Aging Adventurers-September 28 -October 10, 2019
Arrived in Victoria Falls yesterday. A very long flight with thirteen hours to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, an hour or so lay-over and then another 4 hours to Vic Falls. We were all exhausted. Neither Irene nor I slept much on the plane, but we were able to keep going until evening. As usual Irene wanted to visit the curio market. We spent far too much time there! We were asleep before 8.00 pm and only woke up at about 5.30 am.
Today we visited the falls themselves. Very impressive! This is considered “low water”, at the end of the dry season, when the volume of water going over the falls is not so great. However, it was still impressive. Lots of walking- the falls themselves are just more than a kilometre wide, and with all the twists and turns we walked over 5 km.
The day started at a very comfortable temperature, which lasted until about 10.00 am, after which it got hot, but not unbearably hot, but enough to be uncomfortable.
Flags everywhere are at half-mast. This is for Robert Mugabe who died last week in hospital in Singapore. He was due to be buried today, but no one knew where. Apparently, this is deliberate. According to the story (admittedly somewhat garbled) his body was flown from Singapore to Zimbabwe, then flown back to Singapore. Whether he will be buried in Singapore or in Zimbabwe is unknown. Apparently, there were also 3 coffins, so that no one could sure which coffin contained his body. Why this elaborate process? I am not really sure (or even whether this is true), but the story we were told suggests the possibility of grave robbing by witchdoctors to make medicine from his brain. Apparently, if you are intelligent and your brain is mixed into a medical potion you can transmit intelligence. They would be misguided if they thought that Mugabe was intelligent!
30.9.19
Jet lag hit last night. Both Irene and I were up for a good part of the night, despite having fallen asleep easily. This morning Irene Ken and Deena went curio shopping. I was excused! Used the time to do my birding book-keeping. I have so far seen 2 completely new species, bringing my life list to 1400 exactly. With luck this trip will push the list higher.
This afternoon we visited a vulture feeding exhibition. It was spectacular. We arrived early, and already there were vultures in trees and many soaring. As feeding time grew closer more and more vultures arrived and festooned the trees and more and more circled in the air. There must have been several hundred all told. In addition, there are marabou storks that also joined in the melee. When the food was put out it was a free for all. Look at Irene’s video attached to the blog. It was amazing. Tonight, a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.
The sunset cruise was terrific. The view was fabulous, sunset on the Zambezi with elephants and buffalo. This was a dinner cruise, and one would expect the food to be so-so, but it was good. Plus they plied you with alcohol, so it was all good.
September 30-October 3
We departed from Phezulu Lodge in Victoria Falls where we were staying to fly to the first safari area. This was quite the production- 10 minute van ride from the hotel to the Zimbabwean customs post. There we were picked up by a Zambian driver who took us to the Zambian immigration. Going thought immigration was a breeze. They barely looked at the passports (neither did I, which nearly got me in trouble when we left Zambia. More on that later.)
Then to the airport for the flight to our next destination. The flight was anything but a breeze. This was a small 5-seater plane very hot with inadequate ventilation. The flight was very bumpy. I was airsick after 10 minutes and this lasted through the flight. Probably the worst 2 hours of my life.
The “airport” was a strip of sand cleared from the bush. The airport waiting room had two chairs and a concrete bench. There was a toilet, but no running water, so after each visit the attendant had to flush with a bucket of water. We were met by our safari truck and were driven to a boat on the Zambezi which travelled up-river for another 50 minutes to Chongwe river Camp where we were to stay for three nights. That part of the trip was great. There were hippos everywhere, and on the banks buffalo, elephants and impala.
The safari lodge- Chongwe River Camp- was pretty much open air. The rooms had walls of concrete about 2 feet high with canvas covered walls and mesh windows to keep out insects, but was otherwise open. Very comfortable. The walls of the bathroom were thatch to about eye-level, then open about 10 inches to the canvas roof. Between the walls and the roof were branches with vicious looking thorns to deter the baboons from coming inside. That didn’t work in Ken and Deena’s tent! When they got back from an afternoon outing, they discovered that a baboon had taken advantage of the facilities. Only problem was that he had gotten confused and pooped in the shower instead of the toilet!
We eat outdoors at long tables where we are served dinners. Afterward there is a big campfire surrounded by comfortable chairs for us to sit on while enjoying the company.
At this camp we had a variety of excursions- boat, Land Cruiser and walking tours! I was expecting to see far more game, as we had in the Kruger Park and in Botswana, but here in Zambia we see very little and we haven’t seen any huge herds the way we have in the past. So, we see lone elephants and sometimes in groups of up to 5, hippopotamus in large numbers because they need to be immersed in water during the day and the rivers are mostly dried out so they have to congregate closer together in the few places where the water is deep enough.
At this camp we had a variety of excursions- boat, Land Cruiser and walking tours! I was expecting to see far more game, as we had in the Kruger Park and in Botswana, but here in Zambia we see very little and we haven’t seen any huge herds the way we have in the past. So, we see lone elephants and sometimes in groups of up to 5, hippopotamus in large numbers because they need to be immersed in water during the day and the rivers are mostly dried out so they have to congregate closer together in the few places where the water is deep enough.
We do see good numbers of birds which suits Morris and Ken and Deena. The guide or one of them will point and say something like, “carmine bee eater” the others in turn say! “Got it! and I say, ”Where, where, where?” I have more or less stopped looking. I just cannot see as well as they can. Also, they have been doing this sort of thing for decades!
Walking tour with guide GEORGE and Solomon who was dressed in army fatigues and carried a rifle for our protection. We didn’t see any big animals because they are skittish around 2 legged creatures and quickly disappear. We did see plenty of birds and George talked about termite hills and the uses of various plants and trees.
Over all it was a great place to stay. The game drives were also great. Drives were early in the am (6.00-10.30) and out again at from 4.00 pm to about 7.00 (some of which was after dark). It has been during the evening drives that we have seen leopards, 1 eating his kill up in the fork of a tree, another eating hers in the base of another tree and a third on the lookout for prey! Pretty exciting to see 3 leopards in one evening! Morris who has been on many safaris during his life had previously seen only 2!
In-between drives was relaxation time. We were visited by an elephant in the camp. We had been warned that should this happen we were to stay in the tent. This happened twice for short periods, while the elephant was grazing just outside. It was so close that 1 step would have put me in touching distance.
Neither of us have ever been that close to a wild elephant before. This happened just before lunch. The elephant then decided to join us for lunch. He strolled around the dining area, being careful not to trample anything, feeding off the trees. He then decided that all that eating triggered his colonic reflex (the one that makes a baby poop after eating) and delivered three huge elephant turds just next to the dining room table. Of course, none of the guests were still at the table, having been moved “indoors” (Indoors really was just a low wall with entrances, covered with a thatch roof. After pooping, dessert was in order and he visited the dessert table, and tried a bit of fruit salad from one of the dishes. Not to his liking. Next, he tried to enter the bar area where everyone was watching the events. You know that joke, the one that starts, “an elephant walked into a bar”. This was the real thing. This all while the guests and staff were milling around with 15-20 feet of him. Very exciting!
Neither of us have ever been that close to a wild elephant before. This happened just before lunch. The elephant then decided to join us for lunch. He strolled around the dining area, being careful not to trample anything, feeding off the trees. He then decided that all that eating triggered his colonic reflex (the one that makes a baby poop after eating) and delivered three huge elephant turds just next to the dining room table. Of course, none of the guests were still at the table, having been moved “indoors” (Indoors really was just a low wall with entrances, covered with a thatch roof. After pooping, dessert was in order and he visited the dessert table, and tried a bit of fruit salad from one of the dishes. Not to his liking. Next, he tried to enter the bar area where everyone was watching the events. You know that joke, the one that starts, “an elephant walked into a bar”. This was the real thing. This all while the guests and staff were milling around with 15-20 feet of him. Very exciting!
Our third and final dinner at Chongwe was held at a site which was a few minutes from the main camp. We had just spotted a beautiful lion just dozing under a tree after which we drove into an area not 250 metres away where the staff had set up tables and chairs, had a bonfire going and had strung lights in some of the surrounding bushes. We had a BBQ which included apart from the usual meats, impala sausage. It was a beautiful and magical evening eating dinner under African skies!
On our last day we discovered that there were hippo tracks just outside our tent. I had woken during the night and heard the hippo walking around and making barking type sounds. I thought there were warthogs around and went back to sleep. I was glad not to have known what it really was because hippos can be quite dangerous!
October 3- Kafunte River Lodge
Not as big or nice as Chongwe but still very nice.
The manager Courtney is from Canada but is planning to reside in Zambia. The signal for lunch and other meals is a drum roll. Instead of a long communal table, we have our own table. I prefer the communal because it’s so nice to meet people from other countries and exchange information.
Had the usual mosquito net around the bed. Woke up at 5 to discover 2 bats flying around just outside the mesh. Watched fascinated for a while intrigued by what looked like a beautiful dance only to discover one of the bats was dancing on my side of the tent! Our own little indoor safari!
The manager Courtney is from Canada but is planning to reside in Zambia. The signal for lunch and other meals is a drum roll. Instead of a long communal table, we have our own table. I prefer the communal because it’s so nice to meet people from other countries and exchange information.
Had the usual mosquito net around the bed. Woke up at 5 to discover 2 bats flying around just outside the mesh. Watched fascinated for a while intrigued by what looked like a beautiful dance only to discover one of the bats was dancing on my side of the tent! Our own little indoor safari!
The lodge is situated on the banks of the Luangwa river, which forms the eastern border of the South Luangwa National Park, which meant that to get to the park we had to cross the river. This is the dry season, so the water levels are too low for the usual pontoon crossing, and with a sandy river bottom simply driving across, even with 4-wheel drive is not an option. To get to the other side of the river we cross a bridge, but nothing anyone of us- I am including Ken, Deena and Morris, as well as the rest of Canada, USA, Europe... has ever seen! Hundreds of sandbags have been piled across the width of the river to make a road. Bamboo poles have been pushed into the ground to provide the road markers! The length of the sandbag bridge is about 150 meters long. If someone had described this to me I would have thought they were exaggerating, but no, I am not!
As you can imagine, over time some sandbags tear and the sand washes away, so the path is not level. It was a fairly hair-raising crossing, with fast flowing water sometimes coming up to the level of the running boards. The ride in the Land Cruiser takes about 5 minutes and we get jostled around to the point where I think all my organs have been repositioned!
Oct 4
After the morning game drive we set out for the Three Rivers Bush camp. This is two hours south of Kafunta, and is very isolated. Our guide/driver from Kafunta came with us. He is very good at explaining what the animals were getting up to and why. He is pretty good on birds, but not perfect. Ken and I found that he miscalled some of the birds.
Three Rivers Camp-October 4-7
Much more rustic and isolated. We are the only guests today which is fine. Our tent is lovely with the usual nice linens and mosquito netting. We have 2 showers- one of which is semi open to outside but has concrete walls high enough for privacy, and another a few steps further outside which gives more of a scenic view. There is also a sleeping platform with two beds and a canvas roof which slides back to you can have the sky and scenery completely exposed!
Much more rustic and isolated. We are the only guests today which is fine. Our tent is lovely with the usual nice linens and mosquito netting. We have 2 showers- one of which is semi open to outside but has concrete walls high enough for privacy, and another a few steps further outside which gives more of a scenic view. There is also a sleeping platform with two beds and a canvas roof which slides back to you can have the sky and scenery completely exposed!
We saw a lot of nocturnal animals, more than we have seen before. Every evening we park the Jeep in a place where we have sundowners- some snacks and a drink while watching the sun go down. Very civilized!
We were introduced to the tsetse fly and all were the recipients of tsetse fly bites! The little buggers deliver quite the bite! They ruined more than one carefully setup shot by biting at a crucial moment. Tsetse flies are responsible for sleeping sickness! Maybe we’ll finally get a good night’s sleep! Actually, we were told that the tsetse flies in this area don’t carry the sleeping sickness.
Last night we had very interrupted sleep caused by the hippos bellowing in the water just outside our tent. We managed to get back to sleep but get woken at 5:15 to get ready for the morning activity- in this case a walk. We had our guide, a spotter with a rifle and a spotter in training. The animals stay away but we can see them in the distance. It was brutally hot and we would have gladly returned after an hour but we continued for 4 hours. I think we all were a bit cranky! A cold shower was most welcome!
On one of our drives we had an encounter with some elephants. Andrew, our incredible guide turned around the bend in the road and there were some elephants in our path. Andrew stopped the Cruiser but the elephants obviously felt threatened. They turned around blocking the road and bellowed, then charged about 10 meters and stopped. They were sending us a warning. What a thrill!!! We then continued our safari and came upon these same elephants. This time they bellowed and charged immediately. Andrew decided the best tactic was to charge back. I know that I have never been so frightened in my entire life! I turned my head and ducked down so no picture of this scary encounter! The men however were unfazed, all of them having seen this scenario before. Obviously, the elephants decided to back track and ran into the scrub. Andrew explained that had he gone in reverse the elephants would most certainly have continued charging.
Kafunta Safari Camp- October 7-9
We transferred back to Kafunta after lunch. The distance is about 45 km which took close to two hours and it had nothing to do with traffic. We drove over an hour without seeing another vehicle on the road. After that I counted a total of 6! I might never complain about the state of our roads again! The highway in this part of Zambia is a dirt road with enough room for a car going in either direction. Most of the roads we are on, are single lane roads so one car has to move to the shoulder while the other car continues. The roads are not signposted in any way either in the game park or outside. I would be like Moses in the desert for 40 years. Actually, maybe that was his problem!
Oct 8
Wow! What a day! The best game viewing day I have ever had. It started out with a leopard with the kill still in the tree, although the leopard was not eating at that point. When we had had enough of that leopard we found another one. While we were watching that one we got word of painted dogs and found them. While watching them we got word of lions, so off we went. I never thought I would say this, but the lions were not interesting. They were doing what lions usually do- sleeping. The lack of activity sent us back to the leopards, and we watched them for a while. Of course, there were other animals- giraffe, zebra, puku and impala with a few kudu thrown in for good measure. Later that afternoon we went back to one of the leopards and found her lounging in a tree. While we were watching the three painted dogs appeared under the tree, presumably downwind of the leopard because they did not react at all to her presence. So off we went following the dogs. They sighted a puma and gave chase. Although the puku escaped this was the only time I have ever seen a chase. Thrilling! Later more leopard!
On the way back to camp we crossed the river again. That morning there was a dead hippo upstream of the crossing. Now, after dark, crocodiles in great numbers were making their way upstream to the hippo. There must have been 30+ crocs crowded around the hippo. We watched as the largest crocs ate, tearing off great big chunks of meat. This was also a first. Never seen crocs eating before. Usually they are found asleep on a sand bank or barely visible in the water. However, unlike popular conception, this was not a feeding frenzy. A few big crocs were feeding, and all the smaller ones were waiting their turn. The following morning there was nothing left!
Some other pictures
We have, by now, almost at the end of the trip seen quite a variety of animals, some of which I had never seen before and some of which were quite uncommonly seen, including civets and genets. We have also seen a large variety of birds, over 130 different species, again, some of which were new to me. My cameras got lots of exercise. I have more than 1000 photos to review when I get home. I will delete the majority for a variety of reasons, blurred, out of focus, over or under-exposed, or simply duplicates. Still I expect a final haul in the range of 200-300 keepers. There are some really beautiful birds in Africa!
This is a very hot place at this time of the year. Not sure what the mercury reads, but it feels at least is the high 30’s with humidity (one day we hit 42!). I have not drunk so much water on a daily basis for a long time (probably since I was last in Africa). Water seems to go right though me. From my mouth to my pores, mostly by-passing the kidneys.
This is a very poor country, and at least where we were, very rural. This is the dry season, so water only comes from the remaining rivers or from wells. As in much of Africa many are barefoot, women collect firewood from distances and bring it home balanced on their heads.
One more minor hitch as we left Zambia. As we went thought passport control in Lusaka the officer noticed that when we entered Zambia the immigration had only given me a 1 day entry visa, whereas all the others had approval till the end of October. Since we all went through together at the start of the Zambian leg obviously there was a mistake, but this meant that technically I had overstayed my visa and theoretically could have been prosecuted. Fortunately, the officer understood and allowed me through. She even altered the visa to make it correct. Otherwise I might still be there.
This is a very poor country, and at least where we were, very rural. This is the dry season, so water only comes from the remaining rivers or from wells. As in much of Africa many are barefoot, women collect firewood from distances and bring it home balanced on their heads.
One more minor hitch as we left Zambia. As we went thought passport control in Lusaka the officer noticed that when we entered Zambia the immigration had only given me a 1 day entry visa, whereas all the others had approval till the end of October. Since we all went through together at the start of the Zambian leg obviously there was a mistake, but this meant that technically I had overstayed my visa and theoretically could have been prosecuted. Fortunately, the officer understood and allowed me through. She even altered the visa to make it correct. Otherwise I might still be there.
The trip back was longgggg - 28 hours, but now we are home and mostly recovered from jet lag.
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