Ribs, mokoro poler
Up at dawn this morning for a light breakfast and then a mokoro ride over to and a 3-1/2 hour game walk on Chief’s Island. Our mokoro poler and guide, Mr. Ribs, knows his stuff but it is a little disconcerting to be walking around a wild game area with a guide who has nothing more to protect us than a walking stick…
We saw red lechwe, impala, blue wildebeest, zebras, a whole troop of baboons, warthogs, a fish eagle, a whole bunch of marabou storks, a red-billed hornbill, a saddle-billed stork and a journey of giraffes. Walked forever down trails covered with elephant tracks and/or elephant dung looking for elephants and didn’t find any. (We saw them this afternoon from the deck instead!)
 zebras |
 Marabou storks |
 elephant tracks |
 elephants |
Saw lion tracks and a bush with lion hair on it, hyena poop and a buffalo skull but none of the live beasts. Ribs told us to stand our ground with lions, climb the nearest tree with buffalo and run a zigzag pattern downwind from an elephant. (Gulp…)
Gunn’s Camp is fun — basic amenities but that’s really what I wanted, to get some feel for the real Africa. It’s a little scary alone in a dark tent at night, or going into a toilet that has to have a half-door to keep the warthogs out, but it is headed in the direction of the Real Thing. And it’s a very good feeling to know that Fred is screaming distance away…
Went out by mokoro to a hippo pool this afternoon. It was excellent, not so much for the hippos (which are very dangerous to these boats so you don’t go very close!), but for the elephants! Two of them were in the marsh and crossed right about the same time we poled through. Unbelievable to be so close and in such a vulnerable position. It really brings it home what it means to be out there with wild game…
Good dinner and good talk with the South African group staying in the camp, and off tomorrow back to Maun.