Bumani - Hwange
June 28
It was another early morning and we had a great breakfast on the deck. Charles did not disappoint again this am - the coffee and tea were always topped up.
Our stay at The Elephant Wallow has been fantastic. The service, food, drink, accommodations, tours, and drives have all been excellent. I would highly recommended it!
We had a short wait in the Mack Air lounge - really comfortable space with some interesting coffee table books to keep me occupied. Vincent expertly piloted us from Vic Falls to Hwange. There were wildebeest as we left The Wallow and they greeted us on the airstrip in Hwange.
Manga picked us up and drove us to the Iganyana Tented Camp for our layover. We enjoyed the open view and watering hole. Anna, Conzanhe, and Philemon treated us with lots of drinks and delicious food cooked in a wood burning oven & stove. They were very generous with their hospitality.
We saw:
Baboons
Dung beetle
Black-capped bulbuls (came right up beside us in the dining/campfire area)
Red-billed hornbill (inside the ceiling of the lounge)
Fork-tailed drongo
Helmeted Guineafowl
On our drive to the train we saw:
Kudus
Impalas
Bradfield’s hornbill
Southern ground hornbill (sadly becoming extinct due to use by fortune tellers)
We stopped in a small town and got out of the Land Rover and walked to a platform for the train. Initially it did not seem like we were in the right spot as the station was very unassuming.
Onboard we have Walter, Prince, Smooth Operator, and Eric as our hosts. Smooth Operator served us a wonderful lunch of minced meats. It hit the spot that we did not realize was empty.
After the family of 15 from Kentucky joined us, we started rolling along the track.
On the drive from the train and we saw:
Sables (ghostly antelopes, our white whale)
Elephants (our first truely good siting of them!!!)
Zebras
Baboons (hanging out on the water towers along the tracks)
Giraffe
Impalas
Lilac-breasted rollers
Honour site for Cecile, the lion that was killed
During our 2 1/2 hour train ride, Miss Kentucky was flirting with Bill. She is a Snap Happy Mom (was very friendly and very chatty). Ron helped us out by eating three out of four pizzas. I was able to be the honorary conductor for a short time. Ron tried to pee off then end of the train and then stage fright set in. Smooth Operator was in on the joke.
We arrived and Delaine immediately hustled us into the vehicle and we were off and racing. They had seen wild dogs and he was hoping we could catch up with them to see them. We briefly paused to see three female lions that were strolling along.
I caught a flash of one dog running off in the distance in front of our vehicle. Delaine tried his best but we were ultimately unsuccessful.
We arrived at the Bumani Lodge and were welcomed by the staff including Obert, Big Boy, Lovemore, Eric, Proud, and more. It was dark shortly after we arrived, so we hung out by the campfire and Bill was miffed because there were always pots and kettles in the fire so he could not play with fire. The nearby watering hole was great for attracting elephants, baboons, impalas, and other birds and animals.
We had our first meal with Michelle and Phillipe from Geneva by the campfire beside the watering hole. It was a wonderful meal and we were dazzled by the stars and elephants drinking from the pond.
June 29
Before sunrise we had breakfast of toast and sadza around the campfire.
We departed with Delaine to try to find the lions. We were unsuccessful but we saw many new and familiar birds and animals:
Magpie shrike
Southern white-crowned shrike
Lilac breasted roller
Marshall eagle
Go-away bird
Natal spurfowl
Swisen spurfowl
Helmeted Guineafowl
Cape glossy sparling
Southern yellow-billed hornbill
Dickinson’s kestrel
African grey hornbill
Pearl-spotted owlet (super cute)
Bradfields hornbill
Red-billed buffalo weaver
White-browed sparrow-weaver
Blacksmith plover
Crowned plover
Kittlitz’s plover
Swallow-tailed shrike
Southern pied babbler
Lioness
Jackal
Hooded vulture
Saddle-billed Stork
Grey heron
In the afternoon we had a visit with Daniel Terblanche and Hannah Tranter at the rhino sanctuary, Camelthorn Foundation https://www.camelthornfoundation.org. They have successfully brought two male rhinos to live here and plan on expanding to bring more males and eventually some females to the area. We learned a lot about how they are also funding education and support for local villages so that they will support the wildlife to thrive in this area. They help to employ locals and provide funding for the schools and medical clinics. It is an amazing program and I am awed by the number of skills that they must have to make this happen over the past 5 years - training the staff, learning how to care for the rhinos, negotiating with politicians, fundraising, and more.
At the end of our tour we were able to walk with the rhinos, Thuza and Kusasa (the younger and sassier bull). It was so beautiful and peaceful to walk with them as the sun was setting!
June 30
We had the longest day ever on safari today.
We began with a day drive, then had a local market shopping opportunity, then a visit to a homestead in the village, played Frisbee with the boys soccer team, lunch and a visit up close with the elephants at the watering hole and blind, an afternoon drive, a short stop for dinner, then a night drive!
New sightings today during our morning and afternoon drive were:
African Jacana
Marshall eagle
Magpie shrike
Common Grebe
Water thick-knee
Helmeted Guineafowl
Ruffed grouse
Cape turtle dove or African mourning dove
White-browned sparrow weaver
Red-billed teal
Oxpecker
Green wood hoopoe (neat sighting in the trees)
African grounded hornbill
Crimson-breasted shrike
lizard buzzard
Ostrich
Warthogs
Eland (up close for the first time)
Giraffe
Zebra
Elephant
Impala
Waterbuck
Kudu (some good sightings of male, female, and baby
We drove past the village and stopped at the water pump. Bill and Ron joined a couple of the locals to help fill some pails of water. Some people walk to the water station, one person showed up with a cart pulled by 4 donkeys.
Along the way we saw the angry dog that did not appreciate us driving by his homestead, a wagon pulled by two oxen, lots of cows, goats, donkeys, chickens, and turkeys. We stopped at the entrance to one village and were greeted by happy and friendly children. They waved, practiced a bit of their English, hopped up onto the vehicle, and enjoyed having their photos taken. One little guy even sat on Teraleigh’s lap! One adorable preschooler was late to the party and ran up the lane as fast as he could, and made it just in time before we departed.
We stopped at the curio market. All of the goods have been made in the villages and women of all ages were there to sell us some of their handiwork - carvings, weaved baskets and placemats, jewellery, cloth bags, aprons. They greeted us with a song and then individually as we walked up and down the aisle of the open air market. A few of them hang babies or young children with them. So beautiful!
We met with Mr Johnston and his wife Dorthy. He inherited leading the village that has 200 homesteads and over 500 people. He was a great guide and gave us a good understanding of how they live and the challenges they have for farming. He was very proud of the gains that his community has been making - primary and high school, the clinic, and the curio market. He acknowledges that his village has benefited from tourism and the donations made to improve their community. Now that they children, both boys and girls, can get educated, changes need to be made so they can keep them in the country and have decent employment. The unemployment rate is 95% in their country.
Ron, Bill, and Elaine had a great time introducing Frisbee to the boys soccer team and coach. Rules were quickly abandoned and it became a fun game of keep away for the most part!
During our drive Delaine tried his best to help us get some good shots of the lilac-breasted roller and Marshall eagle flying.
During out night drive we saw:
Spring hare (so odd - sort pointy ears, rabbit-shaped body, tail like a squirrel, and it hops like a kangaroo)
Scrub hare
Elephants
Impala
Genet (saw his fluffy striped tail only, it was clinging tightly to a thickly covered shrub)
White-tailed mongoose (a bit of a rare sighting)
While standing on the tracks in the dark, we heard the lions communicating to each other. One was near our camp and the other was in the park (Ngame Wildlife Sanctuary). While listening to the nocturnal animals, we had a spectacular view of the stars! We took some great photos but they still do not do the starry sky justice.
It was 10pm when we arrived back at camp and we were exhausted and all headed straight to bed.
