Day 2: Munyaweni

Day 2: Munyaweni Bush Lodge

I woke with the light and checked the ground for scorpions. The wind had stilled and there was a pale grey sky. So I got dressed and checked my phone had charged. It was 0% because they power had turned off overnight.  I checked the iPad and it was 4.53am but it was light.

Wren struggled to escape his mosquito net cocoon, then dressed and we walked quietly to the car. The Nyala family were awake and skittered away. We went on a morning drive for a few hours.  There were few animals around and occasional squalls of light rain came across the bush.  We could see them moving from distant hills which greyed and had to turn the wipers on.  Some giraffe were eating close to the road - an adult who found some tender leaves and a smaller giraffe who could not reach - and we saw a common duiker run across the road then pause and look back.

Wren’s favorite sighting was a tortoise who was paused, dangerously, in the tire-tracks on the dirt road. I stopped right back him and opened the door to chase him off the road.  When I did, he stood up and walked off with purpose and some speed - each food improbably flat and his body absolutely unbending which gave him a cartoon appearance - like a walking box. Wren loved the tortoise (calling him a turtle) and we watched him till he rested up the trail.

Near camp we saw a Greater Scimitarbill.

Camp breakfast was good - scrambled eggs and snooker paté - with strong coffee and fresh pineapple. Lanny and Pete told us about the bats roosting in their bathroom - they have foxy faces and big ears and poop everywhere.  Davids shower has no hot water and Dad and Ingrid have only one light.

The Internet Cafe.

There was no internet at Hilltop Camp.  There was no power plugs to charge either because we are on some kind of minimal solar array. The power turns off at 10pm and returns at dusk. Orion managed to get a bit of Vodacom cell signal and set up a hotspot by the road.  Here is the internet cafe. [image later when we have internet)