Team Africa

Will post more when home, but here is Team Africa on the banks of the Luangwa  River, Zambia.

Route home

I type this while sipping a cup of tea in a boardroom of the law firm I used to work at in London... I'm 3 flights and 28 hours into my home journey.

Birdies woke me up early to say good bye, so I listened to them while contemplating this journey. Then had the usual breakfast and final pack up and good byes to Marula and the Hippos. 

The manager drove us to the airport, back through all the mud hut villages and attempts at farming. Everyone seemed happy enough, but certainly puts life in perspective...

The check-in procedure was very similar to our journey up- no procedure!! The best part was watching our luggage be put on another plane, and then watching that plane take off... Um.... But it showed up in Lusaka, so I guess it worked out?!?!

Brief change over in Lusaka, but more of the same 'African' airport procedures... That flight was cool as we flew over he area that dad and mum spent time- Lake Kariba and Bulawayo. Looked similar to Zambia from the air! 

Had quite a long layover at Johannesburg, so first checked my suitcase in, then had a final juice and treate with the parentals. Deposited them at their shuttle bus, lots of hugs goodbye. 

Went through security, getting a rev from passport control for being there so early ('Africans make the most out of every minute, time is money, you waste time sitting at a gate...'), so I wasted my time by spending my money in curios!! Ha!!

10.5 hour flight up from Jo-berg to London in an aircraft with some broken doors... Had a seat mate who liked to fight for extra space (see my space), so that was frustrating. I think I got a few combined hours of broken dozing, but better than nothing!!

I was shocked at the price of a day pass into London on the tube, prices have changed since I lived here!! But I rode it in and it felt like I never left. I'm not sure what my few hours hold, but I'm excited to walk past a few old haunts if possible. Love London!!

So that's the mid-return report. Next update ill be home!!

Luangwa Day 6

Horrah for sleep!!! So nice to have had a decent sleep. Still woke up a lot, but was more rested at 5am, so feel more bright in general.

Final morning game drive. We were on the road just as the sun was rising, another lovely red sun saying good morning! To greet it we saw lots of Ellie's and hippos and impala and Puku and bush-buck and and and...  I really tried to take time to cherish the park, appreciating the lovely light and trees and sounds and smells.

As for 'highlights', this was definitely the leopard morning. We saw a girl leopard running away from us, and while looking for her we came across a boy leopard just chilling out. He gave us a great photo shoot. Apparently he is known as Arnold. And then just toward the end if the morning Alice decided to come down from her tree and go on a wander, in full light. I really hope my photos have worked!

We also spyed the lion pride of 19 relaxing under some trees and bushes. We left them alone and hope to visit them tonight! 

All in all, a wonderful final morning drive. Now we must try relax as much as possible before our evening drive, and then the final big pack up before starting my long journey home. 

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Evening drive report

I'm quite sad as I write this as this amazing adventure has come to a close. It has been, well, amazing. I have seen and experienced so much, it makes life at home seem very routine. Travel always inspires me, so fingers crossed the pattern continues!

Our final night drive was lovely. Not the most lively one we've been on, as I think some of the animals have moved to different areas of the park. Still, got to say bye to elephants and impala and kudu and bush buck and Puku and crocs and buffalo and birdies, and, as to e expected, the entire lion pride came to say bye!!

It was both amazing and sad, as the first we saw was the bug papa, on a walk to find his pride. We followed him and came upon the whole group of 19. Unfortunately so did every other Landrover in the park, so their early evening stroll involved spotlights and engines. But that's their life and they don't seem disturbed by it. I was glad to say bye to my favourite baby cub too.

The scenery here has been so stunning, son different from anything at home. I shall miss it (maybe not the dust from the roads though!!)

I have a huge journey starting at 630 am tomorrow, which involves 4 aircraft, 24 hours on planes and 48 hours before my head touches a pillow again.

So, this is me signing off from Africa. More iPhone photos will be uploaded upon a wifi connection, and then keep an eye on Flickr for the proper ones!

I love being infected with the travel bug!!

Luangwa Day 5

Overly stimulating days led to quite a poor sleep last night, so I felt quite off waking up today. Hopefully I get a restful sleep tonight?!

The drive this morning was quiet. It was almost as if the animals here understand the concept of 'Mondays' and weren't wanting to show up. I don't think we saw any ellies in the park, very strange after the past few days. We bumbled around, saw Guinea Fowl, a hyena, various antelope and birdies... Eventually we came upon a few giraffe and zebra. Oh, and a new male lion we hasn't seen before, chillin out in the shade, scaring everything in its scent path. 

Had this been my only drive in Sourh Luangwa I would have been worried that there weren't many animals... Fortunately it's not my only one! Also, for any drive to be low-key, it was great to be the one that I wasn't feeling top notch for. 

We came back and have had lunch. I tried to have a brief nap but our rooms are so warm, all you do is sweat and thrash about. So I'm down by the river, typing this and trying to relax in prep for our evening drive!

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Evening report:

Pious out-did himself with scenery tonight. He was making a point of showing us views he likes. at one point it looked like tv images of the Serengeti! We drove for at least an hour and half toward the mountains to get to the Chichele Hills for amazing views of te park. It's so hard to describe. Suffice to say I had a few special moments trying to take it all in. 

It was pretty quite for animals, but we did see another herd of buffalo, 3 lion cubs hiding in a bush waiting for their parents to bring home dinner, innumerable antelope, and then right at the end, some hyena and then a leopard hunting Puku. We thought we may see a kill, but I think out presence actually got in the way of it. Hope the Puku are happy lol!!

Tomorrow is our last day of game drives. Pious has taken us new places every day, so I'm curious what will happen!! 

I'm quite sad my vacation is almost over, it had been truly phenomenal. 

Luangwa Day 4

It will be strange when I can eventually upload these blogs, as whoever is reading them will get my final week as one big story, but for me they are lovely long days. Anyway.

Morning report:

Usual early wake up. New couple on our truck, more Germans. The lodge has become very multicultural lately, with a large Muslim family, a large Indian family, a hoard of Germans, a girl from England and us Canadians. People seem to generally keep to themselves which is actually good due to the long days and heat. Anyway.

The morning drive was lovely. I love the park in the soft mornin light, very peaceful. We came across a large family of elephants who had just made the river crossing after terrorizing the villagers crops. The little baby was so all it was clear he'd been submerged as he crossed! Cute! We watched them have dust baths.

Went to visit te leopard from yesterday am, and he was still there and had moved his Impala up the tree a bit due to 3 hyenas hanging out at the base of the tree: brown spotted ones, first I've ever seen. Not as ugly as I expected, but these ones seem well fed!

We drove all over te park today, seeing many impala, Puku, water buck, ellies, giraffe, zebra and so on. I'm lucky that in still getting excited whenever I see anything. Managed to get some good shots of warthogs too, so Dad is happy.

The big event of the morning was spying a leopard with a baboon kill, carefully munching but keeping aware, and good thing too as hyenas were on the chase. There was a brief chase and the leopard went up a tree and the hyenas lost out. The biggest noise of it was from the tree of baboons who had lost one of their own. We did hear some hyena yipping, so I'm glad I've heard it.

Now for some R&R before te game drive tonight. I'm getting into quite the routine here!!

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Mid day report: two elephants decided to cross the river and pay a visit. I was seriously impressed by their climbing skills, up a 15 ft river bank with ease.  They wandered around the grounds and nibbled on seed pods until they each got spooked by movement. We were all instructed to stay still and seek shelter. Interesting experience.

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Night report:

Tonight's drive seemed to focus on things we haven't seen in days: water buck were everywhere! We also came across a huge herd of buffalo which was amazing to see- they were very suspicious of us.

We had a magical moment where a large herd of elephants climbed down a slope to have a dust bath, very sweet.  And further down that same road we had a 'discovery channel' moment where a pair of lions decided to make babies in front of us, twice. The first time was not more than 3 meters away... Talk about educational! Apparently females are in-charge of those proceedings, and when in heat, the pair mates 4x per hour. 

We saw quite a few more birds today: lilac spotted roller being the most colourful. 

Pious took us to the mid-point boundary between the accessible areas of the park, it was a serious drive to get there and back. On the return journey we saw a large spotted Jennet, and African Cibet, and last of all, a porcupine!!

All in all, a great evening!! 

Luangwa Day 3

Day 2 Night Drive:

Entered the park and went a different way than normal. Very different terrain again than other areas of the park. We lucked out early and came across a beautiful family of elephants, including a baby who was less than a year old. So sweet, he was learning how to pull and eat grass. 

Later we had another leopard sighting, this one was relaxing on a tree branch the same way that house cats sit on sofa arms, sprawled in each side! 

There was a beautiful water hole full of lilypads, and had many different bird species mulling about. Our drive took us all over, it was very peaceful (well, as peaceful as it can be riding in a Landrover).

Tumours of lions started to filter through the guides, so we had our sunset juice and watched te cars. Later when it was full-dark (so 15 minutes later) we found a road to watch the 'herd' of Landrovers from- when they started loving we gunned it, and got to the sweet spot first!!

Lions! An entire pride leaving their den and on the move, looking for dinner. We followed them for a ways, and then Pious predicted where they were headed and we pulled ahead to get a good spot. Using red spotlights we were able to watch the pride arrive, separate (one female left behind to watch the cubs, who were intently learning how to hunt by watching). The spotlights were then turned off and silence reigned. Randomly someone turned on their spot and we saw Puku antelope and lions running in every direction. It was remarkably silent for the chaos... Then we heard a shriek, then growls, and then suddenly all the trucks turned on, full lights, and we raced to the kill sight. I was amazed how this actually didn't affect me: I suspect had I seen the kill happen I'd have felt differently, but this was very clinical and clean. We spent the next 20 minutes 5 meters max away from 18 feasting lions. One even came within 2 meters of me to chew a portion shed broken off. I never thought Id turn my back on a pride of feasting lions, but I did to face the clients one... What an experience!!!!!! I did try take some video, so will have to see how that worked out. Wow.

Aug 24th, Day 3

Up again at 5am for another day in Africa. Ill admit to being rather tired and wanted to stay in bed, partially at least due to hyena calls keeping me awake at night. What a strange life I'm living right now!

Our drive today was less active than the past couple, but I suspect more normal... I mean, we've had a spectacular first few days, and every day can't be like that, right!?

Highlights of the morning include seeing a leopard up a tree with his lunch, an impala, hanging in the tree... Leopards can carry twice their own body weight with their jaws, so they sneakily bring their meals up high to avoid sharing.  Pious studied tracks and could tell hyena had been around, so probably a good move.

Came across some older buffalo grazing, such strange looking creatures. They actually sound quite terrifying, how they are very intelligent and difficult to kill- if you wound him he won't run, he'll start hunting you!!

Saw quite a few more giraffes, including babies, as well as our elephants. Many different birds too, including an African eagle hawk (?! To be confirmed)

Our final challenge was finding the lion pride again, as rumours were once again flyin that they were around. After an hour of searching we did. They were under a tree on a riverbank not too far from last nights kill. They were all happily dozing, and I was less than 2m away from the closest. Never in my life did I expect to be so close to a pride!!  

On our route back we went past the killing sight and I was amazed at how little was left- essentially zero evidence of it, and what little was left was being worked on n vultures. Africa is deadly, efficient, and doesn't waste anything.

We are now resting up for the next night drive tonight. I suspect we will take tomorrow as a rest day, as 9 hours a day in a bumpy 4x4 with early starts and late evenings tends to be a little wearying. That will still allow 2 full days of drives before I have my 48 hour return journey.

So, book, water, river....

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Night drive report:

Scratch that last comment, we are goin tomorrow for sure! Night drive was lovely,   We are still managing to see lots that peaks our interest. Old lady giraffes, itsy bitsy baby baboons, plump hippos with lts of fighting scars. We saw 2 leopards, one in tall grass debating game, and the other way across a dried watering hole- which we peomptly drove across to get closer, much to the leopards disgust.

We also drove into some more remote areas of the park for our sundown. Pious really goes out of his way to get away from the other trucks and gives us a more solitary experience, which is lovely.

The focus of the evening was the lions. We went back to find them and they'd moved a little, but not far enough to elude Pious. They were all fast asleep and we were right among them. I was 5ft away from one and she was lookin directly into my eyes, assessing me. Hindsight makes it a bit frightening, but at the time I was just thinking how cool it was! We also got pretty close to the big daddy, which was awesome.  Later in the evening we tracked them down again, this time in multiple groups, some rescuing a tiny cub, the others looking for dinner. We couldn't stay to watch due to the parks closing time.

One set of lucky tourists might though, due to having a driver who ambitiously drove into the riverbank and promptly got stuck, about 50 meters from the pride. It was quite hilarious at first, then the pride took notice... And, strangely, our guide didn't care at all and drove off! Guess there's no 'rescuing' in that situation?

Anyway, must sleep, up early again tomorrow!!!

Luangwa Day 2

So it appears that I have lost any data connection. I'm still going to type these up and will post them in order whenever I get data back: worst case I publish at home. 

Was up at 5 am again, which will be the norm for the rest of the trip. We were met by out walking guide James, and our protection scout Thomas. Both were very  friendly, and Thomas had a really good sense of humor, especially in light of our socially inept walking companion Frank ze German arachnid lover (who, I think, had a personal mission to step on every twig or crunchy leaf in Africa).

We drove into the park and found a shady tree from which to begin our adventure. Then we started walking. James made sure to point out all sorts of bird calls, animal tracks, termite mounds, special types of droppings, marks on trees, birds in the area, I was all really interesting. He gave us so much information, it was incredibly impressive. Turnsout that the guides in Luangwa have to go to university and get multi year degrees before they can guide here. Once they have achieved the certification they can guide all over Zambia. It's quite the accomplishment. Even the park guards/spotters go to uni for specialized training. They take their natural resources extremely seriously and it is both evident and impressive.

As for large animals, we did come fairly close to 4 elephants, who didn't see is, but took off quickly when they smelled us. Later we came across a tower of giraffe who weren't too concerned about us so we got quite a few photos, until an Impala called out a warning and they took off. We also were decently close to a dazzle of Zebra.

All in all, it was a lovely morning. I'm glad I had my Moroccan and Egyptian closing with me both for sun and bush protection. The bush is lovely... So crunchy and dry. I can star go understand more of my Dads stories after experiencing this walk!

Now to try keep cool durin the heat of the day. We plan to do another night drive tonight. 

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Dah!!! I had typed up the whole drive and lost it! And now I must sleep. Update tomorrow.

Luangwa Day 1

We were woken at 5am, but I was already awake, as hippos were chatting with each other. We had a light breakfast of cereal and toast and met up with our guide Pious. We were on the road by 6am, passing the official gate a couple minutes after.

Our game drive lasted 4.5 hours, and WOW!!!! Just amazing. The terrain is quite varied in the park, depending on how close the water is. Some areas were dense with grass and trees, others very dry and barren. With such a long drive we had lots of time to stop and observe, and to be instructed by our guide about the animals and their habits. I have been taking lots of notes!!

The South Luangwa is famous for its hippos. The park is 9500km^2 and has the 1000km Luangwa river flowing through. They have 60 to 80 hippos every kilometre, so approx 70,000 hippos here!! No wonder we have such a large pod in the river at the lodge! 

Entering the park you cross the river, so we stopped and watched sunrise and examined many hippo specimens. This continued for quite a while as we entered the park. Over time we added in various antelope, such as Kudu, Puku and Impala. The Impala have an M with their rear-end striping, the joke being they are the original McDonalds 'fast food' as all predators are fond if Impala.  

Then we came across some Zebra, hiding behind some trees. Apparently one of the reasons for the black and while is that Zebras don't swear or pant, so the two tones assist with their heat reflection or absorption as needed. Also, when threatened, Zebra will clump together and lions etc won't be able to see to single one out. Smart!

Then we were by a section of the river and saw pelicans and two kinds of storks, the black an the marub. Seriously large birds! Would not want one of those coming near me!

Saw some water buck and more impala, warthogs in the distance, and then came across a herd of Ellie's! 2 fun facts: baby elephants can walk 15 minutes after birth. And, Ellie's have 6 sets of molars, each set lasts around 10 years. After the molars are used up, they can only eat really soft foods, and generally live till around 70. Males live with the female herd until they are 10, and are then solo till 17, when the join a make herd. They are mature enough to mate at 34! 

So we watched the herd bumble around, and then started hearing some elephant trumpeting sounds. Drove a bit, and saw vultures circling. Didn't see any caracas, but determined later that a leopard had taken something down. However, by waiting and listening, we discovered the real treat of the day:

LIONS!!! We drove our vehicle right up to them. I was, quite literally, 20 feet away from 20 lions. 10 were cubs, about the size of a very large house car. 8 females were ruling the roost, and 2 males eventually showed up, one old, one young. The young one had some facial scars... Couldn't help but think of the Lion King! We stayed and watched for between 5 and 10 minutes, it was amazing. The mums were so tender with the cubs, giving then baths and chiding when needed. The cubs were very mischievous, and one was quite bold, coming out from their shady thicket to investigate. The dads were lazy, but the cubs were still playful with them too!  I know how lucky I am, this was a very rare and special experience. Fingers crossed my photos and video turn out!!

After we left the lions behind we stopped near a huge baobab tree and had a little leg stretch, and I got to meet a few hornbills (Zazu from Lion King). 

The majority of the rest of the drive was spent near a river gully, as a Leopard had been spotted. We watched him wandering through the gully and were amazed when a whole herd of impala walked past with little concern. We drove to a number of vantage points and ended up seeing 2 different Leopards, both relaxing in the shade, breathing heavily. 

So I've seen 4 of the Big 5 this trip (Ellie's, Buffalo, Lions, Leopard and Rhino). Not sure if we will see any Rhino this trip, but I did see when I was 14, so technically I've seen them all now!

When it was time to head back we got our last spoiling of the morning: a tower of giraffes! Looked like there was a mum and dad, maybe a few siblings, and then a bunch of babies. Oh wow baby giraffes are cute!!!!! 

So, that was my first game drive in south Luangwa. This evening we meet at 330 for an evening drive, part of which will e in the dark with a spotlight. 

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Evening Drive report:

Our guide Pious was joined by a spotter named Iza. We left at 330 and immediately spotted Ellie's in the lagoon near our lodge. Good start!

The evening drive in general was much less 'active' than the morning one, which is apparently quite strange. Certainly there were large chunks of time where we don't see any animals a all. But it was still lovely driving around the bush, looking at the lovely trees in the light.

We did see water buck and warthogs, and went back to the lions den from this morning in the off chance they were still there- nope.  We did get to see a Zebra who had had some level of run- in with a predator, based on the serious scars on his rump.

The real highlight of the evening involved a very amenable Leopard who decided that he would tease us by stalking through grass, but rewarded our patience by finding a beautiful river bank to lay on while considering his dinner menu choices. We had about 10-15 minutes just watching him hang out, cool as a cucumber with all these pesky humans in their big trucks took photos. Quite the draw!! 

After this highlight we had a break further down the riverbank to watch the red sunset. So lovely, especially when a line if hippos, including babies, walked through the light bean on the water.

When the sun sets here, within 15 minutes it is full dark. Our spotter Iza was put to work shining his spotlight around, hunting for predators. We didn't see many, but did manage to add mongoose, small spotted jenet (little fox like critter) a scrub hate, a scrub hair and an elephant shrew to my list. A late drive highlight was seeing a baby hippo with his mommy- so cute!

Oh, and there are SO many more stars here, looks like a big smudgy thumb print in the sky (is actually the Milky Way). Very cool!

We got back ready to hit the hay, but first it was dinner served around the campfire! We had some traditional foods such as ntshima, rape salad (very strange name for a spinach like green) and boerevors which we eat at home lots.

Now, it's bed, as we are up at 5 again tomorrow, this time for a walking safari!!!

Journey to South East Zambia

What a day! 

First, the lodge we are now at, for the next week, does not have wifi or Internet, so I will not be posting any photos until home. I will upload the journal as its a very small use of my extremely small allowance of data roaming. 

We all had a poor sleep overnight due to animal activity: hippos were chatting to each other and later elephants decided that our lodge was a buffet. When we woke up a number of trees had been knocked down, including one across the road! Oops!

We were up early to get our shuttle to the airport. Being responsible travellers we were there 2 hours before our flight, only to find that check in opens 40 min before! Doh! The whole process was a riot- suitcase scan while someone walks of with your passport and another is weighing your hand luggage... Welcome to Africa!  Oh, and also, that metal detector, we save on electricity by not plugging it in. You still have to walk through them, of course... Must keep up appearances. Oh, and don't mind the departure gate being a veranda next to a construction yard, and no we will not communicate with you anymore... Who needs to make departure times?! 

But I digress.  Despite a continuing lesson in African urgency, we eventually made it to Lusaka, and then into Mfuwe. We were met by a very jovial shuttle/guide who drove us in our safari tourin vehicle (aka Landrover with 4 rows of high seats attached at the back) and we traveled around 45 minutes through what I can best describe as 'real' Africa. It was amazing. A tarred road with people living along it, either in concrete/brick homes, some brightly painted, and other homes being traditional mud and straw roofed creations, all surrounding the village well. I saw women with packages on their heads, or with babies wrapped on their back while sifting some kind of grain, and both kids and men riding bicycles, often with a passenger clinging precariously. On the back. It was quite something to see. The scenery too, is beautiful. This area isn't as dry as Livingstone was, so there are more large trees and greenery. Saw a lot of mango trees!

We got to the Marula Lodge and were immediately greeted by the managers who took us on a tour, which included a stop by the Luangwa river, one of the boarders. Again we are staying in a national park, and as such we share the land with the original inhabitants. This time here is a fairly large pod of hippos just in the river, I can hear them groaning as I type. And within 30 minutes of being here a herd of about 7 elephants wandered through the lodge, eating from the tree right next to our little house (we are in a 2 room concrete building)! I sat and watched and one large Ellie walked, not exaggeration, 10 feet from me. That was something else!!

We got settled and went for a lovely dip in the riverside pool... This is THE life!! Then we went and sat in some chairs and watched all the river activity as the sunset behind some trees. The hippos started singing! Well, maybe now quite singing, but they were seriously vocal after the sun set.

Our lodge has meals included, so we had a lovely 3 corse meal and since then have been prepping for a 5am wake up for our first game drive! Ill be tired I'm sure, but how cool is it to be staying at a national park with Ellie's as lodge mates and going on game drives, but also relaxin poolside! Trip of a lifetime!

Livingstone Photos

Lovely morning light.

And some new friends:

A few shots from our drive around town:

Typical buildings

Curio Market

Street scene

Guess what colour the taxis are?

Local shopping centre

Local Market

Toward the 'Zimbabwe Market', where all the goods are... sourced...

And now for some sunset cruise shots!! 

Zimbabwe bank, croc on the sand.

Sunset into the dust/smoke cloud

Really hard to tell, but beautiful harvest moon.

Livingstone

Last day in Livingstone, tomorrow we fly north east via Lusaka to a small town called Mfuwe, and we will spend the next week at Marula Lodge at the entrance to the South Luangwa National Park (still in Zambia, but closer to the Malawi boarder).

Today had a later start, but I was still woken up as the sun rose, mostly due to the ultra-light planes overhead. They are such noise pollution, they really get my goat! Grr!!

We had a leisurely breakfast and spent time at the riverbank watching for animals who were too shy to show up. There have been a lot of 'scare away' gunshots overnight in this area. Next week the United Nations World Tourism Orgsnization is having its 20th annual conference and it is amazing seeing how much work is going into making this African town 'world' ready. So much fresh paint and concrete work... Sadly I don't think they'll be ready in time, especially with the slow pace people seem to work at in the heat, but the locals seem to be both excited and very proud that the are hosting, so I'm pleased for them. 

Anyway. Our tour took us through the heart of Livingstone where we saw very first mums old school, whixh was cool to see! then we saw the civic centre, Rhodes Livingstone museum, railroad museum, the post office where my grandfather worked, down some side streets to see some markets for the locals, past the cinema house where mum saw her first movie ever, and just around and all over to get a sense of the place. You get the feelin that it was built in the 1950s and has been keep in various states of disrepair ever since. But it seems a happy town.

We then visited the Rhodes Livingstone Museum. What a lovely museum! Certainly and older feel to it, nothing flashy, but extremely well done with content, maps, dioramas, etc. Well worth the visit, I could have spent a lot more time there, and we did take our time! Mum and I chatted a bit with a local who was visiting the displays himself, and as small world fun happens, he's in the mining industry and has visited Vancouver for mining conferences! 

We elected to not have an 'on foot' visit to the local markets as, per the guide, we'd just be looking at stalls of dried fish in the midday sun. Maybe we will regret the omission one day, but right now in cool with it. Right now we are chilling at the lodge, keeping cool. Shortly we will start the latest suitcase pack up, trying to reduce weight due to hefty charges on the small flights ahead...This evening we go on a sunset cruise along the Zambezi River, so Ill leave this unfinished for now!

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Sunset Cruise report:

Hello booze cruise!! Unlimited drinks and they were serving doubles!! We had a couple, but were far more interested in the scenery. I mean, you can drink vodka 7s every day, but how often are you cruising on the Zambezi at sunset?!

Animal sightings were at a low, but I didn't expect many. We saw 6 hippos, 1 croc, a bush buck and a few egrets. But it was lovely cruising on the river. A remarkable thing, however, was how the sun set (at a high dust level) and the harvest moon rose at exactly 180 degrees opposite! I don't think I've ever experienced that. Photos won't capture, but I tried to get them.

Now we are back and have to do some final packing. The last 4 days have been amazing. The week ahead provides bothered excitement with the many game drives, but also some long overdue R&R. I believe wifi is available, but once again, if you don't hear, it's probably because I don't get signal...

Thins truly is an adventure of a lifetime!!

Victoria Falls photos

Devils Cataract 

Main Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Rainbow Falls

Canadian Tourist alert!

Vic Falls!

See the 'Smoke that is Thundering?'

Victoria Falls from Zimbabwe and Zambia

Well, I had an awful sleep, was actually a little cold, and had a spotlight on me from an outside light... Whine whine whine! Haha! But I woke up around 630 to chirping birdies and watched the sunrise from my bed, so not bad. It was good I was awake too, as there was a knock at the door to inform us that our 9am your was actually starting at 730, please be ready thanks! So we all dashed around and for ready, and fortunately it all worked out fine with food etc! Only grumpy making thing was waiting at other hotels for other passengers who hadn't taken the change of timing to heart, wasting time. Anyway.

Today's goal was to study the Victoria Falls from both Zimbabwe and Zambia.  So, step one, drive 10 min down the road to the Zimbabwe boarder! The official boarder is on a bridge crossing a gorge, but of course they have passport control booths on both sides to make sure you get more stamps!  It was quite emotional for Mum in particular, going into Zim, as she was born there and due to conflicts, politics etc, is not allowed a passport to her birth country.  Neither parent had set foot there since 1976. I've grown up hearing so many stories... 

In light of all this, I was highly amused to find the parking lot for the Falls wasn't even 500m from the border. Talk about needing a 'duty free' zone or something!! Ah well, I got a cool visa an stamp, won't complain.

Zim has the better views of the falls, and our guide took us to probably 15 odd view points. It was lovely. I was impressed by their width, about 1.7kms. This is the dry season, so not nearly as much water was flowing as the wet season, but despite this, still lots of flow and mist! Plus I got to see a lot of the geology, and that was cool. It was crazy experiencing the flora/fauna shift as we walked between viewpoints- some was tropical rainforest, eventually drying to extremely dry grasslands. Saw a warthog and bush buck as we wandered. 

We then hoped back on the bus for 30 seconds to go back through the passport rigmarole. Quite amusing for 2 hours in a country (and $75 for the right to cross!!). 

Once back in Zambia we went to its Vic Falls viewing park. At this time it was high noon to 130.... Middle of day in Central Africa, perfect timing to be wandering around in the sun next to a humidity source! Suffice to say I really felt the 35 degrees today!! Lots of water, salt, etc.  whining aside, it was quite a different view on the Zambian side, I'm really pleased to have seen from both! Less volume of water, but you could really see what was happening. Very cool!!

We were dropped back at our lodge around 2 or so, and have the afternoon/evening to ourselves. It's nice to have a bit of time off to chill, wander, and say hi to the elephant having a meal across  the river from me!!

Botswana photos

Nile Crocodile

Cape Buffalo and Egret

Me and Cape Buffalo

Elephant crossing river

Hippo

Me and Hippo

4 male Elephants

Male Sable Antelope

Giraffe

Impala antelope

Warthogs

Kudu antelope 

How giraffe drink!!

Botswana

Well, today was incredible. That's the only word that comes close. Amazing? Excellent? Fantastic? Anyway, Ill get on with it. 

Overnight I woke up hearing random animals calling out... Pretty cool! We woke up at 6am to prep for our 7am pickup. We'd asked the kitchen to pack is breakfast and we picked up toasted cheese and bacon sandwiches... Oh, and in passing an elephant was drinking at the river just below the restaurant. Good morning Zambia!!

It was an hours drive from Livingstone to the boarder and along the route I saw some of real central Africa. People quite literally live in mud huts. Scenes from movies which I thought were made up or enhanced are quite the truth.  And then there was the boarder... Good thing we had a guide, as it was a mess! Semi trailer trucks line up literally for a week to cross this boarder, as it is a river crossing with a baby ferry that takes one lorry at a time. One. Footies? We take one of a few  aluminum boats to scurry us across the river. We crossed at a very interesting crossing: Kasungulu crossing, where the countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana all meet. It's also where the Zambezi and Chobe rivers join. Pretty cool to be seeing it all from a little boat.  

The passport stamping process was quite amusing, as on both sides our guides just walked me (as the family rep) past the huge line straight to the window. Ok, works for me!! 

Suddenly we were in Botswana! Cool! Instantly I could tell a difference- a little more money, a little tidier, and a lot drier. The bush in Zambia, so far, is dry, but a but green nonetheless. Botswana, at least the Chobe region, is twig dry. Like, look at it and it will burst into flame dry. 

So our morning was spent on a Chobe river cruise, riding up and down the river that acts as a boarder both for the national park, and between the countries of Botswana and Namibia. Aunt Martina, I waved at Namibia for you!! 

I can't begin to describe how lovely this ride was. It was about 2.5 hours, at a lovely slow pace, and the water provided a cool breeze so it wasn't too hot. Photos will have to explain all we saw, but I will list the sightings:

African Darta (a black bird)

Cape Buffalo (water buffalo)

African Pied Fisher (small black and white bird)

a pod of Hippos (many)

Nile crocodiles (many)

White Egrets (white long neck bird)

Jakara bird (runs on water, called a Jesus  bird)

Fish Eagle (like a bald eagle)

Lechwe (a rare red antelope)

Water lizard 

Elephant!! (So, so many)

Impala (an entire herd)

Water buck

Grey heron

Two incredibly memorable moments were when 4 make elephants came runnin down to the river to drink and spray mud, so amazing! And then we got to watch another elephant make a full river crossing, getting rather deep and using his trunk as a sort of periscope for breathing!!

After the cruise we had a buffet lodge at a rather fancy hotel which is situated on the Chobe river. As you all know I'm a chicken with food, so I had standard fair, but mum and dad were adventitious and had warthog stew... Said it was quite good. I enjoyed deliciously flavoured beef  kebabs. 

We then drove to Chobe National Park, which at over 10,000 km^2 is larger than the country of Lesotho. There are no fences, and the animals are lucky enough to not need passports and travel between countries quite frequently. Botswana seems to have very 'western' attitudes toward conservation, poaching etc, which I was so pleased to find out!

Our drive lasted for about 2 hours and kept us mostly next to the Chobe river delta, basically along the banks of the river we were on in the morning. I cannot, once again, describe how amazing this drive was. It started in incredibly dry bush, which slowly got a tiny but more lush closer to the water. It's winter here, but with a little imagination I can picture the lovely lushness in the wet season. 

The list:

Sable antelope (extremely rare, but seemed to like me, as they kept showing up!)

Impala (antelope, herds and singles)

Kudu (another kind of antelope, has a funny hump like a camel which helps it jump)

More Cape buffalo, hiding under bushes

Giraffes (all over, boys, girls, babies, by water and in the bush)

Elephants (huge numbers. Like, hundreds. Herds of 15 or so kept wanders around, some very far away, others not 10 meters from me!! Got to see quite a few mud baths!)

Black smith plove (small black and white bird)

Crested Barbet (bright yellow tiny bird)

Warthog (shuffling around on knees!)

It was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. Truly amazing.

But all things come to an end. We said good bye and made out way back through the questionable boarder posts, across the Zambezi, and home to our lodge. We wandered around a bit, amused at the hippos having dinner in the river just below our restaurant. 

I forgot to mention that my suitcase, being overladen with delicious wine from SA, was rather overweight, resulting in charges to get it here. To attempt to resolve this issue, we are 'suffering' through one of my bottles tonight. Gutted I can't bring it home, but it IS delicious... 

At dinner tonight we were happily mining out business when I looked up and noticed a hippo walking past. Through our lodgings property. Enroute to our tent. Ok... When in Africa??!

So that was my amazing day. Ranks pretty high!!!! Photos shortly. 

Livingstone photos

Photos from Zambia Day 1

Our tent accommodations!

Warthog

Giraffe

Ellie's

The bush

Zambezi river

More Zambezi

Zambia Day 1: Livingstone

We were up before the crowd would even consider waking up today, all to give back the keys of our little home and drive to the airport. Very tired, we got breakfast and hopped on our flight to Johannesburg, and after a little break there, went on to Livingstone, Zambia. Mum lived here for 2.5 years as a young girl, and we already saw that her old convent school is still standing and actually still in action! 

We are staying in a pretty fancy canvas tent, complete with electricity and showers... Open to sky shower, but pretty cool! Ill be sleeping behind a mosquito net tonight!

We had a very quick turn around due to the extreme wait at the arrival passport control, despite having prepaid visas we were stuck in the same line as everyone else!

We met up with Stan the Man who took us to the Mosi-oa-Tumya National Park, where we went on a 2 hour game drive! Within a minute we ran into elephants!! It was so lovely driving around seeing the African Bush I've grown up hearing about. Throughout the 2 hours we saw many elephants, giraffe, zebras, impala, warthog, water buck, crocks and birds. I took as many photos as I could and I hope some turned out- the light was beautiful but difficult to shoot in.

We've since come back and had dinner at the lodge. Showers are ahead as tomorrow we are up early again to go to Botswana to visit Chobe National Park.  This is awesome!!!

Blaauwberg

Last day in SA was pretty low key, as we had to pack up and prep for the next part of our adventure. We had brunch out and then drove up the coast a bit to admire the lovely beaches if Blaauwberg. Beautiful, but extremely windy!!

The rest of the day involved laundry and packing, so not much else to report other than a fun dinner eating up all the leftover food with a lovely bottle of Stellenzicht Pinotage!

Rain rain go away!

Woke up to thunder an pouring rain today, boo! But we've been lucky so far with the weather for the most part, so really shouldn't complain.

Today was designated as a day to hit up some if Dads favourite vineyards. We started by driving in some intense traffic across town. I couldn't get over both the lack of drainage on major roads, and how stupid fast the locals were driving despite the obvious hazards. Nuts.

Stop one was at Meerlust, famous for its Iconic wine Rubicon. The house and outer buildings are also designated national monuments. Snapped a few pics but it was so wet I wasn't dawdling lol! The tasting inside was delicious and the people so helpful. Dad was in his happy place. If I had more allowance I would have bought the Rubicon, but instead I'm determined to find a way to buy it in Canada...

We then went up to my surprise of the day: Kanonkop. Remarkably I really liked every wine I tasted! Their Pinotage is from vines that are 60 odd years old. Awesome! They also has such a unique Pinotage rose, it was nothing like anything I've had before. SO frustrated by Canadian import limits. <shakes fist>.

The lady at Kanonkop suggested we have lunch at Delheim, just up a road over a little cliff. We duly did and really enjoyed ourself. It's a really lovely spot, beautiful views and a lovely old feeling. We each had a different glass of wine which we all tasted, so had our own tasting wile munching on Malay curry. Mmmmm.....

The day had run away with us. We quickly drove into Franshoek to visit the Hugenot Memorial and Museum, which was cute, but almost entirely in French, and as I had some wine in me, I wasn't overly interested in translation. Still fascinating to see how 270 outcasts from France and the Netherlands can have such an impact on a region a world away!

Time was really gone at this point, as everything down here closes at 4 or 5 pm. We stopped for a coffee (and wifi stealing) and then made the long drive home. 

The rain is still coming down, so I think we are having a lazy and early night. Last day in SA tomorrow, then we head off to Zambia. I have no clue what kind of signal or coverage I'll have, so don't worry if I don't post for a while!

Cape Photos!

Next time wifi is found this upload will occur!

Chapmans Peak looking south

Me and Hout Bay

Soetwater

Cape of Good Hope

Parentals with Cape of Good Hope

Cape Point lighthouse

Cape Point

Penguin

Boulders Beach and penguins!!

Lunch on Aug 15 at Delheim Vineyard