Three Weeks to Go

I decided to create a new blog just for Africa. We leave for NYC on Sept 11 and then for Johannesburg on Sept 17. We are going on a National Geographic Expedition since it seemed to hit most spots on my wish list.
Our itinerary is:
Sep 18 and 19 - Mala Mala Main Camp
Sep 20, 21, 22 - Mashatu Main Camp - Botswana
Sep 23 and 24 - Xakanaxa Camp - Botswana
Sep 25 and 26 - Royal Livingston Hotel and Victoria Falls Livingston, Zambia
Sep 27 - Fly to Johannesburg and back to NYC

One of the spots I am very anxious to see is Pete's Pond, the site of the Nat Geo web cam that I have been watching since its inception. This is at Mashatu Game Reserve.

On our final night we have a special farewell dinner on the Royal Livingston Express which looks quite wonderful.

Some of our preparation challenges: getting a double Zambia visa, hepatitis B shots, series of typhoid pills (the malaria pills will begin right before we leave), finding a duffle bag that measures no larger than 27x14x12" and will weigh no more than 26 pounds when loaded, buying a new camera with a zoom lens - Nikon P90, finding all sorts of travel size items so as not to weigh too much or take up too much space.

I have been watching wildearth.tv for the past 3 months now. This is a web site that goes on safari with a web cam twice a day. It is less than 10 miles from Mala Mala, so it is a wonderful preview.

This trip has been #1 on my bucket list for years, and I am so excited it is so near!

Day 1 - Thursday 9/17/09 - NYC to Johannesburg

The car picked us up from Mandy’s at 7:15 to head to JFK, and it only took us a half hour to get there which was much faster than we anticipated. We checked in, had some coffee and quickly went through security. We boarded South African Airways at 11. There were two seats empty in front of us, so I quickly moved there, so we each had two seats for the long flight. They gave us the economy class version of an amenities kit which had a sleep mask, toothbrush, and sox.

They served dinner after the 11:35am takeoff. I watched a couple of movies – The Soloist (good) and The Proposal (bad) and then slept most of the way to Johannesburg.

Day 2 - Friday 9/18/09 - Mala Mala South Africa

We arrived in Johannesburg at 8:40am after a 15 hour flight. We cleared immigration and then had to wait forever on our luggage, but we cleared customs quickly. I looked for sign holders and found two BushTracks ladies, one of which took us across the street to the InterContinental hotel. We had coffee in the lobby as we waited for our other travelers to arrive. There are 13 of us, all from the US plus our guide/naturalist/den mother, Dr. Bill Branch. They trickled in except for two who were meeting us at Lanseria airport. Everyone seemed quite friendly, even Linda from Sarasota who I had found on Google and thought looked quite stern. She turned out to be the jester of the group and kept us all in stitches throughout the trip.

We left for Lanseria airport at 11 and the trip took an hour through lots of traffic. At the airport we were met by another Bushtracks rep. Unfortunately the airport’s water was not working, so neither were the bathrooms. Some nice guy took us next door to the admin building where we used their facilities.

At 1:15 we headed off to Mala Mala in two planes. One was a Cessna 406 that seated 6 plus the pilot. Our plane was a Cessna Caravan that seated 12 plus the pilots. The pilot of our plane was named Max, a really nice young South African, who took us all over on our trip. There was lots of controlled burning going on, and the air was quite hazy.

At 2:30 we landed at Mala Mala. This was an asphalt runway with nothing around it. The pilots had to do a pass over to make sure that no animals were on the runway. We loaded on two safari trucks and were driven to Mala Mala main camp. We checked in and immediately were served a lovely buffet lunch which we had on the terrace. There were lots of salads, cheeses, great breads. There were impala and nyala wondering around the camp grounds. We went to the room for a few minutes to freshen up. The accommodations are amazing. There is a large sitting room with a patio overlooking the river, a large bedroom with another sitting area looking out to the river, a desk area, two large bathrooms. This was Bill’s favorite room.

Then we headed out for our first game drive. We split into two groups into the two trucks. This was how it would be for the whole trip. We did not follow each other, so often we had different sightings. Our driver was named Anthony, and he must have told us a million times that he was ‘the chief ranger’. He knew his animals, but he needs a little seasoning and more people skills. This afternoon we saw a thorn nob tree, great king fisher, pied kingfisher, impala with baboons, hammerkop nest, leopard orchid, gray lourie (go-away bird), impala, kudu, russet bush willow with lots of berries, lots of impala, marula tree, leadwood tree which was 500+ years old, elephant rock, crested francolin, cape buffalo, plaques on a huge granite outcropping with the names of the original owners on it, a rhino midden (dung message stations!), saddle-billed stork, bush buck, civet, and finally a leopard stalking water buck and impala. We followed the leopard for quite a while to see if he would make a kill, but it didn’t happen while we were watching.

We were back at camp by 7:30, went to the room to freshen up, and then met back at the bar for drinks. I had my first Amarula which I had heard about on Wildearth.tv. It is made from the fruit of the marula tree and tastes much like Bailey’s Irish crème. They also served some hors d’ouvres – tiny egg rolls, chips, bacon wrapped around sausage.

Dinner was served at 8:30. It was too windy for dinner in the boma (reed enclosed outdoor dining area) so we had dinner in the breakfast room. Dinner consisted of gazpacho or fat free veggie soup, and cold, thinly sliced salmon with dill sauce. This was served to us at our table. Then we went to the buffet which had ostrich slices with peppercorn sauce (this was pretty tasty and not as gamey as I thought it would be), eggplant and cheese, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, and spinach. Dessert was served at the table and was a choice of lemon soufflé or ice cream with chocolate or caramel sauce or fruit salad. Then we were served coffee and cheese and crackers. After dinner everywhere we stayed, the staff sings a few African songs to us which was a lovely end to lovely days!

After the long, long day we all went to our rooms after dinner. At every camp we had to be escorted by camp staff to our rooms after dark. A variety of animals roam these camps, so we are to stay in our rooms or on our porches at night.

Day 3 - Saturday 9/19/09 - Mala Mala South Africa

We got a 5:30 wake up call and were on the terrace at 6 for coffee and muffins. The morning drive started at 6:30. Bill Branch, our National Geographic guide and naturalist, traded trucks most drives. He was very good at giving everyone attention. However, as a group, we really did bond immediately. I was impressed that as varied as we were, we all got along extremely well. By the second day, good-natured jibes were being tossed about, and there usually was much hilarity! We were very fortunate in that respect.

Soon after we got started, we followed a male leopard from near the runway quite a ways to a large sausage tree where a female leopard had left a kill. The male climbed the tree and proceeded to gnaw away at the impala. The female stood a bit away watching her kill being eaten. In a tree, I got a perfect photo of a lilac-breasted roller (one of my favorites) and a grey lourie together.

The sausage tree was in bloom with bright red flowers. The impala love these blooms and clean them up almost as soon as they hit the ground. So the predators know to look for dinner near the sausage trees.

We continued on the drive and saw giraffe and baboons in a jackalberry tree. We watched the chacma baboons play in the tree for a while. There were some neat cloud formations. The weather was cool and not awfully sunny which was great for our drive. We saw a yellow-billed hornbill and followed 3 hyenas walking down the road to a small water hole. Some giraffes were watching the hyena carefully. We saw more yellow-billed hornbill and Burchell’s starlings. We watched a rhino for some time. He seemed to have an eye wound which the red-billed ox-peckers tried to clean out. Continuing on we saw elephants, thornbush, zebra, wildebeest, long-tailed shrike, a family of lions with two sickly looking cubs, rainbow skink, Nile monitor, white-fronted bee-eater, and an acacia tree with a termite mound. All of this in one morning’s drive!

We were back at camp at 10:30 for a full breakfast buffet: fruit, cereal, ham, croissants, muffins. We were seated and then we could order the hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, coffee. This was served all out on the terrace. Bill went to the gift shop and bought a hat and a shirt. I went to the Monkey Room – communal lecture room with a computer with internet connectivity. Then we met in the room. Bill took a nap, and I went back to the gift shop and bought a t-shirt and some wonderful books for the kids. Back on the patio of our room I could see nyala, blue eared glossy starling, hadada ibis, and a wonderfully green-barked fever tree.

Most of us skipped the 1:30 lunch since we were still full from breakfast. At 2:30 Bill Branch gave a talk on the culture of South Africa. In addition to playing den mother to 13 American tourists, Dr. Branch is also a wildlife biologist and naturalist.

At 3:30 there was more food at an afternoon tea with coffee and various breads. At 4 we headed out for the afternoon game drive. Down in the reeds by the river were a group of older male cape buffalo commonly referred to as ‘dugga boys’. We passed a hammerkop fishing for dinner in a stream. The most magical moment was watching a mother leopard and her approx 8 month old male cub. She was the leopard we had watched the night before trying to make a kill. She eventually did get an impala and brought it back to her cub in a rocky area. She had two male cubs, but the other cub has not been seen for a couple of weeks, so the outlook for him is not good. We saw the impala kill which the mama leopard tried to cover for later. Mom and son came down by the truck and mom groomed her son. The cub came close to the truck and growled. Anthony pounded on the truck and told it to get back. All of the animals that we came across were habituated to the trucks and totally ignored us. They would walk right by the truck and not even give us a glance. They do not want the cubs to respond in any way to the truck because then they might have to be removed.

At 5:30 we stopped for ‘sun downers’. Our orders for drinks had been taken earlier and were in the truck along with various snacks – popcorn, chips, nuts, dried fruit. We drank and watched a beautiful sunset.

Continuing the drive in the dusk and dark, we saw a white-tailed mongoose, the same lion family group walking down the road. The male lion took a dump in front of us which emitted a very strong odor. Coming back into camp we crossed a small bridge where a crocodile was fishing for dinner.

After a short rest we met in the bar again for drinks and snacks – nuts, chips, olives, fried mushrooms with dip. Our dinner was in the boma tonight. Butternut squash soup was served as were chicken livers. The buffet consisted of beef, Yorkshire pudding, turkey, stuffing, vegetable quiche, vegetables, pod peas and baby corn, and tossed salad. Dessert was raspberries with balsamic vinaigrette and mascarpone cheese. Then came coffee and the staff entertainment.

At 10:15 we were back in the room to shower and write in my journal. What a day!!!

Day 4 - Sunday 9/20/09 - Mala Mala to Mashatu Botswana

We got another 5:30 wake up call, but the early hour didn’t bother me a bit since I was so excited about the coming day. At 6 we had the usual coffee and muffins and started the drive at 6:15. The view over the area with the sun coming up was amazing. We started off by seeing the ubiquitous guinea fowl and a bateleur eagle and a Walberg’s eagle. I am so glad for my new camera. The zoom is awesome, and my photos impress even me! We came across a tribe of vervet monkeys in a jackalberry tree jumping and playing. Then we saw a martial eagle high up in a tree. Then came francolin, giraffe, more lilac-breasted rollers, and steenbok. Word came that cheetah were spotted heading toward Kruger Park, and we had a wild ride in the truck to try and see them before they crossed over into Kruger since we could not follow them there. Poor Linda and Barbara (there were two Barbara’s on this trip) almost got bounced out of the truck since they were high up on the last bench. Alas, we did not make it in time, but the ride was certainly something to remember.

We did see a large herd of zebra and wildebeest. One of the zebras had an unusual white tail. There were more giraffe, a large elephant, another yellow-billed hornbill, and a lovely magpie shrike.

We arrived back in camp at 9 where we went back to the room to pack up. We had a large breakfast at 9:30 and at 10:15 we went back to the airfield where Max and his co-pilot Phillip were waiting to whisk us away at 11. We stopped at Polokwane Airport to have our passports stamped as we were leaving South Africa on our way to Botswana. We had to pay a fee not to have to take our luggage off the airplanes to be inspected, and were off again at 12:15.

We arrived at the Limpopo Valley Airport at 1pm. We filled out our Botswana immigration forms and took a 45 minute drive to Mashatu Main Camp. We were greeted with a welcome passion fruit drink. After checking in, we had tea – spinach pastry, sandwiches, lemon meringue, and cookies.

Mashatu is a very different area – large open spaces, sort of ‘out of Africa’ scenery. We left on our afternoon drive at 3:30. Our drivers and trackers were a great group of guys. Dix and Dan were the drivers and Aaron was our tracker. We saw a large group of elephant and zebra in the distance. Then there were lots of impala, a mashatu tree, a shepherd tree which had a strange odor. Many of the trees have beautiful weaver’s nests in them on the west side of the tree. I finally got to see my first group of red-billed quelea. These flocks can number in the thousands and do horrendous damage to the crops in Africa. But they are an awesome sight to see as they land and take off as a large group.

We saw lots of giraffe, a quick glance at a black-backed jackal, zebra, white-fronted bee-eater (another beautiful bird), hyena, more lions – this time with a couple of cute healthy looking cubs, guinea fowl, a kori bustard, and a couple of cheetas – our first ones!

We were back at camp at 7, rested for a while, and then had dinner at 8 in the Mashatu boma: potato/leek/pear soup, lamb or beef curry with rice, peas, grilled potatoes, veggies in a sauce, salad, coffee, apple crisp with cream. We were certainly fed well throughout the trip, but I would have liked a few more local items.

We were in bed by 9:30. And yet another amazing day!!!

Day 5 - Monday 9/21/09 - Mashatu Botswana

Another 5:30 wake-up call for another beautiful day. At Mashutu, the early coffee had cold cereal, breads, fruit, juices, and yogurt. Bill, Mark, Barbara, John, and Lindsay went on a walkabout with Darrin, a researcher at Mashatu. That left the rest of us to leave on the morning game drive at 6:45.

Bill Branch, Linda, and I went with Dan and Aaron on the most magical drive yet. We saw a beautiful bird called the crimson breasted shrike, one of four kinds of cape doves, a raptor of some kind, a namaqua dove, a long-tailed starling, red-billed hornbill, red-faced mousebird, and a tropical boubou. . The guides and Bill Branch soon figured out that I love the beautifully colored birds and made a point to stop and show us neat birds. I took a bit of a ribbing at first for being a “twitcher” (a fanatical bird watcher), but before the trip was over almost everyone became enamored of the birds we were seeing.

We saw lots of kudu. The females have the biggest, neatest ears, and the males have my favorite corkscrew horns. We saw hyena poo which looks like bone since they eat so much bone. And there were elephants, spur fowl (formerly called a francolin), blacksmith lapwing, ostrich, white-fronted bee-eater, and a black-backed jackal. In a large mashatu tree we saw a leopard sleeping, white-backed vulture, and several beautiful long-tailed starlings.

Then we had a fun time. We were starting to cross a small dry creek bed near a second mashatu tree near the one the leopard was in when we spotted a tribe of baboons. There were mothers grooming youngsters, some large male baboons, and they all made a peaceful scene. Suddenly one of the large male baboons made a loud barking sound and went tearing across the creek bed to the second mashatu tree. Most of the baboons followed. They were screeching and carrying on. Dan told us they smelled the leopard but didn’t know where it was. Impalas were grazing with the baboons. The larger baboons raced around the tree searching for the leopard. When they didn’t find him, they started climbing a nearby short tree to jump into the mashatu tree. We watched this wonderful show for some time.

As we moved on, we saw some massive eland and more kudu. I got some more photos of the wonderful lilac-breasted roller and another amazing bird, the African hoopoe. We stopped for our coffee break. Linda had a great time with Bill picking up rocks. I got a neat photo of various kinds of dung. Off we went again to see giraffe, and finally close-up, two cheetahs that let us follow them closely for quite some time. We were delighted. They were headed off towards the Zimbabwe boarder which was quite close.

Then we stopped to see a baobab tree up close. For the only time, (except for tea and sun downer stops) we got to get out and go look at the tree up close. We had great fun with Aaron peering out from a hole in the tree. Linda had to do the same. As we headed back, we got a long, close-up look at a warthog.

We headed back to Mashatu where we relaxed after the most amazing game drive. I got a photo of a rainbow skink outside our room.

We had brunch at 10:30. Today was beef and pasta, sandwich fixings, fruits, and banana pie. After lunch I bought a shirt at the gift shop while Bill went to take a nap.

At 2:30 Bill Branch talked about African animals in the Discovery Center. Mashatu is involved in a lot of different wildlife research projects, so the Discovery Center has a lot of displays. There are also some crocodiles in a pond next to the center. Vervet monkeys were playing in the trees nearby.

We grabbed some tea before the start of the 4pm drive. A yellow-billed hornbill and a red-headed finch started the drive. We saw lots of giraffe, eland, and a wart hog who was hanging out with the rest of the group. A Nile monitor walked through the wood at the base of a tree. The river beds were all dry because it was the end of the dry season. They looked like the black sand beaches of Hawaii.

A family of lions was lying about. The male was a collared animal. We drove by a hyena den where two hyenas were keeping watch. Baboons were roaming around, and a few elephants were eating near the road. They seemed a little distressed as we passed. We met up with the other truck for a beautiful sunset and sundowners. On the way back to camp we saw a couple of cheetahs hunting for dinner with a black-backed jackal following along closely looking for leftovers.

Dinner tonight was beef Wellington which was quite good.

Day 6 - Tuesday 9/22/09 – Mashatu Botswana

We started the morning off at 6:30 with a hot, cooked breakfast since we wouldn’t be back until after lunch. We left at 7am to drive to Mothabaneng village. Bill stayed at camp to rest and enjoy himself. The drive was a lovely morning game drive as we saw lilac-breasted rollers, Kori bustards, zebras, a raptor, giraffe, zebra, ostrich. As we left the reserve, we had to leave the truck and walk through a disinfecting pan, and the truck had to drive through a disinfecting pond. The “main” road that we traveled on was wide but still gravel.

We arrived at the village and went to a stock farm to see them milking cows. There were pens with goats and lambs. One of the workers picked up some lambs and kids for us to hold. They were noisy little things! We also saw lots of palms growing that the women of the village use to weave beautiful baskets. Sort of community area.

On our way back to the village, our driver Dan Sasebola, stopped for a few minutes to see his wife, grandson, and daughter. The wife gave him some food, and he gave her some money. He works for 4 weeks and then goes home for 5 days.

In the village we stopped to see some of the women weaving baskets and were able to purchase some of their craft. At 10:30 we arrived at the Mothabaneng school and were met by the vice principal Dorothy Mphoeng who told us a little about the school. The kids go to school here until high school when they have to leave to go to boarding school. The school is just now being wired for electricity, and they hope to have it completed at the end of the school year. There are 510 children and 17 teachers here. The kids swarmed our vehicles and loved getting their photo taken. They then rushed up to us to see their photos. They were so cute! The older kids then gave a performance of singing and dancing for us. Mpho Manthe from main camp accompanied us on this trip.

We drove out in the country to see some bush paintings on some rock walls. These were interesting, but they are not yet protected. We arrived at a large shaded tree next to a dry river bed about 11:45 for our picnic lunch. Another truck had proceeded us to the spot and set up chairs and laid out the picnic. We had 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 beef meatballs, a slice of salami, some cheese, a chicken leg, cookies, and a roll. It was a really pleasant place to stop.

Poor Dr. Branch dropped his camera off the vehicle not once but twice, and it was rendered inoperable for the rest of the trip. I know he was disappointed at that turn of events.

On the way out of town, I asked to stop to take a photo of the local cemetery. It looked just like the cemetery in the HBO series “The 1st Ladies Detective Agency” with the green canopies over the graves. We made it back to main camp at 2pm.

We rested until 4:30 when we went out on the afternoon game drive. We got some good views of a kori bustard, lots of impala as usual, an African hawk eagle. We stopped at a large baobob tree for Bill to get out and get a close look at this neat tree. We saw giraffe, stopped for sundowners, and another beautiful African sunset.

At 7:30 we all met in the bar for pre-dinner drinks. I have been ordering Amarula on ice. This is a drink that is similar to Bailey’s Irish Crème but made from the fruit of the marula tree. We had dinner in the boma with a campfire. We had oxtail stew, roast pork, pap, potatoes, spinach, salad, and Lindsay’s birthday cake. The staff performed after dinner. Aaron Bale, our tracker, performed with the group along with his wife.

Day 7 - Wednesday 9/23/09 – Mashatu and Xakanaka Botswana

We had a late breakfast at 7 this morning. As I walked to breakfast, I saw lots of bushbucks roaming around the camp. We also saw lots of baboons on the premises. I got a lovely photo of our servers, Abigail and Tiisetso.

We left the camp along with our luggage at 8. We had a great drive on our way to Pete’s Pond and the airport. We saw a beautiful bush shrike, a hyrox in the distance on the top of a cliff, a blue heron. Driving down a river bed we had beautiful views of the cliffs with baobob trees on top. Impala, kudu, and klipspringers were grazing along the river banks along with Egyptian geese and male and female kudu. I had more lilac-breasted roller photo opportunities which made me quite happy. That is one of my favorite birds. We herded a flock of guinea fowl down the river bed as they peeled off one by one up the banks. Such noisy, strange birds!

We arrived at Pete’s Pond which was a glorious experience for me since I have watched the web cam here since it started in 2005. Afke, who is currently in charge of the cam at the Pond, met us, and I was thrilled. We got a tour of the hide where the cam is located, and I got real-life photos of the scene I have spent so many hours watching. We didn’t spend too much time here, but it was like a pilgrimage for me.

It was then off to the Limpopo Valley airport where once again we all tried to squeeze into our two places. One is a smaller but faster plane, but it only holds 4-5 of us. Our tall John (6’7”) tried to get into our more cramped plane with much hilarity and insults all around. Bill said John looked like an elephant trying to find a seat. Linda called Bill the hippo on our plane. We finally convinced John he would be much happier on the other plane, and he departed.

At 11:15 we landed at Francisville for a refueling and a potty break. At 12:15 we took off for the Moremi Game Reserve and Xakanaxa main camp. We had a snack lunch on the plane consisting of 3 small crustless sandwiches and an apple. From the air we could see the great Makgadikgadi Pan which was quite impressive.

At 2:10 we arrived at the landing strip. The other plane which was faster than ours landed an hour earlier. We took the truck for the 15 minute drive to Xakanaxa main camp. Lettie greeted us. There were bats sleeping in the thatched roof of the reception area. We were given our tent assignments and given the rules of the camp. Once again, no walking by ourselves after dark.

We walked to our tents (ours was #5, leopard). The camp is run on generators from 5:30am to 7:30 at night. The rest of the time there is no electricity. There are candles and paraffin lamps along with two battery operated bed lights. The wood floor of the tent extends to an outdoor patio in the front overlooking the Okavanga river delta. At the rear of the tent, a door opens to an open-air bathroom area that does have a tarp overhead. We were told not to leave anything in the bathroom area and to keep the door to the tent closed at all times due to the vervet monkeys in the camp.

At 3:45 we met in the main bar area for drinks. They had a self-service open bar with soft drinks, hard drinks, water, coffee available all the time. The guest bathroom is nearby and quite lovely and open. There is a rope to hang across the opening to signify it is in use.

At 4pm we started our afternoon game drive. Moremi is a public use area, so there were many private cars and vehicles driving around. We had to stay on the roads and had to be back at camp by dark. Our driver was Ollie, and this truck had a canvas top. We saw a Pel’s fishing owl, zebra, emerald spotted dove, strangler fig, marula tree (fruit of which makes my favorite African drink, Amarula, and also wonderful marula jelly). We saw a group of lions resting and grooming each other. One of them had a wound on its shoulder. We saw a fish eagle, crocodiles, an African jacama, blacksmith lapwing, yellow-billed stork, a hammerkop, white-faced whistling ducks, a large troop of baboons with babies, giraffe, and a blue heron before we stopped for sundowners by a large lake area. The sunset was quite beautiful. On the way back to camp we saw a pair of giant hornbills.

Arriving back at camp at 6:30, we rested for an hour before we were escorted by our rangers back to the lounge and dining area. We had a lovely happy hour and then dinner which consisted of spinach in lemon sauce, roast pork with apple sauce, fried pork skin, potatoes, red cabbage, carrots, green beans, fruit salad. For dessert we had some sort of light passion fruit dessert. For a tent camp, the dining area is really quite elegant.

At 9, we were escorted back to our tents. Just as we left the lounge area, our ranger got a distressed look on his face and ordered us to the far side of the path. A huge hippo was only 20’ away from us walking to the river. Later Ollie told us he saw blood on the hippo and assumed he had been fighting and was probably not in a good mood. Now we understand why we are escorted everywhere at night.

During the night we heard hippos splashing and huffing and some lions roaring.

Day 8 - Thursday 9/24/09 - Xakanaxa Botswana

Our alarm went off at 5:45. It was dark, so we lit candles to get dressed. We finally had laundry services available again, so we gathered our laundry and set it out. I walked down to the breakfast area and was first to arrive. A ranger was there and made me some coffee. They have a large kettle over an open fire with a cupboard filled with instant coffee, teas, and French press. He fixed me a French press which was good. Breakfast consisted of cereal, yogurt, toast, coffee, and tea.

At 7 we set off on our morning drive. We all had great fun when the first thing we saw were guinea fowl. Someone started exclaiming that we were seeing the endangered but vicious guinea fowl. This had become our group joke. A group of tourists came by and stopped to see what we were fussing and pointing over. Some guy in the other truck put up his camera and started searching for some amazing animal which sent us all into peals of laughter. We drove by a 2 year old elephant skull. We watched some impala for a while as a male chased a female all over. We smelled wild sage which had been placed on our pillows and around our tent when we checked in. Beautiful Kalahari apple leaf trees were in bloom with wonderful purple blooms. They were everywhere and the only color we saw.

We followed a 9 year old male lion as he strolled around scent marking every few feet. We spotted a giraffe bone and saw an arnot chat, a tawny eagle, slender mongoose, francolin, elephants, kudu with their wonderfully large ears, Egyptian geese. Then we got really lucky and came upon two black egrets. When they hunt, they spread their wings like an umbrella [called canopy fishing] to create a shadow so fish will come to the shade.
We also saw some wattled crane that are a threatened species.

Continuing our drive we saw water buck and a hippo who came out of the water on the other side of a small pond. He got back into the pond and headed for us, so we all got back in the truck from our sundowners and headed out. We spotted a darter, wildebeest, gray lourie [go-away bird], a strangler tree, kudu, and a bee-eater. What a great morning drive.

Back at camp, baboons were wandering around. On our porch was a Wahlburg’s skink. Walking to lunch I got a shot of a neat flower called a knobbly bushwillow. At the lounge area, I got a great shot of a beautiful bird called a black-collared barbet. Lunch was at 11 and there was an omelet bar, fruit salad (pears, apple, papaya, passion fruit), pineapple pancakes, butternut pasta (which was wonderful!), cottage pie, regular tossed salad, 3 bean salad, cheese and crackers.

After lunch, the gift shop was open, so we all went to look. I got a t-shirt and some books. The clerk had a name tag that said Owner. That was actually her name!

We relaxed in the tent from 12:30-3:15 which was our first real break in days, and everyone took advantage of it! At 2:45 I walked to the bar and chatted with an Israeli couple on vacation. I found that Ollie our guide had gone to the store to get two bottles of Amarula for me. Bill Branch must have said something to management, but I was really appreciative.

From 3:15-3:45 Bill Branch gave a talk on global conservation. He is an interesting speaker. After the talk, we wandered around and saw more bushbucks, a monitor lizard, and a stone oven that the camp uses to make bread.

At 3:45 we headed out in two boats for a ride around our part of the Okavango Delta. It was a lovely ride, but the best part was going to a rookery on an island. It had spoonbills, and many marabou storks and yellow-billed storks nesting. We also saw marsh harrier, darter, and anhinga. We stopped at another island where they had three fiberglass mokoro boats. These are replicas of the wood boats used by the locals for many years and are propelled by a person with a pole – sort of an African gondola. Jerome and Giselle, Barbara and Mark, and Linda and Lindsay all went for a short ride. The rest of us explored the island. There were really neat elephant tracks in the muddy grass.

Then we all took off in the boats, meeting up in a sheltered spot where we hooked together and had sundowners. It was Giselle’s birthday, so we had champagne with chips and pineapple/meatball skewers. It was great fun. As we speeded back, Linda’s hat flew off, but we managed to whip around and save it.

Back at camp at 7:30 the staff sang and danced for us before dinner. Dinner was a mashed potato/clam appetizer served in a clam shell. The buffet was sliced filet, great garlic sauce, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, peas with corn, roll, and birthday cake.

Two of our travelers, Linda and Kathy, have been sick since we arrived at Xakanaxa. Bill had a touch of the stomach bug, and Bill Branch was not feeling well tonight. Luckily the rest of us avoided it.

Day 9 - Friday 9/25/09 - Xakanaxa and Victoria Falls Zambia

Throughout the night there was thunder and lightning with some rain. It was neat to see the lightning from our beds in the tent. There were hippos splashing in the river and making noise throughout the camp. We got up at 6:30. Bill sat on the deck smoking his cigar and watching the sun come up. We had to pack up to leave and then at 8 we went to breakfast. I had coffee and a cup of Rooibos tea [bush tea], an omelet with cheese and salsa, some sautéed mushrooms, and toast with marula jelly. There was a hippo in the water watching us eat breakfast.

I got photos of our servers, Rosemary, Juliet, and Lydia, and Lettie the camp hostess, Ollie our ranger, and Umgandi the other ranger. Everyone at all of the camps were so delightful, pleasant, helpful, and hospitable.

As we were driving away, a tourist’s car was stuck in the water in the road. Many of the roads had quite a bit of water in them, but our vehicles were equipped to handle them. The car was being pulled out by one of the camp’s trucks. There are 2 other camps on either side of Xakanaxa.

We took off at 9:45. We could see yellow sandy hippo paths in many of the ponds below. Our two planes flew next to each other so we could get photographs of each other.

At 10:45 we landed at Kasane airport near Chobe National Park. There were beautiful Jacaranda trees outside the airport all in bloom. A van took us to Chobe Safari Lodge where we boarded a large boat contracted from Bushtracks. At 11:15 we took off for our cruise down the Chobe River. I hadn’t expected much from this cruise, but I was astounded at the animals we saw from the boat. There were elephants, open-billed storks, puku (another kind of antelope), jacana (a beautiful wading bird), cape buffalo, great white egret, Nile crocodiles including a female on the bank guarding her nest, blacksmith lapwing, kudu, hippo, warthogs, waterbuck.

Three elephants swam across the river playing as they came. Five hippos bobbed in the water which was hysterical to watch – we could see 3 hippo, one would go under and two would come up, etc. Then we came to a huge group of hippo. There must have been 30 of them all grouped together near the shore. We anchored near them and had a wonderful buffet lunch: sorghum (made into a starchy poi-looking dish), carrot soup, mashed potatoes, green beans/carrots, macaroni and cheese, saffron rice, oxtail stew, fish, several wonderful salads, feta cheese, olives, several pates, fruit salad with a yummy cream sauce, cream puffs, muffin cupcakes. We ate and ate as we watched the wildlife.

There was another large herd of at least 30 hippo on land near us. And a huge herd of cape buffalo lying down in the grass so they looked like huge boulders. We finally saw a herd of red lechwe (another kind of antelope) with several males butting horns. A dignified fish eagle was looking down on it all. We finally returned to the dock at 2:30. We used the restrooms at the hotel where the sinks had beautiful bird paintings in the sinks. Back to the airport for a short flight to Victoria Falls. The pilots took us over the falls twice so both sides of the planes could see the falls from above.

There were no problems with immigration or customs. In fact we totally breezed through them. I wonder if it is because we were on a ‘recognized’ tour? We got on a bus and drove about 20 minutes through Livingstone to the hotel. Livingstone is a decent sized town, reminding me of towns in Mexico or the Philippines. There were three cell phone towers that were decorated as a huge palm tree, a Norfolk pine, and some other bush. Those were rather neat.

Upon arrival at the Royal Livingstone, we were met by a costumed greeter who escorted us through the lobby to the huge grounds beside the Zambezi River. We could see the mist from the falls which made a beautiful backdrop. We were given hot towels, and a wonderful tasting iced tea. Just at that moment, two zebras came racing from nowhere at breakneck speed. They stopped just beyond us, turned around and raced back from whence they had come. It was pretty impressive. The hotel is part of a nature preserve, so zebras, vervet monkeys, impala, and giraffe roam the grounds. We were given our instructions not to leave any doors or windows open or the monkeys would wreck havoc in our rooms.

Our room was nice but not nearly as luxurious as our camp facilities had been. When we got to our room, Felix, our butler, came and explained all the amenities including the mosquito repellent vaporizer that was plugged into an outlet. We all settled in and then headed back to the lobby area. As we came out of our room, a giraffe was across the walkway grazing. We walked down to the river and sat in a swing watching the ‘smoke that thunders’. Bill smoked his cigar, and we listened to hippos in the river. Then we checked our email in the internet room which had six computers. Jerome and Giselle were there as was Linda. We went to the indoor bar to check out cigars. That was a shock. The cheapest was $85 and went up to $180. No new cigars for Bill. We sat by the pool where I had a bad amarula. It was getting dark, and a couple of zebra were grazing in front of us. A little impala came by, and the zebras had a hissy fit and chased him away. We got a golf cart ride back to our room and ordered room service – club sandwich, burger, and a veggie pasta salad. We were in bed by 10:30.

Day 10 - Saturday 9/26/09 - Victoria Falls Zambia

We got a wake-up call at 6:15 and were down for breakfast at 7. It was one of the best breakfast buffets I have seen. It was multi-ethnic with sushi, tacos, fat British sausages and baked beans, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, bacon, fruit, cereal, a parfait of muesli on the bottom, then yogurt, and topped with a fruit coulis, 12, yes, 12 different kinds of rolls, croissants, sweet breads. From the table one could order omelets, fried eggs, and pancakes. We ate with Linda and Bill Branch.

We left the hotel at 8 on a van with Aston as our driver and drove 10 minutes to the entrance to Victoria Falls. We parked in the ‘local market’ parking area and headed out walking. Bill and Astin provided information as we walked. The falls were lower than normal, but that made for some interesting viewing. When the falls are going full blast, one can’t see anything through the mist and rain. There were vervet monkeys and lovely birds along the walk. It was fairly cool and not too crowded since it was early. We saw the David Livingstone statue, the bridge over the gorge to Zimbabwe. We stopped for a group photo which a bunch of Japanese tourists thoroughly enjoyed. There were idiots on the other side of the gorge walking to Livingstone Island that were walking way too close to the edge. We saw a Heuglin’s robin.

We made it back to the market area at 10 and spent a half hour being hassled by males selling all kinds of stuff. I made a few purchases, and Bill got a small guinea fowl, his one souvenir of Africa. We took the bus back to the hotel and rested for an hour.

At 12:15 we walked back to the market. It is right next to the Zambezi Sun, the sister hotel to the Royal Livingstone and a little more down-scale and family oriented. Along the walk which was lovely, there were life-sized metal statues of various African animals. I especially liked the huge giraffe. I bought a few more trinkets, and Bill bought Joy a bowl. We stopped at the Zambezi Sun to have lunch. We saw John and Lindsay with Jerome and Giselle, so we sat with them. Bill had a burger, and I got the Nibbler Plate with chicken strips, ribs, samosa, egg roll, and fries. It was much cheaper than the Royal Livingstone. A marimba band was playing, and it was all quite festive.

We took the shuttle back to the Royal Livingstone, rested, cooled off, showered. We met in the lobby at 5 to take a bus the short distance to the train station. We were met with a red carpet and non-alcoholic tequila sunrises. The train was just amazing. The locomotive is an old steam engine with 5 air-conditioned cars. There were two lounge cars at the end of the train with beautiful wood and wonderful lounge chairs and sofas. The last carriage had a bar and an observation platform at the end. There were two beautiful dining cars that will hold 98 people. Amazingly, there were only the 12 of us plus another couple on the train this night. The night before there were 90 people, so we essentially had the whole train to ourselves. We had drinks and hors d’ouvres, and then pulled out of the station. As we traveled out of Livingstone, we passed a fairly poor section of town, but people swarmed out of their homes to wave at us. The kids could not have been more fun, yelling and waving at us. The train stopped to unlock the gate into a game preserve. Many kids ran down the tracks to the end of our train and gazed at us. I asked them how old they were and many responded. The train went through, and the gate was locked behind us.

We sat and chatted and had a lot of fun. We turned out to be quite a congenial group. At 6:30 dinner was served. We sat with John and Lindsay. First up was an amuse bouche of Andulusian gazpacho with basil and a blue poppy seed straw. Then a starter of blue cheese and pear composition – pear, shallot, biscotti and nuts, apple ring, blue cheese pate, and lettuce in a celery ring. The middle course was wild mushroom risotto served with a pea veloute. The main course was lamb, but I had chicken with a potato lyonaise with baby carrots and balsamic jus. Dessert was a green apple tart with Granny Smith ice cream and a lemon reduction. It was all quite good.

John kept getting up from the table, and I was afraid he was ill, but he had been going up to check on the locomotive which was now at the observation car end of the train. He was so excited about it. For most of the trip he had been very blasé about everything. The train really rang his chimes. After dinner we all went back to the lounge and watched John and Jerome watching the locomotive. When they stopped to unlock the park gate, the two of them got on the locomotive. John was in heaven.

We arrived back at the hotel at 9:45. Bill went to bed. I went to check email and then packed.