Magical Malilangwe!!

irst up, Happy Australia Day!!! Well, if you've been wondering why I've been out of comms recently it's because we've just gotten back from a place called Malilangwe. A privately owned game park (owned by the 5th richest guy in the world), this place was amazing! No expenses were spared in the making, running and maintenance of this place... absolutely fantastic. Managed to scam a spot with the Mas-East Natural History Society (a fancy name for a group of old farts that used to live near each other and are avid bird watchers), of which Mark's folks are members. An old mate is the head-vet at the place and recomended we come down and stay free of chrge whilst there were no tourists... and to our surprise we weere supplied 4 guides and two open-top landrovers, free of charge, to buzz around as we liked. They wrote it off as training for the guides, and we weren't complaining! Even though I could slaughter anyone else who wants idea another freaking bird, I'm not going to vent on that matter. I was thrilled to see my first ever hyaena, and have fallen in love. I will show photos of the one I dubbed Gorgeous George, a young hyaena who snuck up on our car. On top of that I had my frist ever serious close encounter with two bull elephants who were not further than 10m from me... my heart has never pounded like that... primeval fear!! I even filmed it expecting them to charge, but they were happy to let us sit and watch. Also saw my first ever Black Mamba (those who are unsure should read up on them!) and was happy to see it go away from us rather than attacking us, contrary to the impression I had gotten from all the horror stories... so typical! On top of that we also witnessed lions mating not 15m from our car.. not the slightest bit phased either!! And I also went on a horse-ride safari, but thankfully didn't run into any hungry bugger :p But we had a fantastic time, shame we couldn't stay longer... definately a place to head back to though! So my encounter with leopard, buffalo and black rhino will have to wait until next time :) Until next update, cheers big ears! PS. Photos most likely to be posted on the family site this weekend so stay tuned!