One of interesting things we found was an arrangement between the fishermen/processors and the resident marabou storks. Low strings hung around the drying areas delimited the boundaries to the storks who were tolerated elsewhere on the site, living off the waste (fish guts etc.), but knew not to go beyond the boundaries and eat the fish that were being dried. We also learned how to carry a lung-fish without getting your finger bitten off and how to use a kiln to dry fish.

Back on the Impala Track there are lots more animals including a brief sighting of eland off the side of the road, a lone buffalo, a few waterbuck and small herds of impala. Near the southwest gate a hippo and calf run across the track in front of us. It’s a bit late in the day for them to be out and about. Hippos are mainly nocturnal, they get sunburnt easily and are normally back in the water by early morning. It is a bit narrow in next section of the Ruizi Track, so we maintain a gap between each rider. Hippos and quads do not mix. No animal sightings from there on until the wheel tracks run out and we hit a large area of twisting cattle tracks curling off through the acacia scrub. We spread out, picking our own trails weaving through the trees and spinning up in the puddles. Eventually we turn back following our almost invisible tracks. Julian has a go at getting through a particularly smelly watering hole and gets stuck. Shall we leave him there? A few seconds work for the winch on the Foreman and he’s out but pretty muddy.

Retracing our tracks, we arrive back at Mantana Campsite for lunch. Mantana were booked out for the 2nd night and so the Smiths transfer to one of the bandas at the park headquarters. Freshly painted and nicely spaced amongst grassland and acacia trees, warthogs wandering around in the background, the rooms are very nice, so not too bad an exchange. Godfrey and I share one of the permanent tents just up the hill from the headquarters.

The landscape opened out a bit as we turned onto the Kazuma Track. This wanders down the centre of a wide valley, with scattered clumps of trees, on the grassland between were small herds of zebra with the occasional topi keeping them company. As we travelled east we also encountered herds of cattle. These are mainly ankole cows which have huge horns, the occasional touch of friesian cross-bred in. There seem to be hundreds, perhaps thousands of cattle allowed to graze within the park boundaries and we pondered how this affects the ecology of the area?

It’s a nice cruise along the valley to the turnoff up to the Kazuma lookout. There’s a steep ride from the car parking area up to the top of the hill, easy for the quads but has my motorcycle coming almost to a stop with wheel spin despite the knobbly tyres. I’d come here a couple of years ago with my Dad and Mum, it was a steep walk up for them. Fantastic views in every direction with no one popping out of the bushes to say hello, gives us a sense of the vastness of the area.