Our Last Day on Safari

Back up before 5 am for our last day on safari. I will miss this place but I won't miss the intense schedule.  There were only three of us guests in our Land Rover this morning. We wwatched an adult eagle owl (largest owl in the world) feed it's baby. We stopped by a watering hole and saw a gray heron and a Marabou stork looking for breakfast.

I asked Phanny to point out a hornbill nest because I'm so fascinated by that bird. They use the same nest for life.

We watched a lilac-breasted roller, which is my new favorite bird. It is even more beautiful when it flies.

We gawked  at the vulture.

We played hide-n-go-seek with a giraffe.

We spotted the dwarf mongoose.

Then Phanny picked up a call that a male lion was spotted. We got onto the highway and drove so fast that Gayle tried to warm her face with a blanket.

By the time we got to the site where the lion was spotted he had crossed a riverbank that we couldn't cross. We could hear him roar but we couldn't see him.  We drove on in disappointment until we saw elephants crossing our dirt road. Phanny stopped the vehicle and one came so close to Rifus that Phanny had to yell at him to move on. Surprisingly the elephant listened.

On the way back we were rewarded with a close up encounter of a male kudu

and an elephant wallowing in a mud hole.

We have been with Phanny and Rifos for five days now. They enjoy teasing us. One night at sundowners Gayle asked what kind of meat the jerky was. They told her baboon. She believed them and then they laughed so hard. Last night she needed to find a bush to pee behind and they told her it wasn't safe so she should go behind the vehicle. She did and then when they had to load the snacks back up at the rear of the Land Rover they nicknamed her Victoria Falls for the size of the puddle she left behind. Phanny likes to quiz me to see if I have retained the facts he has shared with us. If I don't get it right he chastises me for not being a good student and always says, "We cannot go until you get it right. If you don't get it right we will not go."  But today he shared that he was disappointed that we are leaving tomorrow. He suggested he might get lost with us and not return until Friday when he begins his two week holiday. We have thoroughly enjoyed the time with our ranger and tracker. They are excellent at spotting the animals and they are fun.

Back in our room we started packing up for our early departure tomorrow. It was my last chance to play with the kudu horns that decorate our room.

After another delicious brunch we returned to our room to nap and get ready for our last game drive. Phanny warned us that it would be very hot so we dressed in shorts. The wind picked up right before we left the lodge and got steadily worse the whole time we were out. The animals hunker down when it is windy. The birds were even gone by the end of the evening. Even so we did see a few animals. We saw monkeys.

A baby giraffe sitting down under the protection of it's mother.

Another elephant got a little too close to Rifos.

We saw a jackal.

And we had to stop for a rhino. 

Otherwise it was a quiet night and we relaxed and enjoyed the windy ride. When we stopped for wine and snacks, Gayle and I went behind a bush to try our Freshettes. It is a device we each purchased to allow us to pee standing up. I got mine because since knee surgery I haven't been able to squat. I was worried that I would have to go while on a game drive. Let me just say it works like a charm! 

We bid farewell to Phanny and Rifos. We had a barbecue for dinner. We said goodbye to our new friend from New York. We crawled in bed. Tomorrow we fly to Zambia and then cross the border to Zimbabwe so we can enjoy Victoria Falls.