ANOTHER 2 WEEKS GONE! I still can't get my head around the idea of this being my last week in Africa.... It seems like so long since I was home, but equally like barely any time has passed at all. Honestly I'm sure it will really sink in that I'm leaving until I'm home and there aren't elephants and warthogs wandering around the roads, and I can just take the dog out for a walk without having to keep an eye out for lions and snakes!

World Ranger's Day march

So what's been happening? Quite a lot this time actually! Started off my fortnight with a celebration for World Ranger's Day on 31st July. There was a march through the centre of town with rangers from here, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia, to show support for the work done by rangers all over the world for the protection of people and wildlife, and the constant sacrifices and risks they take in order to do their jobs. For those of us with decent cameras however, our job was not marching, but rather being photographers and spreading the word to the people on the streets. We were stopping them as they went and getting them to take a photo with a sign saying "I STAND WITH THE WORLD'S RANGERS" which was quite fun! We then had to photograph the actual march and that was just knackering... It was definitely more of a run than a march, and we were having the sprint to get ahead of it, stop for 30 seconds to photograph them as they all ran past, then sprint ahead again! Not easy in African heat! We went out on Game Count that afternoon though so more relaxed - sitting on a car counting animals may be mentally challenging sometimes, but we'd already done our exercise for the day! 

The stars while camping

As for research we've done pretty well these past couple of weeks. The hyenas entered the park again for a bit so we've been hyena tracking for the first time in a while; we've done one of our two planned occupancy surveys (we were unable to get a ranger for the other one); we've done 3 bird surveys and 5 elephant and giraffe research sessions; and 4 game counts too. Busy busy busy! Hyena tracking was a particularly fun one as, although we found no hyenas or carcasses, we did find lots of spoor at the site, and it was an area of the park totally new to me which was fun. We were planning on going camping at Chamabondo as we have a few times before, but after we saw the Kalisosa platform during hyena tracking we switched and went there instead! Camping was FREEZING and we had some trouble getting onto the platform which had been locked but no one knew who had the keys, but we saw so many elephants and heard a hyena super-close so it was definitely worth it. As well as hyena tracking, we also went out on our first night drive that we've done in ages and we saw 3 hyenas, 2 elephants and a rabbit (the last one amused us!) so that was good fun. As for Bird Survey, while nothing can beat Elephant Research in my book, the birds are coming up a close second. It's just so interesting to drive through the park and see what's around. It's also something of a game (helps to satisfy the insanely competitive streak that runs through my family!) that you play against yourself, trying to see how many you can identify on the spot, how many you can do with the bird book, and how many you have to just give up and take a photo for identification later. I'm getting pretty good (if I do say so myself) at recognising them, and it seems such a shame to go home and forget them all by the time I next come out! (Yes, I'm certain there will DEFINITELY be a next time!)

Hyena on Night Drive

Elephants at the Kalisosa waterhole

Giraffe peeping through the trees

Baby off for a walk!

BEING ATTACKED!! Happy World Lion Day! (10th August)

CHEETAH!!!! I am the first person to photograph a Zambezi
National Park cheetah in over a decade!

When it comes to wildlife August has been a very good month so far. Morning Elephant and Giraffe research has been brilliant in terms of sightings. In the past 2 weeks we've had 2 separate lion sightings, the first on 1st August, the second on the 10th. The first one was exciting as it was 2 that we have definitely seen before - an adult female and a sub-adult male, in the same bush that we last saw them in when we saw a group of 4 walking down the road ahead of us a few weeks back. The second one was exciting for 3 reasons: 1) I had literally just finished saying how the previous would almost certainly be my last wild lions in this trip, 2) There were 4 adults (2 males and 2 females) and the males were fighting over the females, and 3) One of the males decided that we were in the way and he ran at our car roaring and snarling, coming straight at me! Thankfully he changed his mind when our driver revved the engine and lay back down.... otherwise I may have been mauled to death by him! It was such a cool sighting with him and the other (triumphant) male battling in the bushes. Unfortunately we couldn't really see the fight because of the trees, but if anything I think that made it more exciting! We drove on through the park looking for a different spot for breakfast (since our planned spot was occupied by 4 angry lions!) and were again foiled, this time by elephants! We eventually went to a spot where none of us have ever seen so much as a bird and had breakfast there.... Continued on through the park and approximately 2 hours after we saw the lions, we saw another 1... or rather we thought we did.... We saw a big cat cross the road ahead of us and then slink through the long grass, and while we thought she seemed to be moving oddly, we just assumed she was stalking the kudu up ahead, so we stopped the car and waited to see what would happen.... what happened is that we pulled up next to the bush she'd vanished into, and a few minutes later, the cat came out and walked away into another bush. NOT a female lion! At first when we saw it was spotty we just automatically assumed leopard? But a quick look at the shape told us that was wrong too. CHEETAH! Almost at exactly the same time as we were watching it in Chamabondo, 2 of the Lion Encounter staff were talking to the parks authority and being told that there hasn't been a definite confirmed cheetah sighting in this park for over 10 years, and there we were getting photographic evidence that they are indeed still here! WOW! Could not stop smiling all day, and I still grin every time I think of it! I'm not sure I'll ever get over how awesome that morning was! I honestly couldn't breathe properly for a good couple of hours after seeing it, and I'd be lying if I said no tears escaped on the way home... Absolutely incredible sighting, and when combined with fighting male lions too?! BEST RESEARCH SESSION EVER! Last Thursday was actually one of the best days of my life....

Elephant saying hello! Happy World Elephant Day! (12th August)

Our first wild lions of the fortnight

Actually not my only cheetah sighting of the past 2 weeks however! Over the weekend in the middle (and this is why I didn't do an update last week), a group of us went to Hwange National Park which is the largest National Park in Zimbabwe and only about 2 hours down the road from Victoria Falls. Unfortunately the company that we booked with turned out to be utterly useless at organisation and I think we probably did miss out on some stuff having gone with them, but it was still very good and we saw several species which were brand new to me, including Roan antelope, Blue duiker, Bat-eared Fox (definitely a highlight, they're SO CUTE!) and of course, the cheetah. We also saw elephants, giraffes, hippos, waterbuck, warthogs, impala, a pride of 12 lions with 8 cubs (big highlight!), wildebeest, crocodiles, baboons, ostrich, kudu, zebra, vultures, marabou stork and crowned cranes, to name only a few! Still no painted dogs though.... I've given up now - the chances of seeing them in my last week are so minute that I'm not hoping to see them anymore. What a shame, it just means I'll HAVE to come back to Africa!

First Cheetah I ever saw!

Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill

AAH! A BEE!

Crowned Crane, photo taken for my Gran who helped inspire
my bird love, and who loves these birds most of al!

Wartypig! 

Sunrise at Hwange. Unfortunately I missed the photo
where it was giraffes not people!

Male Steenbok, or as we call them, Rabbit-antelopes! 

Vine snake in the road. These will kill you within 1 hour of biting
by causing you to bleed out, and their venom has no antidote....

Ostriches!

Giraffe yoga... 

Elephants wallowing at the waterhole 

LION CUBS!!

Sunset at Hwange

And now for my final week in Africa, soon to be thrown back to reality.... Very much looking forward to being home, very much dreading having to leave!