A Little While Later

Internet is hit and miss. It's also very slow. So, we haven't been able to update for a while, and it might be a while before we can again. So, here's an update from our last few days.
This afternoon we left Kapama and flew back to Joburg. The flight on SA Express was once again fantastic, great service and special meals to suit our diet. We arrived in Joburg, grabbed our bags and needed to find our way to the shuttle bus. The airport is huge and the instructions we had weren't very good, so we quickly enlisted the help of a policeman who was kind enough to walk us all the way to the shuttle bus. A quick shuttle ride later and we arrived at Peermont Metcourt Hotel and were upgraded to a premium room. We are almost out of clean clothes and need to find a way to do some laundry. However, the rates the hotel charge we added up our laundry to be over $100. We elected to wash a bit of socks and underwear in the bathtub with some shampoo and dry them with a blow dryer. Hopefully one of the lodges coming up will be able to accommodate some laundry for a better deal.

 After sorting out some laundry, we headed over to the casino plaza. We had hoped to play a few slots, but they charge you to buy a player's card in order to take your money through the slots. So, no gaming for us. The casino was very much like The Venetian in Vegas with tall ceiling painted to look like the sky.

We had a great chicken dinner and then moved along to another lounge. We met a nice young family with their kids who shared stories of Cape Town. I guess that will be on the agenda for the next trip to Africa. A short walk down the hallway and we discovered a movie theatre. We went to see The Hobbit in 3D, ate too much popcorn and actually slept through most of the movie. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

Moving along, we had a quick 90 minute flight to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We had to go through a special customs screening process and pay our $75 each visa fees. There were some local tribesmen standing outside the airport singing and dancing. It was pretty cool, and a nice, unique welcoming to Zimbabwe. The local rep for Jenman Safaris met us, together with 2 other couples and drove us into Victoria Falls.

One couple stayed at Amadeus guesthouse with us, while the others carried on somewhere else. As it turns out, the couple staying with us, are the same couple that will be on the 15 day safari with us. Shelley and John from Burlington Ontario are a wonderful couple, and going to be a pleasure to make this journey with. John is about 64, and Shelley about 54, married for 37 years and own an Overhead Door Company franchise in Ontario.

We inquired about laundry at this lovely little guesthouse. $20 for the whole whack. Done!
Cam and I ventured into town. It's quaint. But, the people here really want to sell you stuff. I find that a little overbearing, so we quickly duck into a tapas resto and grab some wine and meatballs. Weird combo, but it did the trick. Another short walk down the road, more overbearing salespeople, and we ducked into Mumma Africa's for some dinner. We had a Zimbabwe hot pot, and a steak. The hot pot was fantastic, but the steak was beyond raw, even after sending it back to be cooked more. We headed back to the guesthouse and spent the evening getting to know Shelley and John. At 7pm, our guide for the next 15 days came to introduce himself. Blessed Chillubamba is his name! After a few introductions and our $350 pp payment for various park entrance fees, he advised us that we would begin our adventure at 9am the following morning.

After a quick breakfast, we were off. We stopped at the local grocery sore to pick up odds and ends while Blessed did a massive shop for food for the next 4 days. While we were waiting for him at the jeep, some of the locals came around and were very inquisitive about everything. I tend to shy away from people under these circumstances, while Cam is overly polite and therefore they stick around longer than I'm comfortable with. There's lots of security around, so I figure we're okay. John and I head back into the grocery store to help Blessed, leaving Cam and Shelley behind to insist in 20 different ways that they are not interested in buying anything from their new local friends. Packing the vehicle with all the groceries was quite interesting. We tow a large trailer that is equipped with a fridge, perfect for chilling our wine, beer and water while we're en route to our next destination. And, there are a whole bunch of compartments for all our other groceries and cooking gear. On top of it all is a large tarp with straps for securing our duffel bags of clothing.

Leaving Vic Falls, we drove for about 3 hours with a couple leg stretch stops along the way. We pulled into the Ivory Lodge just in time for lunch. What a place this is! We're shown to our accommodation to freshen up before lunch. The main lodge looks right out onto a large watering hole. More impala, houdou, warthogs and miscellaneous birds are hanging out there. As you walk out the main lodge, there are a number of mini-lodges up on stilts with super comfortable bedding and bathrooms in each. The whole "camp" is surrounding by electrical fencing to keep the big guys out.

 We had a nice lunch, met a few people from Switzerland and some of the staff and had the rest of the afternoon to relax and settle in. Some elephants came down to the watering hole to fill up and hang out, as well. Apparently, in the dry season, there can be up to 100-200 elephant hanging out there at one time! That would be a sight to see! In the evening before dinner, there is a large fire pit looking out on the watering hole where everybody gathers to share stories and relax before dinner. We are staying In fully accommodated tents and lodges throughout our trip, but for the most part we will meet Blessed at his camp spot, and he will do most of our cooking. Sometimes he elects to take us to the restaurant to eat, but usually we will be eating camp style with him. On our first night at Ivory Lodge, we walked down to the camp spot, which is outside the electric fence, and have dinner which is cooked over an open fire cooking stove. It was quite tasty, and fun to be hanging out in the wild, while we could hear a lion gently huffing as he walked around in the bush marking his territory. We couldn't see him, though. After dinner we head back to the lodge to hang out, drink wine, and enjoy what will be our new home for the next few days. To my surprise, we're just in time for the lodge guests to have their dinner. There just so happens to be an extra seat, so I elect to join them for yet another dinner, family style with a few of the guests. Part way through dinner I discover that it's not just guests, but the owner and his son William, and mother Nana Jean are with us. These are exceptional people. William is about 12, and so well spoken in his South African accent. And, Nana Jean is delightful, sitting next to me and sharing all sorts of stories and jokes. While I'm eating with the family, Cam, Shelley and John are rotating between the fire pit, and a "blind" that has been created right on the edge of the watering hole, well equipped with comfortable chairs and cushions and a perfect outlook on the various creatures that come around to frolic in the field and sip out of the watering hole. Eventually, once dinner is finished, they also join us at the table and we all spend the rest of the night drinking too much, laughing like crazy, and just appreciating how blessed we all are to be sitting where we are at that moment!

The first night was a pretty decent sleep, mosquito nets over the bed protecting us from any of the nasty critters. For the most part, Mosquitos haven't really been much of a problem, the odd bite, but nothing serious. Good thing for our malaria pills! The lodge and accommodation are quite gorgeous, but the pool leaves a little something to be desired. It looks more like a place for a giant snake to call home than a swimming pool, so Nancy, you will be happy to know we took your advice and passed on the pool. After a quick breakfast at the camp, and we're off with Peter from the Ivory Lodge for a full day game drive in Hwange National Park. On our way, we saw a couple elephants, passed the painted dog conservatory, and then headed into the park. It was quite a bumpy ride, but we stopped at various lookout huts on stilts that overlook watering holes. This is a very different experience than what Cam and I observed at Kapama Game Farm. The park is completely open and the animals are free to migrate between National Parks, so they're a lot more spread out. And since it is the tail end of the rainy season, the vegetation is very thick, and the animals more difficult to spot. What we were all surprised by was how quickly the vegetation changed; one minute you're in a thick brush, and the next you're in a completely open field. This day we saw elephant, houdou, impala, giraffe, crocodile, hippo, water bucks, and lots of various species of birds, which Peter told us are quite rare. We all took a turn doing the head bob, falling asleep throughout the game drive. I guess the excessive amounts of wine caught up with us. We stopped in the park at one of the lookouts and enjoyed a simple lunch of cold shepherds pie, bean salad, and coleslaw. Not the greatest for our paleo diet, but it certainly did wonders for creating a musical ride home. On our way home the skies opened up with a wicked thunder storm. Thank goodness for the lodges wool lined parkas. Despite the rain, we still stopped for any animals on the side of the road, and were once again treated to a pride of elephants, with a fresh baby in tow, these guys were a lot more protective, and even at 50 meters away, were sure to flap their ears and make sure we knew to keep our distance. Shelley was quite scared they were going to charge, so we quickly continued on towards home. There is a presidential pride of elephants that live in the area, estimated between 60-100 elephants that roam around together. We thought we might have spotted them way off in the distance in a vast meadow, but it was hard to tell how many were there because they were so far off. We enjoyed another afternoon of relaxing as we look out over the water hole, and another dinner with Blessed at his camp, and another evening just chilling out. The camp is quiet tonight. Nana Jean and William are gone, and we're all a little spent from the previous night's partying, so we call it a fairly early evening.

In the morning, we're up early, have a quick breakfast, and have one of the longest drives of our safari. We drive through Hwange National Park over bumpy, dirt roads, through little rivers, over a small mountain range and into Botswana. We have to go in to clear customs, and Botswana also requires you to dab the bottom of all your shoes in some kind of solution to help prevent the spread of foot to mouth disease. As soon as we pass into Botswana the road turns into a really nicely paved highway. We're now driving through vast open fields with the odd elephant on the side of the road. This highway is perfectly straight for a couple hundred kilometres. I imagine there are a lot of people that must fall asleep at the wheel. This is reminiscent of the Prairies, but even straighter and longer. We all took turns doing the head bob catching up on sleep five minutes at a time. We stopped for lunch along the side of the road underneath a sign that warns you of being in the wilderness and that wildlife could be present at any time. Blessed tells us that we'll be fine as long as we stay close to the vehicle. You don't have to tell us twice. John was quite surprised to find an empty bottle of Carlings Black Label beer while we were sitting there. We quickly pack up and continue down the never ending straight highway.

 Around mid-afternoon we arrive at Nata Lodge. It's quite a bit bigger than the previous lodges. They have a mixture of semi-permanent tents, lodges, and camping spots. I figure they could hold at east 100 people here, and judging by all the people at the pool, I'd say they're close to half full when we get there. We check in to our tent, complete with twin beds, ensuite washroom, and an outdoor shower at the back, in behind the tent. As is our usual custom, we drop our bags and meet Shelley and John for some drinks in the lounge after a long day's drive. We're supposed to just chill for the day, then see the Sands in the morning, but Blessed decides we'd be better to meet late this afternoon and view the sands for sunset, which we do. It's only a 15 minute drive to get there, which I think we were all fairly relieved about. I'm not sure any of us were really feeling up to any adventures today. But, when we arrived at the sands we were all astonished at their beauty. The sands are essentially a dried up lake about 200 kms wide. It only contains water from about January to March, for 3 months during the wet season. The rivers flow down into it, and pools about 30 cm deep. The sands soften up, the flamingos come and feed on shrimp (not sure where they come from). This whole process is new, as the plates have shifted from earthquakes over the years, and the rivers started flowing the opposite direction and no longer drain into the ocean. Blessed drives us out a short distance into the sands, and we hang out for the evening. We take a number of cool pictures, then climb up onto the roof of the vehicle, sip wine, listen to music on Blessed's iPad, and watch the sun set. This was really a magical evening! We all commented that each day we wonder how we could top the previous day's events, and yet somehow we always do. We elect to eat dinner in the restaurant tonight, and head to bed quite early. These odd sleeping patterns are catching up with us, and we all find we're ready for bed by 8 or 9. It was an odd night, we could hear many critters out and about, felt a little less secure being in the semi-permanent tent (not on stilts), and subject to all the sounds of the night. Some time in the middle of the night, Cam and I woke up, and went out to the outdoor shower, and were treated to the most magnificent display of stars. Unfortunately, the camera couldn't quite pick it up. But, just as Bonnie, Debbie, and Pat all told us, it was like somebody took a bag of diamonds and through them up into the sky! It was stunning!