That is NOT a boulder

I saw a hippo today! No make that two and a whole herd of elephants. A very exciting day at Liwonde National Park. Directions were quite limited, but then again so were the roads. Just as we thought we were hopelessly lost and weren’t quite sure what to do, the road ended at the promised Mvui Lodge. It turns out that the directions are to go back the way you came. This time we saw a LOT more elephants and both Joe and I jumped out of the car to take pictures, much to the consternation of the driver who kept whispering as loudly as he dared ‘Get in the car! Get in the car!’ because he didn’t want to frighten the elephants into stampeding—as if they would with a with a crowd of four wheel drive vehicles watching and the elephants all protected by the sheltering trees. No these munching elephants were settling in for the evening and we all left long before they even considered wandering away from their ideal glen.

Imagine if you will, the long ride into the unknown along white then red then black bumpy roads over questionable bridges, the occasional warthog glancing up, uncountable antelope like creatures: some big and bushy with horns, some dark with a white target on their butts with horns, some orange and jittery with horns, all viewed accompanied by the dulcet tones of the darling of Malawi: Celine Dion!! Our driver is possessed of the complete Celine collection all on well loved cassette tapes. My favorite (on fifth hearing) was her duet with the long dead Frank Sinatra. Frankly that dead-alive duet thing freaks me out a bit, but it is a Sunday and I forgive a lot on this day of the week.