Day 95: Safari Day in Hwange with Guide David — Pool Time with Fellow American Kids!

At 5:30 am we got our wake-up “call” — a delivery of coffee to our room and a message to be at breakfast in 30 minutes.

We peeled James out of bed and met Willa and Lobsy out at a beautiful scene: A breakfast spread under the sunrise, with canvas folding chairs positioned around a roaring fire pit, all overlooking the yellow grass and shrubs beyond.

We had toast and hard-boiled eggs, more coffee and tea, our malaria pills and then set out for our first game drive of the day.

Within the first 20 minutes, major excitement: Two female lions.

We parked on the road and watched them from a distance. 

Then…they started to walk in our direction. 

Lions on reserves like this are used to vehicles and don’t see them as threats nor as food. As long as you’re quiet, calm and remain seated, they completely ignore you.

Throwing on the ignition and speeding off when you’re scared is not an option — you have to stay chill until they pass so you don’t disturb them. 

So we sat. And the lions came closer and closer and closer. And we sat.

A tiny little voice from Lila goes, “I’m scared.” But that was it. The kids were statues. There’s no other option but to continue sitting.

As the lions passed us on the left, just a few feet away (and totally uninterested in us) I was motionless and afraid to look at them in case they didn’t like eye contact (that’s not a thing, but I was being cautious!!).

In this video you can see one of the lionesses approaching the truck, and you can see me — I look like I 1) don’t see the lion at all and 2) am eating a lemon. [Video to come! wifi is slow here]

They passed and we drove on, blood pumping. Adrenaline rush. Other trucks arrived on the scene and spent the rest of the day following the lions. 

Not us. That one moment was enough and we headed off in search of giraffes.

Side note: I’ve been to safaris with my family in South Africa, Botswana and Kenya and don’t ever recall once feeling nervous or afraid of the game. And we saw tons. But here I find myself doing that thing where whenever the car gets close to an animal I instinctively press my brake foot to the floor, like, please stoooooop. Hahahaha. 

Maybe it’s Lila’s nervousness, maybe it’s the elephant incidents from Bumi Hills, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve got my small, unpredictable children riding in the open truck with me. But I’m definitely not as relaxed as I remember feeling on other safaris.

It doesn’t make it any less awesome, it’s just different.

One animal we spotted that we are absolutely enamored of is the dung beetle. These gigantic black scarab-looking things take a chunk of elephant poop and roll it along the road to their house and waiting wife. 

In the process it becomes perfectly round and picks up an outer layer of road grit, making it look not unlike a cinnamon sugar donut hole. 

The idea is that the female will lay her egg inside once he brings home the big ball. 

This little slice of ingenuity in the wild was hilarious and remarkable to watch.

We had two elephants cross our path and honestly that was scarier for this crew than the lionesses, given our elephant issues.

During the break back at camp we had lunch with David, Ronald and the other American family. Then the kids swam and had fun breaking apart acacia pods and racing to see who could have the most seeds at the end. The grownups had some rose and took it easy.

The team here had also pulled together some activity books and games about animals that the kids worked on with David and Ronald while sipping mocktails they made at the bar.

On the afternoon drive we parked near two sleeping males lions — Cecil’s sons. We chatted about lions and then slowly inched past them for a closer look before heading off. Other visitors might have parked alongside them but not us.

We did find three giraffe — a mom and two youngsters — trying nervously to take turns drinking water. We loved watching them but James just sat in the front seat “reading” the bird reference book.

We enjoyed a sundowner back in our same spot (per Willa’s request). Dophus told us a tongue-twister in his native tongue that has a lot of clicks. 

On our way home Lobsy spotted a side-striped jackal, thinking it was a little street dog. 

As it grew dark David let Willa and James shine the flashlight into the trees. we saw a spring hare but nothing more.

Back at camp, we’d moved Lila and Willa into our tent — James slept with us and they took the twin beds.  Between the no-phones, no-wifi, total darkness and bumps in the night, we decided to just all huddle in one large family tent together!

The best part of the day came at dinner, when we realized that out in the darkness just at the edge of our deck there was a herd of elephants silently drinking from the watering hole. We walked over and watched them for a while. Amazing. 

They’re like ghosts in the darkness. The sound of their suction reminded me of when you take the tube of a vacuum cleaner and put your palm over the end. Then, the sound of it going in their mouth was like water being dumped into a giant, hollow rubber bag. Over and over.

It was good therapy for us.

The night was windy and — rainy! It poured all night and into the morning….