Senyati Lodge

Baboons were very noisy this morning. At some point there was a fight at the watering hole. Marwaan went down and said baboons were running all over the place – looked like a family feud !

The ablutions seemed to be attacked from the top. The thatch was lying around – Marwaan figured it could only be a giraffe (long neck) and having a tracks book we tried to locate it – but no luck! Turns out it was baboons.

I realised that the yucky leaves on the floor had some use – they cracked when you walked on it – so surely it would crack too if there were dangerous animals, right ?

I kept hooking on a thorny branch lying on the ground – I nearly pulled it away, but figured it might deter animals from coming to the no-door-loo!

We had nothing planned for the day so we had an easy morning, did some laundry after breakfast and had a lukewarm shower. We decided to take drive down Hunters Road. It runs down the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe. Marwaan stated that the road led to a tar road taking us to town, so being adventurous we'd use it as our route. The road is below a hill and we assumed the other side of the hill was Zimbabwe. There were 2 paths, paralell to each other and we opted for the better road. We saw quite a few elephant, warthog and birds. After a while, sure enough we saw a tar road ahead. We approached and looked out – to the right was a long tar road, to the left …. the road seemed blocked, a few men played soccer and I noted a “Thank you for Visiting” sign. We were confused and then I noticed a ZIMBABWE flag !! Oops we were in Zim ! We quickly reversed and retraced our path which took us to the town.

We took a drive around the town, popping in at Spar, Choppies and Pep. We got some lunch at KFC (halaal) but it was not finger lickin good ! We popped in at Chobe Safari Lodge which was VERY fancy. Marwaan wanted to stay fora coffee – but Muhammad was already eyeing all the décor so I refused. Having not seen much in terms of curios, Aasiyah and I popped in at the craft center and got a few momentos. The documentary about Legadema, the Leopard was on and it turns out that's in Chobe ! I also asked about Rhino and both are deep into the reserve. I figured we'd see rhino at the sanctuary later in the tour.

We spent the afternoon watching elephant and other animals at the watering hole. It's truly amazing watching them. I am convinced that one of the elephant could hear us as he keep turning to look at us and opened his ears. We'd keep quiet then he'd settle down. The kids were in stitches again when he lifted his tail and deposited some dung in the water, when he extended to “ertjie” and it sounded like a full blast hose pipe – they could not contain themselves. Giggles continued as he walked away with it dangling like a trunk between his legs ! The next lot to have a drink were baboons. They were better behaved than the morning lot, but when a new herd of elephant arrived, they chased the baboons away. Interesting, the one who chased them went to the spot at the hole where the baboons drank, sucked up some water in his trunk then spray it out as if cleaning the area. A baby accompanied this herd and he was too cute, stretching forward trying to drink. We took a break for supper then returned just around sunset. A new herd. One elephant rubbed it's trunk against a tree, all the leaves came falling down like rain ! When it got dark, the herd just seemed to disappear into the night. They are so huge yet so graceful and quiet. A new herd held formation to have a complete 360 degree view. 3 of the herd disappeared and the remaining one held formation for a new herd which included young.

That night at the camp fire, we could hear an elephant growl, but it sounded very close! I was scared again and went back to our tent very cautiously. The growling continued and then I heard a soft roar – but it was just Marwaan and Muhammad snoring. When I felt the tent shake I was convinced it was an elephant rubbing against us, but it was just Marwaan turning. Then there was gunfire, a bit of animal noise, then hectic gunfire. Silence and then the sound of a car rushing around the camp. Whatever it was, I was not going to find out until morning when the sun was up and bright and I felt safe.