I rode on
from Vic Falls and made a stop at another Hwange Game Park. Its Zimbabwe’s
largest and will probably be the last game park that Ill stop at for a while.
I had the
usual problem of not being allowed into the park with my bike so I left it at a
lodge just outside the park and hitched a ride into the main camp inside the
park…
And then
I had the problem of there being virtually no other people I could hook-up with
to go see the game… I was really hoping to see some wild dogs here since they
are very rare and this is a good place to see them. In the end I paid for my
own private drive and though I didn’t see the dogs, I was very lucky to get a
good view of a leopard as he casually strolled across the road … and regarded
me and my guide with disdain before he disappeared into the long grass J
Later
that night, I was camped all alone in the park camping area. All was peaceful
till about 2am when I was woken up by a couple of baboons messing around in a
rubbish bin near my tent… I was initially a bit concerned as baboons have a
really nasty set of teeth and can be quite dangerous but in this case it was
just a couple of them and they seemed to not be interested in me at all (I had
been very careful to not have any food stored with me in the camping area).
So, I
drifted off back to sleep but was awoken by something again about two hours
later. I opened my eyes to the sight of a very clear moonlight silhouette of a big
Hyena standing just outside of the tent looking at me … well, he was looking at
the tent really but it felt like he was looking right at me J I was quite startled and then somewhat alarmed…
I stayed still and waited to see what would happen next… He sniffed a few times
and then moved along the side of the tent and started to poke his head under the entry flap
of the tent… So I made a Sssst! Noise and that startled him off a few meters.
But he came back sniffing a couple of seconds later. I decided that was enough
and that I should “prepare for action” so I sat up , located my flashlight and
a boot and stuck my head out the tent flap. There were two of them and after a
couple more sniffs and me giving them some vocal discouragement, they gambolled
off about 20m and regarded me with their glowing eyes in the flashlight beam.
Then they seemed to take the hint and moved on. Of course, me not being a
local, Im not sure how dangerous the local animals are but it seems that Hyenas
are quite wary of humans (well at least grown up ones) … and that’s fine with
me.
Next
morning I packed up camp as usual and hitched my way back to the bike and rode
on… Didn’t see any Wild Dogs though… Bit of a shame but I guess it gives me
something to do if Im ever back this way J
