Our game drive through the park was elephant heaven – the
herds are vast.
We also saw a pride of 9 lionesses (one with a large radio collar). Stopped for lunch at a picnic site but were soon forced back
into the landy as a very naughty monkey was determined to steal our food and
hissed and spat when we stopped him.
Back at camp for 3 pm to find squatters on our
campsite. A SA couple had decided to use
our trees for shade as there site had none – in hindsight we should have
offered to swap. As we started to cook
tea the troop of baboons appeared and one in particular proved very nasty. Ian was chopping wood a few yards from the
vehicle and I was getting stuff out of the back when I saw a large male baboon
running straight for me at full speed. I
ducked around the corner and jumped into the landy. The door was half shut when he launched
himself at the door – luckily I managed to pull it shut. He then decided to jump onto the front and
started climbing the ladder to the tent.
Lots of shouting from both me and Ian scared him off but the rest of the
evening was spent battling with him. He
kept his distance when we were both visible but as soon as Ian moved away from
he would come racing back. At one point
I was standing next to the passenger door and Ian walked around the back of the
car – I turned to see Ian racing back waving his arms madly and shouting. I was not amused thinking he was playing a joke
on me but turning the other way I saw Mr Nasty Baboon had crept around the
front of the vehicle and was about a foot away from me. Thinking he might be smelling the over ripe
bananas in the car, Ian threw them into the “baboon-proof” bin. It took precisely 30 seconds for the baboon
to get into the bin and find the bananas but it did actually mean that he left
us alone for a bit.
Managed finally to eat tea without being harassed and were
really lucky to see a honey badger right next to our camp.
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