Hello again.  I was unable to connect with wifi the last week or so of our trip.  Here's my update.

April 12, 2014.  After not getting to bed until almost 1 am, we were up at 5:30 to go on a game drive.  We all loaded into the two vehicles and set off.  Our driver's name is "Master" which is a nickname he received in school.  He's great, we like him.  We had not gone more than about a quarter of a mile when we pulled over to see the hippos in the river that runs right along our camp.  Four or five sets of eyes and ears above the water watching us.  We watched for awhile and they would periodically come up a little and snort.  A really LOUD snort, so now we know what we were hearing during the night.  After a few minutes, we moved on and there was another pod or group of hippos.  This time one of them came partially out of the water and lunged at our vehicle.  Two or three times, it lunged at us.  Our driver did not turn off the vehicle and moved after the last one.  We figured it must have had a baby and was protecting it. 

Continuing on down the road, we saw lots of birds, red-billed hornbills, Battalier eagles, storks, and lots that I can't remember the names of.  We did see one today that was called a violet breasted roller and it was beautiful.  Wonderful blue color.  I think we probably saw 30 species of birds over the course of the trip.  Beverly and Kay, another member of the group, were keeping track.  There was one bird that Master told us was the "alarm" bird because it had a very distinctive call and would sound the alarm when there were predators in the area.  I noticed he would stop, listen and look whenever he heard it. 

We drove around for a couple of hours this morning, stopping for pictures of birds and whatever else we saw that we felt we needed evidence of.  After an hour or so, we came cross a small group of zebras.  There was a baby zebra and the others, about 6 or 7 immediately surrounded it for protection.  Impalas were common this morning, and we saw a number of baboons, African tree squirrels, even mongoose.  One of the members was sure he saw a giraffe but no one else could see it.  We were just going back into the camp, when we came around a curve and there was a huge bull elephant about 20 feet from the road.  First one we had seen.  It just ate leaves and ignored us.  It had  perfectly round hole in its left ear that was from insects, I think our guide said. 

We got back in time for lunch.  After lunch, there was a nature walk scheduled for 3pm.  Stella and I elected to have a nap and then see what the weather was.  It was raining again by this time.  Well, we slept through the nature walk, and we didn't have raingear anyway, so it was just as well, I think.  The couple that have the tent next to ours told us at dinner that they watched the elephant for quite awhile in the afternoon, and it was right behind our tent.  Elephants are very quiet.  We didn't hear a thing. 

Our accommodations are large tents, complete with full bathrooms.  The bathrooms can be completely zipped off from the main room.  The main room had two twin beds, a table and a shelving unit for luggage.  The bathroom had a full shower, large counter with sink and a toilet.  It also had two of the biggest spiders I've seen in a long time.  One on the wall right beside the toilet and another right under the mirror over the sink.  One was a fuzzy one and one wasn't. I wasn't too thrilled with that but I was too tired last night to worry about it.  The "tent" is on a permanent platform made out of that composite decking.  It had a porch that was very large, they called it a "veranda" with two camp chairs on it. 

When we got back today, the spiders were gone.  I thought the cleaning ladies had probably gotten rid of them.  Well, tonight they were back.  We went for a night game drive where another guide/assistant came along to use a spotlight so we could see what was in the trees and shrubs.  We didn't see much, and were only out for about an hour or so.  This activity prompted Stella to say "just like a Saturday night in Owyhee County."  :)  I had decided to squish the spiders if they were there when we got back this afternoon but they were nowhere to be seen.  Tonight they were back in their "usual" places.  I've decided they probably eat mosquitoes so I left them.  But I don't like it. 

The dining area is very large, thatched roof with a fire pit and deck area overlooking the river.  It has rained too much for the fire pit but maybe tomorrow.