A Flying Leap

We rose early and headed to the airstrip. We haven't seen elephant here in Zambia. A large bull decided to block our way. We eventually convinced Jumbo to make way, but he wasn't happy about it, and made a mock-charge after we passed. His way of saving face.

Remember I said I liked Land Rovers over Land Cruisers because they were lighter and didn't get stuck? Our Land Rover got terminally stuck. The Land Cruiser dropped its passengers and came to get us. Someone from the safari company would have to dig it out later.

We flew back to Livingstone. I've learned that Doctor Livingston gave Victoria Falls its name. Before Livingstone, the falls were called, "the smoke that thunders" in the local language. Livingstone also fought against slavery, and looked for ways to prevent Malaria, which is why he is still loved here.

Zambia required we get an exit stamp to leave the country. Then, we walked across no man's land (which was a bridge) to get a first look at the falls. The walking wasn't required, we just wanted to see. During this walk, a young man was trying to drum up business for his bungee jumping business. He was trying to chat up a woman in our group who is in her 70's. He's being very respectful, by calling her "mama". But I just about lost it when he said, "Mama, you look like a jumper!"

We had arrived in Zimbabwe. At the beginning of the trip, we had purchased a double-entry visa. This is rather important as you almost always enter the area from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and will leave from the same airport, even if your destination is another country (such as Botswana or Zambia).

We flew an hour and landed in a dry river bed. Land Cruisers picked us up, and then we drove another hour. It wasn't an official game drive, but we saw quite a lot of animals on the way in, including Common Bee Eaters who flew along side. We were disturbing the insects, and the Bee Eaters took advantage of the easy meal.

We settled into Linkwasha camp inside Hwange National Park.

Before dinner, we went on an introductory game drive. We found a very large herd of Cape Buffalo which included a calf that had just been born. It struggled to get to its feet. For a few minutes it was wobbly, and then it was easily walking behind its mother. In an hour, I'm told, it would be able to out-run a lion.

A small pack of Jackal needed to move out of the roadway for us. They seem to be common. We saw a few on the drive from the airstrip to camp.

We were getting very excited. In all our days in Zambia, we hadn't seen very many animals. Now, we came across two male ostrich. One pranced in a circle. This is an aggressive behavior.

The sun was beginning to set when the highlight of the day was discovered, a pride of lion! Two mature female, and five cubs. We parked within ten meters of them. They watched us, but didn't really care. The largest cub wanted to play, and pounced several times on its brothers and sisters.

The sunset was very colorful. We parked the Land Cruiser for our sundowner drink, while watching elephant at a watering hole.

This was the introductory game drive. I'm very excited to see what we find tomorrow!