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Elephants!!!!And Lions JLast night we woke up around 1:55 am to lots of snorting impala.The impala stay on the grounds at night usually not very far from our front door.They were snorting because a lioness was hunting them.Mom saw her, but I did not.I got to the window a few seconds too late. :(We woke up around 4:50 and went to breakfast in the dark at 5:15.The sky looked like it had been pulled closer.The stars were so bright and there were so many.The elephants are close to Victoria Falls so we had to get a ride into town.On our way in we saw 3 giraffes just chilling by the road.It was pretty cool.:)We also had to go through a pack of baboon that just did not want to give up their seats on the road to let us pass.
I just realized I forgot to talk about our shining last night so I will pause to give you a brief synopsis.We saw nothing.Well not nothing…we saw a bush baby and an owl and 3 elephants eating and a few antelope after awhile.But it was pretty dead last night.It still amazes me that our guide, Abraham, could find the bush baby and the owl by just swing his flashlight left to right every few seconds.It was still nice to try though.Anyway…moving on.
When we got to the Elephant Wallow we spoke to Zenzo, whose name means trouble.Zenzo was our tour guide.We had some tea while we waited for the other people.When everyone got there, Zenzo told us what we would be doing throughout the day.He also warned us not to try to take pictures while on the elephants until we tell it to stop because otherwise it will be of the ground or of the sky.LolI didn't head this warning, but most of my pictures still turned out well.I ended up taking 266 pictures today!HahahaWhen the elephants showed up we were on a deck slightly above them.Below the deck was a trough of water and some lettuce for them to eat while they met us.Their heads could easily rest on the deck.Zenzo introduced us to the 9 elephants.Two of them were just babies; Lulu was only 14 months and Tambi (meaning trust) was 2 and a half.We also met the two adolescents Donkey and I can't remember the other one who were in training, but cannot hold people yet.We pet the elephants and hung out with them for a few minutes to get to know them.My favorite, other than the babies, was Jock.When he first met me he was soooo curious.His trunk kept trying to wrap around me and he kept trying to grab my hand or clothing with his snout.It was really funny.He ended up getting red (from the sand) snot all over my pants though.LolThere were two people per elephant, plus a guide, so three total.Our guide was very knowledgeable and very nice.
Jock was, until very recently, the head bull of the herd.He has recently been challenged by Jumbo who is a bit younger; Jock is 25.Because of the recent switch in power, Jock had to stay near the back and a little separated so that they did not fight while feeding.3 of the younger elephants were Jock's from different mothers.LolJock was very curious and very stubborn at the same time.Also, Jock's nickname was Pig; I didn't completely understand why until we started moving.We were second from last in line and kept getting more and more behind because Jock stopped about every 5 minutes to take half a tree with him.Not joking…half a tree.He would prop it between his tusks and trunk and munch on it for awhile until he needed a refill.In most of the pictures of us, he has a huge branch in his mouth.
Elephants have hairs on their head and trunks that are a lot like hair brush bristles.These are to help them know if there is a fly or bird on them as well as to keep the mud on them during their mud baths.Mud baths help to cool them down.When drinking, elephants can store water and regurgitate it later to cool themselves off as well.Their favorite food is Mupani tree; the same tree whose name was given to the worm I ate in Namibia.:)
On our trip we mostly saw trees, but we did see a buffalo.They look really funny; almost as if they are wearing wigs.We also crossed a field of granite from a past volcanic eruption.However, my guide did not know the name of the volcano.We also saw the marabou stork up in a tree…the bird we saw the other day, the largest bird in Zimbabwe.
After our 90 minute elephant ride, we got to feed them.There are two ways to feed an elephant…either pour the food down their trunk and they blow it into their mouth or tell them "trunk up" and throw it into their mouth.My mom and I did the second because it was more fun.lolI also fed Lulu a little, which I found out later I was not supposed to do.Mother elephants are very protective and possessive.Jock was great at posing for pictures with his trunk up.It was quite fun.I didn't understand it when I first met him and realized by the end that he had seen my camera so had posed.The rest of the elephants had to be told.He's so smart.:)
After our elephant safari, they fed us breakfast and had us watch the DVD they made of our trip.Total tourist trap, but we bought it anyway.LolWe then headed back to Victoria Falls to shop for a half hour before we met our guide for the falls.
Shopping was an adventure.They would not let us just browse…they blocked our way into the next person's area.They all named their shops too; examples of names were Criss Rock's shop (spelled this way), Calvin Klein's shop, Chicago Bull's shop, Bargain Basement shop…etc.On our way through, they wanted to give us souvenirs as well…2 hundred billion Zambian dollar bills; money currently worth nothing no matter the number on the bill.They also wanted my socks, my shoes, a t-shirt, a pen, and my hat to trade.Mom eventually gave them her scarf and hat as a trade, but I wouldn't give up my hat, didn't have a pen, and was not going to walk around Victoria Falls without shoes.You really see how desperate they are in a market like that.Namibia wouldn't even think to trade in the markets and they are very tough to barter with.In Zim, they wanted mostly trade and if you only have money, they're not really sure where to set the price and they just want money so they don't charge much.We were glad to be out 30 minutes later.
Our tour guide for the falls name was Dumi.The main difference between Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls is that you can ride a boat in Niagara.It is too dangerous in Vic Falls because directly across from the falls is more land.It's basically a waterfall into a large crack in the earth.So instead of a boat, you walk along the land opposite the different falls.They each have names.Livingstone of Livingstone, Zambia was the first to find the falls and we also took pictures of the island where he first stayed.In the dry season, people in Zambia can walk to this island because the other half of the falls basically dries up.It was just full enough…any more water and we wouldn't have seen the rock piles at the bottom and would have gotten even more drenched than we already did from the mist.We walked all the way down the falls and stopped to wave at the people on the Zambia side.They don't get to see much of the falls because Zambia only owns a little piece of land on the falling side.They do own a lot of the upper river though and you could see Livingstone from one end.Victoria Falls is basically a jungle as well.It was beautiful to see the trees and vines!!At one of the view points, I was calmly taking pictures when I was suddenly drenched.Apparently, the mist drifts over the view point, gathers there, and then all falls at the same time…on me.Fortunately, it was pretty hot by this time and it was very refreshing.Dumi let me climb the rocks to the edge at a few of the view points as well.At one point, I was only a foot from falling over.:)The rocks were very slippery though because of the water and algae that was starting to grow on them.There were lots of double rainbows!!!At the end, we could wave to the people visiting the falls on the Zambia side.Then we walked down a path to watch the people bungee jumping and doing the zip line under the bridge between the two countries.On our way to the bridge, we came across about 6 baboons sitting in the middle of the path.They were not happy at all that we wanted to pass.One of them hissed at us and just kept staring like any minute he was going to attack.The others were ok just sitting in the trees and watching us.As we walked back to the main gate we saw some pumba and bushbuck.Another main difference between Niagara and Victoria is that Niagara would never exist without a fence like Victoria Falls.The only thing between us and falling over were dead branches of thorn bushes stacked to about waist height in some areas.The rest of the areas just had small rocks that you could climb on, and possibly slip off of.
After Victoria Falls, Dumi took us to the main office to see if we could schedule me for a zip line and to find out how much British Airways would fine us if we were over the luggage limit.We just found out last night that BA only lets each person take 1 bag weighing about 20 kilo.All of the other airlines let international passengers take 2 bags weighting about 20 kilo each.So both my mom and I are about 20 kilo over the limit.It's getting to be a pain that Zim has no money, because without money they don't have banks and I can't withdraw any money and they wouldn't exchange my money before I left Namibia.They also don't allow credit cards or traveler's checks.So, not knowing how much our fine will be tomorrow morning, and running out of American dollars because we didn't want to carry too much, I decided not to go on the zip line.
On our way back to Imbabala, we saw a zebra and another herd of elephants.This herd of elephants was not happy with us for slowing down to look at them though.They had a lot of young with them and were being quite protective so we moved on quickly.Once back, we had about an hour to relax before tea.Their chef here is absolutely amazing.He can make any food of any nationality basically.For tea he has mainly been baking different breads, but today he made donuts.For our regular meals, we usually have a mixture of both African traditional and familiar dishes.It's been really good.Unfortunately, as soon as I got back to camp I was bitten by at least 5 mosquitoes.I think I smelled too much like the water from the falls.
After tea, we went on our evening cruise.We saw some elephants drinking down the river, but other than hippos, birds, and a large herd of waterbuck that's it.We did go closer to the Zambia side however and saw some villages along the river.We also went right up to the four corners of Africa.I was kinda in 4 African countries at one time.We were watching the ferry cross from Zambia to Botswana and back again, while floating very close nearby in Zim and we could see the end of the Caprizi strip of Namibia.You can find me easily on a map.Just look where the four countries come together on the Zambezi River.It forms a sort of x.I finally got a recording of the hippos tonight.I was very happy!; I'm hoping you can still hear it when I download the video.
For dinner we had Tilapia; they have 13 different species in the Zambezi River along with many other fish.I forgot to mention earlier, but every night it smells like we are going to have baked potato.Abraham told us the first night that it's actually a bush that smells at night…its nickname is the smelly potato bush.LolAlso, another common thing during dinner is the fruit bat.I can't remember if I've mentioned it or not, but it chirps in one tone all night long.No other bats every respond to it and it's not like its searching for food, it usually stays in the same place.Tonight however, it was right above our heads moving around and increasing in frequency.Furthermore, before and throughout dinner, the hippos came out of the water and drew close to our grounds.The males are growing increasingly territorial with each other and keep making their laughing/snorting noise all the time.It scared the impala quite a lot though and they kept running in circles.We could also hear the hyena's calls.You may be thinking that we had a pretty strange dinner tonight, but these types of noises happen almost every dinner and throughout the day…I just happened to write about them tonight.:)After dinner we always sit around the fire for a little before going to bed.Tomorrow we will go on a sunrise cruise and then head to the airport to get to Johannesburg.
Talk to you soon!!Love and miss you,
<3 Shannon
Jo'burg tomorrow, USA Tuesday night!I am completely and utterly tired of being cold.I will be at the pool all week if anyone wants to join.lol
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