Shingwedzi - Day Six - 1 April 2010

06:00 Up and ready to face the new day.Rain had poured briefly again during the early hours of the morning leaving chairs with wells of water, which dried off quickly enough in the humid air and bright sunshine.

We packed up, enjoyed breakfast and hit the road at 09:00.

We had a very smooth-sailing drive and in an hour and a half covered 17kms. The terrain changed from sandveldt to rocky with long grass and thousands of tall trees.

Enjoying the soothing strains of  The Byrds quietly playing ...

We stopped for five minutes and spotted a fruit on this tree - haven't a clue what it is,

and then continued to Fubi Pan where

we had an early lunch - 11:30 to 12:30.

It was such a beautiful spot. A great open clearing, where I'm sure the animals had heard us coming and disappeared into the dense bush on the

perimeter, but everyone was so busy yakking, they didn't stop to observe what could have been lurking in the surrounds.

Such a pity that people will travel these great distances and appear not to REALLY appreciate what they don't see everyday.

But, away with the negative! Perhaps everyone has their own way of appreciating this world and the opportunities presented before them.

(This photograph was taken from my seat in the car - you can see the window ledge - the grass was as tall as the vehicle and very dense.)

And here is one relaxed driver....

The trail took us up and out of the flat land we were in and we were able to see far across the land.

We also had a few drops of rain, but nothing to bring any relief.

Laid on facilities are not important when you are so close to being one with nature, as we discovered by bushcamping and which we all survived - that is what this was supposed to be all about.

Then, just after 14:00 we reached a campsite with full amenities, i.e. two showers and loos, thankful that the elephants hadn't destroyed the watertank and piping as they are renowned for doing out this side.

Once again, the towing vehicles filled the circle and the solo vehicles setup on the outside.

"Sandolo", meaning Tamboti is where we set up and aired everything that was still damp from the early morning shower.

The heat was still incredibly unbearable and perspiration just poured without any effort and even cold showers provided little relief. We sat and relaxed (like there was anything else to do) and read until it was too dark to see.

A drive was arranged for the next day and HOPEFULLY we would see some game. We had seen very little, if anything at all but others, especially in the vehicles way ahead in the convoy had been fortunate enough to have spotted a couple of animals here and there along the way.

Our ice supply was becoming dangerously low, so we started filling the empty cooldrink bottles with water from our supply and freezing them. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Again, this is an unfenced campsite and the darkness is so dark that any light just disappears beyond it. One does however keep a lookout for glowing eyes peering out of the blackness.. But there is nothing to be seen...Supper consisted of cold chicken, couscous and salad.

While we were eating we were entertained by some frogs who had gathered around the lamp we had placed under a tree.

(If you look very carefully just right of the lamp you can see two little blue eyes looking out)

They were busy hopping about catching the insects that were attracted by the lamplight and were pretty well fed by the time we switched off as they didn't even hop away when we approached them!

And so after a quick wash and fang scrub, we made our way up the ladder and off to dreamland with the sounds of nature all around....