A-Glamping We Will Go!! WITH PHOTOS

 Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Oh my goodness!  After breakfast we have a lecture about David Livingstone and it is a humdinger!  Susan Cottrell, from an organization that presents this story about ninety times a month, is spellbinding! I never knew he was responsible for ending the slave trade out of Africa!!

Part of my "intesting brooms" series!

We go straight to the van for the two and a half hour ride to Hwange National Park, the Khulu Bush Camp in Zimbabwe.  We'll be glamping here for three days and I had no idea what that meant!  When we arrive we are given warm, wet, scented wash clothes to refresh ourselves and a tropical welcome drink.  We receive our room assignments and are escorted to our "tent".  It has canvas walls and a thatched roof; but that's the only similarity to a tent!  There is a real floor and real twin beds with mosquito netting and a back deck that overlooks a lake!  We get settled in and realize that Marilyn's C-Pap isn't here.  I gather there is some frenzied searching, including a plan to rent one for her if hers doesn't turn up right away!  But it does!  Someone had put it in Sisa's tent!

Interesting sights during the drive...

Huge fungus-eating termite mound

People walk everywhere

We have some time to sit and watch for wildlife.  There is a troupe of baboons cutting up across the lake and we watch a croc climb out of the water and sun himself.  There is also a flock of vultures on that side of the lake and we have several different kinds of smaller birds right outside our door.

The handy restroom right where we get off the vehicles

The table is the shape of Africa!

We return to the reception area for a huge buffet lunch and learn that we can take anything we like out of the fridge in the bar area and bring it back to our room to put in our mini-fridge.  And there is free red and white wine in addition to cocktails.  And, best of all, there is free laundry!

Sisa tells us that the cape buffalo is more deadly than any of the other Big Five
because they don't give any warning before they attack you!  We stay in the jeep!!

After lunch there is a bit of free time before we go off on our first game drive!  We are gone for hours, staying out well past sunset, with a pause at sunset for drinks and snacks!  Wine, Gin and Tonic, Amarula (similar to Bailey's but local and better) juices, chips, samosas, pigs in a blanket! On our first safari we see an enormous herd of cape buffalo, a lilac breasted roller (he's a bird) about a million spring hares (not rabbits at all!  They look like miniature kangaroos), a tsessebe ( very uncommon antelope), several steenboks (it means stone antelope because when they are frightened they stand as still as a stone), a common duiker (a tiny antelope) and lots of impalas.  After the sun sets, Sisa flashes a strong torch all over to see what we can spot by locating shining eyes,  He is driving one jeep with six of us and Sam, who works for the camp and is also a skilled guide, is driving the rest.

Trail camera - we waved!

The only shot I got of a "boing boing", really a spring hare

Steenbok after dark

Sam is so superb!

The trails are well marked;  but really bouncy!!

Sisa is always on the lookout for something to show or teach us!

Zebra droppings

Tsessebe

When we're ready to go back we are again greeted with warm wash clothes and can avail ourselves of the bar before being seated for dinner.  There is a spinach tart for starters and then a another large buffet and dessert.  The Sisa leads us all back to our tents, because it is dark and because you aren't supposed to go out alone after dark! 

elephant skull - there are many scattered along the terrain

We make a list of all our laundry items and put it on top of the dirty clothes and Marilyn finds that her C-Pap doesn't work.  I'm a little calmer than she and I figure out that one piece isn't plugged int!  All is well.

I don't think I can put many photos in here tonight and since I only get 500 (somethings) for five dollars, I'm not sure how many I can post even when I'm not exhausted!!  But I'll try to add a couple!  Then it's Nighty night because we leave tomorrow at 6:00 am!~!!