Safari Part 2

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I can't believe it's been over a week since I last made an entry here. It's been full of such sights -- I know I'll forget to write about half of it. I've seen and done everything from bushman engravings of animals done on rocks and about 6000 years old to lions to quad biking over the sand dunes to staring at seals along the coast while the jackals lay in wait for stray pups.

The last week has been our real safari game viewing one. First we camped in the desert for a night, still in Namibia and I slept on the truck roof staring at the most incredible stars I've ever seen. Next, we moved into Etosha National Park to see wildlife galore: zebra, giraffes, elephants, lions, rhinos, hyena, jackals, and more. Lionesses appear to be the laziest creatures ever, as all I've seen them do is doze under the shade of trees late in the afternoons. Giraffes are so far my favorites, just because they are so magnificently large but graceful, especially when they run. I've learned all about tracks and animal poop and signs, etc.

Having a guide and being on an organized tour for me was an off-putting idea at first, but it's turned out to be a great thing. Our group is small -- luckily -- and the 4 other women (3 Swiss and 1 German) and I and our Afrikaner guide, Chris, all are having a glorious time and we laugh around the campfire and share beer and stories each night. We 5 women have made a Mercedes 4 x 4 truck built for 17 our home away from home and everything is spread out among all the extra seats (seems we're the smallest trip for a while due to airline booking problems for the Earth Summit in Jo-burg a couple weeks ago). Yesterday some men from a village near Maun took us on a mokoro (dugout canoe) trip through the Okavango Delta and we heard hippos right next to us (you can't see them in the day as they are almost totally submerged) and saw elephants, monkeys, python and baboon.

You'll be happy to know that old habits die hard and I'm still up to the same old tricks. First, singing off tune in the truck is quite easy as it's too loud to talk and no one can really hear you and Chris tends to join in on all the American songs. Second, I'm as clumsy as ever -- yesterday I strained my back, ran into a tree with my head after dark after returning from the bush toilet -- a stool affectionately called Lilibet, and then this morning during a walk through the Okavango Delta, I fell into a hole up to my knees when I looked up to see a bird. Luckily it's all bumps and scratches, but I continue to amuse everyone each day with some strange, minor injuries and innovative ways to achieve them.

The nights camping are great -- I'm finally used to sleeping on the hard ground again. Each night brings a new experience. 5 nights ago we saw desert elephants and a gorgeous sunset at this little oasis campground in the desert. 4 nights ago in Etosha, we saw 11 black rhinos, 1 young lion and a timid giraffe taking their turns at the waterhole at the camp. 3 nights ago, jackals snuck in and wandered freely through the campsite. 2 nights ago we camped next to the Okavango river and heard hippos bellowing all night long. And last night, we camped in the wild, and there was always a chance that any wild animal could crash through the campsite, but all that happened is some vervet(?) monkeys tried to steal food.

We have a few days to see more animals and then we head to Victoria Falls and river rafting, hopefully on some class 4 and 5 rapids.

Roughing it and loving it, Eliz