On Safari

I’d woken up a couple of times in the night, feeling the cold. Neville had suggested that I’d need neither fly-sheet nor sleeping bag and, in all honesty, he was right. The second time I woke up, I threw my rugby shirt on and curled up to sleep soundly until the light began to invade my tent. Less than a minute later, at 5.40, my alarm went off and I turfed myself out for the walking safari.
We didn’t see any big game (a few impala, some baboons and a water buck) but we learnt a lot about life closer to the ground and the varied plantlife of the reserve. We saw huge elephant and hippo tracks and our guide, Henry, pointed out the destruction that a healthy male elephant can cause to a large baobab tree and I was left with a healthy respect for his passion for and knowledge of the bush.
Breakfast was delicious – fresh fruit salad, guava juice, toast and local jam and a fry-up to do an Englishman proud – all washed down with piping hot cups of the local Mzuzu coffee. At 8 o’clock it was time to jump in the boat for our water safari and, for 2 hours, we chugged gently along the river banks, seeing hippos poking snout and ears above water and crocs cruising like dead wood floating on the current. We also saw a wide variety of smaller game and, best-of-all, a hug variety of colourful birds. It was fun to see little families of ‘Pumbas’ (warthogs) trotting around at the waters edge and, as we chugged by the flatlands at the waters edge, it was exhilarating to see the unmistakably African sight of herds of Impala, pogoing up and down and flashing their white-tailed warnings. Most delightful, though, were the birds – particularly the lilac-breasted roller and a memorable malachite kingfisher. We were also treated to the sight of the majestic African fish eagle – national symbol of Malawi – buzzing our covered boat and we saw many wading birds like the African jacana, open-billed stork, egrets and cranes. The hippos were generally quite shy so we didn’t really get a proper look at them out of the water, nor did we catch sight of any elephants – but no matter…there was still the afternoon’s Game Drive to spot these elusive giants out in the open.
I spent a relaxing day around the poolside, interrupted only by a tasty lunch of tender pork pie and vegetable moussaka, followed by my favourite: Banoffee Pie! At 4pm we clambered into the 3-tiered rear seats of a converted Land Rover and set off into the bush. We got close to herds of impala and small, family groups of water buck as a well as a beautiful family of kudu, with their comically protruding ears and resident, tick-munching birds. Down by the riverside we were lucky enough to catch some enormous hippos, already out of the water in preparation for their night’s grazing. How anything the size of a VW Golf can be cute, I’m not sure – but with their little pink ears and pretty, long-lashed eyes, they assuredly were…until they flipped open their cavernous jaws to display some fearsome looking teeth.
At sundown we stopped for drinks to allow the shift-change between the dusk-grazers and the nocturnal wildlife. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, all the game seemed to be hiding and we saw a solitary bush-baby and a civet in a whole hour of driving back to camp with a search lamp, operated by Simon. I’d seen some beautiful animals and received a fascinating education from Henry and Simon…but, disappointingly, I still hadn’t seen any elephants.
I was due to leave in the morning, so I made the most of my last evening with Patty, Becca and Adrienne. For such youngsters (16-17ish), Becca and Adrienne were remarkable mature and I could see that their African experience had had a major impact on their view of the world. Patty’s caring, friendly manner had made my two days at the camp a real pleasure and they’d all made me feel totally welcome to their party of three. It was a little colder that evening (no dining on the lawn with a stiff breeze and clear skies) and Patty kindly lent me a spare blanket from her chalet to make my night a little more comfortable. We headed off to bed at the usual early hour with promises to exchange e-mails the following morning over breakfast.