Journey to Antelope Park

It was another early start as I got up to look over the blue-gray lake in the early morning light. Vervet monkeys played on the rocks below. We had a light breakfast and boarded the truck for the next leg of our journey. We passed through quite dry, tree filled countryside with the same geology of large, rounded rocky outcrops. We continued along a dead straight road through classic African bushland, but the road was uneven and we bounced up and down and even off our seats. I managed to pop a rib after one particularly large bounce which gave me some pain afterwards. We stopped by some young girl roadside sellers. One of the younger ones called to us on the truck and had a delightful youthful energy, smile, and an infectious chuckle. These interactions with local young people by the truck have been moments of such heart warming connections and you can't help but leave feeling happy about how lovely human nature can be.
We stopped for lunch in a busy town and then drove on to to the park which was filled with dry scrubland. We received a very warm welcome from the staff who drummed and danced for us. We were encouraged to join in and we all had a lot of fun trying and failing to dance the African way.. One of the woman staff was an amazing dancer. We were then given squash and popcorn and a tour of the campsite. We were given a talk and a video about the park. Sadly I met another misfortune at this point when I bit into an uncooked grain of popcorn and sheered off the side of one of my molar teeth. Fortunately, I didn't experience any pain, but this was another difficuly and challenge to my travels that I could really have done without. I would no doubt need to get a temporary filling and agreed with the tour leader, Jemma, that I would try and do this in Victoria Falls that we would reach in a few days time.
I pitched my tent above the brown river and spent the rest of the afternoon resting. I walked down to the river at sunset and saw and heard the many birds and the fish breaking the surface of the water rippling out in circles.
We had a nice cooked dinner and red wine around the camp fire and told scary stories to scare each other. We went and looked and the nearly full moon that large and silvery with a halo through the thin clouds. We also saw a bush baby with large nocturnal eyes licking sap from a tree near the fire. We booked our itinerary for the following day and I was particularly looking forward to my first horse ride with the animals in the park. The air was filled with insect calls and a loud, incessant frog chorus from the river. I retired to my tent with the possibility of hearing lion roars from some of the 80 lions in the park during the night.Leia mais