It's May first, and we've been home now for two weeks. I've been putting off adding to the journal, partly because I've been under the weather. I began coughing with some chest congestion about a week or ten days after we arrived in Africa. We were at the Royal Zambezi Lodge by then, and it's not the sort of place where one can run down to the corner drug store for some cold meds. Fortunately, a couple of our companions, a mother and daughter from Caifornia, had planned better than we had, and they presented me with packages of NyQuil, DayQuil, and antihistamine. Thanks to their generosity, I was able to stave off the cold and it wasn't until we were home that I really began to feel poorly. My doc says I probably picked something up on the flight over.

A lot more excitement occurred during the rest of our voyage, but it's already getting a bit fuzzy: what happened when, etc. I'm just going to try to hit the highlights.

On one of our later afternoons at the Zambezi Lodge, Kathy and I decided to go on another boat ride. Everyone else was doing other things, so we had two of the guides to ourselves. As on other trips, we saw elephant, hippos, crocodiles, and lots of birds. The most exciting thing though, was seeing a baby hippo. Parts of the river are broken into fairly small channels by small, grassy islands. We were cruising through these channels at low speed with the motor turned quite low and consequently, quiet. I think we surprised the mother hippo. I just happened to be looking in the right direction in time to see, about twenty feet away, the mother disappearing into the tall grass with the little one right behind her. The others got a glimpse of the baby, but didn't see the mother at all. We've subsequently been told that mother hippos are very protective of their young, and it's unusual to see the babies, especially at close range.

On the following afternoon, Kathy did a game drive and, after hearing everyone else rave about the canoe trip, I decided to try it too. My fellow gimp, Mary Beth was also along, so we shared the last canoe in line. (Each canoe was paddled by a guide.) We were on the tributary where Kathy had canoed the day before. We also encountered some elephants early on, but they were up on the bank a short distance from the river's edge. A younger female decided she didn't like us there, so she did a mock charge - ears extended, trunk raised and sort of shambling in our direction. The bank had been cut back at that point so there was a 12 or 15 foot drop nearly straight down to the water. She stopped just before getting there and then appeared to be looking for the closest way down, but soon lost interest.

A little further along there were two hippos in the water on the far side of the river from us. The tributary was only 50 or 60 feet wide at that point, so the canoes hugged the opposite side of the river. We had observed by this time that the guides were much more wary of hippos than of most other animals, except possibly cape buffalo. Hippos are unpredictable. About the time the last canoe (Mary Beth and me) got opposite them, one of the hippos stood up (hippos are poor swimmers, and mostly stand on the bottom) and started towards us. Our guide began paddling very quickly indeed. My confidence in the personnel who worked with us during the whole trip was great enough that I was busy trying to get a photo, and it didn't occur to me until later that perhaps I ought to have picked up the second paddle and lent a hand at that point. In any case the hippo decided we weren't worth chasing and soon stopped.

We proceeded on to the end of the trip and enjoyed the traditional G&T and snackies before climbing back into the motor boat and returning to the lodge.

I think I've gotten the chronology of events a little confused here. I know the village visit was on our last morning at the Royal Zambezi Lodge. In any case that afternoon Kathy and I, along with most of the rest of the group, decided to go on a last game drive. This was the only drive we did entirely outside the Lower Zambezi National Park. We set out in the afternoon, but didn't get back until well after dark.

Early along a leopard loped across the road maybe 25 feet in front of us. This was somewhat unusual, as it seems that after dark is the best time to see them. Leopard was the last of the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and cape buffalo) we saw, so we were all very excited although it happened so quickly that nobody was able to get a picture. Brian, our guide, backed up away, but the undergrowth was so thick that all we could see was movement, but not enough for a photo.

We continued driving for some time, but without seeing anything out of the ordinary (how quickly we become jaded). I noticed a contrast from our experiences in Chobe National Park where there far more tourists on safari. (As I mentioned above, the Royal Zambezi Lodge was pretty remote and the same goes for the whole of Lower Zambezi National Park and the surrounding area.) Many of the animals in Chobe seemed almost indifferent to the jeeps. They would sometimes grudgingly get out of the road to let us pass, but on several occasions we passed impala standing right on the edge of the road which didn't even turn their heads to look at us. Here in the middle of nowhere animals were much more shy; wart hogs and baboons would always run when we approached.

There are mountains running roughly parallel with the Zambezi in this area (everywhere else we visited was quite flat). We drove up into the foothills for the traditional G&T and snackies stop. There were two jeeps and the folks in the other one hadn't seen the leopard, so they were quite jealous. However it was a very peaceful spot and the view was wonderful, so everyone was still in good spirits. Brian promised he'd show us two more leopards before we returned to the Lodge for dinner. I thought that might be a rash promise but he delivered.

We'd driven for 20 minutes or so in the gathering darkness when Brian got a radio call from the other jeep. He suddenly began driving very fast, and I said to Kathy that something must be up. By the time we stopped it was fully dark. The second guide in our jeep was holding a spotlight aimed off to our left. We were approaching a dry wash, and the other jeep was down in it shining its spotlight in the same direction. I was confused and said, "What are we looking at?" "A leopard, right there!" said Kathy. I looked where the spotlights were shining, and sure enough, there was a leopard sitting on the bank about 20 feet away. "Oh," I said, "I see a leopard." The leopard seemed quite unperturbed by the spotlights and all of our cameras flashing away, but after 10 minutes or so, he got up stretched, and wandered off into the forest.

We started up and followed the other jeep down the road a way, then Brian stopped and turned off the lights. We were in a heavily wooded area and the darkness was almost total. Brian took the opportunity to point out that "Jeremy (he pronounced my name JerryMe) said, 'What are we looking at.'" He was greatly amused by this and made a point of ensuring that all the others fully appreciated the humor and/or my stupidity. Brian was such a great guide I couldn't take offense.

Suddenly Brian got another radio call, and the lights went back on and we took off again down the road. He pulled up next to the other guide and there, strolling down the road about 50 feet ahead was another leopard! As he progressed in his leisurely way, the jeeps would start up and close the distance some, then stop again. Again, the headlights, spotlights, and flashing cameras didn't seem to concern him. Eventually he stopped, peed on a large tree, and went off at right angles to the road. Brian said he was marking his territory.

We returned in high spirits because we'd all seen the Big Five. The first person i met at the Lodge was our South African guide, James. He shouted, "Wow! The Big Five", and high fived me. I think he was just as excited as I was: another reason I liked him so much.

Littl elephant - if they are a year or younger, they can walk under the mother - looks like this is under a year.



Crossing the river


Jerry on our first Sundowner cruise


Lilac breasted roller (named for flight acrobatics)


Vervet monkey (they like to share your food with you)


Our room at Chobe Lodge






Kids dancing at school in Zimbabwe





Shots of our room at Royal Zambezi Lodge





Leopard on our last night


Departure from Lower Zambezi

Cape Buffalo at watering hole








Uh oh, here come the lions!






Lions at watering hole after buffalo ran away








Giant kingfisher








Water monitor







A bigger Croc







Kudu







Elephant family (one baby had trouble walking up the bank-very small)








AWWWWW!







Kingfisher







Young kudu having a mock battle














We saw many many hippos







Oh, and here's another lion! Got pretty close to her.







Chobe sunset







Wild dog (very rare)







Can't stop taking elephant pics







Cape Buffalo probably had a run in with a lion

MORE FROM VICTORIA FALLS



Young Zebra


Swingin Baboon


Some dancers and musicians


Croc



Terrific tour boat!


Evening spray from Victoria Falls


Jerry and a friend after walking under VF Bridge

Location:Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls


Giraffe in VF Private Game Preserve


Warthog


Marabou Storks at the Crocodile Boneyard


Black Rhino (very rare)


Tawny Eagle

Location:Zimbabwe

Thursday, April 19

Struggling to keep up.

Yesterday Kathy was under the weather with "traveler's complaint" as she so delicately put it. She opted for DNA (do nothing at all) in the morning while the rest of us visited a native village about a half an hour's boat ride down the river. It was fascinating, delightful, heart-breaking and joyous.

The people all seemed delighted to see us. The children are especially uninhibited and we soon learned they love to have their pictures taken and then, through the magic of digital cameras, see themselves instantly. This invariably caused great hilarity. I took a few pictures of older adults and had a brief conversation with an old man who seemed pleased to see his picture, but was content to just smile.

At one of the two wells (running water? don't be silly) we encountered another bunch of kids (in addition to the ones who'd been following us ever since we got off the boat). There was a boy of about eight who had a withered right hand and whose legs seemed deformed as well. Evidently he couldn't stand as he was on his knees in the dust. Everyone seemed to ignore him. I stood in front of him and asked if I could take his picture. He nodded, and when I showed it to him, he smiled and made some comment I couldn't understand. Perhaps he was retarded as well, but at least he got to see his picture like all the other kids.

We visited the school and received an orientation from the principal, a very dignified gentleman in a pinstripe suit and tie which would have been at home on Wall Street. Like the earlier school visit, they do an amazing amount with very little, but are still desperately in need of assistance. Some of the kids sang us several songs, then the teacher asked if we'd sing for them. One of our group, Dan, led us in "I'm a Little Teapot". They loved it and wanted more, so we also did "The Eencey Weencey Spider". Great hilarity on all sides.

Leaving the school we had a quite a long walk back to the starting point. I had left our room in a bit of a hurry and forgotten my cane, which I now regretted. However a wonderful thing happened to me as I began the walk back. One of the many children who had accompanied us everywhere came up beside me and took my hand. I think it was a little girl, but I wasn't even sure. In any case she never said a word, nor did I. After we'd walked along together awhile, she squeezed my hand. I squeezed back. From that point onwards we exchanged squeezes in increasingly complex rhythms, alternating with drumming our fingers on each other's hands. Occasionally she'd look up at me with a sweet, shy smile. She left me when we got back to the beginning of our tour where we were to get further information. I really regret that I was too stupid to even take her picture, but it was a touching, memorable moment for me.

Next we had a song and dance from an adult group all dressed alike. After that we visited the Headman in his hut. We were told how to greet him by kneeling and clapping our hands. Women were to clap cupped hands. Men were to clap their hands on their thighs. However those of us who had difficulty kneeling could sit on stools and clap. We all entered and greeted the old fellow. I'm probably mistaken, but I thought he looked a lot like the old guy I'd photographed earlier. He welcomed us through an interpreter.

Next we visited the museum (all this, by the way, was in a recreation of a village from an earlier age with wattle and daub huts painted with traditional designs). The actual village, where everyone lived was a mish-mash of concrete, corrugated steel, wattle and daub, etc. We were given a further dancing and singing performance, culminating with bringing all the women in our group up to join in the dance - which they did admirably. Unfortunately the dancing occurred under a thatched roof, and the sun was coming in from behind, so none of my photos came out well. We eventually visited the "shop" where there were all sorts of hand made objects for sale. I picked up a magnificent bead necklace which I figured would cost at least $35. It was $6. So I bought three.

We clambered back into the speed boats, and with every child in the village (and quite a few of the adults) waving goodbye, we motored back to the lodge.

Canoe trip, Lower Zambezi NP, Day 2

In the afternoon I chose to take a canoe trip with 5 others in our group. Jerry had planned to go too, but he was having some upper respiratory stuff and just wanted to rest at our "tent".

We took a power boat and stopped to register at the National Park checkin. The on down the river to a small tributary we had seen on our Bushwalk in the morning. We started out (a guide to paddle us) and had to stop almost immediately while we watched an elephant family drinking at the river. The guides said we would go by after they had crossed the river. Did you know that an elephant drinks between 10-40 gallons at a time? And that, being the largest land animal, are not in a hurry to finish and cross a river? The entire trip was supposed to take about 1 1/2 hours, but we spent a half hour watching these big guys. After the family crossed, a grouchy little female decided to charge our canoes. She was bluffing, but it seemed a little dicy for a few minutes.

We continued on down the river and saw Goliath Herons, a large crocodile (we immediately lost interest in dangling our hands in the water), hippos, more elephant (less grouchy) and a riverbank full of holes where white fronted beeeaters were plastered on the bank near their nests. They have brilliant green bodies and put on quite a display.

By the time we pulled ashore and had our evening drinks (Mosi is the local beer, named for Victoria Falls and pronounced mossy). it was nearly dark. It was a lovely stretch of river. We proceeded by motorboat to the checkout point and on to the Lodge for another dinner of epic proportions.

Bushwalk at Zambezi, Day 2 at Lower Zambezi NP

Jerry opted for a game drive, and I decided to go on the bushwalk. We were greeted by a guide, a guide in training and an armed guard (to take care of those pesky wild things we might encounter.

We took a boat down the river and after our guide Simeon registered us at the National Park we went a bit further and were dropped off at a suitable place to walk. Simeon christened our tour Birds and Turds.

He showed us pottery shards from people who had been relocated inland from the park and we discovered a tortoise shell. Evidently birds will pull or poke the tortoise out of the shell and leave the rest. He did not touch it because of anthrax which is pretty prevalent here. In fact we had to step in a disinfectant bath at one point in our trip across the border.

We saw many impala, a few waterbucks, a Paradise Wydah (very long tail).

He also showed us a termite mound and explained that termites who built it have no UV protection, so they build underground tunnels all around to get to the dead material they need. They do not eat wood, but use it to grow a fungus that they then eat. Evidently many people here love to eat termites (fried), but we haven't tried them yet.

We learned about wild basil (nothing like ours) that is used to help cure a cold. It is also used in embalming people who die in a village since there are no mortuaries in most of them.

We saw the rain tree. In October spittle bugs live in the tree and there is a fine mist coming down from the tree. If someone wants a couple to divorce, you can sneak rain tree wood into their fire. Most people will not use rain tree firewood.

The nearby mountain range is the Zambezi Escarpment and the highest mountain is called Chila Pila (Mountain of Curses). Once someone climbs this mountain they don't ever want to do it again!

We found porcupine quills from the AFrican porcupine. Evidently if you burn the quills and inhale the smoke, it will cure nosebleeds.

We returned to our lodge after about an hour and a half and had a substantial brunch. Meals have been substantial and very delicious.

By the way, my camera battery died on this trip so I won't be able to show you all the 53 leopards we saw on the walk!

Monday, April 16

I'm sitting on the deck of our room(?) looking out at the Zambezi River (for real this time). The question mark is because I'm not quite sure what to call our accomadation. It's got canvas sides and a canvas room, but it's not really a tent as it has a poured concrete floor, electricity, and running water in our private bathroom. The walls are concrete in places, and above the canvas roof is a thatched roof of the type we've been seeing throughout our trip.

A little while ago an elephant came strolling down the river just in front of me. It's been browsing in the tall grass on an island about three hundred yards downstream ever since. The Royal Zambezi Lodge is located in "one of the largest remaining areas of true wilderness in sub-Saharan Africa".

After our arrival and lunch yesterday we went for a sunset cruise on the river in two smaller boats. We didn't really see many mammals besides a couple of elephants and some hippos with just their eyes and nostrils projecting above the surface. Our guide pointed out a considerable and, to me, bewildering variety of birds. We stopped for refreshments on a sand bar as the sun set over the mountains (this is the first mountainous area we've seen). I was reminded of a night we camped on a sandbar in the Colorado River when I was sixteen. I just rolled by sleeping bag out on the sand, wiggled around a bit to get comfy and slept like a log. I think this may have been even more beautiful.

At dinner (linen tablecloths and napkins, heavy silverware and china, not to mention wonderful food - I had lamb curry, Kathy ate Nile perch.) we were entertained by a group of young men who sang several traditional songs in amazing harmony. Among the songs was one which I suddenly realized was in English and went, "We hope you enjoy your dinner, we hope you enjoy your dinner, our guests." They didn't really dance, but on the other hand I'm not sure it's really possible for Africans to stand still and sing.

This morning we had a choice of activities. Kathy went on a game walk in nearby Lower Zambezi National Park led by Don Wilson, our Smithsonian guide/naturalist and accompanied by a ranger armed with a heavy rifle. Because my hip makes me slow and I tire easily, I opted for a game drive. I'll mention here that one of our group, Mary Beth, also has difficulty walking, perhaps even more than me. We've taken to calling ourselves "The Gimps" or "The Tortoise and the Tortoise". Mary Beth was also on the Game drive. We didn't see a lot of new animals on the trip, a few elephants, some zebras, crocs, of course hundreds of impalas, and we got very nice shots of a couple of waterbucks at the point where we forded a tributary of the Zambezi.

Again we saw plenty of birds including a paradise wydah and a saddle-beaked stork (which James told us was one of the five rarest birds in Africa). We had a somewhat amusing encounter with an elephant we drove past a small family group (we were about 50 feet away); a young (male?) took it into his head to charge us. We were stopped at the moment. Ears spread wide, he began shambling towards our jeep, trumpeting. We didn't move and he stopped after a few steps, clearly nonplused. He turned away a bit, and then we drove off. As we departed he trumpeted again, much more loudly this time. We decided that meant something like, "See guys, I chased them off!"

Friday the thirteenth

We were paged shortly before 5:00, and eventually piled into our truck with our faithful driver and excellent naturalist, Obie (I explained to him that I grew up in Oberlin and we are occasionally called "Obies". We decided we must be cousins.)

I'm afraid that due to the early hour I was a bit fuzzy at first, and due to the late hour now (9:30 local time), my recollections of what we saw and the order in which we saw it is very poor. But we saw elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, baboons, impala, kudu, fish eagles, water monitors, and many species of birds. We'd been out for some time when Obie noticed that a fairly large herd of wafer buffalo at a water hole were acting nervous, and that a pride of lions was approaching from upwind. The lions disappeared into a large clump of bushes and for some while nothing happened, although several of the big bulls were very alert and kept looking toward the bushes. Then, to my surprise the buffalo took off rapidly, but not in panic in the direction where we'd last seen the lions. The buffalo disappeared and a moment later the lions stalked into the water hole area and proceeded to drink.

We stopped a bit later for coffee and biscuits and a stretch (much needed in my case - my ass was killing me). Then we started back, but Obie got a call on the radio which had him rapidly reversing direction and driving around in what was obviously a search pattern. Eventually a wild dog appeared running toward the road. Obie stopped and the dog ran across the road just in front of us. He stopped about 20 feet from our truck and paused long enough for everyone to get a good picture of him, then he took off again. He had a limp, and James (the tour leader) later explained that the pack would have left him behind, and he probably wouldn't last long on his own.

We returned to the Lodge for a late breakfast. Kathy and I walked into the nearby town and visited a liquor store and then a supermarket, but didn't buy anything. We had lunch and then snoozed briefly before setting out again at 3:00 for a boat ride on the Chobe river (hippos!)

It's now Saturday and I'm feeling like Alice (White Rabbit?), "The hurrieder I go the behinder I get."

We not only did the boat ride yesterday evening, we've already been out for a three hour game drive this morning, and I just finished breakfast. It's only 10:30 in the AM!

The boat trip was wonderful. Saw lots of hippo, a half a dozen crocodiles - all of them quite small, tawny eagles, fish eagles, storks, ibis, ducks, etc. Our guides James and Don grew quite excited over a couple of the bird species. Maybe Kathy can remember which ones.

For my part, I just enjoyed the river and the sights. The Zambezi is very wide at this point, especially as the rainy season recently ended. We were told that it was relatively dry this year and the river is normally higher and even broader.
Now it's Saturday and another morning game drive and another boat trip on the Zambezi are past. We're sitting on the patio of the restaurant looking out at the sunset over the river. I should say a bit about the dining area. It's open to the air on all sides. A combination of posts and live trees hold up an enormous thatched roof over all, dining area, swimming pool and bar. Bugs seem few and far between, and the weather always seems beautiful. Actually we've been very lucky as it is unusually cool for this time of year. Dinner will happen shortly.

On the game drive this morning we saw mostly things we'd seen before. It's amazing how quickly you become jaded, "Oh yeah another baboon." or "Huh, more impalas." We did see a hyena for the first time and a couple of lions briefly. Our driver, Obie, was hoping for a leopard, but that didn't happen. However all was saved by a lioness lying next to the road. She posed for several minutes, and then rose and paced regally across the road, so everyone got plenty of good pictures.

Once again I'm so sorry we can't load some pictures yet, but we have to pay for the internet by the minute, and it takes forever to load each picture.