Its about time that I talked about the crazy sleeping experiences I have had thus far. As many of you know, I walk, talk and am the lightest sleeper ever. Makes for a very interesting time on the safari...
So we started in Nxabega, I was totally ok with the tent situation and completely unaware of the animals cruising around at night. Given that these camps are not fenced at all and they have no real locks on the tent doors, I had to be barricaded into my room each night. In Nxabega this meant tying a rope to the outside door and connecting it to my porch. There was no way I would be able to open it. In Savute and Matetsi, we pushed all the furniture in front of my door "hoping" that if I walked I would trip and wake up. It was pretty hilarious and fortunately worked wonders.
And what about the animals? Lets just say I am now really good at sleeping with one eye open. The sound of the hippos and elephants cruising around was minor compared to my first night in Savute. At about 2am I woke up to what, at the time, I thought was a lions roar. Not exaggerating at all, it sounded like it was right outside my tent. I am pretty sure I had a minor heart attach that night! The next morning it turns out it was not a lion but 2 leopards mating - and since their roar doesn't carry over far distances I was told that they were maybe 300m away! From then on I think I averaged 4 hours of sleep a night...with one eye open, of course :)
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