Heading
This morning we awoke with feelings of anticipation, both excitement and sadness. Today was the day we had to leave Nsanje.
We all met at around 6am for breakfast, and packed our bags into the bus soon afterwards. The team arrived at Chikemuguire, and the children were once again thrilled at the sight of us. We spent some time watching their opening ceremony and I sent my drone up to capture some beautiful aerial footage of the event. The kids were slightly distracted by the flying camera, but the teachers kept them mostly under control.
We took off shortly after to visit a public school in the area. It was rather difficult to find, we took several wrong turns and had to back up on the main road for a kilometer or two. Once we finally arrived, we visited all of the classes in the school. Over 1200 kids attend this school, with only 10 teachers. The children there sang songs for us in the classrooms with alarming volumes reaching 105 decibels! The public school really gave us a new perspective on the work we are doing with Timotheos, and how much those kids benefit from the program there.
We then drove back to the centre and spent more time with our little buddies, while some of the guys finished up explaining the system to the workers. Once they wrapped up with that, we visited the classrooms and presented our gifts that we had acquired at the market yesterday. The teachers were quite happy with the small baskets that we had put together. We walked through the classrooms to hand out sweeties, stickers, colouring pages, and crayons to the groups of smiling kids. We then bid our farewells to the pastor, teachers, and workers, and by 12:30 we were off to Majete Wildlife Reserve.
The drive north was rather uneventful, many of us tried to doze off, whilst others of us played card games on the seat. We arrived there in good time albeit a little late. It took some time to explain to Krystal how to fill out a form, but we worked through it. We unloaded the bus and headed to our rooms. The only wildlife spotted thus far was a lovely little warthog prancing across the path, but that was about to change.
We all met in the main building after freshening up in our rooms, then climbed into the safari truck. It was a little cramped, as the trucks were not designed to contain the 12 humans that were aboard. The rain did not help matters, some of us were mildly damp and the rest were soaked to the core. We left on safari at close to 4:30pm, and had our eyes peeled until our return. Baboons, Nyala, and Hippopotamusses were among the animals that were seen, along with a plethora of antelope.
Suddenly the radio chirped to life, and we discovered there was an elephant several kilometers out. Our driver floored it to the alleged location of the beast. However, once we arrived, only crushed grass and dung were left to tell the tale.
We drove slowly throughout the area looking for any sign as to where the creature had gone. Then we saw it. A massive male elephant stomping down the road toward us. Our driver quickly pulled to the side to let him pass, and we were able to see the massive mammal up close, some thought too close. He was within 10 feet of our vehicle, at any moment he could decide to turn and roll our truck down the hill. Luckily he walked calmly beside us and continued down the road. We followed him a ways down the trail, then stopped a while for popcorn and cold drinks.
The driver proceeded after the elephant, driving slowly, trying not to scare him. We tailed him for some time, looking for other wildlife in the meantime. Darkness fell, and we lost sight of him, we figured he was still walking down the road. We rounded a corner, and there he was again, and coming straight for us! The elephant was threatening us with his trunk, he was not pleased with us following him. The driver wasted no time turning around and getting us out of there. After the very eventful safari, we were quite ready for our evening meal.
We were greeted with warm cloths to wash our faces, then we sat down at a long table for dinner. They served their famous tomato soup as an appetizer, there were no complaints except for the portion size. Beef Stroganoff was given as the main, and a delectable array of deserts were offered to finish off the meal.
We rested in the cool evening as the Nyala grazed and a lion roared in the distance. We were so blessed to end the week with this wonderful safari.
