Our Last Full Day of Game Viewing

11.10.17  Our Last Full Day of Game Viewing

Today's wake-up call featured strong winds, grumbling thunder and incredible lightning pyrotechnics at 3 AM! 

The rest of Sally is somewhere in this poncho.

It was setting up to be our only rainy day, and we weren't particularly looking forward to our morning game drive. In fact, we had to return back to the camp after 30 minutes because of the rain. But less than an hour later, we were able to resume comfortably and enjoy some new adventures that featured a cool termite mound; hartebeest babies; Schlongo's very detailed and hilarious monologue on an impala "poop pile" (which, much to my regret, I did not videotape); his continued monologue with elephant dung; some stunning impalas; a beautiful leopard tortoise; and an eland that magically appeared at our waterhole during lunch.

 Goshawk

 Termite mound.

 Mom and baby hartebeest.

 More hartebeest.

Time for lunch.

 Schlongo gives us a brief lesson about the black-faced impala's poop pile (public toilet) and how males can determine whether available females are around 

and which direction they may have taken.

 Zooming in on the poop...

 OK, this was a bit much - but trust me - he didn't eat it!

I would have taken a video of his entire reenactment

 if I knew it was going to end like this. He was hysterical!

 His shenanigans continued a few moments later with this white rhino dung.

...and no, he did NOT take a bite!

OK, enough about poop...

Let's get back to the animals...

 Black-face impala.

 Leopard tortoise.

Eland.

 Parting shots at our waterhole.

 Samples we picked up at the Katutura market 10/29 - seemed like a lifetime ago. (upper left clockwise) Spinach that looked like cow dung before it was hydrated; 

sweet worms; little fish similar to sardines; spicy worms 

and some kind of nut that would crack your teeth.

 Some parting shots of a group of giraffe juveniles.

 One more black rhino shot...

 A couple of cubs.

 And finally...a male lion to end our journey. How fitting!

 Our final sunset...

 Comparing and sharing iPhone photos as the sun sets.

Lloyd gave us each a souvenir of our journey. I could not believe that not only did he find the perfect earrings for me to remember this trip - he actually bought them in Windhoek over 10 days ago and kept them a secret!

The earrings up close - sorry right earring was not facing the camera.

They were bottle caps from one of my favorite beers - Windhoek lager - 

absolutely perfect!

And so we packed up the next day for our journey that took us to Windhoek then Johannesburg then Atlanta. Dennis and Jackie continued to Cape Town and the rest of us dispersed to our separate gates for the final leg home from Atlanta.

Someone estimated that we had taken 14 flights all told - during our jaunts to 6 locations in 16 days. I do know that it took us about 31 hours to get back home with the last 3 flight times + time in airports. Every flight was either on time or early so I can't complain about that.