Wishes Do Come True and ...

We load into our trucks for the final day in Chobe.  We jokingly refer to our wish list, but we have been blessed to see an incredible number of animals and so close.  I knew we would see them, but I envisioned they would be in the distance like the first day.  Never did I think they would be right next to us.  I thank God for this opportunity to see his creation!

As we head out of the camp, the shout goes up, “Hyena”!  We all strain forward and along the road trots a spotted hyena.  These are scavengers, and this one is searching the road in the early morning for road kill.  Brilliant!  Their scat is normally filled with fur, and turns white in the sun from the calcium of bones they have eaten.  

Hyenas have powerful shoulders and jaws and are one of the Ugly Five.  Yea, we’ve see all of the “uglies” - vultures, Maribou stocks, wildebeast, warthogs, and hyenas!

Our guides are amazing trackers and often point out animal prints in the road.  He believes lions are nearby, and as we round a curve, there is a pride of tawny colored top predators lying in and on each side of the road.  Six female and young males, but wait, up ahead in the road is a shaggy headed adult male lion in all his glory!

We cannot believe our morning....hyena, and now male lion.  Our truck is stopped, and the engine is off, and I think, “I hope we don’t have to make a fast escape”!  I stand up in the second row to get a better look and quietly but firmly told to “Sit down”.  The lions were calm but watching us guardedly.  I am told that anyone standing or making a sudden movement will be seen as a threat to them, and they might attack.  You can’t help but admire their huge paws and subtle strength

We watch these magnificent beasts sun themselves in the warm road.  We are especially fascinated by the male as he blinks and preens and shows his profile.  We are so close I can see the flies around the lions’ noses and the swollen ticks around their eyes.  

After 20-30 minutes, the lions tire of our stares, and walk into the bush.  The male stretches, marks his territory as king, gives us a final look while licking his chops, and struts after his harem.  We are so excited!

The game drive continues with more warthogs which are finally calm enough for me to take pictures of their tusks and faces.  

Giraffes, kudus, and impalas with oxpeckers so close I watch them clean ears and faces.  Birds, monkeys, and in a pile of elephant poop, we spot  dung beetles!  We add them to our Small Five list.

We stop by a pond to watch a pod of hippos.  Finally, we see some out of the water and closer for photos.

A large bull elephant wanders out of the bush heading to the river.  It glances our way but is more interested in a long drink.  Slowly, he lowers himself into the water and rolls!  As we watch him, more elephants emerge which may be the ones we watched yesterday since there are multiple ages.  The bull, finished with his bath, powders himself by throwing dirt on his back.

We are thoroughly entertained as this memorial of pachyderms enjoy an afternoon mud bath!  The babies are rolling in the mud and youngsters are splashing reminding me of human children.  The adults sling mud up into the air and coat their skin to deal with the heat and insects.  I take dozens of pictures hoping to capture some of the joy these elephants seem to express and are certainly giving us!

We look behind and here comes another large bull getting closer with each mighty step.  Our guide moves the truck forward to give him plenty of space to pass and join the other elephants.  He lumbers by swinging his trunk ignoring us as if we are part of the landscape.  We, however, are glued to our seats since he could certainly change his mind and perceive us as a threat.

The elephants finish their mud baths and blend back into the bush grazing and shaking tree limbs as they go.  Our game drive isn’t over, but we agree the day couldn’t be better - hyena, male lion, and elephants playing in the mud.  But wait, where is that leopard?  One member of our group quips that “You can let the leopard out of his cage anytime!”

We see another leopard tortoise, hippos, and giraffes.  In a field, impalas and zebras are grazing together and a sable antelope joins them.  

We return to camp ready for another Cultural Night with staff.  I am sad to leave, but a final kudo joins us in the valley below.  I say goodbye to my favorite “loo with a view” with a stunning sunset.

Another day in Africa!

Warthogs, Elephants, and ....

Heading to the Zambia-Botswana border, 18 wheeler trucks filled with freight line both sides of the road.  Nos explains that the only way across is a small ferry which can only take one truck at a time.  They may wait days to get across from the Zambia side, but the Botswana side will be delayed for 2-3 weeks.  Due to this, there is a high percentage of sex workers in both areas and HIV.

As we prepare to board the ferry, vendors are selling carvings and bracelets.  I have bought several wooden animals as souvenirs from staff in the camps to add to a collection at home.  I think these will be cute for Jackson to play with them one day while I tell him about my African adventures!

Camp Baobab will be our new home for 3 days as we explore Chobe National Park, Botswana’s 1st national park and home to an estimated 50,000 elephants.  This camp has a treehouse feel with a beautiful lounge and eating area.  Our tent’s patio looks out on a valley with animal trails down to the lake.  We are anticipating great game viewing.

Heading out for an afternoon game drive, we immediately see a brown sable antelope which is larger than an impala with beautiful chocolate brown fur and straight horns.  Around a bend is a family of warthogs, another one of the Ugly Five.  This is the first warthog I’ve seen close since the others always turned and ran through the bush.

A group of warthogs is a sounder, and these animals have poor eyesight and memory.  They sleep in burrows at night and many lose their tails due to hyena attacks.  If they have a tail, they hold it high like a flag running through the grasses so others can follow.  They kneel on their front legs to use their tusks to help dig for roots but Africans say they are kneeling to pray before eating!  These critters are actually cute so don’t know why they are in the ugly list.

We spot one then two and finally a large memorial of elephants walking and feeding in the bush.  There are multiple ages and sexes including youngsters and babies which we haven’t seen before.  As we watch, the baby nurses from the mother.  The young ones cavort around the adults, and it’s amazing no one is trampled.  The herd also includes a large bull elephant proudly displaying his manhood who is probably the father of these babies.

We have been thoroughly enjoying the elephants, but as they wander into the bush out of sight, we spot another member of the antelope family, the water buck.  These large beige and light brown creatures have slightly curved horns and a distinctive white round mark on their rear.  Our guide tells us that from “sitting on the toilet seat”!  When they are stressed, they exude a hormone which causes their meat to have a bad taste.  Even lions and crocodiles don’t like water bucks for dinner!  They have a 7 month gestation and live about 14 years.

As dusk approaches, we see the ghost of the bush.  The kudu is the largest member of the antelope family with spiral horns and beautiful white markings on the face and haunches.  He is skittish and nervous around humans so isn’t seen as often as his cousins the impala or even the water buck.  Their large horns are fully grown at 6 years of age with 3 twists growing a twist every two years.  They have a muscular hump on their shoulders which enable them to jump 3 meters straight up standing still.  This particular kudu has oxpecker birds riding along his back, and I capture a silhouette of him beside the river.

Bedtime is right after dinner, but 5:30 AM wake up calls come early with the staff beating drums. We will be on game drives all day today in Chobe.  We spot animals along the way but nothing new and exciting- impalas, zebras, guinea fowl, warthogs, birds.  By the river we see several Nile crocodiles which feed on fish and animals that come down to the river to drink.  Normally 6-18 meters long, Nile crocs have pointy snouts and green eyes.   Nest temperature determines the sex of the 20 eggs which the female lies and tries to protect from lizards and baboons.

A tower of giraffes capture our attention, and we watch these graceful creatures.  Their necks seem to weave in and out of branches as they eat stopping periodically to look at us.  

..

Nearby is a bachelor group of impalas.  I’ve started saying, “Good luck!” as we pass these guys since they may each be fighting for a dominant position soon.

Down by the river again, we spot a water lizard in the grass.  These love to eat crocodile eggs digging up nests that mother crocs bury about a meter into the ground.

Someone spots elephants nearby, and we speed up the truck to intercept them.  Suddenly, they are all around us...in front, behind, beside.  We watch quietly, and let them move on as they head towards the river.  We follow and especially love the antics of the little ones!

Learning and discovery continues in the afternoon with a basket weaving demonstration and a beautiful display of their handiwork.  I purchase one from the woman who made it, and she said it took her 4 weeks to complete.

We continue to enjoy the animals on the trails below the patio.  Baboons, impalas, and even an occasional kudo passes by.  The communal bathrooms near the lodge have the BEST view!  You sit on the toilet looking through the open back to the valley.  I have no idea why monkeys and baboons aren’t in there with you!

Tomorrow will be our last day at Chobe before boarding planes to fly to the Okavango Delta in another area of Botswana.  We have a “wish list” of animals to see...hyenas, a male lion, and a leopard.

Another day in Africa!

Mosi-oa-Tunya and ....

David Livingston Lodge has been a nice respite from the bush, but I’ll be glad to return to our tents tomorrow.  We haven’t seen the resident hippo that is said to wander the grounds occasionally.  We also haven’t seen any snakes, but we know they are there.

Robyn and I, and I suspect the rest of the group, are on malaria preventive every day.  We sleep under mosquito netting at night, and I’m enjoying that cozy experience until you have to go to the bathroom in the dark and can’t find your way out!  

Victoria Falls, named for England’s Queen Victoria by British explorer, David Livingston, is formed as the Zambezi River plummets into a narrow chasm forming a series of waterfalls. Twice the height of Niagara Falls and over twice the width of Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls, this wonder generates spray and mist that rises over 400 meters in the air and can be seen from over 30 miles away.  

The natives called the falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders.  You hear the falls long before approaching them, and we saw the mist as we flew into the local airport and from our hotel rooms.  Before sunrise, the mist looks like a black smoke!

We are viewing the falls during the wet or high water season when over 500 million liters/minute  cascade downward.  Victoria Falls are extremely water dependent and during the dry season, you are able to walk on stretches to reach Livingston Island near the cliff top.  Situated on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the waters flow onward towards Madagascar and finally into the Indian Ocean.

We don our ponchos and wet shoes from tracking rhinos and head along the trail viewing the falls from various vantage points.  The noise is so loud you have to shout to be heard.  Water rushes by my feet and a single step would pull me into danger.  The mist is like a hard rain which ebbs and flows with the breeze while rainbows appear and disappear in the mist.

We are viewing the Zambia side of the falls which the country is proud of, but the Zimbabwe portion is better known.  We will be returning to the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe after our time in Zambia and Botswana.  

We head into Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park for an afternoon game drive.  Almost immediately our guide notes buffalo tracks and lots of them.  Up ahead in the road we see the culprits, a large gang or obstinacy of Cape Buffalo which is one of the Big Five animals.  They are very aggressive and don’t mock-charge like many animals, they are committed!  Our guide says no one messes with a Cape Buffalo.  

Both males and females have horns, but males have a bony helmet along with the horns.  Gestation is 11 months, they live 23 years, and are hunted for trophies.  No one mentioned eating them so guess they don’t taste like chicken!  They finish crossing the road bellowing, and we both continue our journeys.  

We spot more animals ahead....wildebeasts!  These animals have long mournful faces with shaggy beard and are one of the Ugly Five.  We have seen an occasional one, but they turn and run before we’ve had a chance to photograph them.  Males have solid black faces and females have brown brows.  A group is called an “impossible”...again, who names these?...and they are browsers and grazers.

We are all searching for more animals....of course, we see impalas...and in a field is a huge collection of Maribou Stocks, another of the Ugly Five.  They walk on white legs like stilts with black feathers wrapped around hunched wings.  Their red wrinkled faces and hanging pouches definitely earns them a spot on the ugly list!

We have afternoon tea by the river, and a band of monkeys join us hoping for a hand-out (No!) or dropped crumbs.  They are clever animals with cute intelligent faces.  If all else fails, they search the trash can!

A stunning sunset follows us back to the David Livingston Lodge.  Tomorrow we leave Zambia and head for six days in Botswana. 

Another day in Africa!

Camps and Animals and ...

As we headed to breakfast, impalas, a member of the antelope family, populated the valley below our camp along with a troop of baboons.  Our guides have taught us much about the African animals during game drives, and any misinformation I pass along is solely my mistake.

A group of impalas is called a rank, and a dominant male with a pair of curved horns guards his harem which includes infants and youngsters from other interested males.  He is constantly running either chasing females to mate - he has to prove competent and catch them first - or chasing other males away.  Older but not dominant males form bachelor groups and spend time eating, gaining strength and practice sparring.  The male mating call sounds like a pig...snort, snort and then a bleating.  After about a week or two of running, mating, fighting and not eating, the dominant male is over-powered and the cycle continues.

Baboons are playful, very social omnivores, with good eyesight and leopards are common predators.  Mothers carry their young clutched to their stomach for the 1st month until the child if old enough to ride on mom’s back.  Their call is either a wild chattering or a single note bark.  Their group is called a troop or a “congress”.  I am not making this up so when you think our government can sometimes be a bunch of baboons then....

Game drives are a highlight as we look for wild animals in their natural habitats.  Even though the wake up calls come early - usually 5:30 - we are ready to head out since many animals are most active in the early morning or late afternoon.  We are in African National Parks.  Yes, boys, I came to Africa to see more national parks!

Roads are unpaved, deeply rutted, and either filled with rocks or thick dirt.  The dirt is handy for tracking animals by their distinctive footprints and scat or dung or poop.  As we rock and roll in our jeeps, we have the “African massage”.  I’ve got bruises from the side rails and some bumps give you “air time” especially if you are in the back row.  We were told the roads would be bumpy, and you had to climb a series of steps like a ladder to get into and out of the jeeps.  All true!

There are few toilets in the bush or rather there are lots of toilets, and they are called bushes or termite mounds!  I’ve tried several “loos with a view” also called “going to pick roses”, a “smile break”, or an “African toilet”!  We say the men are”marking their territory” like their animal counterparts.

Conditions in camp have been rustic but comfortable.  I am a fan of flush toilets, and we have those!  Electricity is provided by solar power and/or generators which have a tendency to shut off which also turns off the water.  We were told not to bring hair dryers since this stresses the grid and the trip was not suitable for anyone requiring a C-Pap machine or anything requiring a constant source of electricity.

Besides the animal drives, we have loved our food.  Each camp has a chef, and we are given 3 meals a day, plus tea/snack break in the morning, and tea again in the afternoon.  We may all be fatter heading home than when we arrived.  An optional bar in always available so beer and wine are plentiful.  The staff at each camp have been warm and welcoming.  Robyn says it’s the best hospitality she has ever experienced, and Kingsmill Resort could take lessons!

Unfortunately, several members of our 16 person group have contacted a respiratory infection and are passing it along to the others.  Everyday someone new is coughing on game drives and several members have stayed in their tents to sleep and try to heal.  We aren’t near medical care so people are using medicine from home, salt water gargles, and lots of hot tea.

Insects especially flies are a constant nuisance, but a literal dousing of bug spray keeps most of them at bay.  Flies, ants, moths, and assorted other flying critters have provided some of the protein in my diet since they slide right down when your mouth is open on game drives.  You also learn to look in your drink before take a swig since insects love to take a swim!

We have been learning about Africa’s big five animals: elephants, lions, rhinos, Cape buffalo, and leopard.  There is also the ugly five:  hyenas, warthogs, maribou stock, vulture, and wildebeast.  As our trip continues, we laugh and invent the small five:  rabbit, turtle, snail....

The baobab is a huge native tree and some may be a thousand years old.  Many in the park here are several hundred years old.  If you’ve been to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, the massive tree centerpiece known as “The Tree of Life” is a baobab tree.  The fruit is an elongated pod and the white seeds can be eaten like popcorn.

The fields are covered with mopane trees which naturally grow large, but elephants love their leaves so they trim them constantly.  Another interesting tree is the sausage tree and when you see a picture you will understand why.  Their fruit is also tubular shaped and looks like someone hung their deli meats on the limbs!  Each one weigh about 6 lbs and would make a handy club.  Medicine men use the fruit for male enhancement...yes, even in Africa...and also to help with skin cancer.

The environment is filled with natural medicines that the Africans use everyday.  If they contact malaria, an ever present and recurring disease, they use the ....tree for quinine.  Another shrubs’ leaves can be crushed and applied to wounds for healing.  Flowers can be crushed, mixed with water to make a soap-like product, and another bushes’ stems make good toothbrushes.  Sage leaves can be rub on the body as a natural deodorant and bush hunters picked sage the night prior to a hunt and them mixed them with water.  In the morning, the sage water was poured over their bodies to disguise their human scent from animals.

Christianity is the main religion, and we see multiple dominations in villages and towns.  I also saw a Jewish synagogue, but Islam and Hinduism is aqlso practiced.  I wanted to attend a local church for Easter service, but we were leaving too early heading to our first camp.

Most children attend school, but it is not free.  Fees are collected and families usually pay by selling cattle or produce.  If parents are unable to pay, they are allowed to pay a few dollars at a time.  Many of the four countries we visit...Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa...start schooling at 6 years old or “1st form”.  Some may have preschool as young as 4, but in 7th form, the students take exams based on various subjects...math, English, their native language, agriculture, and general studies.  They must pass these to continue to secondary school.  After 192th form, students can decide whether to continue to university or vocational or trade school.

Birds are plentiful and mostly colorful.  I’m not a bird person and there are too many to name, but they are in the trees, on the shrubs and grasses, along the water and in the water.  My favorite is the lilac breasted roller; a 7-colored bird whose male rolls in flight when he is trying to impress a potential mate.  The Cape Turtle Dove looks like a dove, and we hear its 3-note call in each country and on every game drive.  We’ve been told it is saying “Work harder, work harder” throughout the day and in the evening, it’s “Drink lager, drink lager “!

There are falcons and cranes, stocks and ducks.  The Egyptian duck looks like it has painted eyes, and the Jesus bird has long legs and is said to walk on water.

Then there are the two ugly birds that are both in the “ugly five animals” - the vulture and the Maribou stock.  

HIV and AIDS are a major health crisis throughout Africa, but it appears the rate is declining.  Some of the southern countries we are visiting have HIV and AIDS populations of 10-17%.   The governments are trying to educate their people but ignorance, misunderstandings, mistrust, and even the younger generation thinking, “I’ll just treat it if I catch it” create difficult situations.   When America became involved in the crisis, some Africans initially thought AIDS stood for America’s Ideas to Discourage Sex.

Another day in Africa continues.....