RTW 2019, Zimbabwe, Botswana

After my day at the Falls, I had planned two game drives. I had already signed up for a drive in Chobe National Park in Botswana, and based upon a few recommendations had signed up for a drive in a private reserve near Victoria Falls.

The Chobe experience involves an early morning drive from Victoria Falls to the Botswana border, and then a morning boat trip and an afternoon drive. The Victoria Falls trip consists of an afternoon drive, dinner, and then a brief after dark drive.

I had never seen a live wild monkey in any of my travels, and I was excited to see baboons in Victoria Falls and on the road to Chobe. Below, elephant dung in the road, as well as fallen trees that we saw, were evidence that elephants moved along the road.

Chobe was known for a variety of animals, and most famously had a large elephant population. However, I had heard grumblings that no elephants had been sighted for a couple of days, and that they had access to water elsewhere, and might not come down. Since I saw evidence of elephants on the way to Botswana, I decided that if I didn’t see elephants that I would hire a taxi and drive the roads at night. I shouldn’t have worried, because Chobe was full of elephants, although not right away.

When I got near Botswana, the driver told me that another driver would pick me up across the border, and then take me to Chobe, which was several kilometers into Botswana. I walked across the border, getting stamped out of Zimbabwe and stamped into Botswana, and noticed many vehicles waiting at the border for proper paperwork or inspection to cross the border. I had to step into a small pan with a chemical to protect against hoof and mouth disease as I entered Botswana. There were several companies and vehicles involved, but I made it to the tour company where you could board boats and get in the land vehicles for the game drives.

I was first with a group from Zambia that had been there before, and they wanted to do the drive before the boat tour. They were allowed to do that, so I loaded into a boat with another group. The brochures advertising the trip touted crocodiles, hippos, and elephants near the river, along with buffalo and antelopes, and we saw all of those, eventually.

Above, a monitor lizard, who apparently ate bird and crocodile eggs.

Our guide for the river.

We were on several rivers during a wet season, and the river and lands were always different so there was a World Court case to define the exact borders between four countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. We drove across the border from Zimbabwe, there was a ferry from Zambia (they are building a bridge to be completed some time), and at this time, the quickest way to get to the lodge we could see in Namibia was by a boat from Botswana.

We had several people on the boat that had taken many of these cruises, and some South Africans, speaking Afrikaans, spotted an elephant up in the trees. We kept an eye on it as we found some hippos in the water, and moving onto the land.

This bird had a piece of plastic caught on its mouth. The guide explained the hazard of plastic and how humans could affect the environment, but also explained that we couldn’t intervene, mainly because of the crocodiles or to let nature take its course, even if the problem was caused by man. We had earlier seen a solitary hippo, and then ran into a group of three, which slowly came out of the water. You can see a Botswana flag in these pictures.

We got to watch the three hippos for quite a while, and also some water bucks. The boats had some little heads, since jumping into the water to tempt the crocs was not a good option.

The South Africans then alerted the captain and guide to a mother and baby elephant making their way to the river, and that the other elephant was coming down from the trees. We, along with several other boats, then made our way to them, and got some good views. The mother and baby got there first, and then the male joined them, before going off to wallow in front of us all.

Sometimes when the bull elephants walked, the guides mentioned that his gender was showing, or more subtly, that it was a 6 legged animal.

After seeing the elephants, it was time to go for lunch, and to do our drive. We went down the river next to Namibia, and could see a lodge and other boats there. There was an article that mentioned that Germany in the nineteen teens crowed about a good deal in which they bought some land in Namibia that would give them water access from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. The only problem was that part of that access involved Victoria Falls, and that therefore their strip of land was really almost worthless.

This picture shows how big the elephants are, compared to one of the other boats in the water.

We went back to where we boarded the boats, and I met the family that I had been paired with before. We had lunch together. The parents had been in Zambia for several years, and operated an elite school in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Many of their students were American, and also children from the Zambian government and from other countries. Their daughter had finished college in California, and had brought her boyfriend for his first visit to Africa.

Once we had lunch, we boarded some safari vehicles, four wheel drive vehicles with a soft roof so that we could all see better. I sat up front next to the driver, and rode with a group of people from Croatia. We were in that vehicle because we were going back to Zimbabwe, whereas other vehicles had people staying in other countries. There were dozens of cars in the park, some with radios and phones, but they were spaced so widely that we rarely saw more than two or three at a time. There was a short ride from the boats to the park, and an explanation of some of the hardwood trees and the Kalahari sands that we were driving on.

While we were relieved that we had seen elephants in the morning, we were elated in the afternoon, when we saw over 100 of the magnificent animals. They were all around us, walking to and from the river, and wallowing in the mud to protect their skin from bugs and sun. We also saw a lot of impalas, a few sables and oryx, warthogs, birds, and other animals. Late in the day, we saw a solitary giraffe, probably lost from its herd.

Elephants and warthogs. How close did the elephants get to us? Pretty close.

Sables, oryx, and warthogs

After seeing all of these animals, the driver turned around to go find the giraffe that had been spotted. We were able to drive up and get some good pictures.

We were able to see another couple of elephants and then a buffalo on the way out.

We also noticed a lot of termite mounds, which many animals enjoyed as a delicacy.

After the drive, the driver drove us directly to the border, where they collected our passport, and then we walked through. Since I had a double entry visa to Zimbabwe, I did not have to pay again for the visa.

The same driver from the morning met me at the border, and drove me back to Victoria Falls. We did see a couple of elephants on the road this time, as well as more baboons.

I went into town for snacks that night, visited with the hotel manager and her assistant, and then relaxed the next morning for the afternoon game drive. It was a lazy morning, and I swam in the pool.

After a nice relaxing morning, someone came out from the travel agency and took payment for the next game drive, and it started raining. It was pouring when I got picked up, but we drove out of the rain and never got wet during the drive.

I had grabbed my jacket, and they gave us a rain jacket for the drive, and it was cool enough that we were not too hot with the jacket on.

It was a short drive to the reserve, and we saw some impalas and zebras fairly quickly. However, the park was known as the only location near Victoria Falls that had rhinos, and we quickly found some of them.

I had now seen 3 of the big 5 (buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion, and leopard), but we then started moving again, since some of the other vehicles had located some lions. While we weren’t lucky enough to see a pride hunt, or eating a kill, we were able to see several lions sleeping, with one of the females moving around for us. They were far enough away that we looked through binoculars, but I did get a few pictures. They were across a creek from us, and had a view in case some of the impalas or giraffes came down.

We then ran into some giraffes that we had seen at a distance earlier.

We then parked near a dam for a break, where we could see a group of baboons watching us watching them. We also encountered an anti poaching officer, who was fully armed and worked with the local police to prevent the illegal killing of the animals. There are still cultures that believe that rhino horns and elephant tusks have medicinal qualities, or are aphrodisiacs, and there is a constant vigil needed against poachers desperate enough to risk their lives for such bounty. Of course we didn’t take pictures of the officer, but suffice it to say that they are always on the alert.

We could see storm clouds, but they never came our way. This was a Toyota Land Cruiser that we were in, and I later met a guy that collected some as a hobby. I was the only American in this group, with 5 Germans who had met each other on this trip. The man in the ELO shirt was the one that spoke the least English, but ELO and music is universal. Griffiths, our guide, had led some overland safaris, but was trying to upgrade his education and to stay closer to home, so he was working for this reserve as well as doing a few other conservation projects.

Between game shots, we took some sunset photos as we could.

Before dinner, we checked on the lions again, and watched the sunset, driving along the river.

We encountered a group of buffalo, probably cape buffalo, who surrounded us, and watched warily. The driver had a low intensity light to highlight some of the animals, and we had a little standoff with the buffalo. All of a sudden, they were spooked as four rhinos ran through them, and after everybody calmed down, we drove toward dinner. Once we got there, they told us not to wander around too much, since there were lions and leopards in the park.

We had steak and sausage, vegetables, and a full bar. These were the Germans that I mentioned earlier. We would usually start a conversation in English, but they would often switch back to German when it got funny.

We probably took too long at dinner, because we didn’t drive too much after dark. We thought we saw some hyenas, but the driver said no, they were impalas we had seen earlier. He took us back home to our separate hotels.

The next morning, I was joined for breakfast by a couple from Namibia, the first people I had met from there. They were staying in the other bigger suite on the other end of the B&B. My room key was rather unique, and different from the magnetic cards in Spain.

After breakfast, I had talked about getting some souvenirs, but had already found out how expensive it would be to send them. The manager said that something was up, and that I needed to go with her and other staff members who had a car. We discovered that almost everything was closed, including grocery stores. The government had shut the Internet down, which kept most stores from opening. There was a gasoline crisis, and very few credit cards would work. I looked unsuccessfully before finding a shirt and a magnet, and someone that would take credit cards, but the post office was closed, so we decided that it wouldn’t work to try to stuff any more into my bags. The manager then took me to a bar/restaurant owned by the same group that owned the inn, and I visited with some musicians that were practicing for an upcoming gig. They were very talented, and like I am saying, music is universal. They were playing kalimbas that were in a hollowed out shell, to give them a good sound.

Grace, the manager, kept me with her as she was looking for food for the guests at the inn. We drove all over Victoria Falls, in parts of town that most tourists don’t see, and finally found a store that would allow us in. The manager, and most other managers and drivers in town, were from the Shona tribe, and most of the residents in Victoria Falls were from the Ndebele people. There may be some resentment about the Shonas having the better jobs, but many of them are better educated and more ambitious. I also learned that the attitude of African men toward women is changing, at least in Zimbabwe, as the inn manager took charge in the store and prevented them from gouging her too badly on the prices for food. I did not get pictures of the poorer parts of town, or of the store and her interaction with the locals, as it seemed imprudent to do so. Needless to say, she handled herself quite well, and with a lot of grace, which was her name.

When I got back, I decided that the shirt I bought would not fit in my bags with everything else, so I took out my long sleeved Dallas Cowboy tshirt and presented it to the hotel. In that way, the Cowboys were accepted into the White House, which of course was the name of the inn. We didn’t get a picture of that. I couldn’t get the Cowboys game, but was able to watch part of a Liverpool game. I also woke up one night, and FaceTimed the family back at home.

Screenshot of FaceTime from Africa. A van used by the band and which was kept at the inn. Below, the hotel manager and I after we drove through town looking for open businesses and food. A magnet of the countries I went into, even though they aren’t bordering Victoria Falls.

I went to a restaurant called In-da-Belly, named after the Ndebele people, who were the main tribe around Victoria Falls. I had impala steak.

I went on a Zambezi river sunset cruise, and met two Canadian couples. We also were treated to a Zimbabwe version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” both at the cruise and the restaurant.

There were hippos seen on the cruise. Below, we could see the mist from the Falls and a rainbow as the cruise started, and I snapped a quick picture of the mist on the way back in the van.

There was an issue with the credit card, since the Internet was shut down, but the manager came over and got it worked out. She also told me that the flights were still on, and were unaffected by the other issues in the country. She was a Zimbabwe native, and still proud of her country.

Breakfast the next morning had ox liver, as well as other meats. It was surprisingly a good part of the breakfast. On the way back to the airport, I had the window down, and something hit my arm pretty hard. I never found it until we got to the airport, but this bug had flown into the car. I did had to spend some cash on the taxi ride, instead of using the credit card, because things were still a little disrupted in the country.

Once in the Airport at Victoria Falls, I met this lovely couple from Atlanta, that were super travelers. We shared several stories, and passed away the time while we waited for our flights. They were going back home to Atlanta, by way of Zambia, Johannesburg, and London, and I was going through Johannesburg and Dubai, before getting to Kathmandu. I don’t think that this was a final view of the mist from the Falls, below, as it was probably rain.

It was not a full flight to Johannesburg, but they fed us well. I had some pizza at the Airport and mailed postcards to my children, met Precious working at the biltong stand.

I don’t recall ever hearing many news stories at home about Zimbabwe, so I didn’t think that the family would be alarmed if they didn’t hear from me for a day or so. I couldn’t check into my flight online or by calling the airport, so I just went to the Airport a little early, where business appeared to be as usual. It seemed like the Internet was still down at the Airport, so I didn’t think about it again.

When I got to Johannesburg, I got on WiFi at the Airport, and discovered that the family had been concerned about not hearing from me, and that my daughter had gotten an news story from a friend that there were troubles in Zimbabwe concerning riots and gas prices. I added a message to the thread that I was okay, and safe in South Africa. It was probably early in the morning in Texas when I sent the message, but they got it soon enough.

Before I got on the plane for Dubai, I ran into Senaca and Nekia again. We had another nice visit before our long flights.