We had planned to spend today in Chobe but we found out that we could only in between 9am and 2:30pm as it is peak season and the early morning and late afternoon drives are reserved for tour operators only. So we decided to rather have a leisurely day at Senyati. After breakfast some of us went on a drive along the Zimbabwe border. The camp is very close to the border (700 meters away) and there is a road that runs right along the border. We had been warned that two years ago some of their visitors had crossed the white poles and had been arrested by the Zim anti-poaching police and that we should remain this side of the white poles at all times. Stephen wanted to put his feet on the other side to say that he had been into Zim without having his passport stamped so he did that (and fortunately wasn’t arrested!).
The drive south did not yield much in the way of game and so we also headed north and saw jackal, giraffe, impala, elephant & kudu and a saddle billed stork. The road north took us eventually right into the Botswana/Zim border post and post two Botswana army holding some serious armaments but they waved to us and we headed back onto the main road and back to camp.
It was a leisurely afternoon napping and watching game from the main hide. You can get really close to elephants as they come down to drink as they have a ‘elephant bunker’ at the hide which is basically a tunnel underground that then has a view point right in front of the waterhole. Yesterday apparently an elephant put its trunk into the bunker and sniffed the people inside. Today Lara got splashed with mud by the elephants while she was there. It is also a good place to see birds and we added another few birds to our trip list (now at 116) including also seeing a Owlet as well. You can see a lot of game just sitting at the waterhole. We have some elephant, impala, kudu, zebra & baboon and some of the group also saw hyena (and I can hear them ‘laughing’ as I type this right now).
Dinner this evening was another group braai with good conversation and good company once again. It was a relaxing and chilled today before we move on again tomorrow. The only downside of today was that a group of campers arrived around midday and made a huge noise (and continue to do so – especially their young children). We are hoping they run out of energy soon!
Until tomorrow … P, H, S, M & C