Thursday 26 September - Day at Ngweshla Campsite, Hwange National Park

After yesterday we were determined to have a relaxing stress-free day with minimal driving.  We were up by 7am as we could hear Frankie chopping wood.  We tried to boil the kettle on the gas burner set up next to the tent but were forced to move into the little onsite kitchen as the wind was still too strong.  Away from the wind the kettle boiled in minutes and we cooked bacon & eggs for breakfast.  Frankie kindly offered to do all our washing up whilst we were out - it felt odd to do this but we know it is important for him as part of his job so we acquiesced.

We wanted to find a track south of the airfield we had passed yesterday - it is marked on our map but we were unable to find it and all the other tracks we found on route has "no entry" signs.  Evidently a large portion of the park is off limits either due to private concessions or having been earmarked as wilderness areas.  We were forced to retrace our steps and head towards Kennedy Picnic Sites on the main drag  We saw more elephants, zebra and impala but little else, the drought was hitting the area hard.

We headed back towards Ngweshla where we did see some kudu and eland at the waterhole.

Waited for two groups of safari vehicles to vacate the camp before heading back in at 3pm to have an early dinner of fried beef with chillies and noodles in coconut milk using the pork spiced mix we had found - it was surprisingly tasty.  Early night, in the roof tent by 7.15 to read and listen to the elephants at the waterhole.  It was going to be a noisy night.