The suicide month

Posted on 28 September 2010

As we get further into the year, the temperatures also continue to rise out here in South Luanga. I grew up just a stones throw away from the Zambezi on the Zimbabwean side, just beyond the escarpment and I was down on the valley floor whenever the opportunity arose. I am very familiar with the “˜October heat’ – dry and energy sapping stuff. The Cicadas are also on the hum and their monotonous drone seems to drill the heat further into you.

The water must have dried up on the escarpment, as we now have elephants in the camp daily. 20 to 30 elephants, generally the “˜old gentlemen’ of the bush, seem to be totally relaxed with the thermometer raging upwards. This is probably due to the fact that they don’t have to fear the crocs in the river when cooling themselves off – these great beasts are in the great Zambezi at every available opportunity! We, on the other hand, have to take cold showers and a real pleasure is to have a wet Kikoi draped over our legs and body. This about the only way we’ve learnt to handle the heat.

We are coming to the end of our season by the river. When the first rains arrive there will be water in the backcountry and the animals will filter back to take advantage of this. The roads will also become water logged and inaccessible. We will have to pack up the Old Mondoro camp at the end of October only to return in April 2011. Hopefully the heat would have settled down by then.






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