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  Tuesday 18th of November 2014 and I meet the other guests in my group 10 minutes before 4 o'clock. The same group I had done the game drive with this morning, a British couple from UK and  the 2 French ladies from France. Yes, the same group as in the morning game drive. They were already in the boat and as soon as I was in the boat we took off.
And man, did this cruise started out boring like hell. Will this be the first boring safari? We saw a water lily, YAWN! Water chest nuts, TRIPPLE YAWN! But the weather was gorgeous and no need for any ponchos and water proof bags for the cameras  today. Well, actually, I had to cover my legs with the water proof bag and a life jacket as I had burnt my legs in the sun. I should have brought sun screen instead of all the stupid insect repellent.
We were running along and there wasn't much to see. No sign off any elephants playing in the water and we might have to experience out first boring safari since I arrived to Africa. No sign of any excitements.  A beautiful afternoon
 Water lily - YAWN!
 Water chest nuts - TRIPPLE YAWN!
Yes, water lily, YAWN! Water chest nuts, TRIPPLE YAWN! And then BAM! We ran in to a group of hippos. We were actually almost running in to one of the hippos big YAWNS. Well. I learnt that the hippos are not yawning, the open their mouths to show an enemy (we in the boat) what they have to fight with. And they can have up to 1,2 meter between the jaws!  A boring afternoon turned very exciting
   Look at the teeth
  Closing his mouth with a splash
   You don't want to be attacked by these animals
 They turn around when they see the hippo
He opened his mouth and it was almost 180° and it is easy to understand that these animals are very dangerous, they use the big teeth for fighting, nothing else. And they are quick, both on land and in the water. We drove up the boat in the grass and we watched them from there. They only see the boat as a big competition and the alpha male was  “yawning” to show us that he was the king of the hill in this area.
Yes, it would have been stupid to challenge him. He was soon giving us a second yawn, but I missed this one with my camera. Yes, I was disappointed, but I got a few pictures. Of course, it would have been better if I had been able to face him while he was opening his mouth. Well, anyway, we were soon to continue and as soon as we had passed the group of hippos we saw another hippo. Caught between the hippos, and now my heart was beating with a few extra beats per second. The driver slowed down and I thought “what the hell are you doing?” The hippo disappeared under the water with a big bubble. And if these bubbles ar coming closer to  you, GET OUT OF THERE, DOUBLE QUICK!!!
Now our Guide reacted and he speeded up and we managed to pass the hippo. Good foocking luck! We were very close and the hippos are lightning quick and they like to come under the boat. They lift the boat and  you're finished.
Well, actually not, if you're still in the boat when the boat comes down, get out of there full speed. If you fall out of the boat, swim ashore as quick as you can without thinking about snakes (not so easy after this morning's “attack snake” experience) and crocodiles. The hippo is fighting the boat as an intruder to his territory. We were soon passed and we had all the hippos behind us. We were soon running in to Kingfishers and I managed to get a few pictures. We saw a Marabou Stork flying, the Marabou Stork is the Chairman in the group of the UGLY 5 1) Marabou Stork 2) Gnu 3) Hyena 4) Baboon 5) Warthog Well, just for the good order of it, here is Africa’s BIG 5 1) Lion 2) Buffalo 3) Rhino 4) Elephant 5) Leopard Well, anyway, the Marabou Stork is a huge bird and ugly, very ugly. But when she is flying she is beautiful. But the Kingfisher is beautiful, especially the Woodland Kingfisher. But here we have a black and white Kingfisher and we managed to get a few pictures of her fishing.  A Marabou Stork is flying over us
 A Marabou Stork is flying over us
 A Marabou Stork is flying over us
 Kingfisher fishing
 Kingfisher fishing
 Kingfisher relaxing
 The snake bird - We're waiting for him to take off for beautiful pictures
 He takes off, stumbles and fall down in to the water
There is a bird they call the snake bird because it looks like a snake when he is swimming. The body underwater and only the neck and head sicking up. He was sitting in a tree and we were  waiting for him to take off so we could get some nice pictures.
He takes off, stumble on the branch and fall down in the water. I was worried that he was going to drown and I hope he made it out of the water alive. We passed the hippos on our way to the island where we will have our SUNDOWNER. We spotted another Kingfisher, I have forgot the name, but it is the third kind of Kingfisher I see. And it is the  second most beautiful Kingfisher, Woodland Kingfisher is of course the most beautiful of them all.
We reached a landing place and there were planks on the ground to walk on so we could reach the dry ground. There were a few boats and it looked like a canoe club. Our Guide had brought soda water for me as I don't want to drink alcohol. He had vodka, gin and white wine for one of the French girls. They had asked what we wanted to have to drink. No Pepsi and as I don't like the Coke Light I had asked for soda water. Yeah, soda water is the best thing and I will give up on the diet drinks. But I don't drink them at home any more, and last time on board Roy Maersk I didn't had one single diet drink! At least now what I can remember.   We're coming ashore for a “sundowner”
 We're coming ashore for a “sundowner”
 We're coming ashore for a “sundowner”
 We're coming ashore for a “sundowner”
 We're coming ashore for a “sundowner”
 We take off to check out the bird tree from yesterday
 The bird tree was obviously a popular place
 The bird tree was obviously a popular place
 The bird tree was obviously a popular place
It was beautiful to see the big birds coming in for landing. Our Guide was in the back of the boat as the “TOWER” and when he said IN COMING we were ready behind the cameras. We were soon  joined by two other boats and we started to drive back to our camp.
What a day this had been, amazing sights and I was very happy. You really can't put a price tag on a experience like this. And we had a beautiful sun set over the Xakanaxa Lagoon on the Khwai River. A perfect ending of the day. We started to drive back to Camp Xakanaxa and when we approached the camp we saw an elephant walking in the water. And the elephant looked very strange. Grey on top where she was dry and black where she was wet.  Elephant in the sun set
 Elephant in the sun set
 Elephant in the sun set
 The male elephant getting upset
 We leave the elephants behind
 We leave the elephants behind
 I had time to have a look at my pictures before dinner when we were back at the camp. I will leave at 12:30 tomorrow. So we will do the last safari at Xakanaxa tomorrow morning. And you just have to click HERE to be in the middle of that adventure. 
    
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