The camp staff knocked on our door at 6 to wake us up. Breakfast at 6:30 and we were on our way at 7:00. Owner took us to an island for a walking safari. We had another staff member with us. They were only armed with a stick. We were told that under no circumstances were we to run. Apparently lions interpret running as food. If we encountered a lion we were to turn and walk the other direction. We hear a story of another group being approached by a lion. Apparently there was another animal with a kill and they were between the lion and the kill. The lion came straight towards them. The guide had a gun and fired several shots into the dirt but this didn’t scare off the lion, he just kept coming. The guide then realized the lion’s motivation and told them to get behind a tree, at which point everything was ok.
During our walking safari we saw elephants, lechwe, wildebeest, warthogs, and baboons. Luckily no lions! We walked for about 2 1/2 hours.
We returned to the boat and then to the camp for brunch. After brunch we had down time during which I took a nap and a shower.
The next excursion was scheduled for after high tea. We went out for a boat ride. We had a choice, a slow boat ride or a fast boat ride. We had time for a boat ride the next morning before our flight and we figured it would be cooler in the morning so we would do the slow boat ride in the morning and the fast boat ride in the afternoon. It was about an hour of a very fast boat ride, whipping around corners and through the channels of the delta. At one point we almost collided with another boat. Eventually we got to a lagoon which had an island in the center. It was full of nesting birds. Here are some pictures.
We also saw a monitor lizard.
Our return fast boat ride was uneventful. We had dinner and went back to our cabin. Up until this time we had only seen hippos in the water which means we could only see the top of their heads, eyes and ears.
Owner had said he was going to look around the camp that night and see if he could find a grazing hippo. At about 10:00 that evening we got a knock on the door. It was Owner. I rushed to get dressed and went out. The hippo was between our cabin and the next one. We walked along the raised walkway and Owner was shining a bright light on him. I got one not very good picture before he decided he didn’t like the light shining in his eyes.
The hippo jumped towards us, opened his mouth wide, and made a loud growling noise. I jumped back, very scared. Owner laughed at me because he said the hippo couldn’t get to us on the raised walkway. I decided I had seen enough of the hippo and quickly went back inside. I got quite a fright! We all laughed about it the next morning.