ZIMBABWE: HWANGE NATIONAL PARK

After a good sleep in a cozy bed in our tent in The Hide Safari Camp, we had a 5:30 AM wake-up call, complete with a tray bearing hot chocolate for Bob and herbal tea for me, along with some "biscuits," which were not very sweet cookies:

We dressed quickly and made our way to breakfast--muesli for me and eggs and sausage for Bob--which we ate sitting as close to the fire as possible in our roofed but wall-less dining area. It was barely 3° C, which is about 37° F, an unusually frigid morning in June for the area.

By 6:30 AM we were out on our six-hour game drive, for the first time accompanied by four others, a couple from Northern California and two men from Switzerland. The latter had massive cameras. One told another passenger that his lens cost €5,000, or about $7,000 U.S.

It was so cold, especially once the vehicle got moving. The camp supplied us with flannel-lined hooded ponchos. Under that I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, my lightweight down coat, and my white rain jacket. The other woman, who was sitting in front because she had injured her foot and couldn't climb the ladder to the elevated viewing seats, had a slight advantage provided by the wimpy car heater. She was wearing gloves and very kindly gave me her right glove to keep my note-taking and camera button-pushing hand warm.

I kept a list of everything I took a picture of. Here is what we saw:

Grey louries in a thorn tree, AKA "the go-away bird" because they alert animals about approaching predators:

Brown hooded vulture (the smallest of the five vulture species in Hwange National Park):

A tree full of baboons:

Look carefully and you can see a baby hanging onto the baboon climbing the tree:

I love this chain of grooming baboons, but they are well-camouflaged in front of that tree:

A pretty good shot of the baby:

There were lots of baboons. They blended into their surroundings in the early morning light, making it hard to get a good photo.

Another grey lourie:

Magpie shrike, aka long-tailed shrike:

Yellow-billed hornbill in a mating display:

Lilac-breasted rollerbird (one of our favorites):

Roan antelope, spotted by Bob. Apparently these are very rare. Our guide Theo had not seen one in over a month:

Secretary bird:

Senegal coucal: 

A lone elephant:

Further along, a different elephant crossing the road on the chicken's day off:

He decided . . .

. . . to take . . .

. . . his own . . .

. . . sweet time:

A tawny eagle:

A Cape glossy starling:

By the time we had been on the road for three or four hours, we needed a) food, b) a rest from the rocking, bouncing safari vehicle, and C) A BATHROOM. But where does one find those things in the middle of nowhere?

Well, you'd be surprised.  We arrived at a fenced area with very clean bathrooms, a shower, a kitchen, a barbecue, and a small residence for the person who lives there a month at a time to keep it all clean. Animal bones that workers have found as they have scavenged for fallen wood to be used in the barbecue line the entrance.  Nice decor, right?

By this time it was warmer, and I had shed some layers: 

We were very appreciative of the clean bathrooms and the food, which included hot chocolate, tea, coffee, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and muffins. We enjoyed walking around for about 30-40 minutes, yet again impressed by the hospitality and facilities at the national parks and safari camps.

Time to get back in our jalopy: 

Back on the road, we saw a bachelor herd of impala:

. . . plains zebras ("zebra" is pronounced with a short "e" by the locals), which are the #1 prey for lions, so they usually live in harems or groups of young males. Seeing one alone is rare.

Baby animals are so cute:

A Bradfield hornbill:

Elephant bones were strewn alongside the road. I think they are strategically placed there by guides and rangers:

Our guide got out of the Land Rover to give us a lecture about elephant teeth:

There were two male and four female ostriches hanging around in the brush:

  More baboons:

Lots of impala were everywhere:

Nests of red-billed buffalo weaver birds dotted a dead tree:

I never got tired of seeing (or taking pictures of) the elegant lilac-breasted rollerbirds:

. . . or the much more less attractive yellow-billed hornbill:

Being from California, I see everything in terms of movie sets. This acacia forest would make a good one. Our guide told us that the trees have a protein-rich, moon-shaped pod that giraffes like to eat:

A big bull elephant walked anxiously through the grass. Our guide said he is in "musth," or a period when he produces 40 to 60 times more testosterone than at other times. This lasts four to five months each year for older bulls and just one month in younger bulls.  According to our guide, you don't want to mess with an elephant in musth.

Here's a new one for me--a red crested korhaan:

One of the highlights of the morning was this herd of elephants that included a six- to eight-week-old baby.  Can you see it?

The mother was pretty protective:

Awww, there he/she is!

Our guide pointed out that the loner on the far left was missing a body part:

Another zebra herd:

. . . and another impala herd.  Ho hum.

If it weren't for that big schnoz, Mr. Hornbill would be fairly well camouflaged in the thorn bush:

A few more glossy starlings:

. . . and a few more zebras:

And just for the fun of it, I can't resist inserting this insight:

I may sound like we grew accustomed to and even bored by the amount of wildlife, but that's not the case. This post includes only a fraction of the photos I took, which tells you it never gets old to see these animals in the wild.

We'd been on the road for six hours. It was time to go back to camp for lunch (stewed lamb over rice--fantastic) and a nap.