10 September

We did end up sleeping on the raised platform, it was pleasantly warm and we didn’t have problems with mosquitoes. We were however, woken up by elephants drinking a few hundred meters down-river.

We left quickly as the sun rose and drove to Mudumu National park and picked up our permits. It’s a bit 1010Km² National park with a big river-frontage on the Kwando and vast riverine-forests inland. We found a short-grass plain along the river with reedbeds and had our breakfast as as large herd of impala grazed in the distance.

In the heat of the midday sun we drove many kilometers through the inland forests of the park. It was vast, wild and unforgiving and we didn’t see too many animals, but it was very adventurous. At one point we noticed the front bumper of the car was a little loose and upon closer inspection noted that a bar was missing. It seemed there had been a previous repair. We’ll have to call the rental company and visit a garage in Katima, but for now it should be fine.

As we came back to the river we found a beautiful cleared spot above a steep river bank. Hippos would be unable to climb up here so welt it safe to have our lunch. We stayed for a while and read books and checked the route ahead on our maps while elephants drank nearby. 

Around 4pm the sun began to sink in the sky and we knew the animals would become more active so we began to drive along the river. We especially saw a lot of elephants including one herd with a gigantic matriarch – the largest elephant ive ever seen.

We are now at Camp Kwando which is on a nice spot overlooking the river across to Botswana. Our campsite has its own toilet and shower with hot water! But unfortunately no electricity. We’ll cook our own beef tonight and head down to the bar area later for tea and sitting by the fire, looking over the papyrus beds.