Moving on to Zambia

 On Sunday morning, we got up bright and early to head to Zambia and Victoria Falls.  It turned out that we weren't done with the animals yet, tho.

Remember how hard we searched to see a rhino?  It took most of the day on Friday.   On the way to the airport, there was one just minding his own business right by the main road out of the resort.

On that same drive, we also saw elephants, giraffe, wildebeest, kudu, waterbuck and at least 100 impala (because you always see at least 100 impala).  It was amazing!  Not better than a GAME DRIVE, but incredible because the effort was so low and the payback was so high.  You just can't predict the animals' behavior.  Sort of like some people . . . oh never mind.

From Skukuza airport, we stopped in at 2 more minor airports.  They weren't even really airports, they were just airstrips.  At each one, some people were waiting in a land rover for us.  No buildings, no nothing, just a guide on the side of the runway with 2 or 4 more tourists.  But after 2 stops, we had a full plane and headed to Mbombala (say that 3 times if you can).  For some strange reason, I was greatly amused to have a sold out flight from Skukuza to Mbombala.  12 hardy tourists just moving about the country.

From Mbombala, we caught a mid-sized jet and flew to Zambia.  Which brought us to the David Livingstone Resort on the banks of the Zambezi.  Its quite pretty.  This was taken at our dinner on the veranda Sunday evening.

We had a very nice cruise down the Zambezi River at sunset on Sunday afternoon.  Lots of great images, but the one I'm going to share is of Diane, enjoying the atmosphere.

On Monday morning, we had the Elephant Encounter to look forward to.  Even though we didn't know exactly what that was going to be.  I guessed that we would get to ride the elephants.  The others said "no way".  Doggone it, they were right.  But it was still pretty cool.

There were 2 elephants brought out to interact with us.  They were delighted to do so, as they get a lot of special food that they obviously like as a part of the encounter.  That was 2 out of 7 elephants in the case of our experience.  More tourists would have meant even more elephants, but with only 5 tourists (us and 1 Greek guy) we only got 2 elephants.  

We started out putting these food pellets into the elephant's trunk.  They can handle a lot of these processed pellets, shaped a bit like peanuts.  A whole lot.  And in fact, the second elephant (the bigger one) wouldn't even bother to eat them if you didn't give him enough.  He would just wait to be topped off.  More efficient, more worthwhile.

But after a while, we graduated from dumping food into their trunks to feeding them directly.  Here are pictures of John and Diane throwing "the first pitch" into the elephant's mouth.  We all did it, but these were the pictures to share.

There were 7 elephants at the encounter and they are all rescued or born to the rescued adults.  Since these guys can't probably handle a life 100% in the wild, the Rescue Center needs to keep things going for a long time.  Elephants live to be 65-70 years old and some of these animals are under 10.  That's a long time.

From the elephants we went to Victoria Falls.  Known as one of the seven wonders of the world, it is a truly spectacular waterfall.  About 1 mile wide and more than 300 feet tall, its a lot of waterfall.  In high season (April - May is probably best), it discharges 500 million litres of water per minute !  That is seriously a lot of water.

In November, it drops to as little as 10 million litres of water per minute.  What we saw was closer to November than May, but it was still outstanding.  Here are a few shots of the Falls, at times including today's most famous visitors.

I can't imagine what this looks like in the Apr-May timeframe, when it probably has 10 times the volume.  And in fact, our guide said that he doesn't like it at its peak because the spral/mist is so great that you can barely see the falls.  So let's chalk this up to us going at just the right time.  And yes, its one of the 7 wonders of the world for a reason.

On a totally separate note, we keep learning little bits of cultural differences.  On the way back from the Falls, we passed some guys on bicycles.  They were carrying big loads on their bikes and knocking frantically on the van windows as we went past.  Fortunately, our driver knew what they wanted.  They were hauling oranges on the bikes and there was an elephant across the highway.  The riders wanted us to ride slowly along and shield them from the elephant so that he wouldn't charge across the street and try to steal the oranges.  Apparently elephants LOOVE oranges.  Who knew?  That's an experience that I haven't had before.

On Tuesday morning, we headed back to Victoria Falls, this time for a view from the top.  There is an island in the river above the Falls, but quite close to the edge that allows you to go for a swim from just above Victoria Falls.  It is called the Devil's Pool and is only available for a portion of the year.  When the river flow is too high, you can't use the pool.  It was our good fortune to be in Zambia when the flow is manageable and so we went for a swim.

First we signed our lives away.  Yes, apparently even in Zambia they have attorneys.

Its a short boat ride to the island that your adventure starts from.  On the confidence building side of things, they take your breakfast order BEFORE you set out for the edge.  So, they think you are coming back.  Or at least they pretend that you will be back.

We walked/swam out into the Zambezi River to prove that we weren't complete rocks.  What was interesting about that was that you don't even really notice the cold water.  You're so busy working to prove that you are a fish in the water that the cold water doesn't even register.  Even my wife, who takes ages to get into a pool just jumped in and went for it.  In an amusing counter-point, the guide told Sue to go on 3.  Then he counted down.  "3 - 2 - 1"  Sue looked at him and was sort of all "did you mean me?"  So he counted again and she did go on the redo.  

Anyway, we got to the middle and we were all approved.  Next step, swim over toward the edge and take a seat on the big rock.  They take each group individually and our 10 person swim team represented 4 distinct groups.  As I recall we were the third group of the 4 and we carefully jumped in and swam toward the edge of a 300 foot waterfall.  OK, no lie, its scary.  But we got there, as this picture shows.

Now, maybe at this point you're still shaking your head and wondering what is wrong with the 4 of us.  There is so much spray that there is a perpetual rainbow, there is 300 foot drop over a number of not very bouncy rocks to the bottom and it just looks a little nutty, am I right?  

Take a minute away from all of the warm and fuzzy thoughts that you have about the 4 of us and just notice that the goof-balls that work there are walking around on the edge with no restraint or safety net whatsoever !!  What in the world is wrong with them?

But from there it gets to be even more fun if you want it to.  You can look over the edge!!?!  Yes, you can!

John and I both did that as well.  You slowly edge up the rim and look down.  Holy crap!  You still can't see the bottom, but you can see pretty far down.  You could see the bottom if it weren't for the bouncy rocks, but they aren't going anywhere.  John has a similar picture to this one, but its my turn in the spotlight and so here is the view of your intrepid reporter doing stupid things.  

And, yes, it was an unforgettable experience.  Truly unforgettable.  

And that puts a wrap on Zambia.  A few hours later, we flew to Nairobi to begin our Kenyan leg of the trip.  I'll get back to you on that, but just know that it will be pretty interesting as well.  (I've already experience camp #1, I just don't have the time to start that edition)