Birthday storm

It's been threatening and forecast for 36 hours and not materialised. This afternoon, the sky exploded with torrential rain and a dashing of lightening and thunder. All while we were watching a pride of lions from a dry river bed.

Thankfully we got out without a quagmire sucking us in.

Maybe the animals knew it was coming; we've had another great day but the big beasts have been quite elusive for the first time. Today, we were hoping to find some wild dogs but it was so chilly, they were running around hunting to keep warm rather than lazing around in sunshine. 

They'd disappeared off into dense and spiny acacia. Our ranger and tracker did head off in there to find them with two equivalents from another jeep but we'd just seen a crazy elephant chasing a mongoose (picture that comical scene with a mouse!) We laughed from the vehicle but it became less funny when they were in thick bushes with no easy escape route. They didn't stay long in there and we were not in luck for those today.  But, if everything were easy to see, it wouldn't be so special. And we've had top notch luck do far.


We've seen both impala and wildebeest with much darker fur today. Not because it was wet (it was dry at the time) but because they were chilly and had goose pimples so their hair was standing on end! It's gone overnight from 30 degrees Celsius to around 14 - with wind chill. We've sat in searing heat for two days but, today, wore our down jackets, our rainproofs, their ponchos plus hats and gloves - just about staying warm.

Our lucky find of the day was three ground hornbills - three adults and a juvenile. They are a rare and endangered species here, only laying a single egg every four to six years. As a group, they then rear the single juvenile (which was, as it may look, exceptionally demanding!) 

After the first game drive, we had the excitement of a bush walk home for the last forty minutes. We encountered a giraffe with a baby, quite a few birds, a wild melon tree, an excellent dung beetle and followed a leopard kill track all the way to a tree that it had dragged an impala to and hung it from, away from prying eyes only a few days before. 

Tonight, our ranger lifted a throw from the side of a sofa on the balcony seating area which revealed four large gouges. A few years ago, when the staff came through in the early hours to open up, a baby hippo was chewing the side of the chair. 

You never know what you're going to find and we valued our night porter even more after those discoveries!

It's now an hour or so later and we've realised why we were stalled with the hippo story. When we arrived back to the room, I could smell something. A candle? Gas? I concluded they'd sprayed anti-mosi spray while cleaning the rooms. 

Thirty minutes before we were due to be escorted by the night porter back for dinner (an elephant was next to our room the other night!), one of the staff knocked on the door to let us know we had room service for dinner. I must have looked surprised. 'Haven't you looked out?' he asked with a wry smile. We pulled back the curtains to find the balcony full of lit paraffin lamps and a table fully set for two for dinner. 

So, we've had a lovely birthday dinner in the open with frogs calling in the rain, bats sweeping in and out and giant moths (I was delighted by that if you were in any doubt!) fluttering around the lights. A couple of nyala mooched by while we were eating which finished the atmosphere off beautifully.