Mahango
Africa is a chameleon. We are only a day's driving away from Etosha - our most recent never-ending fountain of ample wildlife, and it's like we've landed on a different planet with its own magnificent and diverse population of birds and antelope. Reminding me of my darling jabiru, saddlebill storks rummage through the reeds with their incredibly colorful bills and spread their enormous sail-like wings, getting away from me as I chase them around the swamp knee-deep in mud. In the presence of the saddlebills, reedbucks are of less interest to me. As if feeling it, they let me get much closer to them on foot than any other antelope, and when my camera lens is turned away, they jump up with a loud scream resembling the cries of spoiled children who are not getting their way. I am yet to chase down a hippo. I haven't decided yet how scared I am of them. We almost never see them during the day. Only in the early morning, when they are still out to graze, we've manage to sneak up close enough to take a peek thorough the bushes. As a result, I only have a photo of a hippo running away. At night though, it almost feels like they are about to come and walk on top of our tent, which we set up in the vast shade of a baobab tree. Their roars make me cling tighter to Shurik, but I think he doesn't mind. In fact, sometimes, I play more scared then I actually am only to be the helpless girl in need of a strong broad-shouldered man to protect her from the hippos and lions of Africa.
Gallery
It's funny, how the traditional man and woman roles apply to our little team. When the sun sets, and it's time to make a home for the night, the guys "build" our house - set up the tent that they've left half-assembled in the morning flattened just enough to fit in the trunk of the truck. Then, I crawl in and "arrange the furniture" feng-shuing the mats and sleeping bags, making sure nobody wakes up with a thorn stuck some place sensitive. While the men go hunting for the meat - set up little traps to capture various rodents (though we always end up only photographing them), I fire up the stove and cook up yet another portion from our grand big bag of noodles, which we mix every day with different canned goods - the outcome is surprisingly tasty.
Most of days we drop where we stop, sleep five hours a night, drive during the heat of the afternoon, and spend the rest of our time searching for animals that you probably are already sick and tired hearing about. Tomorrowo we'll be doing a side trip to Botswana. Maybe there we'll find something more interesting...
Gallery
It's funny, how the traditional man and woman roles apply to our little team. When the sun sets, and it's time to make a home for the night, the guys "build" our house - set up the tent that they've left half-assembled in the morning flattened just enough to fit in the trunk of the truck. Then, I crawl in and "arrange the furniture" feng-shuing the mats and sleeping bags, making sure nobody wakes up with a thorn stuck some place sensitive. While the men go hunting for the meat - set up little traps to capture various rodents (though we always end up only photographing them), I fire up the stove and cook up yet another portion from our grand big bag of noodles, which we mix every day with different canned goods - the outcome is surprisingly tasty.
Most of days we drop where we stop, sleep five hours a night, drive during the heat of the afternoon, and spend the rest of our time searching for animals that you probably are already sick and tired hearing about. Tomorrowo we'll be doing a side trip to Botswana. Maybe there we'll find something more interesting...