Day 2 at Kings Camp

We were woken at 5:30am on our second day for coffee and juice prior to setting off on our early morning game drive at 6am. We joined our guide and tracker and set off in the Land-rover, we crossed the riverbed behind the camp and almost immediately were greeted by a herd of elephants. There were over 20 in the herd ranging in size from the smallest baby to big bulls, they ignored us as they tore the branches off trees and stripped the leaves, they trumpeted loudly with enjoyment as they snapped large limbs like toothpicks and ate the leaves.

Mother Elephant with baby.

Bull Elephant snapping tree branches to get at the leaves.

We parked up and watched the Elephants fro a good while before they moved on leaving us alone on the road. We drove on and soon found some lions resting in the cool sand of the river bed, there were four of them and one looked like he had been in a bit of a scrap with a large gash on his nose. They ignored our presence and went about cleaning themselves as we photographed and filmed them.

Male Lion ignoring us.

They don't care that we are there they are just chilling out.

We left the lions after a while to allow another group to see them and continued on our way to a junction in the track where we stopped for a cup of coffee and a leg stretch. I took the opportunity to walk with Albert and soon we found Leopard tracks in the sand, then African wild cat tracks, a few bird feathers and a sprayed bush. Albert asked what the road told me, what could I could see and I said it looked like an African wild cat had caught a bird and the Leopard stole the bird and sprayed the bush to claim his turf. He grinned and said I was right then went on to show me where a Rhino had also walked and scent marked a bush. 

Walking with Albert, seeing what happened the night before on the track.

We finished our coffee and tea and headed off once more in search of game, we found a Hippo in a pool all by himself and he rolled over and chomped at the water playfully. We saw a Dukier and plenty of the ever present Impala before heading back to the camp for a huge cooked breakfast. We then rested up and swam in the pool while the local Warthogs roamed around like they owned the place and the monkeys tried to get up to whatever mischief they could.

Warthogs by the water.

We lazed around the pool and ate a leisurely lunch and swam some more before our afternoon game drive began at 4pm. Having seen 4 of the big five on the last two game drives our guide was keen to find us a Rhino and we drove along the river bank to where they had been seen earlier, in the hope they had not moved far in the heat of the day. Pretty soon we came to where they had been only to find they had crossed to the other side of the river and there was no way for us to get to where they were. We did get a glimpse of 3 Rhino through the trees at a distance but it was not the sighting the guide had hoped for. Not disheartened we again headed off on a long drive to a watering hole that held large numbers of Hippo and Crocodile. 

Along the way we were treated to sightings of Kudu, Dukier, Giraffe, Zebra and Waterbuck, not to mention multiple wild birds such as Guinea fowl and Giant Ground Hornbill.

Hippo in the waterhole.

We reached the water hole just in time for sundown drinks and baboon finger biltong, as the sun set and the hippo's laughed, I caught a glimpse of what may have been a crocodile but it was too dark to be sure. After we finished our refreshments we headed off on the half hour drive back to the lodge for dinner. On our return we were escorted to our room to shower and prepare for dinner, as this was our groups last night in camp we would be dining with our guide in a traditional thatched dining area.

The meals were of course excellent and and the drinks refreshing and before long we were all blissfully stuffed. We then said goodbye to our American companions and exchanged details as they were leaving early the next morning and we would have the Land-rover and guide to ourselves. We then called for the night watchman to escort us to our room and retired for the night.