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We had a great nights sleep on
the houseboat - nice a cool with a brisk breeze. We are up early as we
are going to go on a walking safari in the game park. We always enjoy
walking safaris - there are not too many places you can do it and it is a
nice change from being in the cars or trucks. You feel much closer to
the animals and the environment.
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After some tea and coffee, we
head to the pontoon boats and slowly start to chug to shore around 6:30
AM. On our way, we see a large number of hippos in the water. We
reach the shore 15 minutes later and tie up the boat and begin our walking
safari. Well, it turns out that we do not see any animals on this game
walk, but it is still very fascinating time. The guide is trying to
track the animals, including elephants and lions and takes time to explain
many things to us along the way.
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First, we come upon some fresh
elephant dung. The guide breaks apart the dung and shows us many
things, including all the undigested material - an elephant only digests
about 20-30% of what they eat which is one reason why they eat so much
(100-200 kg per day). He also shows us why the elephant their dung is
so important to the local ecology. He takes out some bugs that are
eating the dung and that are also laying eggs in the dung. mushrooms
will also start to grow in the dung. The ground is fertilised .
Finally, he pulls out some seeds that the elephant had eaten and which is
passed out with the dung. Two things are accomplished. First,
the seed is transported a fair distant, spreading out the territory of the
plant. Secondly, for some reason by passing through the elephant, the
chances of the seed germinating increase from about 20-30% to 80-90%.
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Along the way, as we walk, we are
shown many footprints. The ground is quite soft from the recent rains,
so they show up well. He shows us prints of elephants (including the
toes and structure of the foot and how they walk), hippos, lions, female
leopard and hyena. We also come upon a tortoise that has been eaten by
lions. The lions are very hungry at the moment because the lion
population is very high, but the prey population is very low - the natural
cycle. So the lions are eating what they could find. We could
see the the teeth marks from the lions in the cracked shell.
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We came upon some hyena
dung. It is very white from the calcium of the bones that they will
eat. We also found a tooth from one of the animals that it ate.
The most interesting was find whole porcupine thorns in the dung. The
hyena must have eaten a porcupine (thorns and all), and the thorns passed
right through. We saw an impala horns and skull and could see the
teeth marks. Finally, we found some lion dung which was full of impala
hair.
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It was a great walk even though
we could not find any animals (even though we believe that we were very
close). We headed back to the pontoon to go back to the houseboat for
breakfast. On the way back to the houseboat on the pontoon, however,
we saw a group of elephants by the lake shore. We head over there for a
closer walk. We stop the engine and tie up to one of the dead, drowned
trees. We have a great time watching them. There are a bunch of
adult females, along with a number of young ones of different ages. We
saw them doing all kinds of things, including eating, ...
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... drinking water from the lake,
and ...
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... taking a mud bath from a
small hole that they dug and filled with water right next to the edge of the
lake. The young ones would join in and they were all having a great
time. When they wandered off into the trees after about an hour, we
headed back to the houseboat.
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When we get back to the houseboat
at 10 AM, we have a brunch which is followed by a short nap. In the
afternoon, we just hang out on the houseboat reading and not doing too
much. It is great to chill for a while. Later in the afternoon,
we go for a canoe safari. They have a number of canoes which hold up
to three people. We are accompanied by a guide.
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We would just paddle around the
lake, mostly near the shores, looking for game and birds. Like the
walking safari, it is another wonderful different experience. You feel
much closer to the animals and the environment around you. We spent
about 2½ hours paddling around, including going into a number of narrow
channels (one of which dried up and ended in a dead end).
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We saw lots of birds, but the
highlight must have been getting quite close to the hippos. We needed
to be careful, however, not to get too close nor to get between them and
deep water (safety for them). They could easily run us over. If
we got to close or if they otherwise felt threatened, they would open their
mouths up wide in a threatening display.
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We got back to the houseboat
shortly before 7 PM. As it is Sophie's birthday, we are going to have
a bit of a party. We quickly wash up and get ready. The guys
have been asked to dress up in fancy "dress", so everyone has a
good laugh as we all show up cross dressing. We have a few drinks and then a large dinner, followed by
cake.
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Things really get going when they
bring out the vodka jelly. At first it is consumed in a civilized
manner with a spoon, but it quickly degenerates. Things are expedited
and the vodka jelly is just poured down peoples' throats.
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From there we move onto a game of
truth and dare, which carries on until a number of people start jumping into the
swim cage (meant to protect you from the crocs and hippos) at the back of the
houseboat. We have a great time.
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