We’re not having much luck with transport on this trip. Yesterday morning on the way to the airport (for our transfer to Kafue National Park) we had asked the hotel to book a minibus for all our equipment. However the receptionist had forgotten and so we were left in the hands of a Zambian minibus driver. He turned up asking to copy the music from our laptop onto his flash drive (we all looked bemused), a fuel tank on empty, drove at 120kmph as the bus lurched from one side to the other and then thought it was a great idea to pull into a bus garage to pick up more passengers. Nick the producer completely lost it and shouted at the poor fellow.

Then we took a flight from Lusaka to Kafue National Park on an islander plane. The thing was tiny and didn’t exactly fill me with faith. Once in the air the ride was a bit bumpy, but overall not too bad. But then we hit a bit of turbulence and the plane dropped. We all bumped our heads on the ceiling and Luke has been worrying about it ever since. The flight back should be fun.

And finally today we were driving in our highly sophisticated 4×4/safari hybrid car when we hit a huge ditch in the road. I was so busy swatting away the pestering Tutsi flies (they’ve followed us everywhere out in the African bush) that I failed to hold onto the vehicle and went crashing forward. I flew into a metal bar and bashed my cheek quite badly and cut my fingers. I think from now on I’ll put up with the tiny little blood suckers and hold on.

On a final note I would like to commend our driver in Lusaka, Geoff, who has been an absolute godsend. He is a great chap and has worked extremely hard ferrying us from place to place. And he has also managed to make us laugh with his very dry sense of humour and taste in music – the biggest Chris de Burgh fan in Africa. Thanks Geoff.

Baby elephants exude such personality and character that it’s impossible not to like them instantly. The David Shepherd Foundation are sponsoring and supporting Game Rangers International in a project to run the one and only Zambian elephant orphanage and I had the privilege of meeting the incredibly committed and dedicated people who are running it. They are making a stand to champion and protect these magnificent animals in Kafue National Park and I really take my hat off to Sport, Rachel, James and their team who are tirelessly working to nuture and rehabilitate three orphaned baby elephants in the remote Zambian bush.

The set up is very rustic and unlike the other elephant institutions I’ve visited in Kenya, Thailand and India, it was inspirational to see how much drive they putting into getting the place established. Sport is training anti-poaching units to work alongside ZAWA to safeguard the animals whilst Rachel is the primary carer of the elephants and the programme which will eventually see them reintegrated back into the wild.

James, who flew out with us yesterday was one of the founders of the camp and once the initial introductions had been made and the grogginess of a 4.30am start had worn off, I really warmed to their team and was introduced to their world in the camp and meet the resident baby elephants who were simply a real joy to be around.

Adam hopefully got some great footage – the camera packed up for about two hours midway through the morning but thankfully started to work again after a small rest and we all got bitten to pieces by huge Tetse flies that swarmed the back of the truck. Aside from hitting a huge bump on the track and Bruce bending a metal bar with his cheek (he must have titanium in his bones – got to watch him, he’s a dark horse), we all had a great day and very much enjoyed it.

The only other interlude was that I had to write a big report on the dead buffalo found yesterday for the Director General of the Zambian Wildlife Authority and Man U are playing tonight which means Bruce and Adam are firmly entrenched in front of the only TV in the lodge. I look forward to being dazzled with some hard hitting football facts tomorrow…