21/09/2011

We left camp at 07:00 am to make the journey to Mpanda. Got there about 11:00am. From there we sorted stuff out, had lunch etc. Alex and Fiona along with the guys all wanted to stay in Mpanda for the night. Myself, Simon, Sam and Betsy (Alex and Fiona’s helping hand) departed for the park alone at 430pm with the hope of a dusk and night drive and to stay the night in one of the “lodges” on the outskirts of the park. The lodge we chose was called Hippo Gardens. It turns out it is called that for a good reason as it is situated right next to a river with a local population of about a hundred or so hippos! Later that night we found that these hippos range freely around the lodge to get their graze on. A reassuring thought with the knowledge that they are Africas most dangerous mammal.

Sun set over Katavi plains

Anyway, when we got to the park we went straight to get our permits. Here we asked if it was ok to go into the park now, even though the sun is setting and if we could do a night drive. The guy we asked said this was fine. So into the park we went and enjoyed it spectacularly. The sun set about half an hour after we got into the park. On turning on the headlights the plains came alive with eye reflection. There were Hyenas, genets (a small carnivore that looks like a mix between a cat and a dog) and low and behold a group of 4 lions! Two young males and 2 females. We watched them for a good half an hour in the dark with our headlights focused on them when we noticed another cars headlights approaching…

The approaching car was infact a rangers vehicle and was a Toyota pick up truck. Inside were 8 rangers armed to the teeth with Automatic rifles. They pulled up their Truck violently infront of ours (blocking us) and proceeded to jump out of the truck and surround us. They ran to our open windows and started shouting at me aggressively. Luckily their English was good. They were evidently very upset with us. Gradually things calmed down a little (but not much) and the guy in charge told us we were not to be in the park after dark and that we needed to pay a fine. He was still very emotional and wasn’t having any of what we had to say. As the situation was not being resolved in any shape or form (also keeping in mind there was still a small pride of lions about 30 meters away) I told him that we would like for us to talk about it back at the Park Office and that we would follow them out. He reluctantly agreed but not without putting 2 of his men in our car first. The journey back to the office must have given every one a chance to calm down a bit because atmosphere was completely different. They called the chief warden (David) who came to talk to us. It was now past 10 at night. David was adamant that we were in the wrong but we should come back the next morning to sort the problem out…

A small group of Lions enjoying a smaller watering hole