Imire: day two

  We woke up at the hut at seven for breakfast, but I still wanted to sleep because the electric blanket was so comfy. Someone came in to give us hot water for tea and coffee, but I didn’t drink any. We got on our clothes, and headed out for breakfast. For breakfast you could choose from an assortment of things. There were blueberry pancakes, vegetable quiche, granola, coffee and tea, and an English breakfast with eggs of your choice, bacon, sausage, beans and toast. At the Bulawayo club, we had to eat the breakfast there because it was included with the stay. Every day we had English breakfast because that was the only thing they had. It was not only boring, but it was disgusting. The butter tasted like blue cheese, the eggs were mushy and flavorless, the beans were watery, the toast was not good and the bacon was barely cooked. Every day at the Bulawayo club we ate that for breakfast, and after two weeks of that, we were all sick of English breakfast. We just wanted to eat anything other than an English breakfast. The English breakfast at Imire was pretty good though. Even so, I mostly just ate the blueberry pancakes and drank tea. After breakfast, we got into the safari vehicle with some other families and I choose for us to sit in the back, a decision I regretted much later. The safari truck drove on, and everyone looked around to spot animals. We saw some antelopes, boars, and even a lion. The lion was in an enclosure because he was dangerous. He used to have a mate, but he killed her for reasons unknown. Soon we saw a rhino family. There was a mom, and dad, and two little kid rhinos. Then someone said they saw a snake. The guide told us that we could get out and see the snake close-up. So we got out, and saw that there was not one, but two snakes! We saw one of the snakes dart back into its burrow, and it was very fast! The guide said that it was a baby snake, but it was almost as long as my leg. Then, one of the tourists asked if he could pick the other snake up. It looked like it was sleeping. The guide said sure and so he bent down to pick it up. But the moment he touched the scales, the snake darted toward Acadian. It was very fast, and it had its fangs out, meaning it was going for the kill. Acadian ran far enough away, so then it started chasing me! It was super fast. I managed to outrun it though. Then it targeted Daddy. Daddy was just standing around taking pictures of the snake and so when it started chasing him, I had to yell at him to stop taking pictures and start running. Daddy just kept on taking pictures. After a little more yelling, he turned and ran. The snake then dove into its burrow. We wanted to get back on the truck immediately in case of any more snakes, but by then the rhino family was too close to the truck and so they had to drive a little bit and we had to walk while they got far enough from the rhinos that we could board safely. We continued on our way. Then we stopped at the rhino area where we got to pet and feed two rhinos. It was very fun. Then after the treats in the bag were almost gone, we got back into the truck and drove on. Soon, we saw a sable, a type of antelope that can run very fast. Then, we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. For lunch we had traditional Zimbabwean food. We had sadza, which is kind of like corn meal but white. It is a white, flavorless paste. Kind of like rice. With sadza you eat meat and/or vegetable stews and a thing called relish which is a kind of salad. With that, they gave us bread, rice and some other salads. When we were done they gave us dessert which was chocolate cake. It was ok, but I didn’t really like it. After that, a ranger came with an elephant, and elephant treats and let everyone feed it. I pet its trunk while I fed it. The skin was rough and dirty. Then we continued our journey. We saw more antelope, and also some giraffes. We kept driving and then we saw the same cheetahs we saw yesterday. We took lots of pictures, but all they were doing was sleeping so it wasn’t that interesting. Next, we got back into the truck, they drove us back to the lodge. We packed up our things, and headed out. I was sad because back at the cottage we would not have electric blankets. We got in the car and drove away, back to the cottage. The end.