Sunset on the Zambezi

One of the best times of the day to see wildlife, I'm learning, is as the sun's going down, and one of the best places is around water. So I took Sarah and her friend Tempe (granddaughter of my lovely Sydney friend Sheila) on a sunset cruise along the Zambezi River

Mix yourself an ice-cold gin and tonic, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Hippos

Impala

Elephant

Open-mouthed crocodile

Various birds with names I forget 😔 (the white one's an egret)

A little housekeeping

You know those silences between blog posts? It's because I'm dependent on the goodness of Sarah's workplace for internet, and I can only publish posts or reply to your encouraging comments when I'm at work with her.

I love to lie in bed at night using off-line time for editing my photos and writing about the fantastic adventure I'm having, so that I need to use the internet as little as possible the next day.

So will you please forgive me if I don't reply to your comments while I'm on this African safari? It will help me so much, but it won't mean I'm any less grateful to you all for coming along on my journey and providing the cheer squad.

🐗. 🐍. 🐗. 🐍. 🐗

Falling on our feet

After collecting Sarah from the border post at Kazungula we continued on to the iconic Victoria Falls Hotel for a final weekend of luxury before going bush.

This was the view from the lawn of the hotel, looking across to the Falls and the bridge over the Zambezi River. You can see the spray rising like smoke into the sky. The locals call the Falls "The Smoke that Roars".

Our wonderful hosts, Rodney and Wendi, left us the next morning, and we set out to explore Victoria Falls. Before we'd even left the grounds of the hotel we came face to face with some of the local wildlife, a family of warthogs sniffling in the garden below our window, and these banded mongooses enjoying a romp.

Baboons live in the park outside the hotel, and their facial expression always seems to say, "You lookin' at me?" 

The Falls themselves lived up to their traditional name of Mosi-oa-tunya (The Smoke that Thunders) and were breathtaking, and completely drenching! Be warned, if you plan to go there you will get wet even on the pathways close to the Falls. 

My shorts were a better idea than jeans, skin being easier to dry than denim, and my fast drying sandals proved preferable to having to spend days drying out a pair of leather sneakers. Even the plastic ponchos I'd packed failed to stop us getting wet through. This was definitely no fashion parade!

We slipped through the lobby back at the hotel trying our best to look invisible. Footsore and weary, we were glad we'd booked massages for the afternoon.

Ahhh, bliss!

Jumbo jeopardy

Finally, just near the border between Zimbabwe and Botswana, we rounded a bend and finally saw elephants (!!!) emerging from the bush and strolling across the road, as casually as you like.

They ranged from this sweet baby...

To this big bull.

He was not at all pleased to see us! 

He stepped out in front of our car and stood squarely at the end of the bonnet, staring us down. For  a few seconds we held our breath and made no sound. It was not until afterward that Wendi and Rodney told me he could have attacked the car.

The confrontation, which felt like forever, was soon over. 

Having achieved his aim - to show us who is really boss in the bush - he turned away, continued his crossing, and was soon swallowed up in the thick foliage.

Springwood Winmalee Bushfire Quilts [2]

In case you're not as head over heels crazy about my wild animal encounters as I am, here's a little more quilty eye candy - some more of the quilts made by St Mark's Quilters that  Di B and I delivered to Tracey Greenaway for the Springwood Winmalee Bushfire Appeal before I left.

Wet and wild

Unusually for me I was awake, out of bed and bushy-tailed at 5am on Sunday morning, ready for another game drive. But my bushy tail was soon dampened as the rain fell harder and harder. Fortunately most of our party were still up for it, and our driver and guide, Peter, was happy to oblige, though he admitted the weather would make seeing wild animals even more of a challenge.

Only 5 minutes down the track we encountered our first animals, a pair of impala momentarily caught in the headlights before skipping off into the bush. Then we saw a hyena in the long grass at the side of the road.

More impala, not far from the entrance to Hwange Game Park. Aren't they pretty?

These ostriches were just sitting in the long grass.

We stopped at this hide for coffee, and from our elevated position, overlooking a water pan, we could se three kinds of animals.

These zebras grazing under an acacia tree.

A big crocodile resting in the shallows.

And a family of hippos surfacing and submerging in the water.

Moving on, we passed a herd of wildebeest.

Some waterbuck, looking as if they were lined up ready for target practice 😄

These crested cranes are so beautiful.

A herd of buffalo.

Giraffes having breakfast.

Suddenly we spotted another safari vehicle parked near a thicket several hundred meters away, a sign that there was something interesting going on. Then we saw them. Lions!

They had killed a young giraffe and were resting, their tummies nicely full from their meal. The rest of the pride retreated to the safety of the thicket when our vehicle approached, but if you look very closely you might see a little face peeking out.

Again we returned to the camp without seeing elephants, but the lion kill was excitement enough. What a fantastic start to the day!

My first game drive

I went on my first game drive from Khulu Ivory Lodge late on Saturday afternoon, with the weather still a bit patchy. It didn't matter because our huge waterproof ponchos kept us and our cameras dry as we bumped along the muddy bush tracks on the back of our covered safari truck driven by our knowledgable guide Peter.

There were six in our group, and it was enormous fun. These impala and baboons were the first animals we came upon, gathering near a water pan for their evening drink.

February, the wet season, is not the best time to see animals because the foliage on the trees is so lush and the undergrowth so thick. An elephant could be mere meters away and you would never know unless you heard him. 

These giraffes were easy!

I proved I had much to learn about pachyderm spotting when what I thought was a chubby brown 'elephant' turned out to be a very fine example of the Common African Toyota! 😜

Birds have never excited me much, but one of our group was an expert, and crimson bee-eaters, yellow-billed hornbills, guinea fowl, lilac-breasted rollers, and black eagles had him jumping up and down with delight! I'm starting to see the attraction.

We were hoping to encounter elephants from the Presidential Herd.

This 450 strong herd, under the patronage of the President of Zimbabwe, is protected from poachers and game hunters, and habituated to human contact, so they will allow safari vehicles to safely approach for an up close experience. 

Unfortunately they all had something better to do this Saturday night.

Back at the camp Jameson had a magnificent three course dinner waiting for us, and we ended a perfect (if elephant-less) day sitting around a roaring campfire drinking liqueurs.