Leaving Nata Lodge at around 7am we headed towards Maun.
The road was not anywhere as good as yesterday’s road and we were constantly slowing or swerving for enormous potholes.
Along the way we spotted giraffes, an ostrich and several elephants. Two that we came across were at the water pipe line and had learned how to break the pipeline to get water.
Yesterday we had stopped at a supermarket for something for lunch and could only get snacks like chips and biscuits. Lunch today would also be a ‘supermarket, however the town of Maun has an upmarket little shopping centre. The supermarket was outstanding! And we were advised by Richard that the cabinet food was reliable and tasty. We whipped around the supermarket and bought our food and a scrubbing brush for cleaning our shoes on our return to NZ customs.
Richard drove us on to Thamalakane river lodge for lunch were we sat by the river watching hippo and enjoying a cool breeze.
We left Richard there and our bags were transferred into open sided safari vehicles and off we shot to Gomoti River Lodge. We will return to Thamalakane river lodge in a couple of days.
The road to Gomoti was unsealed and badly corrugated. They call the drive an African massage. And this was a 45 kilometre massage!
A collective sigh was heard when we finally arrived at the lodge, but all thoughts of previous discomfort vanished when we alighted from our truck, which is no mean feat, over the side to the ground below.
Our host, Baker, welcomed us warmly and led us across the river on a bridge made of small sacks filled sand. And at first we thought they were rocks.
On the other side we entered the lodge communal area which took our breath away. It opened up onto a magnificent waterfront with elephants grazing on the far shore and hippo grazing in the lagoon.
With only half an hour to spare we met once again and climbed aboard once again for a quick drive out to see the sunset and elephants.
Driving only a couple of hundred metres from our lodge we came across elephants. Not one or two but a whole herd. In fact at one point we had elephants both sides of us. This was quite a different experience to when we had seen elephants on the side of the road in our fully enclosed vehicle. This was in an open sided truck and we were right where they were congregating. It was such a cool experience!
Elephants are right and left handed just like humans. And you can tell by looking at their tusks. The most worn tusk indicates what hand they prefer.
They also need to constantly eat to fuel their enormous bodies, and they poo within an hour of eating! No wonder there is so much elephant dung around!
Gomoti Lodge is the most amazing place. Set on the edge, well actually in the water at this time of year. An array of water birds are constantly skimming the surface and the air is filled with bird song and froggy croaks. One little frog makes a sound like bells tinkling and they must be everywhere because it is like tinnitus on steroids in the evening.
Hippo are everywhere , fortunately all in the water! When the sun goes down they start to bellow out to each other calling from one end of the lagoon to the other. Then they are quiet for the night until sunrise when there is a repeat performance!
Last night walking along the boardwalk to our room, which incidentally is the furtherest, we heard loud munching along side us. We couldn’t see anything, but quickly scuttled along to our cabins. Each cabin had a can with a horn in it to sound if anything large invades😳
Postscript: our neighbour took this outside their cabin. 
No credit cards at this lodge cash only. Pula, USD, Euro and British pounds are all accepted.
No comments:
Post a Comment