We had read that this camp was known as "The place of the Ebony tree." Below you can see why. There were stone steps and a flagstone-paved area leading down from the dining area and lounge towards the river, all shaded by an immense ebony tree. The effect was one of peace and beauty. The two pictures below were taken by Carol from the porch of our tent looking back towards this central area.

 
Can you see John in the picture? How about the hammock, with the river behind it?


John is in this one, too. The building contains the main office, the bar/lounge, and the dining area.

And speaking of our tent, this is what it looked like.

Gee, why is John in all these pictures?

This was the view of the river from our tent porch. (John is NOT in this one!)

By mid-afternoon we had put out in the motor boat with Tryson as our guide to explore this part of the river. Before long we saw - can you guess? - more hippos!

White-fronted bee eaters in a typical nesting spot along the river bank.

 
At attempt to zoom in and give a better view of these pretty birds.

We saw a number of crocodiles sunning on the river banks, but most of them slid off into the water before we got close enough to get a good picture. We quietly sneaked up on this guy below and were able to get his portrait before he disappeared. With his tail partly in the water it's hard to tell how long he was, but 12 feet is probably close.

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock. I think I'll stay in the boat, thank you.

In case you missed the teeth, here's a slightly closer view.

Tryson spotted some gray color in the brush by the river bank and headed in that direction. Sure enough, as we got close we could see an elephant helping himself to the vegetation growing there. We were able to pull in very close to the river bank. So long as we spoke in whispers, the elephant totally ignored us. We were so close, that had he surged forward into the river and reached for us with his trunk, we probably couldn't have gotten away quickly enough to avoid him. That thought quickened our pulse a bit!

How can you hide something this big?

 
Totally unconcerned about us until we spoke up.

After we had taken all the pictures we wanted and just begun to move away, we intentionally spoke loudly to let him know we were there. He flapped his ears in a clear indication of displeasure. I had read that elephants will flap their ears as a warning if they feel threatened, and pictured that as a gentle act of waving their ears in and out. Not so! This elephant slapped his ears back against his neck so forcefully that they made a loud "WHAP" sound, and dust flew off his back! There was NO QUESTION that he was unhappy. I realized again that although elephants calmly eating and moving slowly through the brush are impressive, they are really impressive if they are angry or moving quickly.

We had gone down river far enough that we were at the edge of the national park. Tryson directed the boat into a tributary stream and over to the shore near an open pavilion with a thatched roof. This was a park-owned entrance and information building. There was no one in sight, so Tryson ran the boat's front end up onto the shore and helped us out onto the land. He showed us where a toilet was located, then went up a hill and into the brush looking for a park ranger who lived nearby. He wanted to make arrangements for us to take our walking safari the following morning. Inside the pavilion was hanging a Zambian flag. When Tryson came back he explained to us what the various items on the flag stood for.

The bird is an African Fish Eagle, the national bird of Zambia. The green background symbolizes the green vegetation covering the land. The three colored bands on the right stand for, in order: red - the blood of freedom, black - black African people, and orange - minerals, or natural resources.

Tryson had arranged to pick up a park ranger tomorrow morning at about 7:00 AM and continue down river to the national park, where we would walk and look for animals. We all got back in the boat and headed toward camp, but stayed near the shores as much as possible to try to spot any game that might be around the river. At about 5:45 as the sun was getting low, we were cruising along the Zimbabwe shore when an elephant appeared ahead quite near the water. He stepped slowly out into the river, as the shore sloped down very gradually at this point. He stopped when the water covered his legs and a little of his belly, and seemed to just enjoy cooling off in the current.

I noticed that when he slowly waved his ears in and out, his left ear simply hung limp and didn't move. When I commented on it to Tryson, he told us that this was Nelson, a well-known long-time resident of the area. At some point in the past he had been shot, presumably by poachers, and it had left part of his left side paralyzed. It didn't seem to bother him particularly now, as he didn't appear under-nourished.

Nelson. The ear on this side is fine.

This is the ear that just hangs limp. A cool, refreshing bath in the Zambezi.

When we left Nelson behind it was getting dark as there were clouds in the west and the sun was setting behind them. Just upriver from where Nelson was bathing we saw what Carol describes as a "birdie hotel" being packed in for the night. It was a small tree just loaded with cattle egrets and one lone yellow-billed egret, another white bird but bigger than the others. This was clearly a segregated hotel, as only white birds seemed to be welcome.

Settling in for the night. Maybe this was the convention down river the other egrets were heading to.

The larger yellow-billed egret must have realized he was in the wrong flock, as he soon flew off to another tree nearby.

The long-necked bird at top, right is the yellow-billed egret.

We headed back to camp to clean up and have dinner.

We didn't write in our notes what the menu consisted of each night, but we complimented Annerita over and over on her ability to plan and prepare meals for varying numbers of guests, with the closest supermarket a full day's journey away. As usual there was freshly made soup, fresh vegetables and fruit (mostly grown there at the camp), fresh homemade bread or rolls, and either meat, chicken or fish for an entrée, followed by a dessert. And it was always delicious!

Annerita told us that she read magazines and cookbooks, searching for recipes that could be prepared there at the camp and served to their guests. One example was a kind of bread she called "cornbread," but not made like the cornbread we are used to. It was actually regular wheat bread with fresh corn cooked into it. She explained that many of the recipes were more European than African in an attempt to serve guests dishes they would not find too exotic. Her challenge was to teach the African cooks how to prepare meals that were totally unlike anything they had ever had.

As at other camps, Tryson (our guide) ate with the guests, as did Niel and Annerita, the camp managers. They employed a number of local people as cooks, servers and maintenance personnel. And they obviously spent a lot of time training and working with these people, teaching them how to interact with the camp guests and how to do jobs that we would take for granted.

Whenever I would thank Annerita for passing something or bringing an item, she would routinely reply sincerely, "It's a pleasure" instead of "You're welcome." She had trained the staff members to reply the same way. Several of the newer ones would say it as if it were something they had memorized, instead of as if they meant it! But they all were trying hard to please us in everything. There can't be many paying jobs out there in the wilderness!

Much like at Kiambi Camp, during our meal a fire was started out on the flagstone patio and we were invited to sit around it when we had finished eating. We talked about the things we had seen during the day. The conversation turned to elephants, and Niel reiterated how destructive they can be. He pointed to a place in the flagstone patio where the stones were broken and looked like they had settled into a depression underneath. He informed us that months ago an elephant had strolled right through the camp and had stood on that spot, causing the damage. The patio looked to me like it was strong enough to drive a big truck across with no damage!

Niel then told stories to illustrate the folly of "messing" with elephants. He said that a year or so ago a man had driven his vehicle into the national park (the river wasn't flooding then!) and saw an elephant. The man had a bag of oranges, so he tossed one towards the elephant, who picked it up and ate it. The man tossed him another orange, and he ate it as well. All was fine until the last orange was gone. The elephant walked over to the car, poked out a window with his tusk, reached inside with his trunk, pulled out the man, and calmly killed him! So if you're going to feed an elephant some oranges, you'd better not run out before he's satisfied!

Several times during our stay at Kiubo Camp we heard single gunshots from off in the distance. I immediately wondered about poachers, but Niel said it was probably other camps trying to scare away an elephant. Apparently they will usually move quickly away from the noise of a gun.

We stared at the fire for a bit as conversation died. Someone commented about how hypnotic a fire can be at night. Niel replied laconically that locally they referred to an evening campfire as "bush television." Everybody sits around and stares at it!

With the sound of hippos grunting and snorting in the distance, we excused ourselves and headed off to bed. Tomorrow would be an early start, for a change.

Our notes indicate the following sightings for the day: many hippos including one tiny baby, probably not more than a week old, five elephants, buffalo, impala, 5 (or so) crocodiles, fish eagles, tree covered with egrets, Egyptian geese, white crowned plover, abdim stork, white-fronted bee eaters in the river bank, carmine bee eaters, and open-billed stork.

NEXT: Day 22, a walking safari and more river exploration

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