Sep 9 – Safaris at Bumi Hills

Out for a safari drive first thing this morning but a little later than at the other camps…8:00 instead of 6:30.  And we had an afternoon drive as well.  It is much hotter here but we still had a good safari.  Lots of birds, most we have seen before.  The drive eventually ended up down by the large plain adjacent to Lake Kariba.

Photos from today's drives. 

Very Large Termite Mound

There were a lot of weaver nests in the trees. 

The area we drove through in the morning was filled with mopani trees.  But most of the trees are shrub size as the elephants love the leaves of these trees so keep the trees trimmed to bush size.

This is a photo of the leaves of the mopani tree.  They are shaped like butterfly wings.  But the most interesting part of this tree's story is that these trees communicate with each other.  When one is being eaten by the elephants it starts producing more tannins that make the leaves less palatable.  At the same time, the plant releases pheromones that float through the air and warn the nearby trees of the threat.  So the other trees start producing tannins to try to protect themselves.  A really smart elephant will work her way upwind to trees that haven't received the message.   

There were some large herds of impalas grazing in the green grass of the plain. 

We saw a lot of elephants on the afternoon drive.  The soil here is red and, since elephants often throw dust on their backs to protect from the sun these elephants were red.  

And there were quite a few babies.

Some other sights on our safaris:  

A Pied Kingfisher

A collared Pratinco, new to us

Some spoonbills, haven't seen many of these on this trip

We spent some time along the waterfront as the sun went down. 

We did catch a Sacred Ibis trying to eat what looked like a very large prawn.  Interesting process trying to get it down...took him quite a while to get it down.

Sunset

In the evening we could look out over the lake and see what looked like a long shoreline lined with cities full of lights.  In fact, it wasn't the shoreline but a long line of fishing boats with lights.  The lights attract the sardines that they are fishing for.  An amazing scene.