Out and about around Dolomite.

Staying at least two nights in a single place really creates the illusion of time standing still.  We have decided that we would do the tourist thing and look for birds and mammals in the morning but then retire at lunch time to read, drink wine and generally do what is just impossible to do at home which is to relax ... something that really doesn't come naturally to me.  Almost every holiday I go through a period of two or three days where I just feel depressed, normally about a week into a holiday and my, unsubstantiated, impression is that it is withdrawal from constantly being on a low grade adrenalin rush.

After breakfast and watching the light flood over the plain below our bungalow which is pretty awesome by the way, we headed out intending on doing a loop that looked possible on the map but turned out to be completely out of the question in reality but we spent the whole of the morning going from water hole to water hole checking out the game and spotting birds.  We find that birdwatching is really worthwhile and if you see some big game so much the better.

The birdlife here is pretty good and we have already had several sightings of birds which we haven't previously seen before like the African (Blue-billed) Firefinch, Kalahari Robin, Norther Black Korhaan, Short toed rock thrush, Scaly feathered finch, Monteiro Hornbill and, of course, it is great to see ones we have seen before such as the crimson breasted shrike and violet eared waxbill.  Thankfully I have Caron with me who has unusually sharp eyes.

As far as the mammals are concerned we saw a couple of Elephants who were lying down in the shade which is very unusual, we both thought that elephants didn't lie down but there they were, heads in the shade, having a snooze. 

There are plenty of springbok, Gemsbok and Zebra around as well as giraffe.

The afternoon was spent in the bungalow relaxing, reading and drinking some wine while I wait for the blues to pass, only another couple of days to go and I will be fine again.  At about 16:00 a herd of elephants traipsed past the foot of the hill that all the bungalows are build on and as they went they had sand baths which, with the backlighting from the setting sun, was quite beautiful.  I tried to photograph it but they were some way away and I don't know if I really got any good shots.

After that it was sundowners on the deck by the pool and I had to run down to run the car for 30 minutes so that the freezer wouldn't un-freeze overnight.  Dinner then bed.  Quite tired but for no discernible reason.  Adrenalin I say ...