Today the plan was for a very early start to be in the Mahango Core Area of Bwabwatwa National Park as soon as the gates opened, but when our alarms went off there was a significant amount of rain so we decided to have a lie in. We finally got up when the rain eased a while later, and decided to stick with our plan. In the end we spent the entire morning in the park, enjoying the varied wildlife.
- Start: Ngepi Camp
- Destination: Camp Kwando
- Distance: 250km
- Planned Duration: 2h50min
- Actual Duration: TBC
- Animals Seen: Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Red Lechwe, Kudu, Crocodile, Springbok, Hippo, Lilac-breasted Roller, Greater blue-eared Starling, African Jacana, Egret, Pied Kingfisher, Impala, Warthog, Vervet Monkey, White-backed Vulture, Lapped-faced Vulture, African Darter, Spur-winged Goose
Morning Self Drive in Mahango Core Area of Bwabwatwa National Park
We arrived in the park much later than planned, but it was still overcast and cool so we were still hopeful that we would have a good game drive. Within minutes of entering the park we were excited to see a single elephant in the distance, munching his way through some large tree branches. While we were admiring the elephant, we noticed that there was a tower of giraffe out of the other window! The giraffe then walked across plain, which was also littered with a dazzle of zebra.
We decided to stick entirely with the 4×4 track which stuck by the river, hoping to see some lions, unfortunately this was unsuccessful but on our journey we saw plenty of Red Lechwe, Zebra, springbok and some female Kudus, however the male Kudus were still proving elusive. Eventually we managed to find a male kudu, with the distinctive horns, however he was clearly not that mature as his horns were still quite small, however I was very glad to get a great picture in good light.
As our drive went on we saw some more elephants, lots of dazzling birdlife, they really are so colourful here, and plenty of antelope. As we finished the main part of the park, we decided to do an extra route up to a waterhole, however this was very unproductive and just took a lot of time, however we did see a giraffe on the way back which was a nice end to the safari.
Drive to Camp Kwando
Due to spending much longer than planned on our morning safari, we were much later than planned, so it was around 14:15 by the time we set off from Divundu having had lunch, filled up with fuel and posted some postcards. The road along to Kongola was very good tarmac so we made good time to our camp for the evening, Camp Kwando. This was our night staying in some much more luxurious accommodation compared to the other lodges we have stayed in, or the truck. It was made even better by receiving an upgrade when we arrived into one of their “treehouses”.
Comments