I am in the vehicle on my own again today as Amy and Douglas are now flying on to Johannesburg. I ask George if we can visit the hyena den again. We were lucky and managed to see both the mother and pup.

When we leave the den we encounter two more hyenas on the track. They went into the long grass and it was literally impossible to see them even though we knew they were little more than a couple of metres away from us. We saw lion tracks but they again disappeared into the bush. We head off Northwest to try and find dogs but this turns out to be a pointless mission too. You just never know what gifts the bush is going to offer up. Today turns into a great morning with good sightings of jackals, mongooses, hornbills courting, baboons, carmine bee-eaters flying alongside the vehicle to catch insects disturbed by us and a wonderful elephant encounter.

During our coffee break I spent some time trying to photograph a dragonfly close-up. Not bad but I think I need to set up focus layering and maybe invest in a macro lens. The safari has been so full on that I have not had the opportunity to fiddle with camera settings. Note to self – set them up at home before travelling. Also make a list of favourite settings and what to use them for.

The day started out cool but by lunchtime it was very hot indeed. I head off to the pool for a couple of hours before the afternoon game drive. We try to find dogs but in fact there is little around this afternoon. I think this is largely because there is a thunderstorm brewing. We are sure we will get very wet and I think that is why the animals are in hiding too. I put my backpack in a plastic bin-bag and don my poncho in readiness for the deluge. We are lucky. The storm skirts around us and we have nothing more than strong winds and a few drops of light rain.

There was a little bit of excitement this evening when George walked me back to my room after dinner. It looked like the hippos were in camp tonight and had definitely left large footprints and other stuff on the path. As we rounded a corner in the path a huge hippo stood feet away from us. They are massive when you are close up and on foot. It is perhaps worth mentioning here that more people are killed by hippos in Africa than anything else….

George tells me to back up slowly and hide behind a bush. I duly comply. He stands quietly on the path to see what the hippo is going to do. Eventually it ambles off into the undergrowth and I am given the all clear. The hippo has completely wrecked the track by my room. It then proceeds to keep me awake for much of the night by grunting and munching right outside. It was joined by a very loud hyena and of course the ultra-loud backing chorus of frogs and toads. I did sleep but pretty fitfully.