It was several hours drive north to get there, during which we passed a number of villages and checks points (I gather travel between provinces is very much frowned upon for most Salonians, the crackers tend just to get waved through however) while listening to a mix of music from the very good to the downright awful, via The Killers who rank very much as hmmmm on the scale of talent. One highlight was the ferry, essentially a wooden construction which carries cars across the river Kilimi, somewhat rickety and swamped by kids whenever Opotos come near. Getting on it is a gamble, and then once your vehicle is on a couple of blokes pull you across using wire rope.
Officially you can see both hippos and elephants at Outamba, however it is very unlikely you will see elephants (only a couple of hundred left in the country) so we didn't do the nature walk, where you sometimes get lucky. Instead we spent a lot of time in the river (blessedly cool, absolutely beautiful in fact) and all got a bit sun burned, and had camp fires and cooked meals. It was a lot of fun, the fun being heightened by the fact that absolutely nobody had brought any form of acoustic guitar. Which is a shame in many ways, because I've often wondered if burning a guitar and basking in the tears of its distraught owner while kicking him repeatedly in the face would be as much fun as I suspect.
Our arrival was tempered by finding we were not alone, almost as soon as we arrived we were greeted not by one of the local wardens, but by what can only be described as a big, gay, fat fuck off American woodsman type. The type with cargo shorts, a 'fanny-pack' and a baseball cap; all garb you could almost forgive him for wearing on holiday if it wasn't evidently clothes he wears every time he leaves his house in Wisconsin. He came from one of the cabin and (in a joking tone, but clearly not actually joking) asked if we had brought the beers.
I'm not sure, but I think my somewhat chilly response may have been the reason he then left us alone and then departed the next day. I do so hope it was.
The highlight of this little trip was of course seeing the hippos. We took two boats downstream, and this was where things get a little complicated. I was in one boat with Michael, Kieran and one warden. Tash and Gearoid were in a second with another warden. One problem was caused by the fact their boat started to fill with water very shortly after leaving the bank, requiring them to make a number of emergency stops to bail it out; this culminated, in what can only be called an episode, on the bank of the river when Tash got stuck in the mud and the two had a fantastic argument about whether she should leave her shoe or not. The other little problem was that the boats needed to be balanced. So in ours Michael and Kieran sat side by side in the centre (as they're both nubile, twinky types) while I sat at the front (because I'm a big fuck off bear with pear hips, like the aforementioned yank but with better fashion sense – and a personality). This meant I had the front oar. I tried, for at least five minutes, but my contribution wasn’t exactly helpful.
Well, I made sure I tipped the warden well.
But the hippos themselves were astonishing, we lurked across the river from them and they kept an eye on us. Dangerous of course, because hippos can hold their breath underwater for five minutes at a time, and so could easily have appeared below us with little to no warning. They're truly magnificent beats however. And a definite highlight to remember. Sadly photos didn't really do them justice.
Not much else to mention from Outamba, we played Scrabble, I came second and the person we were convinced was going lose actually won. There was a lot of campfire cooking, leaving Kieran to pretty much cream himself every time he got to throw on extra logs. And on the way back was passed a crashed and abandoned lorry, seemed to have been there a while too.
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