140lbs. Their diet can include anything from insects and the smallest of mammals to wildebeest, oryx and zebra, and here in Etosha they will kill 70-80% of their food,  their main prey being springbok. Maxwell told us that when dead they will slowly rot away on the desert floor, and nothing will scavenge their bodies as it is so foul-tasting. They are always supportive of their pack members - and I wondered as Max explained if this could be the reason why our own domestic dogs sometimes do the same - they will rub themselves and roll on a carcass then return to the pack to indicate that they have found food, then take them to the site of the kill. They certainly make a vicious predator too, have quite incredible strength in their jaws and hold the position as being one of the few predators that

will willingly tackle lions. Touring the salt pans we came across a herd of Kudu - a lone bull with his harem, and not long afterwards we saw the strange secretary bird. This leggy creature, a resident of savannah and open grassland, has a particular liking for snakes, which it kills by stamping them to death. A family of elephants was sighted away to our right, but they turned  and started walking away. A bit of local knowledge is always helpful, and Gecko drove the truck a few hundred yards further down the track where it veered around to the right. Gecko drew the truck to a halt, and a few minutes later the elephants could be seen coming in line astern towards us. All we needed was the Jungle Book's Elephant March playing, and it would have been perfect.

They emerged onto the track, one by one, with little junior third in the protective line, and crossed over, seemingly oblivious of our presence. Great to see. We returned to camp, and over lunch, simply relaxed, so typical of  what one might expect when coming towards the end of such a tour. With a free afternoon before our final game-drive, Nancy and I accompanied Julia, Lori and Chuck ushered us across to the local bar - I didn't know where it was, but as we entered the girl behind the bar shouted "Hi Chuck !!" ......... (not really!!) We enjoyed a couple of drinks in the comfort of the bar, and on return I went on a local hunt with my camera. Since we had arrived at Namutoni, we had several sightings of a pack of mongoose - banded mongoose - that seemed to be constantly patrolling

the confines of the camp. It wasn't too long before I found them, and I was able to approach them for a few close-ups, and it was obvious that these normally flitty little creatures were accustomed to human company. Later that afternoon we treated ourselves to an ice-cream and sat at the tables outside the camp store, in the company of a mongoose that was soundly asleep on the stone floor of the courtyard. We had our final game-drive later that afternoon, and one has to say, this was really quite disappointing - very little in the way of any unusual activity, a few giraffes and antelope, but a wealth of dik-diks, tiny antelopes that measure around 16 inches to the shoulder. This last drive was fairly short - we were only out for a little over an hour before returning for our evening meal of beef stroganoff, with

pasta and lentils. After the disappointment of the afternoon game-drive we had high hopes for our last game experience - that of the camp's waterhole, and we weren't disappointed. The elephants put on a finalé it seemed - with at least 14 in attendance. Whilst some of them occupied their usual positions around the edge of the waterhole, some were active in the reeds close - and I mean close - to the spectator area. They were feeding, ripping out reeds and some very large branches with unbelievable ease, and for those who ventured to the fence-line for a closer view, they got within a few yards. Beyond the reeds, but still a short distance away we could hear more elephants feeding, and they were frequently exchanging calls, on occasion trumpeting loudly.

 As this was our last evening viewing the big game, many of us had an extended stay at the waterhole, watching the activities of the elephants, and later we were joined by lions at the rear of the waterhole. Arising out of this was probably THE moment I will remember from this tour. Each and every tour invariably produces a moment that becomes deeply etched within your memory. With previous African safaris behind us we can look back on our encounter with the gorillas in Rwanda, having a tree outside our tent attacked by a huge bull elephant in Tanzania and having a very close encounter with a leopard on the Zambezi River in Botswana. Here in Etosha it was nothing that was seen, but merely something that was heard: Close to a corner of the spectator area at the waterhole, there was a large bush. Visiting it in the daylight the following morning one could see that this was the only available cover at that corner. It was from behind this bush, in the dark and the stillness around the waterhole that a lion started calling. At first it was that familiar deep exploratory deep call, but one that developed into a deep growl that came deep from within its chest. I had heard lions at close quarters on the Masai Mara, but nothing like this. Perhaps it was the stillness of the night when sound always travels so much easier, perhaps it was the fact that this lion was only 20 yards away, but unseen. Whatever created the moment, the sound made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle up. This sound was really quite spine-chilling, despite the presence of a protective barrier. I tried to imagine camping in the wild, as we had done the previous year in Botswana, and waking to this incredible sound. We have all heard lions on the TV - but I feel sure that this sound could never be replicated. Really quite incredible.
Tomorrow - faced with a 5 am start - Yes - a 5 am start - on holiday!!!  .......  daresay you guessed it - early bed.