Visiting The Hide

After tea, Aaron (in response to pleas from all of us to see a picture of his little boy) brought his wife and his 5-month-old son to meet us. They are both beautiful! Then Susan, Doug, Michael and Gary went on evening drive with Elvis and Aaron, while Isaac took me and a good friend of Afke's , who was also visiting Mashatu, to the Pond. Afke met us at the gate, and walked us through the boma where her tent, two tents for the volunteers, toilet and shower facilities are all located. It's very pleasant and private....very easy to see why Afke loves it there so much!  The hide was actually a little bigger than I expected. I met Boiki, who was friendly and very focused on the cameras, posted a message to everyone signed sandra@Pete'sPond, and then sat down to watch the Pond. It was glorious...I just loved it! It was so amazing to sit there and watch the day unfold before my eyes...of course, I completely forgot to take pictures most of the time, and just got completely lost in the moment.   Banded mongoose were all over the beach for a while, and George and Gracie were there, and quelea flying in much bigger flocks than I realized, a lilac-breasted roller, the Blacksmith Plovers and dikkops and vervets....and the male waterbuck came for a long drink and some tasty sedge, just at sundown. He was close enough for me to get some pictures. I do like subjects that hold still for a loooong time, as everyone knows! Lolol!

Skirminkel was energetic and funny...she couldn't find my toes because I was wearing shoes that covered them, so she climbed all over me and took a shine to my earrings. Afke took a picture of us...fortunately, this was before Skirminkel developed a taste for human fingers, so all was well!

The large banded mongoose troop came to the beach, but not to the boma that day, so Skirminkel didn't know they were around.

When Isaac returned to the Pond to pick me up, Afke followed us, as we had asked if she could have dinner at Main Camp with us. (We planned to introduce The Traveling Stick, his friends and his treasures to her after dinner.) Suddenly, she couldn't see our vehicle and thought she had lost us, so she continued on to Main Camp. In fact, our Land Cruiser had a loose wire and the lights failed. Isaac tried a few things, and then called to see if there were any drive vehicles near us. Joe was nearby, so we found him and he and Isaac made the necessary repairs and we continued on to Main Camp. Oddly enough, it was quite pleasant out in the bush, the stars looked beautiful, and I rather enjoyed the short pause in the trip.

Susan and Doug returned soon after from evening drive, and were very excited that they had seen the wild dogs. We all met in the boma for dinner, and after dinner Afke, Elvis, Doug, Susan and I adjourned to the terrace, where we gave Afke the many packages that contained the Traveling Stick and his traveling companions. She was completely delighted , and is talking about getting a cabinet made to display it all at the hide. We had decided to let Afke enjoy the arrival of Traveling Stick without flashbulbs going off in her face, and it was really lovely.  There was much laughter, and Afke really seemed touched by all the treasures that had accompanied Stick on his journey. She seemed especially pleased to see that the three little china elephants sent by MamaSafari had survived the trip intact and undamaged.

It was late by the time everything was examined and talked about, and Afke was full of plans to post about the Arrival of Stick and a cabinet to go in the hide to display Stick and his traveling companions.  She had arranged to stay at Main Camp that night, so she could go on the morning drive with all of us.  And so we all agreed to call it a night.  Six AM comes early at Mashatu!