Close encounters of the Africa kind

 Tuesday after siesta, Sue and Julie met near the pool deck. There were a few elephants nearby. Our favorite waitress, Layla, excitedly told us the giraffes had received her text. We thought she was talking about the giraffes we saw last night or this morning. No she said, they are right there. We looked closer and there were 4 giraffes drinking from the pond about 50 yards away. They had to splay their front legs out to be able to bend low enough to drink. It was incredible to be so close. 

We headed for our evening game drive, still not sure if it would be our last game drive with Max. Info about when tomorrow’s bush flight leaves only becomes available after dinner. 

We stopped at a watering hole and saw the herd of elephants including the one with the mutilated short trunk that Sue had noticed at the camp pool yesterday. Ona confirmed she had likely been attacked by a hyena as a baby, and he also noticed part of her tail was missing too. He made her to be 6 or 7 years old but confirmed she probably wouldn’t live to old age. She will be forced into deeper and deeper water to drink, and she takes longer to drink than the rest of the family so eventually they will leave her behind where she’ll be vulnerable.  

We saw 2 zebra feeding on green grass and 2 bull elephants, one of which Ona surmised was an abandoned youngster. We next came upon what Max called 2 “mini ellies” along with 2 others. In a tall tree, Sue spotted a leppert faced vulture. Ona said this is the strongest of the vultures - it can open carcasses by itself. We also saw a male dove do a display dive for a female. She appeared unimpressed. We saw a big kudu. (This is the large antelope with curving horns.) We came upon a herd of zebra, and a young one had scars where a lion had clawed across his rump. 

Then we got to the game hide. It was a half buried small shipping container with several long narrow windows carved into it. The windows faced a watering hole. You had to climb down some deep steps to enter. It was dark and a bit claustrophobic. Max raised the canvas blinds, and we were staring at 2 elephants within a couple yards of us. The perspective was different than any we’d seen before. Pictures will be appended here when possible. We also could hear the elephants slurping and drinking as never before. It was a great experience. 

We climbed out and back into the jeep. A giraffe and some zebra then showed up to drink. A couple hundred yards down the road, 2 lionesses and 3 cubs came ambling down the path. It was the first time we had seen the adult lions active. The lionesses stopped and called back to the other lioness and 2 cubs. Ona figured they were trailing behind, but they never appeared. The two adults were heading toward the water we had just left when two steenbock appeared. They darted off in different directions. One lioness briefly chased one of the steenbocks but didn’t catch him. The two adults then ushered the cubs toward the water. As they got to the edge, one cub hesitated but the lioness pushed and prodded him to drink. They all packed tightly together to drink. It was almost like we couldn’t see the cubs at all, as they were being squeezed between the 2 lionesses. Across the pond, a giraffe looked on warily. And one of the elephants also had remained on the scene. Suddenly the elephant gave a menacing trumpet call, and the lions and cubs retreated. They stayed back a few hundred yards. We wondered what it would have looked like from the hide but Ona assured us it was best that we had left before the lions showed up. Otherwise they may have parked themselves next to the jeep and not allowed us to leave. It seems 2-legged creatures on foot actually would be of interest to lions. On our way back toward the road to camp, we looked for the other female and cubs but never saw them. 

We drove back toward a brilliant sunset. The sky absolutely glowed with glorious color. It was hard to say what was more impressive- the lions or the sunset. 

Back at camp, there was a fire pit set up where the elephants had been walking just yesterday. A buffet of traditional foods was set and we enjoyed chicken, pounded beef, beef sausages, polenta, rice, creamed spinach, mixed veggies, and 2 sauces - mushroom and tomato. The starter was a lovely butternut squash soup. Sue told Ona about all the squash in our garden, and Ona called the chef over to proudly share her recipe. There was traditional cake for dessert. 

After dinner all the guests gathered near the fire. The staff sang and danced for us. The dances included men and women wearing a beaded skirt and then shaking and gyrating causing the beads to click together in time to the song. A guy who looked like Ona took a turn wearing the skirt as well as our favorite waitress, Layla. Ona told us later it was not him in the skirt although he joined the singing. Sue took videos but no photos.  It was boisterous and joyous and we clapped wildly at the end. 

We learned that we would have one more game drive in the morning as our plane would not leave until 11:45 am. We would have one more chance to encounter the lions before departing for Linyanti.