Safari Part Two

Before I begin with the second part of our Safari story I want to briefly reflect back on our time here so far. We have been living in Gambia for five months now and I like it here, our house feels like home (most of the time). I think the general ease at which I have settled into the area is thanks to my good friend Jen, who I was lucky to meet within the first week of arriving. She has taught me how to fabric shop without being ripped off, shown me the best tailors for getting clothes made, introduced me to the joys of Coco Ocean and just been an all round good friend. Last night we dropped her off at the airport and to say that I am sad to see her go is an understatement. I am really going to miss the lazy hours chatting by the pool, our hilarious attempts to learn yoga and the hot afternoons haggling over fabric that we really didn't need. With Jen left her lovely husband Doug, her sister Anna (who has also become a good friend over the past month and I am very sorry to see go) and two very cute cats. They are heading to Hong Kong where Doug has been offered a wonderful job and I know Jen will be very happy. Although they will be missed here in Gambia, I look forward to our already planned visits to Hong Kong and I know that we will remain friends despite the distance.

Now to some more Safari talk...

The last post left off just as we arrived at the lovely Kwenga Lodge. We barely had time to put our bags down before heading out on our first safari. Needless to say I was quite excited. Zack and I had been discussing what we most hoped to see and I had decided that although lions and elephants would be amazing, what I really hoped for was a giraffe. I was in luck - well actually our guide Willem told us that it would be impossible to miss them. Sure enough on our first morning there was the giant, long legged, long necked creature bending down to nibble on the top of a 12 foot tree. They are the most

fantastically awkward yet cute creatures I have ever seen, with their looooong necks and funny patterns- what was Mother Nature thinking?! At 5am that morning we had staggered out of our little cabin and into the safari truck. With temperatures during the day reaching up to 40 degrees the best animal sightings are early morning and evening. At about 7am we stopped amongst a family of giraffes grazing next to a heard of zebras for our pre-breakfast tea stop. So there we were sipping our Rooibus tea and eating rusks (a strange South African biscuit) as the giraffes and zebras watched us from only a few feet away and I should make it clear that these are wild animals- I'm not kidding it was fantastic!

With the safari drives in the early morning and evening I imagined we would have plenty of free time. However, once we had eaten breakfast, played some scrabble or pigs, taken a short nap and then ate some more, we had to get back out there! Mostly we would trawl the bush in the truck but a few times we ventured out on foot (with a large gun). Although I was grateful for the exercise I'm not going to lie, it was scary! When faced with a large rhino or heard of buffalo I think I prefer the false sense of security in the vehicle - even if it doesn't have walls.

The second afternoon we drove to a larger reserve that is part of the great Kruger national park. There are no elephants or lions at our smaller reserve so we were extremely lucky to see both on this aft. As we rounded a dusty corner we came across two male lions lounging right next the road. Content and sleepy after a big kill they couldn't care less about us - thankfully. As they began to move one looked right at me and with a scornful look that clearly said "what do you want?" it walked right in front of the car, so close that we could see his whiskers. Later that evening we also came across two families of elephants, both with babies, and a hippo, quietly watching us from the water... Good thing we weren't considering a swim!

On our final evening, after watching a baby rhino learn how to "wallow" in the mud, we stood in a grassy plain watching as huge bolts of red lightning fork across the sky. Forget the fact that there was a known leopard lurking nearby, now I was a little concerned about bushfires in all the dry shrub. After 10 minutes of imagining I could smell smoke, I gave up worrying and enjoyed the spectacular light show.

As the final morning arrived I was surprised to find that I was quite sad to say goodbye. Although we had only been at Kwenga Lodge a few days we felt rather attached to the place and the wonderful animals. In the end we had seen nearly every animal possible, except for the elusive leopard. There were a few times when we knew they were close but remained hidden from of sight. Oh well next time - perhaps when we own our own private reserve (and win the lotto!).

This has been a rather long post so I'm going to leave it here but please stay tuned because I will soon update you on life back in Gambia - it has been an interesting week!