Day 144 - From Khwai to Moremi - Hippos, Mud Huts and Three Bridges!

                             
Khwai Community Area had been a great experience and totally at one with nature, it really was a sense of wild camping with no services whatsoever, so, basic to say the least, but that just added to the sense of adventure, literally camping in the bush at whatever spot you could find and the children became extremely good at digging holes for their toilet! Being on the banks of the River Khwai there was plenty of wildlife from Hippos to elephants, hyenas, crocodiles and plenty of lions, everything but 'The Bridge', so if you are looking for adventure I would certainly recommend it. The first thing you need which is essential in the bush is wood for a fire, essential for protection from curious animals, especially at night!  ....... Always make sure you have enough wood to keep the fire going.  As we very rarely bought wood, which is a much safer way of doing it, but can be expensive (and what you were supposed to do!?), we had to hunt to find it lying in the bush.  In Khwai, that was certainly a mini adventure in itself as you never knew what animal you might bump into on the search!   ......  and scorpions loved to make their homes in old wooden logs!  ................... just had to be a bit more careful. It became the first family task whenever we stopped at a camp and especially getting to a camp just before dusk, you needed to get the fire going pretty quickly.  It had been a great experience for us all and the children loved it. ................. We packed up clearing everything away with just the trace of our fire and on leaving the camp, we drove by the river and watched Hippo's for a while, which was amazing and the children at that age were quite happy to literally sit for hours quietly watching these animals, mesmerised as Hippo families waded through their watery home and a couple of young males decided to have a little spat.  Hippos (along with Buffalo) are certainly one of the most dangerous animals in the bush, as they will attack without really thinking about it ............. so always have to be wary of them.

We then continued along the bank to find a suitable place to try and cross the river in the Landy, which was fine but on many occasions it was necessary for one of us to walk across in front of the Landy first to make sure it wasn't too deep or we didn't drive off a ridge in the river and end up joining the Hippo's and Croc's!  - the walk across carried a few risks in itself, but everyone had sharp eyes!

We had met a lot of different people on the way and bumped into a French couple while watching the Hippos.  He had spent a lot of time in Africa as a photographer and neither could believe how far we had travelled with the children at such a young age, especially through Bhutan and Burma, but it had become clear with Jo and I early on, that as long as the children were with you, wherever that was, at the ages of 8, 9 and 12, they felt at home and at ease, so it was far easier than we had expected. However, living at close quarters with every one, 24/7, had its interesting elements from time to time, as when at home, with life being so busy, time with the children was always limited and you constantly found yourself chasing them to get up, eat your breakfast, get ready for school and when back from school it was supper time, bath time, time for bed and then the whole thing started all over again.  Being away for six months took all of this pre-organised motion away, the train had well and truly stopped, there were no time restrictions or organised places to be every hour of the day.  It was great and you began to see those little idiosyncrasies of each of your children that you had never noticed before, because you were too busy and time was short. They would be small things, such as the way they got themselves ready when they woke up and moments throughout the day when they sometimes just needed a bit of their own space and their own time.   Freddie certainly liked his own space more than the other two, so hours in the back of a Landrover sometimes took its toll and thoughts of feeding various children to the lions at certain points was sometimes a consideration!! but we all had our moments and learning to live with these was a learning curve for all of us.  Harry, Freddie and Imogen each took their teddy's with them, Imogen's being Ziggi, the cuddly zebra and there were frequent occasions when Imogen sometimes needed calming down, usually after she became tired and her two brothers would then love to wind her up! It sometimes came to the crunch decision, much to the amusement of the boys and it would usually diffuse the situation, where a cry from the driver, me!, being unable to take any more would shout 'Imogen', taking a quote out of  the movie 'Sharks Tale' .... 'If you don't calm down ......... Ziggy gets it!'  - Ziggy would then get suspended out of the window for a short spell and it seemed to bring results most of the time  -  followed by a lot of laughter.

We eventually found a good crossing point on the river, which appeared suitably shallow, having decided against a couple of previous crossing points and slowly worked our way through the slow flowing water to the opposite bank. We spotted a beautiful antelope, grazing on its own set against the green backdrop of the bush and then, with the benefit of the children's sharp animal spotting eyes, we came across a very elegant Saddle Billed Crane. It was huge and very majestic in its stance with its beautiful red and yellow collard bill.  

We were not supposed to be crossing Rivers in the Landy as we had no snorkel and Safari Drive had lost a couple of Landrovers in the past, with flooded engines where river crossings had been attempted.   However, needs must and as long as we made sure the water level remained no more than half way up the wheels and the 'wader' in front of the Landy didn't get eaten! .... we were ok. 

Local villagers at Moremi outside their mud and thatched home.

          

We head on to Moremi and it is a beautiful drive by the River Khwai, spotting plenty of elephants on the way and plenty of bird life and there are a few other river crossings required as we drive through, predominantly sand, heading for the North Gate of the Camp. We eventually find our way into the local village and Jo has a spare bag of food in the Landrover comprising sugar, flour, porridge and milk.  We stop at the local shop and there is a couple of elderly women and a small child by a mud and thatched hut.  We drive over and Jo gets out to talk to them and offers them the bag of food, which they gratefully accept and the children give a lolly pop to the young child.  We are soon joined by several other mothers and their children, who are curious and Jo then asks if she can take a look inside her home.  The matriarch is more than happy to show us inside and invites us all in through the open wooden door.  It houses her life within and provides a home and shelter for the family and it is great that our children get to experience these things as the whole house is probably smaller than one of their bedrooms back in the house we had just sold in England, quite an eye opener for all three children.  We ask if we can take some photos and show them the images on the camera of which they all find highly amusing, laughing as they see themselves in the picture on the screen.

We are soon on our way, passing the local shop, which is actually called 'the shopping centre', not as you might know one back in England, but clearly an important part of the village and soon cross a wooden bridge to North gate where we check in. 

             The Khwai Shopping Centre 

Finally we arrive at the North Gate Entrance.

 

                      

The Wet Bridge!

      

By the time we check in it is well past lunchtime, so we make use of the tables and chairs and grab some cheese and biscuits from the back of the Land rover.  A couple of 'more exclusive' Landrover safari's turn up and take the adjoining tables, complete with table cloths and prepared food but their guides come over for a chat one by one and are very friendly and we finish lunch and head out to find our tent pitch for the next few days at Third Bridge, some distance away.   We head out on more dirt roads deep into the Park and soon find ourselves coming round a bend and bumping into an elephant, as you do.  Always to be avoided where you can as you never know how calm it might, or might not, be.  

Fortunately this one was fairly oblivious to our interruption.   

We soon come across a wide stretch of water that we need to cross and have difficulty finding a suitable place, but eventually find a spot where the river is still quite wide.  Jo decides to walk across in front, welcoming the cool water on her feet, but not so sure about the crocodiles! ...... pointing out the shallow areas that I need to follow as there does appear to be a ridge to one side of the river which falls away steeply, which definitely needs to be avoided.   We continue and follow a sign directing us to 'the dry route' to Third Bridge as the Bridge for the 'wet' route is decidedly underwater! and after a quick detour to find some Hippo pools we eventually arrive at Camp at about 6.00pm, crossing the dry bridge!  ..........  Not long to go before dark, so need to get the tents up, the fire going and the food cooked!