Next Stop Baines Camp....

On our last morning at Vumbura, we come across a herd of wild elephants.  They're completely calm around the car and one of them even taps the car as he lumbers by.


There are several baby elephants amongst the herd....so sweet - and trying to learn how to use their trunks.

We get to see a few giraffes

We pack up to head onto the next camp.  While I'm waiting for everyone, I'm sitting in the "lobby" area reading - and I hear some rustling leaves behind me.  I figure it's a bird - and I ignore it.  I hear it again, and I turn around to look.  And it's a huge elephant standing right next to the raised platform of the hotel!!!

We head to the airstrip and have a 17 minute flight to the airstrip for our next camp: Baines Camp.  Baines is also in the Okavango Delta on a private concession bordering the Moremi Reserve.  There are only 5 rooms in this camp.  They have had a tremendous amount of rain lately, and all the roads have been flooding.  We have 24 flooded water crossings between the airstrip and the camp.  The water comes rushing into the car - and the driver has to keep opening his door to drain the water out of his seat.  All of our feet are lifted off the floor of the car - and we keep checking to make sure our bags aren't soaked.  Getting bumped around over uneven terrain with no seat belts to hold you in is hard enough - now add having to lift your feet off the floor too!  It felt like we were riding around in a boat more than a car....

We come across a large herd of elephants - this time, not so friendly.  They all have their trunks in the air as they catch our scent - and they are watching our approach with extreme interest.  One of the cows in the herd is moving closer and closer to the car and trumpeting on high alert.  Literally, we (not Gavin, but the rest of us) thought they were going to charge the car.  We were stuck in nearly 2 feet of water, so our car certainly wasn't going to escape in time.  Thank goodness at the last second, she changes her mind and walks away from us.

Baines Camp although it does have electricity and running water, is a much more rustic lodge than Vumbura Plains.  For the first time in over a week we have internet access, and I settle down to check my emails and make some skype calls.  Dinner is outside by the open fire.