Day 48: Katoyana Campsite (Liuwa Plain NP) – Wildcamp nearby Liuwa Plain NP

We chat a bit with Samantha and Nick, two South Africans we met yesterday at King's Pool.

Then we head west. Because of the wet weather, we can't go any further north than our campsite at Katonyana. The park has only been open again for about 14 days.

The landscape is simply magnificent, and we're so lucky that this part is already open to traffic after the rainy season. And we're so lucky that the wildebeest herds haven't migrated north yet. However, we don't always have luck finding the right trails. Sometimes they're hard to identify. We have to turn around several times, cross water several times, and twice dig through the mud. But Becky actually manages it for us. And Wolle, with just the right amount of gas. It's a little adventure.

A variety of smells accompany us throughout the day, sometimes spicy, resinous, sometimes sweet and floral, like on an Austrian alpine pasture. The water crossings, on the other hand, stink. You wouldn't want to get stuck in one. We're actually quite happy that we have new tires with decent tread.

Besides countless wildebeest, a few zebras, and steenboks, we also see red lechwe (at least that's what we suspect, perhaps larger puku) and buffalo today. Among the birds, we're particularly excited by the wattled cranes, grey-crowned cranes, and red-billed storks. We also think we've seen a few white storks and Eurasian spoonbills.

We only manage to get out of the park and back to our wild camp from the day before yesterday. Which is perfectly fine, except for the little flies that are really annoying. Just in time for sunset, they disappear somewhere.

Becky urgently needs to be cleaned of some of the mud; we save pictures, write texts, and make "cold meals."

We are a little tired, but totally happy that we were able to spend two days in the Liuwa Plains.