Nice too was the Egyptian goose family - the chicks shadowing mom's every move as they hurried out of our way. Lots of fish eagles, hunting not from trees, but from the high riverbanks. We were cruising slowly back to camp in the afternoon when Ali spotted a small elephant herd crossing in front of us, about five females with different age calves. There's no way I wasn't going to follow my favourite animal, so we headed into the bank and all jumped off, immediately finding ourselves in a maze of small water courses. These didn't bother the elephants one iota, but certainly slowed us down.
Eles cover the ground effortlessly and soon disappeared into the reeds and long grass.
In hot pursuit we burst through the tall grass and suddenly elephants surrounded us. They were all grazing peacefully with the exception of one young chap who decided to investigate. The advice, though, was good and while the young bull gave us a bit of a rev it was just show. Eventually he backed off and we retreated to the boat deciding it was time for us to return to camp for dinner. A few kilometres downstream on the only hill for miles are a Park Rangers' post.