Saturday 17th May 2014

I’ve not done Trails camp for a month now, I’d actually forgotten how full on it was. Up at 04.45 and then to bed when the guests call it a night. There’s only an hour to spare during the day which I use to write up my “Dangerous Game” log book as well as the blog. Then it’s a quick bucket shower before getting things ready for the afternoon walk.

Still it’s definitely worth it. This morning we walked Nwambi Pan where we made an approach on an ele bull to about 30 metres. He was very relaxed but despite working our way round to get a side on view he soon managed to present his backside yet again to give us the famous Africa salute.

In the afternoon we parked up at the very big baobab and walked the various pans down there including Mpimbi. I split up from the group towards the end, they headed down to the Limpopo whilst I went back for the vehicle. Whilst you don’t actually see the sun going down here it’s a great spot for a drink, looking out over the mighty river and Zimbabwe beyond is quite breathtaking.

I gave Rhodes a rest on the way back and drove, or he gave me a rest and did the spotlight. No leopard tonight but we did have a nice “black-out” moment with three ele bulls. When we saw them we parked up turning off the engine, radio and lights to encourage them to make the approach. They came close but before they committed to coming all the way one of them upped periscope and sniffed in our direction. His response was a big head shake accompanied by slapping ears in disdain of our odour. All three then marched off into the night from where they’d come.