A slow and lazy start to our day after our long drive. Was good to sleep in, got up around 7:30am and the birds were up!!! We spent the morning lazing around the campsite, sipping coffee, doing a bit of work (had internet at reception and I had a deal to close, made progress on it and getting closer to a YES) and also posted on my blog. Around 1pm we headed out for a game drive in Chobe National Park. Yet again we had some fun. When we arrived at the gate to sign in and show our permit there was no warden at the desk. We then noticed about 500m away, down a very deep and sandy road, a 4×4 stuck. The warden was trying to help the couple and they were making limited progress. Being the good Samaritan Glenn headed out with Dana and I to see how we may be able to assist. The road was horrible!!! We dug, push and towed the car out in reverse. Was not easy and had a moment of possibly getting stuck ourselves. Glenn’s driving was impressive and he got a cheer from everyone when he managed to tow the other 4×4 out of the sand with Dana and others pushing and me supervising to ensure we did not get stuck after the first false start. Our tips we learnt from Meier were put to good use! Of course we then had to continue reversing all the way back to the gate to sign in (procedure!!!). As it was a one lane road not much choice with another 4×4 facing us. We are hopeful all these good deeds will pay off and we will end the trip with no issues ourselves.

The game drive was awesome once we had navigated the 10km’s of challenging sand road. The rest was hard packed and bumpy on occasion but no risk of getting stuck. Sightings again were incredible:

• Driving along the river we saw extensive birdlife, most notable were the fish eagles
• Herds of zebra at the water, in the grassy planes and rocky hills
• Giraffe drinking and feeding everywhere
• Abundant kudu and impala (McDonalds’ of the bush)
• Elephant though not quite the mass I expected

Once back at our campsite we enjoyed a bottle of Graham Beck rose sparkling wine and some Windhoek beer watching the sunset on the Chobe flood planes. A beautiful sight and so unspoilt. Dinner was fillet steak and salad, grown at the camp by the owners, delicious and fresh. Our last bottle of wine was shared over the meal – a Springfield Work of Time. As the night cooled off we sat around the fire sharing stories and sipping a whiskey before heading to bed. We were feeling like confident campers – a mistake. We did not secure the top of our dustbin or put away our two green boxes of dry food. We had very little left as we are at the end of our trip but should know better. 4am wake up call – hyenas in camp rummaging through our dustbin and opening our first green box, only had access to a packet of provitas and some peanuts. To prevent complete chaos we ( Michaela and I) got up and made Glenn and Andy had to join us and chase them away. Fortunately not too much damage, we cleaned up and got one more hour of sleep. Lesson learned!!!