Day 13, Sept 20 - Purros Community Camp

The campsite in Purros, which as far as I know is THE campsite in Purros, was beautiful.  Nothing fancy, it was simply a collection of showers and toilets...all well hidden in the trees...and nice braai (barbecue) spots.  It was located in the trees found along the banks of the Hoarusib river.

Setting up for brunch at our braai spot underneath an enormous tree

But what really made it special was the gorgeous view just up a small rise from where we were camped.

View 2 minutes walk from camp

Looking north west

Since we had a full day to enjoy Purros we planned a nice brunch.  Before brunch, I took some photos of the many, many birds living there amongst the trees with us.

Crimson breasted shrike...not very cooperative but if you can get a picture he is a stunning color!

Bare-cheeked babbler...found only in NW Namibia and well in control of the camp!!!

While messing around taking bird pictures I half-heartedly shot a picture of a crow on the wing.  Wait!  What's that in his mouth!??  Afraid the crow had stolen one of our breakfast eggs, I rushed back to the group making our brunch.

Thief caught in action!

Coincidentally, Martie had seen the thief steal the egg...only it wasn't from us...it was from a Francolin nest just beside our campsite.  Francolins are slightly smaller than a chicken and different species of Francolin (spurfowl) are found throughout southern Africa.

I wasn't back in camp long before we got word..."the elephants are coming!"  They had been spotted on the small rise just 2-3 minutes walk from camp.  Quickly we all rushed up the hill.  Our first sighting was not good.  The lone elephant was quite far away with his back to us eating in the trees.  We all knew there could be more elephant in the vicinity.  Nico and I were standing next to a large bush closer to the elephant than the others when we heard a loud noise in the bush next to us.  Nico yelled run and just before turning I caught a glimpse of the character below running from the bush.  That's right, a baboon!  He headed off towards the trees where the elephant was eating. It took me a couple moments to compose myself to get this picture of the baboon who scared the bejesus out of Nico and I!

##!!#!! Baboon

Just as we started drifting back to camp, more elephant came.

What a sight to see! Wild desert elephant crossing an open plain.

Elephants are both browsers and grazers...this one is sampling a tree

Impressive tusks!

Now about that Spanish tourist...as I said, I was quite interested in the circumstances surrounding his death here in the middle of August.  A ranger came up the hill where we were watching the elephants.  I suppose he came to make sure we didn't do something stupid like go closer to get a better picture.  I asked him what happened to the Spaniard.  He said the Spanish tourist was staying in campsite no. 1...we were in no. 3.  His body was found 4 meters outside the campsite and it happened at 5 pm in the afternoon.  They are not sure what happened but apparently the elephant came through camp, charged the Spaniard and ended up trampling him to death.  The Purros campsite is an open camp, that is, it does not have any fences.  Desert elephant always migrate along river beds in order to stay near water and to have a good supply of food from trees.  So they often come into the Purros campsite, it being located in the trees along the river.  The usual protocol when an animal kills a human is that the offending animal is tracked and killed.  And that is exactly what happened here.  The elephant was a female with a 12 year old calf (adolescent).  I was touched that all of our group, when discussing this incident, expressed deep regret over the fate of the elephant.
After seeing the elephants and getting a fright from the baboon, I decided to ask Salome what to do if the elephant came into camp.  She said, "run faster than the Spanish!"  I don't know about that but I was confident I could run faster than at least a couple people in our group!

I didn't go to campsite no. 1, although some of our group saw fresh elephant dung near there the following day before leaving.  Campsite no. 1 was closed.  The elephant had torn up the bathing area...apparently to get water.  I don't know if it happened before or after one of their group was killed by the authorities.

Meanwhile, back at camp, our brunch was served.

Dishing up brunch...

That day I couldn't help thinking about the Spanish guy...how one day he was sitting there like me and the next day gone...wonder if he saw the elephant before meeting one head on?  Wonder if he saw the beauty in the nature surrounding him?  Wonder if he felt the beauty in his soul?

That evening we enjoyed another delicious meal around the campfire.

Martie, Leon, Tom, Rita, Salome, Dawn, Rykie, and Roelof

I didn't get up that night to use the toilet.  It was 20 meters from our tent and I wasn't taking any chances!