What's that noise?

What is that noise? I woke up to an animal making noises INSIDE our bungalow. Tiny chirping sounds were coming from the top of our room, directly above my head. The bug net that surrounded my bed suddenly felt like a giant shield protecting me from the unknown. Exhausted, I glanced at my watch...4:30 am. Still too early to get up and investigate. I dozed back to sleep.

When the alarm went off an hour later I briefly forgot about the sound. After a shower and the daily shake of Tia's foot to wake her up I remembered it again. We turned on all of the lights, expecting to see a family of bush babies, bats, or geckos above. But there was nothing. It wasn't sure this was the result I was looking for. After all, I knew whatever it was, it would probably be back again tonight!

Our first safari (game drive) of the trip began promptly at 6:30 am. Castro, our guide, greeted us with blankets to shield us from the chilly breeze and we climbed aboard the open-air Safari vehicle. I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the 2 safari vehicles our group occupied were the only tourist vehicles in the entire 1 million acre park! It felt very magical to be exploring a corner of this vast space on our own. Yet, on the other had, I wished that more people could experience this incredible place!

Just outside the gates of Chitengo we quickly started spotting animals. Waterbuck, oribi, impala, baboons and warthogs soon became as common as our Idaho squirrels as we traveled on our way. A sable antelope soon appeared, majestic and unafraid he stood tall next to the road as if to pose for a photo. Throughout the morning drive we spotted over 26 species of mammals and birds. The afternoon drive proved to be even more fruitful as we added 15 additional species to the list including elephants! The four bull elephants seemed curious about our close-encounter but none the less let us watch peacefully as they ate branches from a thorny acacia tree.

By evening we were in for another treat! The staff from the lodge set up an evening "sundowner" for us, complete with tasty appetizers and cocktails. With a 360 degree view of the African plains, we watched the sun set over Mount Gorongosa! It was absolutely breathtaking!

By the way... They were bats ;)