Luangwa days

Impalas, nervous, start at slinking leopard scent. What will happen next? A spotted beauty, the genet stops in the light, returns to the dark. Baboons groom and play, an impala strolls by, reflected in morning still pond. Elephant dips her trunk, snorts and splashes, hippos grunt, birds warble and scold. Hyena, two pups. She eyes us warily, then slinks into tall grass. Waterhole drying, wading birds hover, probe, seek: feasting on trapped fish. Prints in sand, two lions. We circle around, no prints: we know where they are. Didn’t find them: track them to the river. We had a very nice walk. Monkey fruit tree, bark strychnine-laced, ripe fruit good. Caution is advised. Fish eagles soar, white head and tail backlit by sun: haiku in the sky. Crickets greet the dawn with bird cries and hippo grunts – how still the morning!