Sunday, October 8, 1995
Camp Moremi
We leave the mobile camp at 5:30 for a game drive, and the drive to Camp Moremi. On the way we find tsessebe and the same breeding pair of lions, still together, still in the same place. They look very tired.
Camp Moremi is a permanent camp, with a pool, an observation deck overlooking marshland, a well stocked bar and a nicely appointed open air dining room on a second floor deck. The sleeping accommodations are permanent tents with bamboo fenced paths to the open roof, private toilet and shower. Eddie complains that we are no longer in Africa. I drag all of my batteries over to the bar to recharge, then take a shower to cool off. Under the blazing mid-day sun the water spray looks like a Fourth of July sparkler. With my now customary wet towel draped over my shoulders, l finish reading The Snows of Kilamanjaro, then proceed to treat every minor scratch on my body with mercurochrome and neomyacin.
From the observation deck, Sigrid and I watch a lone elephant in the distance. He wades into the marshland, then up to his eyes, then disappears altogether except for the tip of his trunk. The dot of the trunk stops, starts to move backward, and soon the elephant re-emerges along the path he came.
We finally have an interesting but unremarkable game drive, although the wet and green terrain is a pleasant change revealing many new and colorful bird species. Sundown finds us at a pool with hippos, hoping to catch one climbing out for the night. We watch a fire-red full moon rise before us as we drive back to camp.
I have a Glenfiddich before dinner and South African red with dinner. Over dinner I pontificate about American immigration policy with two CEO’s from New Zealand. After dinner, more Glenfiddich with Sigrid, Wayne and Cathy on the deck. They are drinking Baileys. We discuss elephant intelligence with Murray, the acting manager of the camp. I don't want to ever go home.
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NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This is a back-post / cross-post from my first on-line journal/blogging effort - a journal of our Southern Africa Tour in 1995. Originally posted to an abandoned domain (NetSnake.com), the term "blog" had not yet entered the parlance. I am migrating the original posts to this blog. Links to the original journal Date Index or Africa Tour Home Page will likely eventually disappear. The images from the original post were graphics and screen caps from video which I am leaving in it's low-rez glory for historical integrity. My intent is to also add some of Sigrid's higher quality scanned photos to these blog back-posts. The difference in images should be obvious.
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