Back to day shift and an almost normal lifestyle.
Sleeping in a bed last night was absolute bliss! The camera box ain’t too bad but after a month a bed is a real comfort.
I was out at dawn looking for elephant taking a break from Khayeni.
As huge as they are the elephant didn’t just pop out the woodwork.
A huge herd of buffalo ventured on to Banyini to drink and as quickly as they came out the woodland they were back not wanting to be caught out in the open.
I waited at Hwata pan for some time but none were forthcoming. This seems to be one of their usual hideouts but the herds seem to have moved on from here. Not even lone bulls visited Hwata today.
But tracks were all over the place around Nduna dam and to the north. Knowing that they very seldom drink to at Nduna dam in the middle of the day I headed out to Lojaan dam.
It was quiet there too! I took a stroll to get photos of the Barn Owls in the old Hammerkop Nest just below the dam wall. But they weren’t there either. Then just as I crested the wall the elephant came running in from the west. They were keen to drink. And with no wind around today the duckweed lay spread green across the whole dam. It was an amazing sight to see the elephant in all this green and I so hoped they would swim but it obviously wasn’t cold enough.
The elephant drank and then moving around the dam a young bull just had to hassle the zebra and Egyptian geese as they fed on the shores.
Before they moved off the elephant all dived in to a mud wallow at the upper reaches of the dam and then headed out to feed again.
I took a break for the rest of the afternoon and went for a paddle in my kayak on the dam and then a jog in the bush. I find I have to exercise regularly as I spend most of my day/night sitting in a vehicle and would soon turn into a huge bubble without any exercise.
Gorgeous pix, and the music was perfect. Would have loved to have seen the wallow part.
The wallow will be up tomorrow as I’ll be traveling all day.