Robin’s Camp is on the northern end of Hwange National Park and we are the only campers. Prosper, the enthusiastic National Park employee, explains the park’s accommodations and gives us a tour of fire-lookout building circa 1939. He also shows us this darling Scop’s Owl which we’d have missed without Proper’s pointing it out. That’s the way it is with self-driving, there is no guide to find the animals first and take you to them. So we ask others (assuming there are any other people) and in turn we tell them our sightings. The advantage to self-driving is the thrill of spotting something yourself, and the leisure to spend time with your sightings. No hurrying off to the next lunch or tea appointment. Plus, we get to camp in the wildest places.
At the Guvalava waterhole picnic site, we wait in the Beagle for an elephant to finish drinking before we set up camp. Guvalala is one of the wild(est) camps. No fences, not that a chain linked fence would matter. There’s a nicely-built hide above the waterhole and the afternoon brings a parade of creatures; elephant, baboons, giraffe (fighting over the lone female), zebra, wildebeest, a 100-strong herd of buffalo, impala, kudu, warthog, jackal, and scores of birds. It is chilly so we make soup and take it up to the hide to have dinner. Then the hyenas show up. . .
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