Elephant Sands Camp

 In last night’s briefing, our guide Charles emphasized that we should always leave our closed in shoes in the tent and to ALWAYS  close the zippers. We are heading into the land of scorpions and snakes - fun! We are also staying at an elephant refuge were there is no separation of tents and elephants. We were told to always bring a torch with us at night even if the w.c. is only a few meters away as the elephants are hard to see in the dark and walk quietly - more fun!

I’m sitting out the first leg today as i’m still feeling a little hinky from yesterday and still lacking in sleep due to the heat. Our little group of cyclists are 5 women and 7 men of which 5 are German, 1 is Austrian, 3 are British , 2 are Aussies and 1 is me. Brit Sue  is around my age, 3 seem to be in their 50’s and the others are 30 something to 40-ish, a nice mix of folks who are as interested in the places we are visiting as in cycling.

The camps are geared towards expedition camping where a purpose built bus can pull in and set up tents, sometimes on raised platforms. Last night we were directly on the ground. There is an area with a central covered gathering space with a concrete counter, sometimes with water and power supply, a separate barbecue area and shared toilets and showers. There typically is a bar with wifi and also a pool. So far the showers and w.c.s have been quite luxurious. We have 3 people looking after us, guide Charles, driver and wrangler Sandila and cycle guide wrangler Rea. All hale from South Africa.

We caught up with the riders when someone had a flat and I decided to join in as there was nice cloud cover. What a thrill to cycle by elephants and water buffalo by the side of the road! Road was flat to undulating so manageable - i still need to catch up on my sleep to keep up with the “peleton.” Was chuffed that i managed a 30 km leg at about 30km/hr . (Thank you tailwinds!)

We had a change in schedule and ended up at Elephant Sands Camp where the people are locked up and elephants come for some refreshments. How amazing to be so close to wild elephants!