Stanley's Camp Moremi Game Reserve

... light.. The fire is now considerable larger and yep we are warm.<br><br>Darren and I in one of our brief moments of calm were reflecting on the volatility of spending time in the African bush. There is no let up as "wild" things do not know when we have had enough for the day and just need time out to cook tea and reflect. It appears that every time we relax something happens. We could not help but reminisce about a few possums and a kangaroo or two and god forbid a dingo.

... campsite. When we got back we were all sticky and hot and I jumped in the shower right away. At 4:00 we headed out to get ready for our flight over the Delta. For my birthday Gabe had agreed to go for a ride even though he&#8217;s flown in small planes before. There were 14 of us filling both 7-seater planes. Here's a photo of our plane. I watched the wheels come up as we took off and then we were heading out over the ...

... of poles. Eventually it was all resolved by everyone just claiming a random tent and three people agreeing to share a tent, and then we had nothing to do. It was hot and we weren&#8217;t going on a bush walk until 4:30, giving us roughly 3 hours. So, we played cards for a while and then asked if we could go for a swim. Because the waters aren&#8217;t safe everywhere some of the polers agreed to take us to "the ...

... of lions near Third Bridge and one afternoon we got chatting to a man who just hours before, had a close encounter with a leopard mother and her beautiful young cub but explore as we might in the areas mentioned, we couldn't find them. The closest we came was the constant disrupted evenings when hyenas circled and fossicked through our campsites... exciting stuff but after our incredible experiences in Chobe, we were desperate for more of the same in Moremi ...

... they can often book as many as five cars on it - or so they said. I wasn't so sure as conveniently they had returned after the rangers went home and disappeared incredibly early the next morning before the rangers returned. That night the hyenas moved in once more and decimated the bins. We watched from our perched position completely helpless. Later we were woken by an unmistakable sound - the roaring of lions!

... Once more the GPS came into its own as it is very difficult to get your bearings with the numerous tracks in the road. We realised right turns were a slight problem as the plastic mud flap had been displaced in the accident and grated on the tyre every time we turned, slightly embarrassing and were we going to frighten any wildlife in the area with such a rasping noise? North Gate campsite is lovely but the facilities were the worst we had come across. They were obviously in ...

... a huge elephant is only 50 metres away it's a totally different experience to game driving, i.e. there isn't anything between you and the animals and you can't drive off if something happens, hence you're a little more scared about the whole thing. It's an amazing feeling being in their backyard, but on foot, it all seems a bit more natural as you sneak around the bush trying to be as quiet as possible whilst observing what the animals are up to. As we walked on a bit ...

... that evening. So, for dinner we had a traditional meal prepared for us consisting of local fish mixed with waterliliies, something called pap, which is basically maize boiled and butternut squash. The pap was definitley an aqcuired taste although some people said that it was normally a lot better. As is their custom, the men were served first before the ladies, which we were quite chuffed about - like this African culture! After dinner we were treated to local singing and dancing by ...

... come foraging for food right near our table while we were eating dinner one night, and we also had a large group of (noisy) baboons right outside our tent one afternoon. The days and evenings were spent on game drives or on a trip around the river and lagoon in a mokoro--a traditional dug-out canoe that the guide moves by pushing a big pole into the mud at the bottom of the water. I know everyone's going to ask right away if I saw any lions ...