Mashatu - Day 6 AM

This time we stopped at the correct bush, Iphraim saw the tyre tracks, and our little green man was still sitting there, clinging to his branch for all his worth.  Nice to get a couple of shots in natural light.

This was once a forest of mopane trees which has been totally destroyed by elephant.  They are apparently now starting to leave areas before they wreak total devastation like they’ve done here and are giving the plants a chance to recover, albeit slowly. 

A bit of a flat sky to start the day.

Unfortunately Ian had a rather upset stomach this morning and before long he had no alternative but to pay a visit behind a bush.  Luckily we always carry tissues, wet wipes and a zip lock bag for all debris but nevertheless it wasn't a very nice experience for him.  Poor Ian, I did try to persuade him we should just go back to camp but, despite another visit to the bushes, he was adamant we should continue. 

We met this small herd of elephant where unusually the youngster was leading the way.

The matriarch followed up at the rear and looked us over for a good while before deciding we were harmless.

I've never managed to get a decent photo of a Banded Mongoose and these still don't cut it - they were running away as fast as they could before stopping and turning round, but the engine was still running so a lot of vibration.

Southern White-crowned Shrike

We then heard word over the radio that the lion cubs had been spotted but quite a distance from where we were.  Unfortunately by the time we got to the area it was mid-morning and Daniel thought the cubs were by now hidden in the tall grass.  

He drove around for a long time hoping to find them but as I said (only half jokingly actually) if they were in the grass we'd probably have driven over them by now! 

Common Waterbuck (only one we saw, I think)

This is the Limpopo River and on the opposite bank is South Africa.  

We should have crossed the river not too far away at Pont Drift Border Post but of course it hadn't reopened.

Incidentally in the summer when the river is in full flood, it is impossible to cross by vehicle and you have to take a cable car - literally a cage.  Not sure how Ian would have felt about it - image pinched from Trip Advisor.

Today though it was a beautiful spot to have our morning coffee.

A dreadful picture of a Malachite Kingfisher but in my defence it was taken into the sun, the bird is only about 13cm long and was about 50m away.

Grey Lourie without its crest up for once.

A fabulous Mashatu Tree

These two elephants were just outside our camp and it looked such a sweet moment.

Another quiet drive, although to be fair I think Daniel might have decided to stick fairly close to camp and avoid too much driving around at high speed in case it adversely affected Ian's stomach.