Day 7

At 6:30 am, we embarked on a drive to a different part of the landscape in search of a lion. No luck. Found a dead elephant (at least several days old) being scavenged by vultures and jackals. There were about 100 vultures some quite large tearing the carcass. The head was already bare to the bone. We sat there for a while looking at them work and fight among themselves. Then we drove back to the camp for brunch, which was another delicious meal -- shepherd’s pie. 3 kinds of salads (including a lovely pumpkin salad with pumpkin seeds), cheeses, freshly baked bread in the shape of a turtle, and fruit. Then, we had siesta until 4pm, which we used for various private activities. This has been a typical routine in each camp so far --- wake up call at 6, breakfast 6:30, morning drive from 7 to 11 or 12 with a coffee break somewhere along the way around 9:30-10, brunch around 11:30 12:30, siesta until 3 or 4 pm, then an evening drive until around 6, a sundowner = drinks and watching the sunset, and then dinner around 7-7:30. The Gomoti camp is very different from the Linyanti camp, which was located on a river bank and it was also bigger. This one is in a semi-desert, among large acacia trees, which now are blooming. It only has 5 guest tents, a small, but very pretty dining/common area with a thatched roof and no walls. Both camps are very tastefully done and decorated. We found out that the company hires an interior designer to decorate each camp. It definitely shows – they highlight the local architecture and art. The evening drive was not noteworthy. We drove 4 hours to see the elephant that was still dead. To be fair, we did see some other animals, too – most notably wildebeest. After dinner, when we were being walked back to our tent (we are not allowed to walk by ourselves after dark because the camp is not fenced and many wild animals roam around, especially because of the watering hole), Lets saw a leopard by the water hole and we saw him too. He came out for an evening drink.