More trip pictures

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Victoria Falls. There is really no theme here, other than these are pictures I liked. Hope you enjoy them too.

African Fish Eagle

African Skimmer

We witnessed yet again,
"the circle of life" with these cute little birds. They were nesting on a sand bar in the river. Just after we passed by on the boat and took these pictures, we witnessed a group of water buffalo swimming across to the sandbar. We were excited to see the buffalo swimming until we realized that they were now tramping all over the nests of these cute little birds. Ah, the circle of life.

Helmeted turtle

Blue Crane

Marabou Stork

Marabou Stork 2

Millipede-- These guys are all over the roads this time of year and
can be five inches long. 

I know we have posted Ostrich pictures, but this is our first baby! And here it is with mommy....

This is a really big African tree! While our daughter refers to is as "the Lion King tree", I believe that
they are called Baobab trees and can live to be 3,000 years old. There is one growing in Zimbabwe that is quite famous since over 40 people can shelter in it's trunk. They simply refuse to die and if burned or striped of their bark, they just grow back. 

Grey Heron

Great Egret

Sable

At last some predators - and other game animals

On our to Victoria Fall trip, we purposely visited Etosha for a few days with hopes of seeing some lions as we had not yet seen any during our stay in Namibia. But, all though driving all over the park, we never sighted any lions. So, we left resigned to the fact that we were not likely to see lions before we left for the U.S. However, in Chobe National Park on what will likely be the last game drive we take in Africa, we were blessed to finally see a pride of lions. There were five in total - 2 females and 3 males. The females were stalking a herd of impalas. The antelope were spooked and ran off before they had the misfortune of being turned into lion food.

The baboons sat in the trees keeping a wary eye on the lions' activities.

It turned out to be a good trip for seeing predators. Right at the very beginning of our game drive in Chobe we sighted a pack of African Spotted Wild Dogs. This is a critically endangered species with only 5,000 left in the wild (approximately 1,600 adults). As a result, you are very lucky if you ever get a chance to see them.. They were nine total in the pack. They hunt by literally running their prey to death. They will chase an animal for 2 kilometers or more and the prey frequently just collapse from exhaustion or a heart attack and are often eaten alive by the dogs.

We also saw a side stripped jackal and in Etosha we saw a spotted hyena.

In Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park (Zambia) we were able to go with a ranger and track on foot white rhinos. This was the first time we were able to get out and walk through the bush as most of the parks require you to stay in your vehicle. The ranger was able to point out a lot of smaller things that you would never get to see from the car. Anyway, we tracked to within 10 meters or so to a group of rhinos.

A mother and here calf in the forefront

We also saw several black rhinos (one even crossed the road right in front of us) while in Etosha. So a good trip for viewing rhinos as well.

This black rhino hung around the waterhole at night for 30 to 45 minutes

We also saw lots of hippos on both the Zambezi and Chobe Rivers. We learned that when agitated, hippos open their mouths wide as a warning. They also growl - so we have been growled out by a hippo. One even charged (or lounged) at our boat. They are very big but very poor swimmers and essentially walk on the bottom of the river in shallow water. At night, they will leave the river to forage and can travel 5 kilometers or more away from the river. We even saw hippo tracks when we were tracking the rhinos.

We also saw Red Leche, Waterbuck and lots of Cape Water Buffaloes.

Red Leche grazing under the Botswana flag

Cape Buffalo

Waterbuck

And can't forget the crocodiles.....

We "just" saw a few elephants. Chobe is the native word for elephant and Chobe National Park has the largest number of elephants of any national park in the world. So, we had expected to see lots of elephants. But, it rained while we were there and the elephants didn't need to come down to the river to drink.

We did see what is frequently called the most beautiful antelope in Africa - the Sable. Supposed to be lots of these around as well but we only saw two.

We have now seen 4 of the so called "Big Five" - Elephant, Rhino, Water Buffalo and Lion. The only one we have not seen is the Leopard. Ironically, there are probably 18,000 leopards in Namibia - many more than most of the other animals on the list. But, they are solitary, hide in the trees and are active a lot at night. So, they are very hard to spot. But, we don't have anything to complain about as we have seen an extraordinary variety of wildlife during our time in Namibia,

We even saw our first primate other than a baboon.

Velvet Monkey

Birds will be on a future blog post.

Epic Victoria Falls Road Trip

We just returned from our epic 2-week road trip to Victoria Falls which took us on a  4,000 km drive through through the countryside of Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. We also got to look across the Kavango River into southern Angola. During the trip we visited four national parks:

• Etosha (Namibia)
• Bwabwata (Namibia)
• Chobe (Botswana)
• Mosi-oa-Tunya (Zambia)

The roads were paved all the way from Windhoek to Livingstone, Zambia and the driving was good except for a 100 km stretch from Katima Mulilo (Namibia) and Kazungula (Zambia). This stretch of road was more potholes than pavement and it took us 3-hours or more to navigate. We spent most of the time driving off to the side of the road in makeshift tracks. It was by far the worst road we have driven on during on time in Africa.

Example of Poor Road Conditions in Zambia

Driving across the borders, particularly into and out of Zambia, was an experience to say the least. The border crossings are very chaotic with very little informational signage telling you what to do. In Zambia, you are immediately met by groups of locals offering to act as your personal assistant and money changer. One watches your car, another follows you to the various windows with the paperwork, another offers to exchange money so you can pay the fees. All expect to be paid something. Some fees have to be paid in local currency while others are paid in U.S. dollars. Have to pay for visas (we skipped this as we got our visas before leaving Windhoek), road tax, carbon tax, car insurance, and customs. Lets just say, with the black market exchange rates we paid a premium to cross the border.

On the way back through a different crossing into Botswana at Kazungula, we also had to take a ferry across the Chobe River which had its own separate fee. The ferry could carry two semi-trucks and two passenger cars at a time plus local walking passengers. Karen had to stand outside with the locals during the crossing. During the crossing Zambia is behind you, Botswana in front of you, Namibia directly to the right, and Zimbabwe directly to the left. The Namibia-Botswana crossing was much more organized and straightforward.

At the border crossing into and out of Zambia you encounter miles long lines of semi-trucks. It can take up to two weeks for some trucks to cross the border. Unfortunately, the line of waiting trucks becomes a red-light district that preys on the local village girls. Fortunately, passenger vehicles don't have to wait and can jump right to the front of the line.

Trucks Waiting to Cross the Border into Zambia

Northern Namibia and southern Zambia are very traditional rural village areas. Lots of people and livestock on the roads and lots of wood huts with thatched roofs..

Enough about the drive - let's talk about Victoria Falls. Although it is low water season, the Falls were still fantastic. The translated local name for the Falls is "The Clouds that Thunder" due to the mist and noise created by the falling water. We took a helicopter ride over the Falls and also a guided walking tour. The Falls are unique in that they fall over the edge of the canyon. The canyon is created by rifts or cracks formed by the cooling of ancient basaltic rock.

Karen wanted to bungee jump off the bridge but I wouldn't let her.....

We also took a river cruise on the Zambezi River. Beautiful sunsets.

It is surreal to think that we were walking and exploring the same areas made famous during Dr. David Livingstone's epic journeys of European discovery only 150 or so years ago. Will post about our flora and fauna discoveries and other aspects of our trip on future posts.