Africa 2

Day 4: I woke up and screamed upon running right into a praying mantis outside of my mosquito net. And again when one was perched on the floor right in the center of the doorway to the bathroom. I was so paralyzed with fear that I had to call Emmanuel up to remove the insects from my room so I could enter the bathroom and shower. Afterwards, I noticed a frog on my door handle and another mantis by my clothes. They formed a barrier between me and escape and me and clothes. Again Emmanuel had to come up and rescue me from my prissy hissy. After breakfast we went on a walking safari with Obi. We saw a giraffe, a family of zebras, a family of giraffes, impalas, a crocodile, and hippos. Obi told us lots of interesting facts like most birds nests are on the west side of the trees and termite mounds also lean to the west. We also learned a lot about dung of all kinds. It was nice to get some exercise and actually be out and about on foot amongst the animals. We went back to the house for lunch and a swim and there were elephants everywhere! One came up in our yard and was tearing apart a bush about 6 feet away from where I was lounging on the patio. It was hilarious when he tore a big branch off and put it on his head like a hat!

We went on an afternoon drive and the highlights for me were seeing a warthog up close who did not run away at first sight of us. Instead, he stopped and stared head on and we actually got a sense of how horrifically ugly this creature really is. The face of a warthog is the absolute ugliest thing I have ever seen. He wins the award of most hideous animal in Africa so far and he's on the list of my top 5 favorite animals. And the other highlight was watching the gorgeous sunset from way up high. We also got a flat tire, although I can't say that was a highlight.

Day 5: So sad to leave the Langkawi River House! I honestly miss our guys from there. Mainly Emmanuel and Edward and especially my favorite, Obi. I can't explain it but I feel a kindred spirit in Obi. I'm obsessing over this man. He was just the sweetest, most even keeled, wonderful guy and a brilliant guide. If I could read auras, I'd say he has the best one out there. I just have a big non-sexual crush on this guy.
Anyway, Obi drove us to our new people who took us up the river to our new place. We are in an outdoor camp in tents with no electricity, sand toilets and a bucket shower. We have a hot new director, George. He's married, but adorbs. And a new very sweet guide, Kanga. He took me, my dad and bro on a walking safari today. We learned some interesting things about nature like how the Spider Wasp captures spiders, injects them with a paralyzing poison then lays its eggs inside the spider and the spider dies when the eggs hatch and the baby wasps eat their way out of it. In the words of my brother, What the fuck, nature? Why can't she just kill it and eat it like most bugs? Oh and we had a hippo run into our boat. That's the second hippo we've run over! Also saw a baby hippo and 2 crocodiles.
We returned from our walk during sunset where a campfire and cocktails were waiting for us. After a cool bucket shower by lantern light, I watched hippos come up out of the river to graze right near our camp. George asked us not to tell Jennifer (she was in the shower) about this as she's been freaking out about getting killed by hippos all day. I still haven't told her :)
Curry by lamplight for dinner, and now in bed in my tent ready for tomorrow!

Day 6: new camp, new people, new guide, Mongolian BBQ around campfire, gorgeous sunset. New people include Polly, a Brit who runs the place; Nicholas a white kid from Zimbabwe doing his gap year; his hippy yogi father; our guide Sebastian (another sweet sweet soul) and Jonah another guide. I've found a book about the pioneer safari people in our area (South Luangwa) and find myself constantly grilling Polly about them and trying to get the inside scoop of their stories as she knows them all. Sounds like there was a lot of partying and bed hopping out in the African bush land! And many people who came over to work at a camp for a summer and ended up staying indefinitely. I can see why. It's amazing here.

Day 7: Driving safari with Jonah. Saw crazy red ant trail. Saw baby hippo on beach with mom. Heard wild story about how a guide and some guests were on a river safari and a hippo capsized their canoe and the guests managed to swim to shore, but the guide did not. The guests were lost and couldn't find their way back to camp, but eventually wandered into a village which took them to their camp. They then started a search for the guide. They found him washed up on a beach covered in red ants. He had been attacked by a crocodile, but a hippo came and chased the croc away and then pushed him all the way to shore! The hippo saved his life along with the ants who covered his wound, their bites causing his blood to clot. Incredible story!
He told us another story how he and a group of guests were having tea overlooking the river when they saw 2 young elephants crossing the river who were being surrounded by crocs. Well a group of hippos came and chased the crocs away, allowing the little elephants to cross the river safely. He says there are lots of instances of hippos helping impalas and all kinds of other prey get away from crocodiles.

Well now it's been almost a month since our trip and I still can't stop thinking about it. Africa really stays with you. It's magical and an experience beyond words although I hope I've done it some justice :)