The night was warm, very warm. In the morning, at 5:15 am., when we looked at the thermometer inside the car, it showed 38.5°C outside and 37.5°C inside! The first thing we did was take a shower, whose cold tap provided pleasantly warm water! Just a coffee for breakfast because we wanted to get out and about as early as possible. When the animals have not yet sought the shade under the trees.
The journey took us via BBC Camp to a viewing point on the banks of the Zambeze. (The BBC made a documentary about the Painted Wolves many years ago and set up a camp here, which is still standing – with an outhouse and no water!) We had only been driving for five minutes when we came across the first family of elephants feasting on leaves and branches under a tree. These were caused to fall by a baboon that was hanging around in the tree. (Now I remember that I forgot to mention yesterday that we came across a pack of Painted Wolves feasting on their prey – surrounded by vultures, which were scared away by the dogs when they got too close to it.)
On the drive to the viewpoint by the river we came across a group of elands – the adult males have the stature of a cow and both sexes have beautifully twisted horns! The track runs along large trees that are typical of the Mana Pools. Brigitta kept looking into the treetop to see if there was an owl hiding. When we arrived on the banks of the Zambezi, we parked Mahangu under a shady tree. Afterwards I squeezed two glasses of orange juice with which we toasted to good health and this beautiful day before we drove back to camp to have breakfast!
PS: If you want to know more about the Painted Wolves, read here.