So I am still alive and in one piece after my mini adventures, were do I start….. The kia!!….now that was an experience, especially as I am a rather lanky person, but I could afford to hog the whole of the back seat and there was only 4 other women on my safari, 2 canadians, a women from austria and another from about an hours drive from my house in sunny cheshire, from the lakes!! I mean come on half way across the other side of the world and there is someone from the lakes, as it turned out they all were really nice and we pretty much laughed from the very first minute of the tour….but I have fallen out with my trusty alarm, as it didn’t go off so I was woke up by reception, with 2 mins to get changed!!! but hey I like to make an entrance.
The first night on safari was a little scary to say the least, we arrived at a pitch black campsite in the middle of some dark forest, with the silhouettes of dark naked twisted trees with the stars provided additional light to the rather feeble head lights of our new friend the Kia!! We were pointed to our rather tired looking trailer, told to grab a tent and pitch by torch light (head lamps rule).
As I folded my way out of the Kia, I heard, as I can only explain as a group of deep voiced cavemen grunting loud about 150 or a max of 200 yrds from our pitch. The tour guide “TJ”, a south african 6ft 3 man stepped out of the car and said “Don’t worry about that it, its only the 3rd worst killer of humans out here,” my jaw dropped, a little bit of additional cold sweat began to bead on my head, “the Hippo” he continued! I was some what relieved then he said that “they don’t attack human merely people who get too close” …hello 150 to 200 yrds away!!! So not only hippos but also crocs only 2m to 3m long crocs…so not much to worry about!
I finished the nights, with several beers nattering to TJ, with the sounds of elephants and hyeena laughing and the mosquitos on one big drunken night out taken bites out of the other girls….hey I guess my blood wasn’t as tasty! Not that I am complaining!