Botswana Day 8: Birthday in the Bush

When the 5a wake up call came this morning, we decided to sleep in and skip today's game drive. We hadn't seen much at Lebala in the way of animals and we really just needed a break from all the jostling around and being social to recharge. We spent the morning lounging on the porch of our tent, watching a herd of some 15 or so elephants cross in front of us. After a lunch of pork noodles, apple pecan salad, and omelets, we were taken to the airstrip to catch our flight to our final camp of the trip. Joining us on the flight was Brenda, a very cool chick with the guts to travel to Africa alone. Our pilot was Aldo, from Greece.

We arrived at the Kwara airstrip after a short flight and drove straight to camp for orientation. They rushed us thru orientation so that we could make the afternoon game drive. But Mike and I still just weren't feeling it and decided to stay in camp instead. Paying so much to go on safari tends to make me feel a bit guilty when I skip a drive; however, sometimes you just need a break. So we headed to our tent to relax.

Our tent at Kwara Camp was definitely not as nice as the tents at the prior three camps but the trade off was we were close to the hippo-filled water and had lots of non-dangerous visitors wandering thru. We sat on the porch listening to the hippo grunts - a sound that always reminds me of Africa. The tents were located under huge trees covered in some kind of fruit. The vervet monkeys would climb the trees and pick the fruit, take one bite, then chunk it to the ground below. Then came the impalas. They would wander up and eat the leftover fruit littering the ground. They came right up to our tent with us sitting there.

Some lovely ladies from the kitchen even brought by some snacks and drinks for us so that we didn't miss out on sundowners.

Dinner that night was Mexican soup, lemon chicken, rice and veggies. Then all of the camp staff came together and brought out a chocolate cake for Mike's 45th birthday. They did a traditional African dance and sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a special way to celebrate a special day.