It's the halfway point of my trip to Southern Africa, and I figured I would offer a quick update of the adventure thus far.
Quick background information about the trip: the trip is through the Davidson Alumni Association, and includes tours in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. The group is comprised of (I think, and will check to be sure) 17 people, including one Davidson guide and one South African guide. The flights to and from Africa are July 14th and July 28th with a day of travel included in each end.
Morning came early July 14th for us as we drove out to the Charlotte airport after a breakfast of eggs and leftover ice cream cake. We checked in, and went through security. A lady came through security beside us and looked really familiar. Turns out, it was Joan Rivers checking through security next to us. I feel kind of bad, because I convinced my brother not to take her picture (arguing that it probably gets pretty annoying to be asked for pictures all of the time). We flew from Charlotte to Washington Dulles, where we saw the majority of our other tour members appear. Our Davidson guide was none other than Eileen, the lady who led my Freshman Davidson Service Walk during orientation last year. We had a long layover (about 4 hours or so) and walked laps looking at the fun stores with Obama/Romney swag or American flags.
Finally, we boarded the plane to find that my brother and I were in the two middle seats of the four-seat central section of the plane. It quickly became a lottery to see who got the weird seat-mate. I got (to my left) a man part of one of the three missionary groups going to Africa. He was pretty cool. Harrison got a massive German man, who then moved for a massive German woman, who then traded with a shifty missionary guy, who then traded for a guy about our age. This guy was from Massachusetts, went to boarding school in California, and was headed to South Africa to go to school for a couple of weeks. He slept the majority of the flight. The flight had the usual accommodations: new movies, some popular movies, some crappy television shows, lots of Bollywood flicks and French film, some cheesy games, etc.
The flight took forever. We stopped in Senegal to refuel for an hour after and eight hour flight. After the stop, we continued for another seven hours and arrived in Johannesburg, where we were met by our tour guide, Tonia. Our luggage didn't come through baggage claim at Johannesburg, and we had to send for it so we had clean clothes and toothpaste for the next day. There was a team of what looked like high school soccer players who arrived through customs as we did. A big group of people cheered for them as they arrived. We took a short bus ride to our hotel, D'Oreal, then had dinner at their restaurant, Aurelea.
The next morning, we flew to Livingstone, and met our Zimbabwean guide, Andrew. We went to Victoria Falls, where Andrew gave us a walking tour of all of the viewing areas for the falls. We all had ponchos to wear, and the mist was quite heavy (even though we are technically in the dry season). We made our way down the path, all looking like strange masses with humps in odd places--some from cameras, others from backpacks, and others still from being hunched over. It was always a funny sight to see someone reach for their camera because their heads disappeared within their poncho and they became this shivering greenish ghost.
The falls were magnificent, and they threw all kinds of rainbows everywhere. You may remember the Double Rainbow video. This put that rainbow to shame. We had even quadruple rainbows at some points along the path.
Our hotel, the Stanley and Livingstone, was lovely. We had a three room cottage with two porches for each couple of people. The beds were warm and the televisions even had an African version of MTV (which was essentially the same as an American version of MTV but with African hosts). The very first night, we even saw a small big cat. I'm convinced it was the African Wildcat, but the guide guesses I probably saw a Servet. Either way, it was neat to see the cat. Meals were wonderful at the SnL, and were three courses including dessert.
The next morning we went on a game drive--another very early, very cold morning, actually--in search of rhino. It was freezing. I was so cold. We finally saw the rhino eating, and saw all six of them at the same time. Rhinos are hunted for their horns because the Asian markets in southern Africa have said that rhinoceros horn can cure cancer, driving the price of and demand for rhino horns sky high. This has made the black rhino become dangerously close to extinction. There are even syndicates that hunt the rhino using helicopters and high-tech weapons. The way that they "harvest" the horns is they tranquilize the rhino from the helicopter (because firing a rifle is noisy and draws attention), wait for the rhino to fall asleep, then cut off the horn of the rhino and fly off. The rhino wakes up and bleeds to death. It's awful.
After the rhino drive, we headed to ride on elephants through the bush. That's right, you read correctly--ride on elephants. It was spectacular, and we got to feed the elephants afterwards. Their trunks are amazing and almost feel like vacuum cleaners when pressed against your palm. We saw giraffes up close during the ride.
After the elephant ride, we went to another part of the preserve, where they are hoping to create new herds of lions to release into the wild. The group is called ALERT (I can't quite remember what it stands for, but I'll update when I do). We got to pet some of the cubs and walk with them, too. It was amazing. The cats weren't as soft as I thought they would be, and their fur was actually pretty wiry, but they were so pretty up close, and the cubs were very cute. Being close to the older cubs really gives you this sense of how powerful the lions really are. Their muscles were clearly visible, and their paws were massive.
After the Lion Walk, we went out on the Zambezi River in a boat Tonia lovingly calls the "Booze Cruise" because the drinks are complimentary. Everyone tried a gin and tonic, a very "British" drink. We watched the sun set, and what a sight the African sunset is. The sun just drops out of the sky! Night fell and we went into the bush for a bush dinner, complete with African dancers and bonfires. It was delicious, albeit a bit cold outside.
The next day--this is July 18th, by the way--we drove to the Crafts Village. This "village" is home to a market of handmade goods and overly eager salesmen. You couldn't walk five meters without someone coming up to you and telling you he would give you some trinket at a "very good price". Also, interestingly enough, I was offered many trades for my Second Harvest and Davidson Wildcat bracelets. A few of us shipped out to town to ride the helicopter over Victoria Falls, and boy was it magnificent. We were weighed (by a cute South African girl, I might add), thrown onto the helicopter, and flew off. We circled probably four times for a total of about fifteen minutes of airtime, and I got some wonderful pictures.
We then went back into town and crossed the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia (I'm blanking on the name right now), and a few of our group decided they wanted to swing from the bridge (essentially a bungee jump but without the upward rebound). We all watched from a shaded hut while they waited in a queue, harness-bound and all. Many people wondered about their sanity. After that, we walked back to Zimbabwe and ate at a very nice hotel. When we returned to the Stanley and Livingstone, we saw some Cape Buffalo and Burchell's Zebra very close to our rooms.
That night, a guest speaker visited, and told the story of David Livingstone. We felt he gave a pretty balanced account of the Englishman's journey throughout Africa. Shortly afterwards, we had another dinner at the hotel with a Davidson student's brother.
The next morning, July 19th, we visited a local school and watched the culture club sing and dance in a traditional Zimbabwean way. All were very impressive, especially the drummer. The teacher asked us to teach them a song to remember us by, and all of us kind of looked at each other stupidly. My biggest regret so far on this trip has been not teaching them a song. We could have taught them Katy Perry!
We drove to the border and left Andrew as we walked into Botswana. After arriving at our next living area, Chobe Safari Lodge, we went out on the Chobe River in a boat, and got really close to the animals. The next morning, we went on an early morning game drive in Chobe National Park, then another in the afternoon. The first drive, we saw all kinds of neat animals. The second drive, we decided we wanted to locate some lions. We tracked some lions for a long time, then had to turn back because the park would be closing. The national park closes at 6:30 pm, and locks the gates at that time. Our trip back quickly became a race against time, and we made it to the gate at literally 6:30. Our driver for the first two drives was named Obi, like the Star Wars character. (Yes, we made all of the obvious jokes… please don't repeat them, I've heard plenty.)
The next day, July 21st (today, actually), we slept in, then went on another boat cruise (this time in a double-decker boat) to watch the elephants crossing the river to get to the island. We had a delicious meal, but had to get up in the middle of it to watch the elephants (sacrifices, I know). We also saw a large herd of Sable, an extremely rare sight. Then, this afternoon, we went out on our final game drive, in search of lions. We roared down the road as our guide told us his colleague had spotted lions earlier. We turned the corner and our driver, Diane (pronounced DEE-ah-NEE), threw the vehicle in reverse. There, in the shadow of a bush, lie two lions. Our guide informed us that the larger one was a lioness, and the slightly smaller one was her daughter, a juvenile lion. We sat and watched them watch a small herd of Kudu until some elephants came into the area and the lionesses slinked off into the bush.
We saw all kinds of animals we hadn't seen yet, and saw a massive amount of giraffes at one point, and boy was that a sight! On the way back, though, Diane caught word of lions on the main road, and he flew up the path to the main road to find the two lions walking down the path towards us. He killed the engine, and the cats came closer. The lioness came closer and closer until she was literally meters away from the side of the vehicle. I could have leapt from my seat onto its back, it was so close. Our guide even said, "this is the distance at which we start to not move as much," as the cat neared the side. We made it out of the park at 6:31, and the guy had almost locked up the gate for good. When we cleared the park, we found out we had a flat tire. It was fixed within the span of ten minutes, and we returned to the lodge for dinner.
And now, after dinner, and--more importantly--dessert, I'm sitting in the main lounge area finishing up this post with a, "WOW THIS TRIP HAS BEEN AMAZING." This is the last chance for internet on the entire trip and is also conveniently right in the middle of the trip. When I get home, I'll be sure to update you on how the rest of the trip went. I've been so impressed with this trip. I would definitely do it again. Hope I don't get African Sleeping Sickness!
I've intentionally left out the majority of the details of the trip in hopes that maybe we could talk about it in person (I wouldn't spoil the real story, now would I?). I'd be happy to talk with you about it, and maybe we can catch up. I'll be updating the post when I can, including adding some of the 2000 or so pictures I have taken so far. Be sure to check back in a week or two.
Have a great afternoon.
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