Zazu - Swahili for spy

Obviously the very first thing we did this morning was head out on a drive to the "poachers hideout", as the boys have named it. They were still exillarated from all the fishing action the day before. Finn actually shot 4 more fish with his bow and arrow. Don't worry, we didn't waste them - one of the local guys was super excited to receive this delicacy for his dinner! After a few hours of the boys torturing these poor, tiny fish, we finally convinced them to head back to the lodge for some lunch. 

After lunch we headed back out on a game drive. During the game drive, Mike told us a ton of funny stories. One of my favorites that he told: "During COVID a local man was selling elephant dung as a treatment for COVID. He got away with this for over 10 months. The police finally found him and asked, why are you selling elephant dung? The man replied, "It's not your shit, it's elephant shit"! Needless to say, the man got fined and I think went to jail for a bit. 

Another story he told us was about his son. When his son, Junior, was 5 years old he tried to pet a wild jackal. The jackal was on his fenced farm land and seemed very friendly. As Junior went to pet this jackal on the head, it reached up and bit his hand. Apparently this guy thought Junior was trying to give him a snack and accidently bit him on the hand. Unfortunately for Junior, rabies is a serious condition around here. He was rushed to Windhoek - about 5-6 hours away via car, and in the hospital for several weeks. Mike told us back then (Junior is 16 years old now) the treatment for rabies was either an injection of 26 shots within 2 days or get a syringe directly into your spine for 48 hours. Mike and his wife choose to do the spinal treatment - this unfortunately was excruciatingly painful and caused temporary paralysis for Junior. Mike told us this was one of his hardest times in his life - watching his 5 year old son suffer for several weeks in the hospital paralyzed. I can NOT imagine how horrible this must have been for him. I would a thousand times take the pain for Finn or Nash to not see them suffer. This would be absolute torture for anyone to watch. Fortunately Junior improved and is doing extremely well now! Mike says he is a genius and hopes to become a doctor! 

Another story Mike told us was about elephants. I've always heard that an elephant never forgets but I never knew why or where this saying came from. Mike told us that when an elephant dies, the mother elephants gather all the scattered bones of the deceased elephant together in one location. When someone in their herd dies, all the elephants mourn for an entire day. None of these guys eat or drink for that day. Elephants actually need to eat 18 hours a day to survive. Ironically, lions sleep around 18 hours a day. 

We were lucky enough to hang out at poachers hideaway  to see a pride of lions come for a drink at the waterhole. We had to leave because the hideout has enough space where the lion could possibly jump in if he wanted to. Mike says he doesn't trust lions- you can never predict what they will do. Another fun, memorable day was had by all of us!