Botswana July 25, 2018

Left Senyati this morning to spend the night at Elephant Sands on the way bsck to Johannesburg. A nice easy drive on a very good tarred road. Elephants along the road and crossing it. Arrived at midday and got a chalet with proper walls not a tent as it is cooler further south. Here the eaves go all the way up, not like Khama. Got out the gas stove and made lunch on the floor of the verandah of the chalet. It wasn’t long before the weaver birds discovered us and hovered demanding to be fed. Feeding them attracted more, but a whole flock of starlings arrived and took over the whole show until a hornbill arrived and put the starlings in their place. Most of the Chalets have solar water heaters. To protect the plumbing from the Elephants who will rip everything up to get to the water the put a carpet of small concrete pyramids down. The points are quite sharp and the Elephant’s soles are soft so the won’t walk on them. Quite a good idea. Hung around the lodge. A typical rambling building all under thatch. Met two very nice people from Nelspruit. They run a shuttle service between all the major towns. 45 busses and employ 70 people. Jacques and Honalie Osterhuizen. Spent the evening with them and had dinner together. The lodge has an outside area with a pool and a place the build a fire. The waterhole is right next to the pool area. The elephant walk down through the Chalets and camp site to drink and are about ten feet from where everyone is sitting. Apparently the elephant used to climb into the pool area and drink out the pool while people were swimming. The government eventually asked the owners to put in the waterhole before someone got hurt. Good dinner was very good with lots of pap and sous. After a really nice evening, retired for the night.