Today was a long, but very fun and informative day.This morning we woke up early to catch our 9:45am flight to Zimbabwe.They still won't let me get American money so I don't know how I'm going to buy things in Victoria Falls.If you didn't know already, Zim has been independent since about 1980 and has had the same president for 20 years.He's got way too much power at this point so decided to print more money.Instead he caused inflation and now Zimbabwe has no currency and instead has to use South African Rand, Euros, Pounds, and the American dollar.And everything is too expensive for their people to afford.

When we were walking out to the plane I honestly couldn't believe that they wanted us to fly in it.It had 9 rows, no overhead baggage, and they didn't care if everything fit under your seat as long as it wasn't in the aisles.There were only two rows and you could watch the pilots in the cockpit, which was pretty neat.But flying in it…really?I felt like any second we were just going to drop out of the sky because in any turbulence the whole plane would shift like a fish tail back and forth.It was terrifying and sickening at the same time.I hated that plane.I much much prefer flying with my dad because at least that doesn't shake like this plane did.We had to stop in Botswana after an hour and 30 minutes to refuel and let a few people off and then we continued on to Zimbabwe.It was very sad landing in Botswana because a lot of the houses were completely desolated.They had caved in or walls had been knocked down.Many of them didn't have roofs.And they didn't look old.If you looked further away from the airport, the houses were ok; it was just where we were landing, which was odd.

When we arrived in Zim, we had to wait for an hour in the customs line because a British Airways flight got in right before us.There was this little boy in line.I honestly don't know what his parents were thinking.He had the most awful mullet I have ever seen.A mullet that was so long he pulled some of it into a braid and let the rest just hang around it with spikes on his head.HahahaOur hotel bus was waiting for us when we got out.I was totally confused at first because there was one other family on the bus with us and the driver kept saying to them, "We'll drop you off in Victoria Falls." And then he would turn to us and say, "You have another 45 minute drive."I had no idea why we weren't staying in Victoria Falls.Vic Falls and our hotel are inside of Victoria Falls National Park so there are animals everywhere.There are no fences to keep them out of public areas.They have all these funny animal crossing signs and we saw a lot of pumbas and baboons right in the city.Apparently, it's pretty common for any of the animals to come into the city so you have to be careful.There are lions on the reserve.

On our extra 45 minute drive to Imbabala, where we are staying, the driver gave us information about Zimbabwe.The country's primary language is English, but there are 13 tribes total throughout the country and 13 million people.The main tribe, Shuna, include about 60% of the population and the second tribe is 30% with the remaining 11 tribes making up the last 10%.Each village has about 100 families meaning 100 homesteads each with a head man.Then the head men all refer to the chief.When a man wants to start his own family and homestead, he goes to the head man who speaks to the village.If he is a good guy, they will give him a piece of land to build his home and a piece of land to farm.He does not need to buy it, it is given to him.Also, they have all the materials to build a home so that does not cost money either.The people in villages rarely use money because they trade for anything they need.The only reason they use money is to buy something they can't produce or to get something from a neighboring village.They make their homes of poles (thin trees), mud, brush, and elephant dung.They can make them as large as they want really because it doesn't cost any money.The main products of Zim are mostly agricultural (however not near Victoria Falls because the soil is semi-desert) and mining.Villages are usually agricultural, but the crops can easily be ruined by elephants, too much rain, or too little rain. When they do have a successful crop, they dry everything right away for storage.When they want to eat it, they boil it.In villages, they don't pay taxes so the government doesn't give them anything.The only time the government will give them something is if they build a clinic or school with the help of people like USAid or such.Then the government will supply nurses, doctors, or teachers, and pay them.However, since inflation, they have not been able to pay any of these people or to get resources and textbooks.Schools are almost nonexistent right now in Zim.They are just starting an incentive pay for teachers to move back to Zim, but it will take awhile.That is why Bob Bartes, Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church's missionary in South Africa, is trying to expand his radio classroom to Zim.

Anyway, we ended up at the border between Zim and Botswana where another truck from our place picked us up and took us to Imbabala, which means bushbuck since there are a lot that come right onto the grounds.Again there are no fences so we have to be careful walking across the grounds.We are basically staying in a nice hut.It has a thatch roof, two twin beds, a toilet and a shower in the back separated by a wall, but it is nice.At night, they put down the mosquito net for us.It is a malaria area so we have to be careful.

They have 8 huts total with a total of 18 people being able to stay here at a time.Everything is open except our own huts which have screened windows and doors.It's very beautiful.We are 70 km north of Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, 5 minutes from the Botswana border, we can hear music from Zambia (the other side of the river is Zambia), and you can see Namibia from certain areas.When we got here, we put our stuff down and had afternoon tea.We met Ester and Maria from Spain.They are also teachers. JThey were taking an English course in Cape Town for the past 2 weeks and are staying here until Sunday.After tea, they took the four of us out on the evening cruise safari.The river is like a 2 minute walk from our site.We saw elephant tracks. J

Since we had arrived, we kept hearing this snorting noise, and I had thought it was wild boar.It turns out it was a hippopotamus!!!It sounds like a pig laughing.LolWe got on a little platoon boat, which was fairly quiet.When we got close to animals, Damesh our guide, would slow and then start to drift so that we wouldn't scare any away.We started our safari with the hippos that we kept hearing…there were about 5 of them at first, with more surfacing every minute.Damesh told us that they can't really swim and they can only hold their breath for a max of 6 minutes.In order to move in the water, they actually hop along the bottom of the river.Haha That's so cool.There is a lot of papyrus here too!The plant that the Egyptians used to make paper.After watching about 9 of them for awhile, we saw a herd of female kudu and started heading near them.They have just finished their mating season so we didn't see a male.They are part of the antelope family so their horns are connected to their skull and have a hollow casing around them, which separates them from deer.Kudu also have thin white stripes on their sides.

After watching them and a few native birds, we saw elephants crossing the river in the distance!!!!! So exciting!All you could really see at first were dark objects splashing around a lot.When elephants move like that, especially across rivers, it's always the matriarch's decision and everyone follows without question.There were about 9 of them total, some of which were babies so they totally disappeared for awhile in the water.When I asked Damesh about this he explained that elephants swim better than hippos!Go figure!And there is always a larger elephant nearby in case anything happens.Elephants also usually cross the rivers in the same place.It is pretty dry in Zimbabwe right now so the matriarch probably decided to cross because the little island they traversed to was pretty green.We got within about 100 feet and just took a ton of pictures and videos.The smallest elephant was about 1 year old and Damesh could tell because it was just starting to gain control over its trunk.It was so cute!

While watching the elephants, we noticed a nearby nesting area for African Skimmers.They are new to the area Damesh explained so everyone is really excited for them.They are black with white around the eyes and red beaks.The bottom of their beak is longer so when they fly, they dip it below the water and skim for food, hence skimmers.We watched these birds and the elephants during the sunset.I really wish the colors of an African sunset would come out in my pictures.The sun is brilliant red and it never shows that in my pictures.During the sunset, we also watched a crocodile.

Once the sun set, it got much colder on the river so we headed in around 6:30.It is a lot warmer in Zim than in Namibia though.However, since it is getting warmer, we are here just in time for the mosquitoes.Yay! :/

When we got back there was a herd of Impala outside our hut.It's been there since.We all ate dinner together outside so we met a French couple and their 6 year old son, Liam from Lion, France.Liam is very cute and was very surprised that I could speak to him roughly in French.His favorite animal is also the elephant.JHe was asleep by desert…orange soufflé. Mmm!Dinner was very delicious.

Tomorrow we will be going on a game drive at 8am.There's no such thing as sleeping in here apparently.LolThere is now a 6 hour time difference.

I'm looking forward to all of the animals we will be seeing!!!I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures for everyone!!

Love,

Shannon