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We have broken camp at Muchemi Campsite by the Zambezi River and moved deeper into the wilderness of Mana Pools, setting up camp at Chitake Campsite. Majestic baobabs abound. So do the beastly tsetse flies and the irritating mopane flies. At dusk bats swoop by and owls hoot. Night time has its own symphony of lion, elephant, hyena and baboon sounds.
The camp at Chitake is very remote. It is as though we have the whole land to ourselves. It is also very primitive – which is just my cup of tea. I have set up my tent in the shade of an enormous, ancient baobab tree. It is my sentinel.
Mike and Bernard have dug a hole in the ground under another huge baobab. On top of the hole they have placed the toilet chair – a toilet seat with four legs. A more magnificent loo view is hard to find. The shower area consists of a bucket with warm water and a tarpaulin tied to a couple of trees. Washing myself while enjoying a moonlight view of the Zambezi escarpment gives more enjoyment than just a feeling of cleanliness.
The group of people I am with are interesting, friendly and well-travelled. There are a couple of German psychotherapists, a German management consultant and an American artist living in Italy and Zambia (check out her amazing artwork here). We walk together, talk together, eat together. We all get up at 5:30 in the morning and all go to bed early. We all read our books, snooze in our tents, and scratch our tsetse fly bites during the long and sweltering midday siestas. We all love this place called Mana Pools.
