What I Saw:
I saw Victoria Falls. In the falls, I saw Rainbow Falls, Devil’s Pool, and Angel’s Pool.
My Favorite Part of the Day:
My favorite part of the day was getting soaked in Victoria Falls.
What I Learned Today:
I leaned that Victoria Falls is the tallest falls in the world at 107 meters. It is the 2nd widest in the world. It’s the 3rd largest by average volume. I also learned at the markets that they make wood crafts.
May 26, 2015
Following our weekend at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, we came back into Botswana to spend another night at Chobe National Park and boy are we glad that we did!!!
It was a quick drive across the border and back into the park. We saw quite a few giraffe, kudu, and tons of elephants before we got to the highlight of the trip so far…a lion pride (along with 4 cubs) eating an elephant that had died a few days before. We have seen a few lions in other parks, but nothing like this. There were six adult lions and 4 cubs that we could see. We know that there was a dominant male in the area as well, but we didn’t get a chance to see him. We spent at about an hour sitting right next to the lions while they were eating, playing and relaxing. It was really amazing. To see them in the zoo is pretty cool, but right next to the vehicle, in the wild was absolutely unbelievable. I took at least 400 pictures, but here are a few of the really good ones.
Resting Lion
Lion relaxing
Lions eating the elephant
Lions eating
Lioness
Stretching after a rest
Lion eating
Lion relaxing
4 adult lions
Lion relaxing
Lion Cub
Lion Cub
We got up early the next morning so that we could go back and see the lions again, we were hoping to see the male, but he was just behind a bush out of sight, so we could hear him, but we didn’t see him. The lions were still eating from the elephant and the cubs were still playing…it was really awesome.
Right next to the lions!
Right next to the lions!
Don’t get eaten!
As we were leaving the park, we were about 1 km from the exit when our driver spotted a Leopard; the last of the Big 5 that we were missing. We’re pretty excited to be able to say that we have seen the Big 5 and we still have almost three weeks left to go! Our next mission is to see a baby of each of the Big 5…so far we have seen baby elephants, lion cubs, and baby buffalo. We are keeping our eyes open for baby rhino and baby leopard cubs from now on.
Leopard
Leopard
Leopard
Baby elephant
Baby Cape Buffalo
Lion Cub
We left the park and started to make our way to Zambia for the next part of our trip. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the Zambian government right now…when we came into Zimbabwe, they told us to buy a UniVisa (multiple entries to Zimbabwe and Zambia) for $50 to save the extra money at the Zambian border. Well, we came out of Zimbabwe and spent the night in Botswana before we came to Zambia, so they said that it voided our Visas!!! We had to pay another $50 to get in again. The bright side was that Hayden was free since he’s a minor, but we were still out $100…dang it.
Ferry from Botswana to Zambia
Adam and Hayden on the ferry
We spend the next 4 nights at various parks here in Zambia before we continue on to Malawi and into East Africa.
May 24, 2015
We have spent this weekend at Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side of the Zambezi River. The falls were absolutely beautiful! Having also been to Niagara Falls, it’s still tough to compare the two. Victoria Falls seems much bigger because of the way that the falls are in between the walls of the canyon. It makes it seem much longer/taller than the horseshow shape of Niagara Falls. We did learn that Victoria Falls is the tallest falls in the world at 107 meters in the tallest point. It is the second widest falls in the world (second to Iguacu Falls), and the third highest annual volume (Niagara is first). Although, we were here at high season, so right now the daily water flow is higher than Niagara. In fact, in April/May, the annual water usage of New York City flows over Victoria Falls in only 3.5 days! There was a great viewing walkway around the park with 16 different view points. Since it is high season, a few of the view points where just mist (well, not really mist, more like a hurricane), but the 10 or so that we could see through were beautiful!
Livingston…named the falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls Bridge
Victoria Falls
While we were in Victoria Falls, we also went to dinner at a local African restaurant (called Indabelly…lol) and Hayden got to go up with the locals and dance for everyone. He was loving the attention…he’s become quite an extrovert on this trip! It was our last night with our first crew, so we all went to dinner together. For the second half of the trip, we switch to a crew that is based out of Kenya. We have really enjoyed this group, so hopefully the next group will be just a good! (We have the same three other girls with us, but we will add additional people for the next three weeks.)
Group photo
Hayden dancing
Hayden dancing
On the last day, we went to the local market where Hayden got a Nyami Nyami (local good luck necklace) and we also got to touch a crocodile! Our tour leader taught Hayden an African version of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” which is “If you’re happy and you know it, kiss a croc”, so he kissed the croc for Manda. LOL 🙂
Touching a croc!
Kiss a croc!
Most of the time here we just relaxed and walked around. We did make our way down to the Big Tree, which is a HUGE Baobab tree. These trees are really cool because they look like they are upside down. The leaves only grow part of the year and they can be very old. This tree is estimated at about 1,500 years old! There was a local guy there who was selling souvenirs and we started talking to him about the tree, he found a piece of the fruit for us and opened it up so that we could try it. This is actually what they use to make Cream of Tartar.
The Big Tree
Baobab Fruit
Tomorrow we will be going back to Chobe National Park in Botswana again for another night in the bush. We are looking forward to it so that we can see some big cats!
What I Saw:
Today I saw some giraffe, hippo, zebra, and wildebeest in the Okavango Delta. I saw a hippo pool with hippos in it.
My Favorite Part of the Day:
My favorite part of the day was swimming in the delta. I swam to the deep area.
What I Learned Today:
The delta is 19,000 km2. 4 of the Big 5 are there, and the rhino is missing. We rode in a makaro, also called a dug out canoe. The people who drive the canoe are called polers. I learned how to pole. The delta is an inland delta, this means it doesn’t go to the ocean. I saw lots of hippos in a pool.
(For some reason this isn’t uploading into WordPress, so I’m attaching the Facebook link)
May 22, 2015
We have just arrived to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe after a pretty cool couple of days camping out in Chobe National Park in Botswana.
After we finished our time in the Okavango Delta, we had a long driving day up to the Northeast part of Botswana where Chobe National Park is located. We had a bit of a stressful day before we went to the park because we are currently fighting with Amazon and UPS over a missing Kindle…Hayden’s Kindle broke the other week (fell face down on a rock…oops), but it has a 2 year replacement guarantee, so Amazon sent a new one to meet us in Zimbabwe. This should have been great except that it was stopped at customers and Zimbabwe is saying that we owe $250 in fees/customs, but Amazon says it’s paid. Unfortunately, we have been going back and forth, but no one wants to admit that it’s their fault. So, for now, the Kindle is sitting in customs and it looks like we will be leaving Zimbabwe without it. 😦 booooooo
Luckily, the great couple of days in the park gave us something good to concentrate on other than the lost Kindle. 🙂 We got to the park for an afternoon drive where we saw a ton of elephants, lots of giraffes, hippos, cape buffalo, kudu, impala, warthogs, and even a couple of crocodiles. It was pretty awesome that we saw a HUGE crocodile that was in the middle of eating a baby cape buffalo. We were only a few feet away from him and he didn’t even move except to give us a little growl to let us know that we better not mess with his lunch!
Elephant
Elephant Family
Cape Buffalo
Hippos
Hippos
Giraffe
Warthogs
Crocodile with its lunch
After a couple hours of driving, we got to our camp that had been set up in the park. It was a nice area where we even had a little porto-potty waiting for us. We had a good dinner around the campfire and then settles down to go to bed. It was a pretty noisy night for animals. We heard elephants right near the camp and there were some lions that were eating nearby. We also heard lots of hyenas during the night and two of them even broke into our camp and knocked over our pots and pans!
Our bush campsite
The next morning, we went on another game drive through the park. We saw many of the same animals, but we also saw an elephant that had died the day before (of natural causes according to the guide) being eaten by scavengers. It was a little gruesome to see, but I guess that’s the circle of life.
Recently deceased elephant
On our way out of the park, we also saw a bunch of warthogs, baboons, vervet monkeys, and some more hippos both in and out of the water. It was a really cool place to see all of the animals because the park is along the river, so they are all in the area in the morning and afternoon to get water.
Warthogs
Baboon
Vervet Monkey
For the rest of the weekend, we will be relaxing in Victoria Falls until we take off with our group for the second half of the trip.
What I Saw:
I saw lots of animals. I saw a giraffe, zebra, impala, white rhino, warthog, elephant, lion, dik-dik, mongoose, wildebeest, kudu, jackal, and many more.
My Favorite Part of the Day:
My favorite part of the day was seeing all the animals in the Etosha National Park.
What I Learned Today:
I learned that the Big 5 are elephant, leopard, lion, rhino, and buffalo. We saw elephant, lion and rhino. The place they drink is a water hole. They go eat far away from the water hole.
May 19, 2015
We just returned from spending 3 days out in the bush in the Okavango Delta. It was a pretty cool (and relaxing!) couple of days. We arrived here in the Okavango Delta on Saturday where we camped just outside of the Delta for the night. It was a good evening – we had steak for dinner and got to catch up with the internet before we are out in the wilderness for a few days. On the way to the bar/internet cafe, we had a little excitement when we ran into a 5-6 ft Python that was laying across the walk way!! Hayden was a little nervous about it, but decided it was pretty cool after it climbed up the tree and was gone. There were also several monkeys hanging around the camp that were pretty cute. After that, we went to bed early to get ready for our big trip.
Chillin’ monkey
First thing Sunday morning, we got up and had a quick breakfast so that we could get moving before it heated up. We took a 4×4 out to a village where we met our guide and polers that would be taking us out to our campsite. Once we got everything loaded in the boats, we had a 90 minute ride out to our campsite. It was a really cool experience. We rode in Mokoros, which are dug out canoes made from a single tree trunk. Historically, they are all made of trees, but for the sake of conservation, they are now being made from fiber glass. We could fit 2 people and our luggage in each Mokoro, so we ended up having a little convoy down the river. 🙂
Mokoro on the Delta
On the Mokoro
Once we got to camp, we set up our little area and made ourselves at home. We had our regular tents and kitchen stuff, but had to build a bathroom. The bush toilet is known as the “bushy bushy” which is just a hole in the ground. Hayden was very entertained by the idea of going to the bathroom in a hole. lol. That first evening, we went for a game walk before dinner. We saw a couple of animals including eagles, giraffes, and hippos in the distance. We had dinner at the camp and went to bed early in preparation for a big walk in the morning.
Monday morning was our 4-hour game walk that started before sunrise. We were able to see the sunrise over the Delta, which as beautiful. We made our way to Chief’s Island where we saw a huge heard of zebras, along with wildebeests, and giraffes. It was crazy to be so close to them while we were on foot. They were interested in us, but pretty much looked for a few minutes then went back to their breakfast since we were staying still. We made our way around the island where we also saw several types of birds, impala, warthogs and some hippos before we got back for brunch.
Out for a game walk
Giraffes in the morning
Zebras and Wildebeasts
Zebras
Zebras
Elephant skull
After eating and relaxing for a while, we were taken over to the swimming area where we jumped in the water and learned to “pole” the mokoros. It’s MUCH harder than it looks!! The guides make it look so easy to use the stick to move around, but it was quite challenging. We played in the water for a while before going back to camp.
Out for a swim in the Okavango Delta
Swimming in the Okavango Delta
Swimming!
Adam learning to pole
Hayden learning to pole
Carrie learning to pole with Hayden instructing
Back at camp, we prepped for dinner and Hayden had to do some homework!
Homework at the campsite
That evening was the highlight of the trip, we took the mokoros out to the Hippo Pool for sunset hippo viewing. There were 11 or 12 hippos, including at least one baby, in the water that night. We got a ton of great pictures of the hippos. We also saw a small crocodile near the boats.
Watching the hippos
Yawning Hippo
Hippo
Yawning Hippo
Hippo
Yawning Hippo
Once the sun was down, we had to get back before the hippos started coming out of the water. They come on land to feed at night and apparently, they are grumpy if their path is blocked on the way out, so we needed to be well out of the way! After dinner that night, the ladies that were our polers sang some local songs. After they were finished, Hayden even sang a song for them (it was a Minecraft parody song – lol). They thought it was very good. 🙂
The next morning (Tuesday), we took one more quick walk before it was time to pack up and head back out of the Delta. We saw a few more hippos, and then made our way back. We took the Makoros back to the village where our truck met us to take us back to our other campsite for the afternoon.
Bridge for when the water is high
Local village
Local village
Overall, it was a really neat place to see. Before we left, we had watched something on National Geographic about the tribes in the Okavango Delta, so it was cool to see the area for ourselves. We are back at camp now and getting ready to leave for Chobe National Park tomorrow. We will spend two days there before we go to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe on Friday.
May 14, 2015
We have had an absolutely outstanding last 2 ½ days. We spent two full days on game drives in Etosha National Park in Namibia. We camped right near the park, so we got in just after sunrise on both days. The first morning we had good luck seeing animals right as we entered the park. On the way to the first water hole, we saw a couple of giraffes along with several kudu, tons of springbok and quite a few zebras. We got to the water hole and there were a few kudu there for the morning. After watching them for a few minutes, we moved on further into the park. Within just a few minutes, we came on some oryx right along the road.
Zebras and Wildebeests
Male Kudu
The highlight was a while later when we spotted a male and female lion right next to the road! It was slightly embarrassing because it’s mating season, so we caught them in the middle of some action. Lol We spent quite a while watching them because they were very active and moving around. There were several bouts of mating during the time. Apparently, lions spend about two days mating to ensure the best possible chances of offspring. It also looked like they had a recent kill because both animals had blood on them and there was a pack of jackals nearby who were picking at something on the ground. After a while, it was time to move on from the lions.
Male Lion
Lioness
Male and Female Lions
Male Lion
That same day, we continued to drive around the park where we saw two white rhino, a total of four lions (two male, two female), about 30 elephants at the watering hole during lunch, and countless kudu, oryx, zebras, giraffes, springbok, impala, and more that I can’t remember!
White Rhino
White Rhino
Zebras at the watering hole
Giraffe
At the water hole
Elephants at the watering hole
Elephant going for a swim
As we were finishing the day, we were heading toward the exit where we were stopped by a herd of elephants crossing the road after leaving the water hole for the day. It was really cool to see them come right in from of the truck. One of them even tried to get his trunk into the truck, but luckily Benson, our co-pilot, was quick to roll up his window! That night we headed back to camp to eat dinner and get ready for another day of driving.
The next morning wasn’t quite as exciting as the previous morning. We did see some animals as we came into the park, but it was mostly zebras, giraffes, and a bunch of smaller game. We did have good luck seeing lots of babies during the day! We saw baby zebras, giraffes, elephants, and springbok.
Zebra and Baby Zebra
Giraffes and Zebras at the watering hole
Giraffes and Zebras at the watering hole
Giraffe
We saw a couple more lions, but unfortunately, we didn’t see a cheetahs or leopards during the trip. We still have a few parks to go that include big cats, so hopefully we will see them at some point on the trip.
Male Lion
Male Lion
I think Hayden’s favorite part of the trip was that he got to be the co-pilot for the afternoon part of the drive. Our cook stayed back to make dinner while we were out, so Hayden was promoted to the front of the truck to be the “spotter”. He did a good job and found us some giraffe, flamingos, and another elephant.
Moyo and Co-Pilot Hayden
After our long day, we got back to camp for dinner and then went off to bed pretty early. At some point during the night, a group of hyenas had a kill very close to the edge of the camp because we heard a HUGE commotion and the noise lasted on and off most of the night. The hyenas were super loud and they were calling out to the other hyenas which then came over to get a part of the action. At some point (at least one) lion was also there because we heard it roaring as well.
After a not so great night of sleep, we made one more quick trip into the park this morning before taking off for our new camp further to the east.
What I Saw:
I saw Fish River Canyon. I climbed Dune 45 and ran down Dune 45. I camped at a vineyard where they grow grapes to make wine and played with two kids.
My Favorite Part of the Day:
My favorite p[art of the day was playing with George and Edward at the vineyard.
What I Learned Today:
I learned that Fish River Canyon is the second biggest canyon in the world, the Grand Canyon is the first biggest in the world. Wine is made out of grapes, I learned that at the vineyard. I leaned that dunes ar3e made of ocean sand. It is hard to climb up a sand dune.
What I Saw:
I saw Great White Sharks up close, African Penguins, and the Table Mountain view. They call it Table Mountain because it is flat.
My Favorite Part of the Day:
My Favorite part of the day was going to see the African Penguins living in their habitat.
What I Learned Today:
I learned at the African Penguins that penguins dig holes for nests. They lay one or two eggs at a time. The penguins live on land. It is one of the last land dwelling penguin colonies in the world.
Penguins at Boulders Beach
Great White Cage Diving!
Vijil Family World Tour 