September 19

 

I wake up at five o'clock, as do the girls, but there is nothing at the waterhole.  Later, the people in the chalet next to us tell us that there were hyena right next to the rooms at half past five. We were looking in the wrong direction.

After a decent breakfast of cornflakes, yoghurt, fruit followed by scrambled eggs and toast, we go out for a drive.  I wonder what it is that makes viewing game so interesting.  There is a huge herd of buffalo on the runway at Hwange airport, but otherwise we don't see anything except a lone giraffe.  At some point we end up driving into another camp where everyone looks at us as though we are some sort of rare species.  We have obviously wandered into Rhodie land as everyone here is wearing short boxer shorts and caps. The men are huge and the women are stick thin.

Hwange Safari Lodge is still closed which is a pity as we were hoping to go in there. My parents took me there for my 21st.  I will always remember how we ordered stuffed mushrooms for a starter and how the waiter appeared with this huge silver dish.  When he took the lid off, there was one mushroom atop a spoonful of mashed potato in the middle of a large plate.  We thought we were on candid camera.

A long, long time before that, we were at Hwange Safari Lodge and Joshua Nkomo was there.  It was when he was still deemed an outlaw by the government.  My dad jokingly told me to go and get his autograph, so I did.  I still have it.  Maybe it will be worth millions one day.

The National Parks run chalets at Main Camp are deserted.  We have to go through a long, arduous process of writing down everyone's names, temperatures, whether we have a cough or not, telephone numbers, ID numbers . . .  Main Camp is quite run down.  For what they charge, you may as well stay at a place like Ganda and have your food thrown in as well.  They are currently repairing the roof of the museum which has collapsed. Unfortunately, they have not removed any of the artefacts before doing so so everything is covered in grass.

In the afternoon, one of the guides from Ganda comes with us for a drive around their conservancy.  Once again, we see noting although the anti-poaching unit we meet up with says a herd of elephant has just passed through.

After a long drive around, we get back to the lodge to find a herd of about forty elephant are approaching.  It's lovely.