Well that's it, our last morning and quite frankly I think we're both thoroughly fed up and ready to go home - although there is always that sense of anticipation as to what might show itself on the drive.
Unfortunately when I woke up my right eye seemed unusually bleary, even for 0530, and when I'd showered and finally glanced in the mirror I realised why. I'd been bitten and it was massively swollen, so much so that may eyelid was practically actually touching my glasses. We don't carry antihistamine tablets (we really should do as this isn't the first time) although we do have cream but I felt it was a bit close to the eyes/tear ducts for cream so decided just to put up with it. Might make photography a bit more interesting!
As we were sharing the truck, and most likely missing lunch, we had a full breakfast and continued our chat with Ron and Sheila. As instructed we left our packed bags in our tent and someone would collect them and bring them to the airstrip. Waiting to say goodbye was the Manager, a couple of staff and Mr Bee who'd guided us yesterday on the waterways - luckily we had an envelope ready for him otherwise it could have been a little embarrassing. I'm still not totally happy with the tipping culture on safari, it seems to me that guests are expected to tip the guides more than they earn in wages whereas the general camp staff who usually do so much to make the stay enjoyable and memorable (excluding this camp, sadly) get a few $ to split between them
Sunrise was beautiful and my spirits lifted a little; maybe today we'd be luckier; after all, our "amazing last mornings" are fast becoming a tradition.
Sadly not this time, this is all I took in the next 1 1/2 hours and if it wasn't for this blog I would probably have binned the lot as there is nothing really worth keeping.
Ron and Sheila had kindly let us have the front seats as it was our last drive and although I thought Ron spoke loud enough, Chachos never seemed to answer his questions - not that we really needed him for the little we saw. Nor did Chachos bother to check that we'd both finished taking shots before he moved off and as Ron was a little slow, he was quite frustrated at times. Chachos was probably trying to track the wild dogs again without telling us
African Fish Eagle
Green Pigeon
Even these little darlings were a rare sight at this camp - LBR, of course
We came to a herd of about 7-8 elephants including this one with one very straight tusk. Unfortunately it was known to be quite aggressive and so we couldn't get too close nor manoeuvre the truck for a better, grass free, shot.
The tall golden grasses are beautiful to look at but a real pain when it comes to photography.
Common Waterbuck
Another fabulously whiskered warthog - I've finally remembered who they remind me of - the late Jimmy Edwards (actor).
We then saw this lone Tsessebe, which had the most hilarious running action, springing all 4 feet off the ground - I wish I'd caught a video.
Sorry OOF (out of focus)
Chachos heard over the radio that there was a leopard in the vicinity and luckily another truck had found it and about 20 minutes later we were on the scene. We then followed it for just under an hour, so mostly just a series of pictures (hope they're not too repetitive), but I'll add a bit of text when it's relevant.
It was a male leopard and he was HUGE and I must say not particularly attractive (unlike the females we saw at Mashatu).
But he did have the most wonderful whiskers.
He was obviously on a mission and walked across all different kinds of terrain, sometimes along tracks where it was quite easy for us to follow.
But also through some quite boggy areas (hence the black belly/feet). Just imagine if his "whotsits" had been electric blue like the Vervet monkeys!
He walked literally right in front of our truck numerous times (I've left the OOF bits in to show just how close he was).
At one point we encountered this lone male hippo and thought the leopard may attack, but no he just carried on walking past.
In the other truck was the family staying in the exclusive Shinde Enclave and at one point the chap thought it was a clever idea to stand up - boy did he get told off by his guide!
The leopard climbed up on this small mound and we were really hoping he'd stop for a while and pose but as you can see in the video, he just kept on walking.
He'd obviously picked up a scent here.
Sometimes we seemed to lose him completely in the long grass
He did stop and pose on a mound but unfortunately as we were trying to follow we got stuck in the mud and the other truck drove past us!!!
Chachos said that he wouldn't even have attempted to follow the leopard had we been the only truck as he wasn't sure of the terrain and with us having a flight to catch wouldn't have risked it. After what seemed like a frustratingly long time the leopard carried on and the other truck came back to tow us out - what a missed opportunity to have taken some delicious close up photos.
He then circled a herd of about 50 or so Red Lechwe for a while but they spotted him easily.
They then proceeded to follow him which amazed us, but Chachos explained that they were letting the leopard know that he'd been spotted and therefore they were safe. As I mentioned before the surprise element plays a big part in any successful kill as leopards' speed isn't that good.
Eventually we decided to leave him to it as I think we were all bursting for a *ee and a cuppa and of course Ian and I were also conscious that we had a plane to catch. Rather unimaginatively, I thought, we stopped at exactly the same tree as yesterday.
After our comfort break we continued on for a short while but the only other creature we saw was this female (I think) ostrich.
OK so, on reflection, maybe not too bad a last morning after all.
