After two days, we got up at 7:00 am (positively leisurely) to pack up and
take the mokoro back to our truck. I had a near
disaster right at the end: I nearly capsized my mokoro by getting out too fast!
Fortunately I quickly sat down and stabilized the boat.
We tipped our guides (about 20 pula)
and took the truck back to *our* truck. On the way we spotted a couple of ostrich
running by! When we got back to our truck, we climbed in and drove to Audi Camp,
which was to be our stop for the day. Tomorrow we would have the longest drive of
the tour!
Audi Camp was a fairly plain camping ground, but clearly has ambitions to
be greater: there was a lot of construction going on, including a big outdoor cooking area
(with a covered thatched roof) clearly intended for big groups, such as for wedding
receptions. It did have one important thing, though: showers!
We didn't use any of that right away, though: after we
set up our tents we headed for the pool to swim and relax. We also made a discovery:
Susanna loves to dive-bomb people in the pool! A group of Australian tourists also
came by and did the same thing: they got along great!
That evening at the bar we all had drinks and talked. All sorts of
things came up: computers, Y2K issues, and politics. I was surprised at how
important the upcoming U.S. Presidential election was to the group: we talked a long
time about how the result would affect relations with other countries. (Little did we know
at the time what a mess the election would turn out to be!!!)
Later on we played South African Trivial Pursuit, which was dreadful for
me as an American: what do I know about cricket champions??? At least I got a lot of
the science questions right (including the one about Christian Barnard and heart
transplants!)
Not much chance for sleep that evening: there were dogs barking, donkeys
complaining, and chickens crowing all night! I thought I heard gunshots once or
twice, too: was there an animal attack going on? I never would find out.
