Safari! (Day 3)

   I could have stayed at the lodge for the whole rest of the trip I think.  It was so comfortable and the days were filled with really exciting encounters.

I forgot to mention in the last entry that last night I took a bath complete with wonderfully smelling bath salts. ( I was in my bathing suit of course because the tub was out in the open.)  At first, I was afraid to relax because I made the water too hot and was afraid I would pass out in the tub.  haha  As it cooled down, I was able to fully relax and it was wonderful!  I think I will have to start taking baths again when I get home!

Back to today, we had one last game drive before it was time to pack up and go.  Since everyone but one other girl was going on a special elephant back safari, we had the car all to ourselves.  

The rest of the group setting out to meet the elephants.

This game drive was especially rewarding because we tracked the lions all over the place.  (As opposed to stumbling across them or getting tipped off by the radio.)  We found the tracks right outside camp and followed them over 3 km!  

We then lost the tracks and were about to give up when I spotted one of the lionesses!  EVeryone congratulated me and I felt like a biology super hero.  haha  We watched them for quite a while as they napped.  We then drove on to give the zillions of other cars a chance to see them too.

On the way tracking the lions, our guides showed us a bunch of really interesting things about the plants as well.  We saw a tree that had poisonous sap that people used to kill fish.  Animals like rhinos and buffalo rub their horns on the tree so they poison their opponent when they fight, and to repel insects.  PEople also use the sap to get rid of tooth infections.   We also saw a tree stripped of bark by hungry elephants and got to hold some safari toilet paper.  

We also had the rare treat of seeing a hippo out of the water!

And some Mufasa killers...er I mean wildebeest nervously staring in the direction the lion's sent was coming from.  

Capping off the 4 our of 5 Big Five animals we saw, we stumbled across a buffalo wallowing happily in the mud.

I thought we were all done, but then we found the herd of elephants again on the way back to camp!

I should also mention that we encountered the most rare and interesting creature of all.  Wild girl with neck brace!  haha  Whenever we passed another tour group, they would openly gawk at me, which I am used to, so it's ok.  One man actually took a picture of me and then showed it to his friend and they both laughed.  That was a little more than I was used to, but at least I could provide some entertainment I guess.  I would have given them an autograph too if they had asked for it.  Or you know, told them to suck it.  It depends on what mood I'm in.  :0P

BAck at the lodge, I did some quick shopping and then packed up and checked out.  The ride to the airport was really fun!  We were running late so we sped at 60km/hr through the bush and over the bumps!  It was also very beautiful.  

The trip back was pretty rough on me.  I was exceedingly POTSie which hasn't happened in quite a while.  I slept a bit on the plane and that helped.  I was glad to get back to the boat and get to bed early tonight.