An African Massage

The day started early, with the beating of a drum. The drum kept beating until you somehow acknowledged it. It was 5:30. Breakfast would be in 30 minutes. Then we were in the Land Rovers for the first game drive.

The climate is very different than Tanzania. The soil is Kalahari sand. The diversity of plants is rather shallow. The dominate tree is Teak. The ground is covered with grass.

My Lovely Wife and I have decided to travel in separate Land Rovers so we could get pictures of each other on Safari.

Before we got to the park, we found giraffe, warthogs, and impala. The park has no fence, and the animals are free to roam where they may.

Once in Chobe National Park, my driver and guide for today, Onks, informed us we would be having an African massage. This means the roads in the park were not paved. But it wasn't that bad at all. Safari vehicles have specially tuned suspensions.

This is very much bush country. The first herd of elephants could not be photographed because they ran across the road and through the plants. There was trumpeting to warn us away.

We made our way down to the Chobe river, and then followed the bank. There were many impala, a few giraffe and elephant, and even a water monitor lizard. But the two highlights of the morning was a cape buffalo, and a troop of baboon who were swimming to beat the heat.

Near the end of the first game drive, we stopped for drinks, and facilities. Well, when I say facilities, I mean the men's and women's bushes, which were first inspected by the guides to prevent any close encounters.

On the way out, we saw three sable which are very rare. The rarity of a species is measured in a star system from 1 to 5. 1 being a critter you see everywhere you look, and 5 being something you slam your brakes on for because you're probably never going to see one in the wild again. The sable is a 5.

After lunch, we had some down time. It was a good time to catch up on my writing.

The second game drive was dominated by two leopards. The first was young, and was stalking impala. Impala are considered the McDonalds^® of the jungle. Everyone eats them.

We took a break for happy hour. Everyone, except Onks had a vodka. Once buzzed, we found the leopard's mother. Leopards are rare. Finding the mother and child is very good luck.

It is amazing how exhausted one gets watching the animals. As soon as dinner was over, I went out of service. It was a good day.