Sadly we're heading home today, although since BA won't allow us to check in on line or select a seat, maybe we'll just have to stay here a few more days.
The drive back down through the National Park to Mfuwe Airport would take about 2 1/2 hours depending on sightings, but Liz has kindly arranged for us to drop in on Kaingo's market garden so I can take photos of the produce being grown for my project.
Although we weren't leaving til 08:30 we got up at the usual time so we could say goodbye to our fellow guests before they went off for the morning drive. We then finished off the last of the packing before having a nice leisurely breakfast.
I think it's quite unusual for guests to stay 7 nights (apart from the cost, most people seem to like 3/4 days at various different camps) but we really enjoyed getting to know everyone and it was very hard to say goodbye. Liz, Garth, Ruth and a some of the lads gave us a lovely send off and I was sad to leave; whilst we know for sure we'll be returning to Africa, we probably won't visit Kaingo again as Liz and Garth are moving on and so is Ruth, so it just wouldn't be the same without them. Still we hope to keep in touch and stalk them wherever they go next.
Nicholas, who hasn't yet fully qualified as a guide, was driving us to the airport and we had a lovely time with him testing Ian on his bird ID (which he said was exceptional).
So just a few random pics along the way.
This hippo looked like he was rushing home after staying out all night
Little Bee Eaters
LBR
Bushbuck eating flowers from the Sausage Tree
Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana) fruit
Another beautiful Elephant
We were driving fairly fast (35 mph on unmade road) when Nicholas suddenly stopped "Did you see what I saw, or am I dreaming?" he asked as he reversed a few meters. There, dozing by the dirt road, was a male lion
Why or why, is there always a twig in the wrong place !!!!
Nicholas said his brother wouldn't be far aware and sure enough a little way on, we found him with a female, both resting after their exertions. She had a nasty open wound on her right hind leg, probably the result of a buffalo kick.
By now we were running a bit short of time, so we had a bit of a white knuckle ride through the rest of the park and onto the tarmac road. As promised we stopped at the market garden where the manager showed us around. The variety and quality of the produce was amazing and we can attest to the wonderful meals it produced.
We also stopped briefly at Tribal Textiles, a community project, producing hand painted fabrics but as we'd already bought a lovely table runner at Kaingo we only bought a couple of keyrings.
Our fabulous trip ends at Mfuwe Airport because from then on we were back in the "real world".
It has been the most amazing experience, far and away exceeding our expectations; Ian really thought all we'd see would be the rear end of some animals disappearing in the distance, instead of which at times we've been so close we could almost feel their breath on our faces.
Our thanks to the 4 camps we stayed at and for Michelle at Safari Consultants for putting the whole thing together for us - as Chris Haslam (Sunday Times Journalist) said to Ian, "you started with the best" and we absolutely did.