Of black maned lions and rampaging hippos

[bPeteb]

Oscar was parked not far away. We got in and continued the drive around the park and back to the river for coffee and cake.

Patricia left us and we drove the whole way back to the hotel along the river's edge. Lots more animal sightings



including an elephant that used its head to shake a palm tree to drop the fruit.



Too soon we were back at the hotel, 15 minutes before noon checkout. We’d packed before we left but had time to change before checking out.

The lovely Linton was on reception. I’d asked the afternoon before if it would be possible to get another half hour added to check out. Linton said of course. When war turned up at 12 she said with a smile “you’re early.”

We requested a taxi to Zambian immigration at the bridge at Vic Falls. We expected to get another taxi across the bridge to Zimbabwe immigration then another to the next hotel.

Instead our lovely driver Matthew said it would be just two taxis and he rang and organised the second while driving to the bridge. Cost - USD60 for both.

We pulled up at immigration and our driver asked for our passports. I handed them to him as we walked in. All had a panic as he thought I’d handed them to some random guy.

He somehow jumped the queue and we were on our way across the bridge.

 

[bPeteb]

I see the rhinos still have their horns. Is that a sign that poaching might not be such an issue? That’s what we were told at the.Madikwe park in SA.

We asked the same question. Didn't really get a straight answer here apart from 'these rhinos have protection'. In Etosha some have them removed, some not.

 

[craven morehead]

And then we saw some zebra. It was fantastic.
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We walked through a group of ruins. Gift explained that it had been a ranger camp. It housed the rangers and their families. After three rangers were killed by elephants it had been abandoned.
View attachment 403187View attachment 403188


Patricia asked us to be very quiet. We walked through some thick scrub and then into a clearing to find all nine rhinos in front of us. Unbelievable.
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Super jealous

 

[bPeteb]

Our new taxi driver Charles met us in the carpark. After paying Matthew his $30, and paying the USD60 for our two visas, we headed up through Victoria Falls town to the Cresta Sprayview hotel from where our tour would begin.

Sat, 3 Aug
Cresta Sprayview
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

We fully expected to leave our bags and go for a wander, as it was only 1:30 when we arrived, but our room was ready.

The Sprayview is, in a word, tired. Blocks of little units are spread through the large manicured grounds



The rooms are tidy, but basic. The bed was comfy, and a true queen size, not two singles together.



There’s a huge pool



with an open air restaurant down one side and a bar at one end. We faffed around then headed there for a late lunch, with local beer of course.



Our group meeting was at 3 and we walked in with our second beer in hand. I felt some second glances. Gee the group was old. Kiboko sells themselves as 40 to 80 and this group was skewed towards well towards the 80 end of the scale.

Mishek our driver and guide, introduced himself and then we all did the same. Oldest was 80, celebrating her year of 80, bAlt youngest, turning 55 the next day. Group of 16. 14 Australians, 13 when Al decided he was a Kiwi, and two Italians.

Six couples, two friends traveling as solos with their own rooms and two friends traveling twin share. The last two are life long friends from country Queensland, older ladies, one a retired farmer, both quite posh.

The drama started when it was time to pay Mishek the ZAR3500 tour payment per person. Some only had USD, some only had part of the money. All sorts of reasons. We'd all known about this for months.

Then Mishek asked for ZAR150pp for porterage fees. Quite a number of groans. One person said they were travelling with hlo and wouldn't need porters. This tour cost close to $8000 and you're coughing about $12. Wtaf!! The hlo (they are big packs!!) couple has been painful the whole trip.

Couldn't wait to get outta there. We walked down to town, running the gauntlet of young guys trying to sell worthless Zimbabwean currency for a US$ or two.

Dinner and a few drinks at The River Brewing Company. Ok beers and nice burgers. At Mishek’s instruction, a taxi back.

 

[Quickstatus]

still no

Dont worry @JohnM was not actually in the Devils pool either according to his photo

Did the taxi fee include a "priority line fee" at the border?.

 

[JohnM]

OK then, I was at - which is of course for me - the more aptly named Angel's Pool on the other side of the edge of Livingstone Island.

The Falls were cranking pretty hard when I was there in June. Angel's Pool is usually open when Devil's Pool is closed. The latter is only open in the drier period.



looking across to Devil's Pool from the Zim side on a previous visit during lower flow in October:

 

[bPeteb]

Dont worry @JohnM was not actually in the Devils pool either according to his photo

Did the taxi fee include a "priority line fee" at the border?.

Sorry. No idea. There were only a few people in the immigration office. Our taxi driver just handed the paperwork, and our passports over, and that was it.

 

[SuePa]

Lots of impala everywhere

I was told impalas are called the McDonalds of Africa because they have a big m on their bums and you can find them evertwhere!

 

[RooFlyer]

Mishek our driver and guide, introduced himself and then we all did the same. Oldest was 80, celebrating her year of 80, bAlt youngest, turning 55 the next day. Group of 16. 14 Australians, 13 when Al decided he was a Kiwi, and two Italians.

Wow, so far and South Africa and Namibia I’ve not heard a single other Australian or New Zealand accent and no North Americans either. Large numbers of Italians followed by French and Germans.

 

[bPeteb]

We got up very early and asked for a cab to take us down to Victoria Falls. The gates open at 6.30am.

Lovely taxi driver told us he’d be back in 90 minutes.

In we went and we charged around to every viewpoint. It was spectacular. A beautiful sunrise to help celebrate bAlt’s birthday. Rainbows, mist, thundering falls. Just beautiful. We raced out and our taxi driver was waiting.

Back in time for breakfast.




happy bithday bAlt xx

 

[bPeteb]

We were nearly all out at the bus on time, well, except for the hlos, who strolled out 10 minutes after we were told to be there. It was to be an ongoing issue.

Finally our tour was underway. First stops - Zimbabwean then Botswanian border control. Foot and mouth disinfectant baths for our shoes as we entered Botswana.

On the road to Kasane


It was a fairly short, smooth run to Kasane. As with all of us, we had no Botswana currency and also no water. We stopped at the shopping centre and were directed to the ATMs, none of which worked.

I wasn’t going go be deterred. In the supermarket where we went to buy 5l bottles of water I could see signs saying draw cash out with purchase. So I did. Three x 5l plus 2000 pula. In hindsight it was too much as we could use card everywhere we stopped or stayed in Botswana.

My transaction went through seamlessly. It was problematic for all who followed.

We arrived at Chobe Safari Lodge Home
, right on the Chobe River at Kasane, in time for a late lunch. After a quick wash, it was time for our optional afternoon safari in Chobe National Park.

14 of 16 took up the option. The grand dames decided to give it a miss and instead had beers by the pool. Mishek kept reminding us throughout the trip “see it now, you don’t know if you’ll be back”.

First, our digs. The River Lodge building was closed for renovation so we were checked in at the Bush Lodge, but we were all in river rooms. And what spectacular rooms they were. War even had a bunk room for the kids

Apparently this is three or four star!

 

[bPeteb]

No time to waste. Our first safari was calling.

Climbing up into that vehicle was like a dream coming true. Our guide Marcus was fantastic, and our first ever safari was just incredible.

It started within minutes of entering the park. Greater kudu, impala, giraffes. GIRAFFES!! Then elephants, hundreds, maybe thousands of elephants down on the river flats. bAlt just wanted to see 55. Instead he/we saw a sea of elephants. It was unbelievable.

Then a lion, and a leopard!! Then more lions, more elephants, more giraffes, more lions. I know lots of you have seen this multiple times but for us it was an afternoon we’ll not ever forget.

Marcis our excellent guide



a little excited just maybe

 

[bPeteb]

M stands for the African quarter pounder, aka impala


bee-eater, I think


greater kudu, delicious!


hungry, hungey hippo


an elephant or 50


water monitor


a very tall African animal


bAlt a little excited as well

 

[bPeteb]

lion number 1


leopard with anotehr in the tree above that we couldn't get a look at due to some inconiderate private tourists who would not move their vehicle


lions two. three, four, five and I think six


the national bird of Botswana, the kori bustard

 

[bPeteb]

big five, tick


The beautiful sunset started before we left the park and it continued until well after we got back to the lodge, but not before another lion, that got uncomfartably close behind our vehicle. What a crazy introduction to Chobe




just like on a cruise ship!

 

[bPeteb]

Great buffet for dinner including our first meals of game meat, kudu and impala. Yum.



Mishek had organised for the staff to sing happy birthday and present bAlt with a cake (a cup cake), Botswana style. It was magical.

 

[bPeteb]

Early breakfast. An excellent buffet. We poured a couple of mimosas - low alcohol bubbles and fresh juice - to kick off our second safari.

It was cool, definitely puffer cool. We chose to go with Marcus again.

We were all handed a blanket and then when we got to the park entrance, a bottle of water.

The sun was just rising as we drove into the park. We headed back down to the river. A couple of giraffes greeted us.

what are those light brown dots on the river flat watching the buffalo?


or these?

 

[bPeteb]

Marcus said to us there would be less animals than there were the afternoon before but told us to be prepared for the unexpected. We sure got that.

Lots of buffalo down on the river flats. Then Marcus told us there was a pride of lions down as as well. I think we eventually spotted six spread out across the flat.

The line of safari vehicles along the sand was amazing/weird. I have no idea how many there were. I'd guess at least 50.


We sat at one spot for a while then moved further along and parked up again. And we waited. There lions were quietly repositioning on the flats. Then the buffalo started moving towards the bush and within minutes the chase, and stampede were underway.

A David Attenborough doco was airing all right in front of us.

The buffalos, with the lions in hot pursuit, ran through the middle of the lines of safari vehicles and up the hillside into the bush.


Then the madness began. Safari vehicles drove into the bush behind them but ours didn't. Marcus entered a track close to three river flats and parked.


We could hear the commotion up the hill. A buffalo was bellowing so the lions sounded as though they had been successful.

Suddenly the young buffalo appeared right in front of us with multiple lions around and on it. Marcus knew that given a chance, the buffalo would run for the river, and it had.

The photos. If you're in any way squeamish scroll past.


We sat and watched for maybe 25 minutes. The buffalo got up a couple of times but was quickly brought down. The amount of blood on the faces of the lions increased. Marcus explained they were a family of young lions and were very inexperienced at finishing off the kill. Mum was sitting off to the side watching.

It was incredible. It was a bit sad

Life in nature is tough.

Two people with us had a very hard time and eventually stopped watching, but we were mesmerised. The sound of that buffalo as its life neared its end and the look of terror in its eyes is something neither of us will ever forget.

My grade nine geography treachery told our class about coming across a terrible accident in Nigeria that I think involved a bus and a river. Crowds stood watching, declaring “wonderful, wonderful”. They didn't mean wonderful like we use it. They meant the sight was full of interest.

Our first ever stalk, chase and take down was wonderful.

As we drove away there was an empty safari vehicle on the track with a group of guides working on the front wheel. The lions were less than 100m behind them. Yikes!

 

[bPeteb]

After that the rest of the morning was a bit of an anticlimax, if seeing animals you'd dreamed of seeing could be described as that. More elephants, kudo, impala, giraffes.

What a morning!

hotel warthogs


We had the rest of the morning and early afternoon to ourselves. Sat down near the river and watched the hilarious mongooses have endless fun.

 

[bPeteb]

Lunch by the not at all tempting (bloody cold) pool.



more mongooses although mongeese sounds way better


An all inclusive Chobe River cruise was the late afternoon activity.



The elephants had already left and made their way up into the bush. ‘Just’ buffalo, hippos, cross and lots of birds. A lovely few hours.