Lunch was OK, nothing fantastic but it was a least a buffet so I could find something edible. Unfortunately we ended up sitting opposite a bit of a knob (luckily the first we've met this holiday) who was supercilious to say the least, but we got through it and managed a few jokes to lighten the mood.
About 1400 we made our way to the water for our mokoro trip - these dug out canoes were traditionally made of wood but are now mostly fibre glass which is so much lighter to punt around.
Mr Bee, who has worked for the company for 33+ years, took us out and although there wasn't anything really to see, it was nice to view the surroundings from a different perspective.
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A hippo had made its way into the main channel and so a motorized boat was despatched to keep between us and the hippo at all times as it could easily have overturned our mokoro if it wanted to.
These are weaver nests, we think Southern Masked but neither of us can actually remember which species.
And this presumably is the occupant.
We had an hour or so's break for afternoon tea and I know I keep going on about it, but the food selection was once again woefully inadequate for me. There were cakes plus beef pasties on offer plus a separate plate of something "specially for the 2 vegans" and I commented to Ian that once again, my diet hadn't been catered for, whereupon I was offered something from the vegans' plate (I wouldn't have just helped myself).
We were then back out again with the same guide but in a motorised boat exactly like we'd used at Okuti. Given the dearth of wildlife around we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have seen this lone male elephant crossing the river and I took numerous photos.
Although it looks like he's swimming in fact for most of the crossing he's just walking on the river bed.
There must be a shallow bit in the middle as he came out of the water quite a long way.
It was great to see just one elephant, we can only imagine how a whole herd would have behaved.
I took a video but obviously posted the stills too as I turn the blog into a Kindle book.
We then headed off through the narrow channels to look for hippos.
Unfortunately we found this one - dead! I should imagine the gases in its stomach gases have caused the bloating and I wonder if it'll explode at some point.
African Fish Eagle
We did find a few hippo wallowing but unfortunately we couldn't really get close enough for any decent shots and there was very little yawning going on.
Heading for our sundowner spot Mr Bee managed to spot two monitor lizards whilst navigating the channels but pretty poor photos both times.
Pretty impressive to spot this I think!
We stopped at this upturned boat on a small island for our drink.
To say the sundowner was perfunctory is an understatement; unfortunately like Chachos, Mr Bee really didn't want to engage much with us. It is so strange here - having done 4 safaris, in 3 countries, visiting 12+ camps we've not experienced anything like it before. Maybe it's us?
We asked to go straight back after the sundowner so we could organise our packing. We have the usual morning drive tomorrow but I think will go straight to the airstrip from there.
At dinner we sat opposite a newly arrived couple, Sheila and Ron, and were told we'd be sharing the truck with them tomorrow. An interesting story; they've been married about 30 years but 14 years ago Ron developed kidney failure and Sheila donated one of hers. I think he's still quite an unwell man and has to take lots of medication which causes side effects, but what a delightful couple they were. They've travelled just about everywhere and plan to keep on travelling just as long as they can - they live on the outskirts of Los Angeles and she's given me her contact details. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's drive as it'll be nice to have someone to chat to.
The starter tonight was Beef Carpaccio which was of course also served to me (but not the vegans) and when I complained, very politely, I was given a plate of lettuce - yup ££££ per night and they served me plain lettuce - not even a dressing on it!