Laikepia

5:40 saw the alarm buzzing and tea and juice being left outside the tent once more. We made our way to the mess tent and quite quickly, after some fruit, we were in the car on the way to where Steve knows a good route for walking.

After a short drive we all hopped out and began our trek, except Ollie who stayed with the car and would meet us at the end. We had a lovely morning walk through grass and over rocks, it was lovely except for the grass seeds, they get everywhere!! Along the way we saw elephants, giraffes, weavers and guineafowl as well as marks and signs from buffalo which had recently passed through the area. Jasper, who we were chatting to along the way, taught Nim and I all about bees, ants and termites and how their hierarchy and colonies work within the nests. We also found a termites nest which, due to fungus being a food source for them, had mushrooms growing at the top of it. Steve picked some and popped them into Jasper’s bag to take them back for dinner.

We had lunch on another dam, different from yesterday, where we were joined by lots more elephants. They were all playing in the water and in the mud.

We returned back to the tent where we had some down time to chill before our afternoon drive. I used this time to begin the packing as we leave tomorrow. We also had to pack an overnight bag, with pjs, toothbrushes and other essentials as we were joining Steve, Ollie and another couple Fly Camping for the night.

After an afternoon drive where we saw plenty of birds, some more elephants, giraffes, zebra and dicdics, we met up with the rest of the group for dinner around a huge fire. We had fire cooked vegetables and beef with some potatoes which all tasted great and was accompanied by some great chat and banter with Ollie and Jasper! The chunk of the group who weren’t camping departed and left us to it. We had some time to chill out by the fire before getting out the rolled beds and the mosquito tents. Once this was all set up and we had brushed our teeth, we all settled down in our beds. Ollie and Steve didn’t have tents but at least Steve had Trigger to keep him company. The beds were incredibly comfy, duvet and pillows on a rolled up mattress. Nothing like anything I’ve ever camped with before. As we stared up at the cloudy skies ( not a star to be seen ) I realised that this was the best end to a great safari trip!