It was a crispy morning when I awoke, and like a child I amused myself for quite a while breathing "smoke" out of my mouth and nostrils, just as an indication of how cold it was out there. I opened up the side flaps of my tent so that I could gaze out into the bush from the relative warmth of my bed and watch the first sun beams hit the ground. It had been a quiet night, or else I just slept very well, but there had been no hyena or lion calls. Soon it was time to be brave and get out of bed and get dressed in cold crispy clothes and head for the camp fire and hot coffee. We sat around and chatted whilst breakfast cooked. It was around this time, whilst everyone compared notes of their night in the bush, that it dawned on me that I had missed out on something. Everyone else had snuggled up in the night with a couple of hot water bottles. Feeling somewhat smarted I declared that I hadn't been given ANY hot water bottles in my bed. But as the words were coming out of my mouth I started to realise the possibility of what had happened !! Which I confirmed DID happen when I went back to my tent to collect my bag and saw 2 hot water bottles sitting on the deck .... I had slept in the wrong bed !!! The "turned down" bed with one blanket was not turned-down at all, it had been robbed to place extra blankets on the bed that was warming up with two hot water bottles in in !!! So my nice warm bed had an empty night whilst I slept in the cold crispy bed. What a twit - and I hadn't even been drinking !!! Breakfast, which was presented in the form of a full-on hearty bacon and eggs fry up, was gratefully devoured. On a previous excursion in the Sports Car some years previously (where we ended up as a tiny speck in the sky some 9 kms up, flying over the rugged Drakensberg Mountains, before being threatened by the military .... but that's another story...), I had been informed by knowledgeable Pilot that it is better eat than not eat before flying to keep air-sickness at bay, so I was more than happy to clean my breakfast plate. Once packing was completed and good byes said, we strolled down the path to the airstrip to get ready for departure. The entire staff, guide and guest all came to say goodbye !!! Pre-flight checks done, I confidently strapped in knowing that I was feeling ready for this flight. We had a lovely take-off and (you'd have thought I would have learnt something the day before ...) said "We must give them a fly past to say goodbye". Huh !!!!!! We circled around and came in really low to give them my royal wave. The next thing I knew we were screaming upwards at what seemed a straight vertical line - I had no control over my body position as G-forces took over !!!!! Maybe I should re-phrase that ... I was screaming !!! At the top point Pilot swooped us into another turn, causing more screaming and hysterical laughter, as we gained a little more height and flew back over the camp. I was trying to take photos, but couldn't hold anything - myself or my camera - in what even resembled an upright position. Pilot then warned me that there was a sharp left turn coming up, which brought on a case of nervous giggles and eyes glancing around tiny cockpit to look for something to hold on to (there isn't anything, by the way). He counted down 5,4,3,2,1 into the sharp left turn. Flippin' heck, he wasn't joking .... I screamed, cried, laughed my way around the "corner". After he had finished his fun, he asked "where's the railway line?", presumably to follow it back to town, and it was vaguely a few kilometres behind us, which I kind of managed to indicate !! We got on the flight path back to Bulawayo, which was a straight line from there right to the runway !! We hit a few air pockets here and there - I can't tell if we were going up or down, but I do know that my stomach wasn't in the same place as the rest of me - but they weren't too serious, no worse than the "Octopus" of Luna Park fame !! (but just as scarey !). We landed easily and taxied in. Somewhere around this time, Pilot declared to Passenger that if she could handle such turns and bumps as that flight had, then she was "okay" !! Well, thank you ....

And so ....

I must admit to having to have a little lie-down before lunch to quell my raging nerves, stomach, head etc. but after that I was raring to go. I spent the afternoon having a good old snoop around the camp. I checked out the rooms and went for a walk (not too far !!). I did ask if there was one of the staff who could walk with me, but they replied unfortunately not, but didn't seem overly concerned that I wanted to wander off. I started off down the airstrip, happily snapping photos of the plane, but kept going, wanting to get a good landscape shot of the camp. Now, I'm not usually a sissy in the bush, but when I spotted a rather large pug mark of a lion I did start rapidly glancing around me to see what looked like a good lion-camoflage spot and thought it might be a good time to head a little closer back to base !!! Suddenly the airstrip felt very exposed !! Even though anyone could see it was not a recent track, I still thought I needed to get back ... Once closer, my "bush skills" & nonchalance returned (ha ha) and I headed out the opposite side of the camp. Fortunately there was nothing scarey that side.....

The freelance pro-guide, Tony had taken his client out game viewing, but returned at sundowner time. This man has been EVERYWHERE in Africa - so interesting !! And so knowledgable, with a wonderful sense of humour. Whilst we were still sitting around the campfire we were paid a visit by a thirsty elephant. As you can see from the photo, the waterhole is very close to the lodge. Apparently the eles come there every evening, it's wonderful they are so close and relaxed. I did want to take a photo, but fortunately first made the comment "elephants don't mind flashes, do they", which was more of a statement than a question, to which I received all sorts of grunts and mumbles and eye rolling as a reply, which led me to believe that eles do, in fact, mind flashes !! I was very well behaved that night, knowing I had to fly again in the morning, and not wanting a repeat of the earlier discomfort, I only had a glass or two of wine with dinner, and otherwise abstained, wanting to be feeling strong and healthy in the morning !!

Please bear in mind that we were on the Ngamo Flats in the middle of winter ... it was rather chilly that night, the sort of night when you start wondering if you really did actually get dirty in the day and perhaps you didn't need to wash....! I headed off for my tent with these kind of thoughts in my head, but, having always been a 'before bed bather" decided I needed a shower and deployed the dear appy (Stoffel) to stoke the boiler fire ahead of me. They kindly kept the generator running for another 10 minutes seeing as I decided 2 minutes before switch off time that I needed to wash, and so I had some light whilst I headed into a lovely steaming hot shower. Difficult to get the clothes off in the cold, but worth it once a hot wash was had ... I glanced at my folded down bed and saw that I only had one blanket on the bed. "Are these people MAD" I thought and grabbed another duvet off the other bed in the room and piled it on top of me. The sheets were freezing, but I warmed up and was quite snug in my bed - IF I didn't move. All in all, somehow, a good night's sleep was had.

The final instalment will follow ...

Bomani - Hwange

I am a very lucky girl in that I have a brother who pilots his own plane - affectionately referred to as his "Sports Car", presumably because it is small, it only has 2 seats, and it goes fast. Said brother loves flying off to explore new places as much as I do, the more remote the better, so he did not need much encouragement to fetch me from Bulawayo and head off to the southern part of the Hwange National Park area to a camp called Bomani, where I was headed for a site inspection. The day towards the end of July arrived and the wind HOWLED !! I had perhaps had a few too many sundowners the night before and was not feeling as strong as I should have to undertake this trip, but I thought, well, it can only be half an hour, I'm sure I'll manage that. We taxied on to the apron to find the trusty fuel attendant to fill up ... and the wind BLEW .... and let me point out that this was in winter, and so that wind was cold. So cold, in fact, that the oil which Pilot was attempting to pour into the engine wouldn't "run" and came out in a thick massive blob.... that did NOT please him. By this time, the vicious wind, combined with not too strong constitution, and little "Sports Car" was starting to make me think that perhaps this wasn't the right day for this little adventure and I started asking pointed questions like "is this wind too strong to take off in" and stuff like that. But trusty bush pilot was not deterred ... having managed to refuel and re-oil, we continued on our trip, got permission to take off, and so, into terrifically strong head winds we went, amid some comments from Pilot about how flippin' strong the wind actually was. Well, a few bumps and sways later, we were off the ground, turned around, had the wind under our tail and we were headed off to Bomani at top speed !!! It was only a half an hour trip, thank goodness, as passenger was starting to feel just slightly queasy, but soon enough, after following the railway line - a very straight line - toward the co-ords we were given, the camp came into view. I had said something like "buzz the camp so that they know to fetch us". Well, I was subsequently told that those three little words "buzz the camp" apparently give the pilot free reign to act like an idiot !!! After making some I-don't-know-what degree turn, which just about caused the contents of my queasy stomach to come out my ears and nostrils, and definately did cause some bad language to be used toward virtuous Pilot, we made an easy landing and cruised up to waiting staff at the top of the air strip. Only once out the plane did I admit that perhaps I wasn't quite in my best flying health !! Once the plane was strapped down and sun blocked for the rest of the day and night, we picked up our bags and just walked a few hundred metres to the camp. Wonderful !!

The Pro Guide was out with the client, but the staff showed us to our rooms (safari tents on decks) and we had a good look around the camp.

The story will continue .....

I intend this blog to be a record of my personal travels, starting a little earlier this year.