THURSDAY 17TH - MOREMI GAME RESERVE

They woke us at 5:30 and, after a quick breakfast, off we went for more exploration. Our quest for this morning was wild dogs, which our guide Clinton seemed to have a particular fascination with. 

Once again, we saw lots of other animals including zebra which we didn't see here yesterday but a lot of time was spent observing the wild dogs den where we caught glimpses of about half a dozen pups but the adult dogs didn't return to the den as expected.

So we had to go searching for them and, with the assistance of other guiding companies who all talk to each other in the quest to find animals, we found them a long way from the den and exhibiting no apparent concern for the pups back at the den who looked very vulnerable to any hungry lions or leopards which happened to wander by.

This afternoon we went hunting for the wild dogs which were expected to be on a hunt of their own and,sure enough, they were. We saw lots of dogs and lots of impala and even some dogs chasing impala but, as far as we could ascertain, no dogs caught up with any impala.

Apart from the particular animals being sought, we were continually surprised by what we ran into. The pictures below tell the story.

WEDNESDAY 16TH - CHOBE NATIONAL PARK

What an exciting morning. We headed off at 5:45 this morning in company with another 30 vehicles to go game spotting in the Chobe National Park. It was mass tourism Africa style and developed into a drag race among the drivers to find a pride of lions which were known to be in the area but the exciting part was, our driver found them.

He positioned us perfectly to watch them emerge from the bush and walk right past the vehicles as they followed their intended path. Nothing was going to put them off.

 

They are obviously used to the bun fight which surrounds their presence.

The second highlight of the morning was a herd of zebras who very obligingly appeared as we were heading out of the park towards the end of the game drive.

We saw numerous other animals as well but, in most cases, the view was not as good as the one that we got from the water yesterday.

After breakfast, we headed to the Kasane International Airport for our flight to the Moremi Conservation Area where we are now camped, yes camped, adjacent to one of the waterways making up the Okavango Delta. It is a camp set up to accommodate groups like us with no fences!

Apparently we can expect the local elephants, lions etc. to wander past our tents at night. The instruction is to stay put. Fortunately we have a bush shower and toilet in a little enclosure at the back of the tent so we don't need to go anywhere during the night.

On the way here from the airstrip, a couple of elephants crossed our path. They seemed to want right of way.

After we settled in, off we went for some game viewing. Moremi didn't disappoint. Our quest was for giraffe and leopard. Of course, we saw lots of other animals but the highlights were the giraffe and the leopard.

The leopard was elusive but the perseverance of our guides paid off and we eventually found him relaxing in a tree.

 

TUESDAY 15TH - BOTSWANA

What a day. Just a few more animals to see and we can go home.

We packed our gear and headed off from Victoria Falls in The Beast this morning to cross the border into Botswana. The border crossing initially reminded us of the crossing from Peru to Bolivia but the experience was a lot less painful.

 

We are now comfortably settled into the Chobe Safari Lodge at Kasane. We stay here one night before flying to Moremi for three days of concentrated wildlife observation.

 

Before we fly out tomorrow, we head off for an early morning wildlife drive into the nearby Chobe Park.

The highlight of today was a lunch cruise on the Chobe River. Even before we left the dock, we were entertained by the local monkeys but, as soon as we did leave, we spotted elephants and water buffalo in the distance.

We very quickly got up close and personal with them along with crocodiles, impala, water buck, hippos and an infinite variety of birds.

The waterway is very like Kakadu except that the crocodiles were an incidental part of the main show.

As I am typing this, several warthogs are grazing outside our room between us and the river and there is a sign on the door telling us to keep the door closed to keep the monkeys out!

We are having a truly amazing experience.

MONDAY 14TH - LAST DAY IN VICTORIA FALLS

Early start today. We were picked up at 6:20 for a bird watching tour by Charles in his converted Land Rover, not that we know anything about bird watching but it was a great way to explore the local wilderness, in particular, a small portion of Zimbabwe's largest national park along the Zambezi River.

 

 

Even before we left the outskirts of Victoria Falls, we encountered some elephants.

 

 

Apart from seeing 50+ species of birds which our fellow travellers seemed to know a lot about, we encountered a water buffalo, water buck, impala, kudu, crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, a squirrel, baboons, mongoose and a variety of other animals the names of which I can't remember and we haven't been more than 10 klms from town yet. The pictures are below.

After returning from the birding tour, we went to a Vulture Culture display where, as part of an educational exercise to demonstrate why vultures are endangered in the wild and need to be protected, an extraordinary number of vultures fought over a quantity of meat scraps put out for them.

We finished the day with a very leisurely dinner cruise on the river. Several groups of hippos provided the before dinner entertainment. 

Tomorrow we head into Botswana where we apparently get into the seriously good wildlife viewing. Wifi is going to get intermittent from here so there may be a gap in the posts but I will catch up.

So that's it. The sun sets on Victoria Falls, a fantastic place to visit but I wouldn't want to live here.

                                                   THE ANIMALS

 

SUNDAY 13TH - OUR FIRST FULL DAY

We feel as if we are really under way with our tour now. We started the day by being introduced to “The Beast”. And a beast it truly is but it has a seating capacity of 22 and there are only 10 of us including guides so we should be able to comfortably spread out. As you would expect, it has the suspension of a truck but the seats are quite comfortable. An intriguing aspect of it is that the passenger compartment is completely isolated from the driver's cab.

 

The morning was spent doing a walking tour of the falls. Fortunately, the water level is relatively low, being the dry season, which means that the spray is much less than it might be and the falls are visible. In periods of higher flow, we are told that all one can see is spray.

This afternoon, we did the obligatory helicopter ride which not only gives a spectacular view of the falls but demonstrates how the falls have gradually moved upstream carving out a gorge in the basalt rock over millions of years. We are in Zimbabwe. The river forms the boundary between it and Zambia to the north.

We are told that the Victoria Falls are the highest, Iguazu Falls are the widest and Niagara Falls have the highest volume of water going over them, so they each have a claim to fame.

Today we had our first contact with the local animals in that a group of warthogs and vervet monkeys were entertaining themselves (and the tourists) beside the walking track at the falls.

Yesterday we saw some baboons in the distance and we are told that there are elephants and hippos around here but we haven't seen any yet.

SATURDAY 12TH - VICTORIA FALLS

I am pleased to report that our luggage arrived at Victoria Falls today on the same plane as us although it was a tense wait in that the baggage staff seemed to take forever to get all the luggage on the carousel and, given that ours was marked “Priority”, it was well down the order in which they found their way on to the carousel but it's here.

Our first example of bureaucracy Zimbabwe style was the process to get through immigration where we had to apply for and pay $60 US for two visas. Fortunately we had done our homework and had the right money ready and, even more fortunately, we were among the first off the plane so avoided the incredible queues which subsequently formed. Apparently the immigration staff had recently been sacked so a new group was handling the two plane loads that arrived at much the same time.

Apparently that's how things happen Africa style, according to our tour guide Trish.

 

Having said that, our accommodation, Bayete Lodge is great(if you ignore the 20 mm gap at the top of the front door) and the tour organisation is spot on with the next few days activities all laid out.

 

On the way to our accommodation, we did a tour of the town. We won't be walking anywhere. They have tourist police to assist tourists who are being too harassed by the numerous people on the streets trying to sell their various wares. Victoria Falls is a real tourist hot spot and we are looking forward to seeing the river and falls tomorrow both from the ground and from the air but the town itself doesn't have much going for it.

AFRICA - NEXT PLACE ON THE BUCKET LIST

Having safely navigated the Virgin Lounge in Brisbane on a Friday afternoon, watched three movies on the five hour flight to Perth and having found that South African Airlines shares the Qantas Lounge in Perth (Home sweet home), we are now comfortably settled in the very nice South African Airways Lounge in Johannesburg awaiting or our final leg to Victoria Falls. 

They have very nice shower facilities here which we have availed ourselves of so feel almost normal.

Fortunately we are travelling business class so we had very comfortable lay flat seats on the 11 hour flight from Perth – almost got a normal night's sleep.

As always, there has to be an adventure. The very helpful lady who checked us in at Brisbane told us that our luggage would go straight through to Victoria Falls BUT, we had to collect it at Johannesburg, go through customs and check it back in. So we dutifully went through immigration and went to the luggage carousel but guess what, no luggage. When we made enquiries, we were told that indeed, our luggage was going straight through to Victoria Falls and we didn't need to go through immigration and/or collect it. So, back through immigration to record perhaps the shortest stay in South Africa ever. We were not alone. That excitement resulting in our meeting two other couples going to Victoria Falls who had exactly the same experience.

Hopefully our luggage will be on the plane to Victoria Falls with us.