Day 10: Walk to Kudu Camp

The Mortons have tried to stay at Kudu Camp a couple of times before but never actually found it. Well, here we are, after 9 days of walking this time. 15km done today. 

But I jump ahead, as it is now the end of the day and we should start at the beginning. The river had gone up about 6 inches during the night, it even tried to rain as we woke up at 6am. We are now very well drilled at the morning routine and have enjoyed the luxury of a 7am start to walking in Tsavo West. But there was nothing glamorous about crossing the river, it was now the colour and consistency of hot chocolate, after the upstream rain storm, leaving any clothes that got wet that colour all day. 

Tom foresaw this and, to much hilarity, crossed wearing little but just about retaining some modesty. Catherine did a great job preparing her feet for the day's walk, in Aquamist of course! Also note fetching gaiters; they will catch on in Town soon, we have no doubt. 

We kept running into buffalo all day, 5 times in fact, "the most encounters I can ever remember," says Alex, our erstwhile guide and host. Some of these were pretty nerve wracking and then ended with a lot of heavy splashing, adding to the atmosphere, as many chose the exit route across the river. On one occasion, we had stopped for a break and our scout was alerted by the call of the ox pecker bird, which eats ticks off the buffalo. Incredible bushcraft. There are buffalo in this picture, you have to look quite closely, but it gives you the idea. Spears are no longer held horizontally at this time - a good indicator that danger is deemed to have passed. 

This is an elephant that died of natural causes a year ago. A common cause of death is that as they get older, their final teeth wear down and there are no more replacements. These teeth don't look too worn though and still have a bit of "cut" remaining. 

Our backdrop all day was the stunning Ngulia Mountain (which has Kichwa Tembo as its Eastern peak). The ridge must be 15km long and looks enticing for a future expedition:

Birds today included: paradise wydah, augur buzzard, snake eagles. 

We all diagnosed, in our roles as junior bush medics, that Daniel had too much sun yesterday, so we were all pleased that the day was overcast and slightly cooler. All internal thermostats have been readjusted. 

Only 2 days left! Mixed levels of trepidation growing about our next leg, where we grind up the hill towards Nairobi on bicycles. 

PS I am adding this picture because the dead wood was a striking grey colour, which caught my eye.