Jonathan has sailed yachts, flown paragliders and paramotors, and driven through snow, mud and sand in various places around the world. He started out by bungy jumping dressed as a pantomime horse. All this to show being vegan doesn't limit your potential?
We had our disappointments on this adventure. Like being turned back from the desert near Siwa or failing to get into Mozambique, or finally being refused permission to apply for Katana’s visa for South Africa. For me though, the biggest disappointment was saved up til last. When we were thwarted in our ultimate goal of reaching Cape Town, we pulled together as always and came up with a plan that would see us achieve our goal together.
Katana’s Dashboard Cartoon From Turkey
Sadly, after heading back to Europe to put this plan into action, Katana concluded she could not go back to finish after all. But Troopy is still there, and there’s another 2000km to go. So in a couple of weeks time I will be heading back to Namibia to collect Troopy and make the final push South to Cape Town on my own.
This does however provide a moment to reflect on the whole mission. We had already thought that Vegan Without Frontiers should more accurately be termed ‘vegan with no more frontiers than anyone else’, though that’s not quite so catchy and the web address would be horrendous! But we never set out to suggest we were any better than anyone else, and our very human falling out pretty much underlines that. In the end, we were just 2 human beings who set out to do something a little unusual, and nearly came through it smiling and unscathed. Despite a joint conviction, being vegan had really nothing to do with any of our trials, tribulations or triumphs. Isn’t that the point though? You can do anything, or nothing with your life – being vegan doesn’t necessarily help you (though it may do!), but it certainly doesn’t put any extra barriers in your way.
I will have 2 weeks to experience life on the road by myself. I’m looking forward to it, though of course I’m going to miss my co-conspirator in this project. It really wouldn’t have been the same without her. I hope you will join me in this last leg from 24th March – let’s see what lies between Windhoek and the bottom end of the continent!
We are back in London, slotting back into the rest of our lives. I haven’t seen Katana in a whole week – which is quite a change after spending 24 hours a day in each other’s company for 6 months. But we are off out for an Ethiopian dinner and a catch-up this evening and hope to be booking our return to Africa soon – there is the small matter of getting to Cape Town to deal with!
But first we should wrap up the last part of our journey, having left you in Tsumeb on our way South towards Windhoek. We set off into the Namibian wilds again aiming to find some traces of extremely old wildlife. On the way we passed the Waterburg Plateau, and were almost tempted to stop a night on a private game reserve there, but the campsite pool wasn’t quite enough to stop for since it was only just lunchtime. Instead we carried on, admiring the ever grand scenery from some good gravel roads. The maps were a little vague on the subject of exactly where we were to find what we were looking for, but Katana’s usual navigational magic worked again and we rolled up to the Dinosaur’s Tracks campsite in time for tea. Our host told us all about the dinosaur’s tracks and the history (short term and geological) of the place, whilst firing up the hot water. We were again the only people on the camp site, and enjoyed another special evening in the bush…aware that these were coming to an end so soon and making the most of them.
Dinosaurs Tracks Campsite
In the morning, we walked to the tracks – 190 million years ago some dinosaurs walked through the muddy remains of a pool, which was then covered by the encroaching sand as the climate dried out. Just like the pans and dunes of the present day Namib desert. Perhaps we should have left some footprints while we were there for whatever species there is to find in another 200 million years?
Checking out the paw prints…
But we had to move on – when we first looked at what to see in Namibia, Katana was keen to check out the work of other artists in the area. At Phillipps Caves, there are some impressive examples of 3500 year old rock paintings. We followed the roads marked on our maps into the mountains, and they were rough and stony tracks, until they stopped. It seems that someone has drawn a road through the mountains from their imagination, since it has never existed in reality. There was plenty of wildlife and scenery to make the detour entertaining though, and we were in no particular hurry. Again we considered camping early, having driven off the track into a fold of the hills, but again it was just a bit too early and we headed on. This was to be our last night in the wild areas of Namibia, and we spent it at the Ameib Ranch campsite – a wildlife reserve which also provides access to Phillipps Cave, and a swimming pool for our private use since there were no other guests. This was not a bad way to sign off!
Ameib Ranch campsite
In the morning we visited the cave and admired the rock art – Katana making the hike/climb without too much trouble to her injured leg. After some lunch at the strange rock formations called ‘Bulls Party’ and ‘Elephant Head’, we turned towards Windhoek and began our journey home.
Bulls Party
OK, we spent a few days in Windhoek before flying out, but it was all about preparing Troopy for storage and ourselves for the cold weather of Europe.
Whilst in Windhoek, we had intended to go to an Ethiopian restaurant we had heard good things about – already pining for the tastes from earlier in the trip – but it turned out to be permanently closed. Home cooking in Troopy was a good solution anyway – after a second lunchtime visit to La Marmite Royale for some African specialities. So we tidied and cleaned, threw away worn out clothes, agreed to come back in the Spring and then headed for the airport, leaving Troopy behind. I hope he doesn’t mind too much.
We were 30km up a rough, 2-wheel-track, rocky hill and sandy riverbed alternating ‘road’ leading off the main gravel run between Opuwo and Epupa Falls into the wilderness of Namibia’s North West. Then there was an excruciating metal grinding noise as we crawled up a boulder slope. We stopped. Oil flowed down the rear left wheel again – the infamous driveshaft oil seal had gone again…only this time it looked a lot worse.
Van Zyl may have, but we didn’t Pass
This was the moment our plans changed again. We were heading for Van Zyl’s pass – touted as one of the most beautiful, yet harsh and steep routes there is. Instead, we found ourselves some 30 minutes later being assisted in a strip-down and rebuild of the wheel bearings by a Himba guy who happened to be walking that way, watched by his wife and buzzed by hundreds of little flies whose sole intent appeared to be to commit suicide by flying into any available orifices. These are the things that make a trip memorable.
Camping above the Epupa Falls
We had already gone North to the Angolan border and teetered on the edge of the thundering Epupa Falls as the river Kunene slices its way down a jagged stairwell towards the distant Atlantic. The base for this launch into the wilds of the North West was Opuwo – a frontier town far from the national border where the colourful Herero and Himba people mix with a few intrepid tourists and a lot of locals. It’s a dusty, chaotic town of supermarkets, petrol stations, bars and tin shacks….and one luxury lodge – on the way up we stayed there in the attached campsite and made good use of the infinity pool.
As we took the hub apart it became clear that the damaged lock-screws had once again come out, only this time the whole retaining mechanism had completely unscrewed itself and shaved bits of metal into a nice greasy-oily-paste which was then deposited into the brake drums and onto the desert sand. The good news? The bearings seemed to be still functional, if only we could get the whole lot back together over squashed screw-threads and tighten it all up again. And thankfully I had had the foresight back in Botswana to get an extra spare oil seal! It was messy, hot and frustrating work, but we did the necessary road-side repair and turned back to limp towards Opuwo again. Having paid off our helper with cash and apples, we were sadly not able to give him, his wife and 2 dogs a lift as Troopy was full of firewood.
The return to town was uneventful, and the repairs held out well – even though we only had 1 (badly bent) lock screw left, and that wasn’t in fact doing anything helpful, and the oil seal failed again! Over the next 2 days I discovered the intricate details of how the whole thing works. I also found that we are no longer in a part of the world where every corner shop sells Troopy spares. The oil seal had to be sent for from another town. The lock-screws were just unobtainable so I had to make my own – walking for hours around town finding tools and bolts, then cutting bolts to length and shaping the ends to match what was left of the mangled originals. It was nearly a perfect repair…except for a couple of sheared off bolts!
During this time we stayed at the Ameny Rest Camp in town – it was cheaper that the original lodge and walking distance to the spares and food shops. It did however come with shouted arguments between customers and the owner at 2am, and was basically a dust-bath…soft but bad on the lungs when crawling around under the car. So, by the time Troopy was fitted out with new bearings and put together as well as possible given the limited resources, we were definitely ready to leave! Where to though? In the circumstances, with less time and less confidence in Troopy, we decided to abandon the extremely remote North West, and simply head into the remote North West along the border with Angola. It is still a wild place with beautiful and varied scenery, but the odds of being stuck for a couple of weeks with a breakdown looked a little lower.
Spaghetti Monkey
After following the river Kunene and staying on its banks (where we were robbed of our spaghetti from inside a cupboard by a cheeky and swift raiding monkey) we dropped in at the border post at the Ruacana Falls to see if we could get our visit permits extended to cover the extra time before our flights, but despite a lot of sympathy from the immigration guy, it seems this can only be done in Windhoek. I’m sure this won’t be a problem. The falls themselves are a little dry now, since the water is nearly all diverted for a hydro power station, but they must have been impressive once!
Ruacana Ex-Falls
So onward towards Etosha, where we hoped to see some Rhino at one of the park’s waterhole camps. First though we had another night of wild camping, tucked away amongst the rocky outcrops off a sandy track. It was a really nice wild camping spot despite the tiny flies, but not without consequences – after an evening of playing cards (with gin) we had both managed to accrue forfeits which required us each to wear clothes chosen by the other for the following day. Entering the National Park and obtaining the permits in the morning was therefore a little entertaining, but I did find the skirt more comfortable than my usual trousers in the heat.
The effects of gin and cards…
As to the park – it was remeniscent of the Central Kalahari in Botswana, but with more visible wildlife – elephants, zebra and all sorts of antelope gathered at and around the natural and man-assisted waterholes. In the evening we sat by a floodlit waterhole and waited…and just when I was thinking we were going to see little more than the birds hoovering up the flying insects in the floodlights, along came some giraffe, followed by a rhino…then another, and a family of 3. A sole male lion also turned up for a drink to complete the evening’s viewing before bedtime, though this didn’t seem so popular with the other animals!
Rhinos and friends at the waterhole
In the morning, with a sick Katana suffering from a cold, and Troopy showing small signs of oil around the rear hub, we set off for a leisurely tour of the eastern end of the park. As usual we found our way into the less-travelled parts! Here we found lots of elephants, Kudu, Gemsbok, herds and herds of Zebra, Springbok etc. We did have to crawl along for a while behind a group of giraffes that were well aware they had right of way and looked slightly disapproving of the car using their track, but in the end they were nice enough to step to one side and let us pass. Then as we were heading towards the exit…a pride of lions dozing under the shade of a bush! This pretty much completed all our aspirations for wildlife in Africa…though a Cheetah would have been nice!
Lions!
We rolled out of the park and onto tarmac, turning South again onto the last leg of this trip in the direction of Windhoek. Thunderstorms were gathering and dropping curtains of dark rain to the West and North. In Tsumeb we stopped at a backpackers campsite, on a nice clean gravel and grass area, where the infamous driveshaft came out again and the seal was replaced after a morning trip to the local (genuine) Toyota garage. The bearing is all holding out well, but it looks like a new driveshaft may be required to put an end to the leak…however, that and the annoying lock-screws are not in stock even here! In any case…its going to be a bit tricky to disassemble on the road as I first need to contrive a way of extracting the decapitated home-made lock screw which is still firmly doing its job! Oh well, we must leave some things for the next chapter!
Thunder is rumbling across the savanna just like elephants don’t. The storm clouds are all around us and their winds rush through the parched camp in dusty turbulent gusts – a clear warning of an imminent deluge. The rainy season is not here yet, but all the signs are that its coming soon.
We are in Botswana for a second night before heading across Chobe National Park towards Maun. Tonight we’re at the Senyati Safari Camp – where we have our own individual toilet, shower and washing up block. A tiny lizard just scared Katana as it hid from the weather under her pillow as she was lying on our little veranda. Still in the early stages of recovery from the rafting injury, she’s doing well but its a bit rough. The knee is very painful and can’t bend yet, and its awkward and exhausting getting in and out of Troopy, the bunk and walking about with a stick. Luckily she has me to wait on her hand and foot!
Running Repairs at Senyati
After the rafting, there was the bungy jump. I was a bit nervous doing that after the previous day’s drama, but its a jump I’ve been looking forward to for over a decade so it had to be done. I even took Leo with me. As it turned out, it was a great jump – the scenery was pretty special, with the Zambezi churning through the gorge below in green and white breaking waves – and the hot weather made for a nice smooth bounce on stretchy elastic!
Taunting the Zambezi
8th November
Thunder is rumbling round the limestone hills just like the elephant who was here just before us probably didn’t. It seems I never got to finish or post my last blog above – internet access has been very patchy, and we have been travelling around Botswana’s more empty spaces. Tonight we are again camping wild, at a place called ‘The Dancing Spot’ in the Aha Hills of Botswana’s North Western Kalahari. We are the only people to have come here since the last rain, but some big round prints in the raindrop-speckled sand suggest a very big elephant came through earlier and poked around the rubbish someone had tried to bury. By the look of the sign, elephant dancing is boisterous! We have a campfire going, which survived the last thunderstorm and we hope will deter too much interest from wildlife…yes, I’m still nervous after the last elephant encounter! It is good to get away from the tourist circuit though – and this place is very much off the beaten track.
Meanwhile, I have to admit that Katana was not the only casualty in Vic Falls – Troopy was also the victim of some tired end-of-day poor driving on the campsite – whilst discussing where to park I failed to notice an overleaning tree and we rolled back into it – pushing the spare wheel into the back door. A new door is required at some point, but it all works still so will be OK for now. Also – the driveshaft oil leak came back, and when it was taken apart we found the bearing had not been correctly installed at Toyota Kenya, so we are lucky I guess not to have had a more serious failure. In any case, we had the oil seal replaced in Vic Falls, but by the time we had travelled 70km to Botswana, it was leaking again! I’m hoping we have the problem solved this time though – and we had a good time at the garage in Kasungula where I went to try and buy the tool to do the job myself, but ended up helping their mechanic do the job and promising to send them my copy of the Haines manual when we get to Cape Town – very friendly guys there, who were very impressed by the good old Haines manual. If we get to Cape Town without the oil leak recurring, I think they’ve earned it!
After Vic Falls we stayed in Kasane, where we ran into the French couple we first met in Malawi again whilst stocking up in the supermarket (we have met them 6 times now, as I write this!). The campsite by the Chobe Riverfront was roamed by Warthogs, Baboons and Pythons that we saw, and apparently crocodiles which we didn’t. Then after stocking up and getting Troopy sorted we went on to Senyati, where we sat in the bar and discussed the route through Chobe, but in the end decided that a rough road for 2 days through the park was a bit too soon for Katana’s healing knee. All this time we were cooking our own food – we are definitely now back in the world of big, well-stocked supermarkets which makes things easier to be sure of vegan meals, but is also somehow disappointing – its as if we are already being slowly transitioned back to things we are used to in London. We are often nostalgic for Ethiopian food, and even the ‘charms’ of Wadi Halfa!
After another night at a lodge with a swimming pool and a nice meal out at the restaurant for a change, we diverted from the route to Maun and headed into the Makgadikadi pans on sandy tracks for a day of wildlife watching and experiencing the wild open grassy plains of the savanna. No lions were spotted, but we did come across a group of meerkats – another first for the trip.
Meerkats do not sound Russian…
After some playing making fresh tracks we then raced 10km across a (dryish) salt lake, running ahead of a thunderstorm – I didn’t want to find out how sticky it gets when wet . We also dropped by a huge, 7-trunked, 500 year old Baobab tree and were suitably awed. Then the rain caught up with us and we slipped and crawled out of the pans in the mud, picking up a puncture but making it to Planet Baobab for the night.
This week has been about travelling onward, seeing Botswana, and letting Katana’s knee heal properly. That is not to say we haven’t done anything but travel by car – today we drove out into the wild North West of Botswana and visited Drotsky’s Caves, which necessitated a bit of mountaineering to get down into the stalactite and bat filled caverns.
We have booked our passage through the Central Kalahari National Park – staying at 2 campsites in the park on the way South. These campsites are 1-group-at-a-time arrangememts so it will be just us and the lions. Hopefully no more close encounters with elephants! We’ll check in with an update once we come out the other side.
I was worried that this post was going to be all a bit samey…we’d travelled around Lake Malawi and stayed in some lovely places (and some only slightly less so), but enthusing about the beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains and the friendly people of Malawi didn’t seem to have a story to grab the reader. Then we crossed into Zambia and spent a couple of days and nights surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of wildlife in all its forms, and we have tales to tell. So the delay caused by the scarcity of any usable internet has turned out for the best I think – but apologies anyway!
That isn’t to say our travels through Malawi weren’t worth reporting – a country we went through as a result of a late change of plan after not getting into Mozambique turned out to be a highlight of the trip. Its just that I feel a little as if it was too nice, and we spent lots of time in swimming in the clear (though Bilharzia afflicted) waters, snorkelling and watching the multicoloured fish and crabs. We spent a couple of nights up on the escarpment overlooking the lake at an eco-campsite, eating excellent vegan food (see Katana’s food blog on that) and visiting Malawi’s highest waterfalls.
Lake Malawi – Tanzania
But again I’m getting ahead of myself – our first experience of Lake Malawi was in fact in Tanzania, just before the border. We camped on a sandy beach under the shade of a tree at the Blue Canoe Safari Lodge at the end of a long day’s drive from Songea – the last 50km in the dark over dusty, rough, stoney roads filled with bicycles, pedestrians, goats and oncoming headlights. We even got bogged in soft sand 2km from our destination – requiring the full 4WD capabilities of Troopy to get unstuck, and leaving us with the front hubs stuck in Lock position as a spring had slipped off inside preventing release. This was the first use since the repairs at Toyota Kenya…so I have suspicions! Its OK now though – I dismantled and reassembled the locking mechanisms in some quiet time further down the lake. But anyway, we spent 2 nights at the Blue Canoe, spending a full day there swimming in the lake and cleaning Troopy inside and out – and maybe having a luxury G&T on the veranda of the lodge whilst watching the sun set. It was an easy place to linger, and the bananas we bought in the village (Matema) were the tastiest I’ve ever had – short and fat, with a hint of pineapple.
Sunrise at the Blue Canoe Safari Lodge
On our second morning, we packed up and headed for the border – the rough road was a lot easier to drive in daylight! Apart from a slightly eye-watering fee of $100 for Katana’s visa (my entry stamp cost nothing), the formalities at the border were pretty painless and we rolled into Malawi not really knowing what to expect.
I like Malawi a lot. The people are friendly when approached but not intrusive – even the boys who wanted to ‘guide’ us around the waterfalls got the message that we wanted to just chill and experience the natural environment so left us alone. The lake has the clearest waters I can remember, showing off the multicoloured (and unique) fish that inhabit it, along with some big and colourful crabs that I was surprised to find in a freshwater lake. Away from the lake the forests were dry and dotted with forest fires, but these didn’t seem the result of land clearance rather than random dry-season events. We didn’t venture into the National Parks, but saw plenty of smaller wildlife (and larger spiders!).
Wildlife – size is a matter of opinion?
Our first night in Malawi was at Chitimba at a campsite frequented by commercial overland trucks – a strange way to travel I think – the trucks we have seen are not particularly adapted to rough terrain or anything (no 4-wheel drive or rugged suspension for example), but they carry lots of camping equipment and it seems a popular way to see the continent. The passengers do seem a little jaded on arrival, though I guess the same could often be said for us after a hard day on the road! We swam in the surf on the lake with a mixture of local kids and western travellers – quite a bruising experience in the morning after the wind had created quite a swell on the sea-sized lake.
Bearded Trees
We then made the short drive up 15km of rocky track hairpins to The Mushroom Farm, an eco-campsite where we looked down on the lake, swinging in a hammock in the forest. It was from here we walked up the hill to the waterfalls with a classic view of water pouring off an escarpment over a lush forest with vine-bearded trees.
Manchewe Waterfalls
Leaving there we took the back (dirt) road through the hills – mixed forest, fields and banana plants – back towards the lake at Nkhata Bay. On the way we checked out the slightly strange world of Livingstonia – a mission settlement that was established by the Scots up in the hills away from the malaria-ridden lakeshore. It is little more than a hilltop village, but alongside the rather British-looking church it now has a university – I suspect studying here is a different experience to most!
After another couple of stops camping by the lake, it was time to head West, possibly without a wild swim until we hit the Atlantic! We’re getting used to these border crossings now, so we had little trouble though some annoyance getting into Zambia – the usual currency touts and a few extra charges were little more than an irritant. After a stopover in Chipata, where we picked up a couple of backpackers who were heading our way, we made the trip to South Luangwa National Park with the aim of seeing some big African wildlife. We were not to be disappointed. Slightly terrified, but not disappointed.
Wildlife Camp – watching elephants.
As we set up camp at The Wildlife Camp on the banks of the Luangwa River, just outside the park proper, we were already treated to hippos lounging in the water and a variety of antelope heading down for a drink. Later on, elephants appeared out of the bush on the far bank, crossed the river and passed by the camp just 20m from where we watched. Baboons and monkeys caused minor mayhem as usual and we were told stories of elephants rolling cars over after smelling oranges inside. As more elephants passed behind the camp, something made a fearsome growl from the pond – a hippo had taken up residence and objected to the elephants intrusion…a sentiment I was to appreciate myself, though I’m not big enough to risk or be able to growl like that – it sounded like an angry lion.
The campsite’s resident hippo.
That night, we slept to the sounds of hippos booming and munching grass, elephants rhythmic rumblings, and a loud chorus of frogs. In the morning we wondered why the backpackers we had given a lift had moved their little tent across the site and under one of the thatched shelters. It turned out that an elephant had brushed past their tent in the night, and they had thought better of the instruction to stay in your tent on the basis that it was a tiny tent that an elephant could easily tread on and squash them without noticing. This was just 20m from our camping spot in Troopy, and I thought that was quite close enough, even if a little disappointed to have missed seeing it.
We spent the day watching wildlife from the camp – more elephants came and went, and hippos plodded back and forth between the trees and the river. But to see lions, we went on a night drive into the park. Check out the photos for week 19 – we saw leopards close up, more elephants, and lions hunting zebra. It was quite a chilling experience to be amidst big cats in the wild, wandering around and occasionally glaring at us as they woke up and prepared for their night’s hunting. Then it absolutely chucked it down with rain and we were glad of the canvas roof over the open top landrover we were in, even though we still got drenched.
Hippo or Moomin?
Back at camp we settled in to sleep. Not for long. The unmistakable stomach-rumbling communication of elephants came closer, and we were aware of a big old tusker wandering up the gulley into the camp. We heard the shredding of leaves and snapping of branches as the elephant devoured the nearby trees. Then it was right there outside our mosquito net – this was actually really scary after hearing the stories of wrecked cars and break-ins to storage rooms. We felt extremely vulnerable in the canvas and plastic roof platform we sleep in, just a couple of metres from and at the same level as a big elephant’s backside. Katana was particularly glad it didn’t have to take a leak…we would have drowned. We held our breath and tried to calm our heartbeats…and in the end it moved slowly away and on past the end of the campsite as we watched, now more excited than scared. Another big elephant and a little baby one then came the same way, and by now we were only slightly terrified and hugely in awe. What a fantastic experience?
So as we drove around the park the next day, taking Troopy to see the wildlife (and glad we did because some of the tracks were now very soft and muddy, or just plain wet), we had a slightly different feeling about the big grey silent giants. We saw lots of wildlife, including giraffes which we hadn’t seen since Samburu in Kenya, but couldn’t track down any more lions. Afterwards we camped at another campsite just outside the park gates – I figured we’d try a spot in the middle this time, away from the trees since one close encounter with an elephant was quite enough – unforgettable, actually awesome, but quite enough thank you. So we parked up by a thatched camp shelter and went for a swim in the pool overlooking the river – not bad accommodation for $10? Obviously, an elephant then wandered through camp and went to work hoovering up acacia pods from around the raised pool area. I could have reached out and patted him on the mud-caked head.
So – enough with all the elephants you think? Not quite. The closest, scariest experience we saved til that night. As it turned out, we had camped on the very spot where the previous night some elephants had come raiding the camp and found a metal storage box of food securely locked up. They had smashed it, and used the plastic (sealed) rubbish bins to bang on a car roof. I almost decided to move…
I woke from a deep sleep for some reason. Something moved on the thatched roof outside Katana’s mosquito-net window…oh hell, baboons I thought and made shusshing noises and waved at it. It jumped onto the side of the car and ran down the outside of the canvas. Shhhoosh, get off I whispered and leant over to swat at it. As my hand made contact, I woke up another notch and thought, “That’s not a baboon…”. Baboons are not so dense and heavy feeling, nor are they 6ft long and grey. They also don’t have big, white curved tusks. All those warnings about being quiet, not moving and not startling elephants came rushing back. This could end very badly.
Fortunately, it seemed to take the hint and backed away. I looked out on 2 adults and a young elephant wandering round the back of Troopy. Then a trunk appeared, sniffing at the back window as I struggled out of my sleeping sheet. Then there was a loud tearing noise and a clang of tusk against metal and I had visions of the roof being ripped off with one easy swing of an elephant’s head. I might have slightly lost it at this point and despairingly shouted at the intruding grey face. It seemed to work, or the big old softy felt sorry for me, or didn’t like how I smell (most likely, I hadn’t brushed my teeth) – but all 3 elephants turned and walked off to look at the next camping pitch, and then off the site followed by the 2 night-watchmen and their torches.
There was no damage – the tearing was the velcro of the mossie-net windows being pulled apart. We pulled the roof down and slept downstairs…with just the sound of wild dogs or jackals, hippos and frogs to add to the intermittent alarm calls of the birds. We left the next day, fully satisfied with our wildlife encounters, though I am still rather embarrassed to have mistaken an elephant for a baboon and slapped it on the trunk.
Vegan Adventure Travel – Holidays, Expeditions – Overland Africa
