are we
glad we bought this roof tent! Nothing wrong with a bit of altitude. |