Dave and Jodie were the lucky couple who got to sleep with my pile of clothes stinking up their tent, but don't worry, Jodie gave me shit about it all day! Unfortunately it meant that most of my clothes spent another whole day wet in my locker underneath my seat. One of my favourite parts of overlanding - the constant battle to wash and dry your clothes. HOT TIP: If you're doing overlanding anytime soon, take twice as many undies as you think you'll need, and make sure your clothes are quick drying.
This morning we had a pretty drive through the mountains, and we pulled over for a photo and bush pee stop looking down into the Rift Valley. As we drove along that morning, we discussed that it didn't look like the typical Africa you'd see in a postcard - you could be forgiven for mistaking the landscape for that of somewhere like Canada.
Carnelly's Camp is our base for the next two nights, to explore Lake Naivasha and surrounds. At 2.30pm when we pulled in and hurriedly put up out tents with rain threatening. Vicki and I are now pros at putting the tent up so it was done in no time. Although, when you have Julia filming your every move, you get a bit self-conscious and fumble a bit, but that just equals more laughs!
We discovered that the African Trails safari wankers truck was also at the campground, but hopefully we can avoid them while we're here so that we don't get depressed by them again. We were only at camp just to put up our tents before it rained, so we hopped back into the truck to drive a few minutes head to Elsamere, the home of Joy Adamson of Born Free fame. Coincidentally, I'd watched the movie Born Free not long before coming out here, so I was keen to learn more of the facts behind the movie.
Malcolm told us to have a look through the small museum there in the house, while he got started on the afternoon tea included in the price of entry. I thought he was joking until I looked out the window and saw him stuffing his face with the cake and biscuits! Then we watched a rather old, forty minute long documentary on Joy Adamson and her work with Elsa the Lion, Pippa the cheetah and Penny the leopard. It was so thrilling, that Tom fell asleep five minutes in. I kept myself entertained in the slower parts by finding sexual innuendo wherever possible.
I enjoyed the Elsamere visit, especially with the afternoon tea included (baked goods are very difficult to make on a gas hob or open fire), but don't go there expecting a huge museum. I knew a fair bit of the back story of Joy and Elsa, so I think I got a lot more out of it than those who'd never heard of them. Plus, the house is set in beautiful grounds overlooking the lake, a great place to sip on tea and eat cake!
Two of the safari wankers were at Elsamere at the same time as us, and we gave them a lift back to the campsite in Jozi. Most of us were too busy playing a quick game of Presidents and Arseholes and singing Wave Your Flag (the theme song to the South African World Cup, and one of our truck theme songs) to pay much attention to them. But one guy was driving Jodie nuts by trying to tell her you can't tell the difference between cheetahs and leopards, and that he could outrun a hippo, you just have to zig zag. You don't want to argue with Jodie about animals, she's a zookeeper!
After we got back to camp, we played a few ball games like the Clap Game, before sitting round the camp fire and soaking up the warmth. Cook group had prepared tasty meat skewers, pasta and chocolate bananas roasted on the coals for dinner and dessert. It's probably the first time we've had an open fire to sit around, and it was nice and relaxing to chill with a drink or two with my truck mates, watching the flames.
Did I mention that the campsite fronted onto the hippo-infested Lake Naivasha? A ditch and an electric fence serves to separate us from the hippos, who come up into shore at night to graze. On our way to bed, we shone out torches down towards the lake, and saw two hippos ambling around!
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