Taken at night.
After four days driving we have arrived at the Senyati Safari Camp in northern Botswana where we are camping for two nights before crossing the Zambezi river into Zambia. Senyati is famous for its’ elephants and unique “elephant hide”. We had been here less than an hour when a herd of elephants passed within 50 yards whilst we were sitting enjoying our lunch. On our drive up from Francistown we saw elephants, zebra and kudu by the main road.
The hide is a concrete bunker right on the edge of the waterhole and is accessed by an underground passgeway and affords great photographic opportunities. The elephants visit the water hole during the day and night.
Inside the hide
Entrance to hide.
This camp is not within a game park boundary but is outside in a “wildlife corridor” designed to allow wild animals to move from Botswana into Zimbabwe. The elephants are known to sometimes walk down the main street of the nearby town of Kasane. Sitting enjoying our sundowner we have also seen giraffe, kudu, impala and warthogs.
Last night Sarah heard a rustling sound outside the tent and thinking it might be an antelope or other small animal, unzipped the tent flap to have a look, only to be confronted with an elephant looking at her ten foot from the tent. Needless to say the tent was zipped up very quickly. Someone else just slept through it all. In the morning the elephant’s footprints were quite clear in the sand 12 foot from the tent.