A relaxed morning at Kwando River

The night started out with some strange sounds that I couldn't quite identify. Fortunately Anne knew more about it than I did. Those were the sounds of multiple hippos, located somewhere within 100m from where we were. This wasn't scary to me per se, but I will admit that it got me unsettled for a bit, which wasn't particularly helped by the fact that the camp manager handed us an emergency bell that we should ring in case of emergencies (namely hippos or elephants coming too close for comfort).

With this slightly unusual soundscape we went to sleep for our last night in the bush. The next morning we saw the camp in daylight for the first time since our arrival, and we used the opportunity to go and explore the environs. We discovered that we were camped less than 10m from the swamp which was formed by a sidearm of the river Kwando. We walked along the deserted campground - we were the only guests, and actually the first guests in over a week - to the other side and discovered a sundowner bar with a small pool right at the edge of the river, and following the path even further we ended up at a beautiful river bend with great views over the swampy surroundings.

We also discovered some tracks leading into the water, which upon closer inspection were very clearly some very fresh hippo tracks. Well, that's to be expected in hippo territory 😂 On our way back we were surprised by a quick rain shower, so we rushed back to the truck to fold the tent up before it got too wet. We finished packing it a couple of minutes later, just as the rain stopped 😅

Since we had actually managed to get to the Eastern end of the Caprivi Strip, we were technically ahead of schedule. So, instead of departing at the break of day as originally planned, we decided to take a relaxed morning. We got out all of our leftovers, I cooked a nice extensive breakfast, we each enjoyed a beautiful outdoor shower with warm water, did some exercise for our wellbeing, and started the day relaxed.Read more