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Main Camp Hwange	Warthog Lokuthula Lodges	Kennedy Pan Camp Hwange	View from Vic Falls Hotel	Victoria Falls bridge	Original Railway Carriage

TINY THINGS

Our recent trip through the Hwange National Park with very special family members was enchanting, indeed quite a soul soother.

The grass is literally as high as an elephants eye and the elephant were about the only animals one could see. There is an abundance of water in the park and the corn coloured grass waves gently in the breeze,

But nature provided us with our own gallery of wildlife, except that we had to virtually run over it in order to see it....

We came in from the Falls at Sinamatella Camp, a little jaded were the chalets but still as clean and shining as always, but the lack of water at Sinamatella has been a bug bear for many years now.

Our first piece of "Wild life" was a tortoise meandering slowly along the side of the dirt road. We had seen a lot of big game at the Pilanesburg earlier in the week so we were quite happy to investigate this small feisty little fellow for ten minutes or so, identify him from the several species in the mammal book, and then send him on his happy way.

Our next sighting we a chameleon !! How charming, one does not see chameleon all that often these days. He was vivid lime green and changed to a pearly pink on HeeHoo's hand when he picked him up. His 360 degree eyes watched us all as we ogled him in awe, some of us were less enthusiastic than others to have him crawl on us !!

We put him gently on a bush and his colours changed instantly to blend in with his new jade gene surroundings and he clambered off on his merry way.

Next stop was to allow a four foot long black mamba cross the road !! He was in no hurry and we gingerly closed the windows in case he decided to look at us as closely as we were looking at him !! He reared up once and provided a lot of excitement especially as we had watched a baby spitting cobra in full dance the previous week. !!

As the miombo thickets eased out into grassy plains around Kennedy and Ngweshla Pans, we were able to see a lot more of the big Hwange inhabitants, there were literally hundreds of giraffe, a lot darker in colour than their friends south of the border. There were many many elephant too, some lone bulls, some in small herds, with quite a few young too, to make the the mommy elephants a tad cantankerous ....

Zebra were there in vast numbers and of course there is always a herd of impala to entertain when all else fails. We had seen a magnificent male lion at the Pilanesburg and so were not expecting any more of this rare treat but as we came round the corner between Nyamandhlovu Pan and the gate of Main Camp, there stood a beautiful golden coloured male lion, his mane a lot lighter, but he was truly beautiful. He flattened himself n the grass as we passed but we had him in our sights and watched him peacefully and in great delight as he at last decided to humor us and walk across the road in front of us.

Sadly he had a radio collar on which spoilt his grandeur just a tad. He yawned, he snarled, he sauntered, he glared at us balefully, he posed, he preened he postured almost like a movie star !! What a treat for our visitors who will remember this treasure of the African bush always.

We spent a couple of nights in the tree houses at Miombo Lodge near Dete and were blessed with the company of Simon and Gladys the camp managers who were truly hospitable and gracious.

Our last evening at Nyamandhlovu Pan was tinged with sadness as we dragged ourselves away to leave the park at the allotted time, and we nearly ran over a lady lioness lazing right on the road outside the Hwange Safari Lodge !!

Buffalo were in short supply which is unusual in Hwange, but they arrived at breakfast the next day to drink at the pan below Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, and so we felt very special. As we had already seen rhino at Pilanesburg, our cup had runneth over with the exception of a cheetah and a leopard, but that undoubtedly will happen on our next annual visit to this magical part of the world.