9/7- we had breakfast with MD and then just relaxed until our flight left at 11:00. A storm was in the area with thunder and a lot wind. It got quite cold. The baboons, about a dozen of them, came to our room, on our patio and our roof. There were several small babies riding on the mothers backs. On our way to the air strip we saw a bunch of banded mongoose. At the airstrip which is really just a sand and gravel clearing there were 2 impala on the runway so MD stopped to run them off. Our pilot, one of the ones that we had dinner with last night met us (forgot to mention that he looks like he is about 15 years old), and told us our flight would take about 10 minutes and that he would fly very low so that we could see the animals. On the way to Mombo we saw elephants, giraffes, lots of different types of antelope, and crocodiles. We arrived and were picked up by Cisco and brought to Mombo Camp. We were given the introduction and met everyone, and had lunch on the deck. Our view at lunch was of a huge herd of elephant, zebras, Impala, warthogs, baboons, and a few other animals I don't know yet. We came to our room to get settled. It is beautiful and we have the same view of all the animals from our room. I counted 46 elephants! We were told that a baby elephant was just born yesterday. There are also several hippos in the water not too far out that we could see with binoculars. We went on our afternoon game drive with our guide, Cisco. We go with two other couples. We aren't used to this since we had our own private guide at Jao. We saw giraffe, elephant (including the 1 day old baby), zebra, Impala, lechwe, warthog, baboon, vervet monkeys, jackal, African killer bees, and lion. The first two lions we saw were a large male and female sleeping in the grass. We watched for awhile and then got to see them mating. Apparently this mating ritual goes on for around 3 days every 15 minutes or so. It was quite a site to see. We also saw another group of 4 younger females and a male lion. We went in search of a cheetah but never found it. On the way back to camp, Cisco saw some dust in the distance which was a group of Impala that were being chased so we took off quickly over some very rough terrain in search of the chase and possibly a kill. We did not find it but did see a group of very stunned Impala. As we got back to camp we were greeted by an elephant coming out of the bushes only about 5 feet from the jeep. It was already dark so we were escorted back to our room to change for dinner. We had to wait for our escort again to take us to dinner which was in the Boma for their celebration just like we had at Jao. It was very nice. The dinner was very good including oxtail which I loved. We met most of the other guests and had a really nice time. But we were exhausted after a very long day and just wanted to go to sleep.....they will be waking us up at 5:30 am. As soon as I got into bed I heard a loud grunting noise outside so I went to see what it was with my flashlight and found a hippo next to our room! What a day!

9/8- 5:30 comes way too soon. It was still dark out but the sounds of the animals have already started. We have breakfast and head out on our game drive at 6:30. We are with Cisco and the same two couples from yesterday. They only stay with us for a couple hours though and then leave us with another guide to come back to camp so now we have our own private guide again. We have already seen hundreds of animals with the addition of a honey badger. We continue in search of rhinoceros. Cisco is following tracks on the ground and driving through some crazy terrain. While searching we come across a bunch of vultures circling so we follow them to a tree where we see many more eating an Impala hanging in the tree, left there by a leopard. A bit later we come across two black rhinos. They are vary large and look like prehistoric creatures. They are quite skittish and aren't too happy that we have found them. Cisco says they can be very aggressive and may charge the vehicle. He reminds us to not try to get out of the vehicle or run. Luckily they didn't charge because that would be very frightening to have them coming at you. Next we find a group of lions. Two large males, 3 females, 3 young cubs and a very small baby cub. They have a kill in the bushes near them that Cisco thinks is a giraffe but it is unrecognizable. We watched them for a long time. The baby was crying for its mother like a house cat, the females took turns walking to the water to drink and then one of them decided to lay in the shade of the other guides vehicle directly in front of us. At one point it walked up against the vehicle and looked like it would jump in. It was absolutely crazy! We have been tracking animals for five hours at this point. We then went to a location along the water where the staff had set up a picnic lunch for us and we ate while watching elephant, lechwe, zebra, giraffe, and even a crocodile. We went back to camp to rest and there were baboons all over our room...on the patio, on our roof and running around screeching and playing. There were also three kudu right outside out room that I watched while I took a shower. If I wasn't here to see it myself I don't think I would believe it...the number of animals that we encounter. The highlight of the morning game drive was the hippos, about a dozen of them, the rhinoceros, and the group of lions. Our afternoon game drive was just the two of us with Cisco. We found three more black rhinos including one baby. Then our mission was to find the wild dogs. We spent about two hours looking but never found them. Back at our room while getting ready for dinner we could hear many hippos near our room. It was already dark so we couldn't see them. Dinner was wonderful and we had a great time visiting with some of the other guests and staff at our table. We saw a hyena walk by while we were eating. One more animal to add to the very long list of animals we have seen here. Just as we are ready to go to sleep we here something that sounds like it is in our room. It's probably on our roof or on our patio but we make the comment that the only thing between us and all of the wild animals, some of them very dangerous, is a very thin screen. What an adventure this has been!

9/9- we had Cisco to ourselves again this morning. We were going to try to find wild dogs but on the way there we saw buffalo, giraffe, and a huge herd of elephants in addition to many other animals. We stopped to watch the elephants that included the new baby and they started to come right towards us. It is very intimidating to have 20 or so elephants walking at you in an open vehicle. They came within a few feet of us and then just kept going. I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing for a minute or so. Cisco also saw leopard tracks so we spent some time trying to track the leopard. He got a call on the radio that someone had found two leopard not far away. We got there and found a male and female sleeping up in a tree. We sat and watched them for about 45 minutes. The female got up and was trying to attract the male to mate but he wasn't really interested and snarled and hissed at her several times. She came down the tree right in front of us and eventually he came down and they mated twice. They walked right by us, only about 5 or 6 feet away, and went to another tree. We've seen a lot of amazing things here but this was incredible. When we got back to our room before lunch there were about 6 monkeys on our deck. A couple of them were on our patio couch and had moved the pillow to sleep on it. There was a small baby too that came up to our screen. When we got to lunch there were monkeys there too running all over and one of them jumped up on the buffet table where there was a large bowel of fruit and grabbed three bananas before anyone could stop him. It was hilarious. We saw them later behind the bar trying to steal things. Very mischievous! We learned today that the tesebbe which we saw at Jao and again today is the second fastest land mammal. You would never know it by the looks of them. For our afternoon game drive we watched the large here of elephants with the new baby for awhile and then went back to see the leopard. We found them in the grass not far from the tree that we saw them in this morning. They were in full mating mode. Mating every 5-10 minutes. It is quite a site to see. I got some great pictures and video. Then we went to find the group of lions that we saw yesterday with the cubs. They were still in the same area that they were yesterday and very active. The older cubs that are about 6 months old were playing and the 2 month old was trying to join in but was still not quite big enough. The older lions were just waking up from a nap and were moving around since it was cooling down. It was great to see all of the interaction. It was getting dark so we needed to get back to camp. 

One thing I keep forgetting to write about is the termite mounds. Mounds is really an understatement. There are thousands of them and many are 10 -12 feet tall. It's quite impressive really. Some of the animals have made burrows in the bottom of them they are so big.