We have decided to end our hunt a day early and left camp today to head to Victoria Falls. Thankfully we arrived here without incident. Today we toured the Falls and took in the breath-taking scenery. It really is awe-inspiring. Though we have photos, they really does not do it justice. The Falls are known as “the smoke that thunders” and experienced that to be true. Even though it is the dry season now, with late season rains the Falls are producing a thundering roar of water with a mist that can be seen miles away. There is enough continual mist that the entire wall opposite the falls is a rainforest. The lower walk was closed so we just did the upper walk and stopped at each of the 16 observation points. By the time we got to the end of the Zimbabwe section of the Falls (you can also observe them on the Zambia side) we were soaked. What a tremendous thing God has given us to marvel at!
We then made our way to Chobe Reserve in Botswana (about 1 ½ hrs away). The border crossing was made much more painless without having guns in tow to take along. After another dip and pack experience we were ready for another adventure.
We are super lucky to have Danie to accompany Jamie and I up to this area and be our personal game driver. Self-guided drives are allowed so we could just enjoy all the scenery at our whim. He spots all the animals that are doing their best to hide and knows most anything you’d care to know about them. Another added bonus is that he also knows how close we can get (knowing I am all about the photos) without risk of using that medical travel insurance policy we purchased before leaving. I found I was able to extend to just the right height much of the time by sitting on the open door window. Oddly enough, the Toyota would frequently malfunction and inexplicably lurch forward when I had not yet descended back into the vehicle. I considered positioning myself there permanently by repurposing the seat belts (they are restraints after all) but when we got to the 7 foot wide paths with thorns on each side this location might prove less than pleasant.
Chobe did not disappoint today and all of us were completely overwhelmed with the sheer volume of animals here- specifically in this area of the park that borders the Zambezi River. I don’t think we looked out our window and almost any given time without seeing some kind of wildlife. It was an amazing experience.
Danie predicted that we might see some lions in a particular area and shortly thereafter while driving along the beach-like shore of the river I jumped in my seat as I glanced to see a lioness coming in 30 feet from the vehicle (and my open window). Normally I wouldn’t be so anxious about this (regardless of the distance) since we are in a vehicle but I have been careful about making sure doors are shut and windows are shut a proper amount when we’ve been just sitting in the vehicle waiting. Leopards are “clever” as the PH’s put it and come out of nowhere. We knew there were plenty of kitty cats hiding in the brush while we were hunting based on tracks so I was always mindful of it. It also didn’t help that Jaco was kind enough to show me TV footage of a guy getting attacked by a leopard in his vehicle when they were trying to release it back into the wild. This bad ol’ puddy tat took one leap from the box of the pickup to the partially open pickup window to land midway into the cab to let the driver know what he thought of the ride he had just taken (for the record the guy made it through to tell about it). So a bad ol’ puddy tat leaping into partially open windows was high on my list of possibilities while we were out and about. In the end this lioness was having a good day and just wanted to get by us to get a drink.
We ended our game drive with the setting of the sun and all of us went back to our rooms feeling like it was a pretty awesome day.
Aug 18 9PM
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