April 13

Let me start out with a bit of excitement from last night.  We camped in a bush camp which means in the middle of nowhere in a place that is open enough for about 40 tents.  It was an area that was heavily traveled by elephants.  There were elephant tracks everywhere.  As well as elephant droppings to boot.  Had to watch where you put up the tent and walked after dark.  Speaking of after dark....   a bit before 8 pm when everyone was preparing to get in the tent and bed down for the night, there was a sound that brought everyone to attention.  It was pitch dark and you could not see a thing.  But you certainly could hear this sound!  There was a roar of a lion!  And it was close.  You could not see off into the darkness but the sound brought the hairs on your neck to a complete standup.  The tour staff quickly grabbed there powerful lights and shined them into the darkness.  One of the riders said he saw the glimmer of eyes when they were scanning the darkness.  There was a rider who set up her tent far from the others and was close to the area where the sounds came from.  She stepped out of her tent to see what the noise was.  The tour people yelled at her to get back in the tent!  They then drove the land cruiser over to the area with the headlights shining into the woods.  They packed her tent up and moved her in with the others.  We heard the lion roaring many more times but it seemed to be moving off.  It certainly brought to mind that we were not in a protected preserve or zoo or anything.  We were camping in their domain and they were out nocturnally hunting.  The one tour guide said that it was actually three seperate lions calling to each other.  Wow, quite a bit of excitement. 

Additionally, I heard hyenas calling to each other and walking through camp last night as well.

Today's ride was a bit tough.  The road was pretty much Texas chip seal quality with constant bumps and rolling resistance.  That and a stiff headwind coming at us from about ten o'clock.  It made for rough pedaling.  That was pretty much what it was like yesterday as well.

Tomorrow is the 116 mile day.  I hope the conditions improve or it will be a killer!

This is the size of one of the elephants foot prints.

Here is one of the foot prints that the elephants foot sank deep in the soft dirt.  I put my water bottle down in it to give some perspective.

This is a big bull elephant that crossed the road about 500 meters ahead of my bike.  It was amazing to see him just roaming free and crossing the road at whim.