Mana Pools

It's a beautiful but chilly first morning at Kanga Camp.

We slept well - the level of accommodation is pretty damn good for tented living:



You can just see Ruth at the bathroom sink behind the bedroom.  Two toilets if you don't mind - his and hers.

Hers was inside, and his was outside - nearby to the outside shower actually. The elephants had an envious look about them as they watched naked human beings washing themselves by way of a plumbed-in shower head.

After breakfast we took off on our first game drive.



The terrain was quite dry really.



My job is to take photos of the animals, so here's the output.

Tree squirrel



Not all that exciting I suppose.  But not that easy to catch on the camera because they move so fast.  As soon as they hear your vehicle, they're off and running.

I wanted to see one or some of the big cats in action.  Early on we saw leopard prints.



Will we see a leopard?  Read on and find out!!!

Linda and Cal came to Kanga Camp because it is known to be close to where Painted Dogs have been seen.  These animals apparently are an endangered species.  David Attenborough was here last year filming them, so Linda is quite excited about seeing them first hand.

Julian, on the other hand, is not a fan of dogs having many a run-in with them and their owners whilst jogging around the parks of East Malvern.

But who knows... I'm keeping an open mind.

We set off on foot for the Painted Dog hunt.



It was most enjoyable walking through the African jungle.

We came across a beautiful Baobab tree.



At the base, you can see how the elephants strip the bark off the tree to eat it.  Piles of elephant dung around the base to prove it too.

Our guide takes us to a den of the Painted Dogs.  Sure enough, there are about 6 or more lounging around. Here's one:



We are standing about 20 to 30 metres away from them.  They hear us and assess whether to attack or not.

Our guide has the shotgun armed in case he needs to scare them away, but thankfully, the dogs determined we were of no threat to them, and carried on doing their dog business whilst always having one of their number keep tabs on us.

My first reaction when I see these dogs is of their size - I'd say they are about 1.3 times the size of  a German Shepherd.

Huge ears too hey?

"All the better to hear you" I hear them say.



I managed to get a video of two of the dogs playing a game of tug-of-war with a baboon that they captured.

Its amazing how hard it is to pull a baboon's limbs off its body.

You'll absolutely love the video... I'll post it when I get a free moment.

Apparently these animals are absolutely fantastic at catching other animals and destroying them.

We spent probably an hour watching the dogs.  So after a while I looked for other things to photograph.

Here's a pic of Cal taking a pic of Linda taking a pick of Painted Dogs:



Eventually we moved on.

Here's a Chacma Baboon looking down on us.



We hiked back to the vehicle and continued game driving.

Ruth was particularly enamoured by these Little Bee Eaters.



Here's an aged Cape Buffalo with it's mouth full.



Eventually, we arrived back in camp for lunch.  And at the water hole we found baboons.

Here's dad doing dad stuff.



And here's mum doing the back-breaking work many mothers have to do without adequate recognition.




Elephants love the mud don't they?



And the impalas came for a drink too.



In the afternoon, we set out on another game drive which ended up being a sunset game drive.

Check out this Eland looking jealously at our lavish sunset nosh-up:



Or maybe he was admiring the sunset like we were:



Back at camp, you wouldn't believe who visited us after dinner.



Yep.  This smart cat was waiting for all the fuss to die down, and when there was no competition for attention, he strolled down to the waterhole, took his fill, and quietly sleeked off.

A nice end to our day indeed.