Wet & Wild Safaris

Getting soaked at Victoria Falls.

Jenna got to sleep in today as there was nothing scheduled in the morning except to go visit the falls at some time.  We headed down to the entry gate that was a 10 minute walk from the campground.  They sure gouge you at the entry gate (everything is in US dollars here) but it was well worth the

Crazy drop offs into the canyon.

price of admission and we headed off to view the falls.  There are 19 viewing areas and it made you realize just how big and wide the place is.  One place had huge mists coming off falls and it was raining like mad but beautiful blue skies above.  The rainforest was amazing but only lasted for 100 meters or less adjacent to the falls.  It was crazy how close you could get to the vertical edge with no barriers or fences.  They’d never get away with that back home!  We could also see on the Zambia side where you can climb to the edge of the fall into the Devil’s pool where we could see people in the water, looking over the falls.

We had a great lunch at the Rainforest Cafe within the park and then headed to the bridge where we could view the river.  We had to bring our passports to get onto the bridge which sure turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Earlier in the day, I had gone to get our passports out of the safe only to discover that the other Canadian guy had grabbed his two passports of which only one was his!   They were heading off on a different safari so we would have been pretty buggered if we had gotten to the border tomorrow with the wrong one!  Luckily he was still around and we managed to switch them back but man, did my stomach drop when I opened that passport expecting to see Alyssa’s unsmiling face looking at me (passport photos, you know)!   Getting back to the day, the bridge gave good views but we could hang around too long as we had our horse safari for Alyssa and I and Jenna/Shan had their elephant safari.

I was a little nervous about our horse safari as they had told the company we were experienced (they gauged it by riding more than 10 times).  We met the woman who was very....eccentric to say the least and we discussed our experience.  Turned out we were the only ones on the tour and we got two guides to go with us also.  Once we were mounted on our horses the woman in charge jumped up on her horse to give us the safety talk.  Turns out there are predators in the park and one elephant that doesn’t like horses.  She explained that whatever happens, don’t get off your horse.  Even if you need to “love your horse” and just lean over and hang onto its neck that’s what you want to do and the horse will take you to safety.  I was wondering how that all worked with horses and lions and yes, the lions do see you as food!  That was why we had the two guide and as I watched them they were always looking for unwanted tracks.

Alyssa and I having a break along the upper Zambezi River.

800 year old Boabab tree.

We saw a large herd of buffalo which we got within 5 meters of and they just watched us while chewing away.  The guide grabbed Alyssa’s reins which I was very glad to see and he was very attentive with her.  At one time my horse bit Alyssa’s while her’s kicked mine which made for an interesting scuffle.  We both stayed on our horses and the guide was quite impressed how she stayed on and handled her horse.  We also got to trot for a while so after watching how Alyssa did it, I finally got the rhythm of it instead of getting pounded in my saddle as I had before!  Later we went down to the river where we continued to look for animals.  We found some fresh elephant sign and around every bend our guide was out of his saddle looking and listening for them.  We finally came upon them only to find out that elephant was the one that we didn’t want to see on the trip.  She had her small baby with her and has charged the horses before so we turned tail right away and got out of there without incident.  After circling back to avoid mom and baby we continued on through these crazy Boabab trees.  One was thought to be over 800 years old and was huge at the base.  We saw a number of different animals on the way back and we got right into the herd being on horseback, it was really cool.  We got to see the sunset and then it was time to head back to camp.

Treats at the end of the day.

We met up with Shan and Jens who had an incredible experience on the elephants.  Jenna was pumped that there were baby elephants that came along on the walk as they can’t separate the mom from baby at any time.  They got to see a few animals along the way but also had an armed guard walking along with them to ensure everyone stayed safe.  The girls got a young male to ride and the guide was great telling them about the area, elephants and life in Zimbabwe.  Turns out the guys makes $300 a month and pays $60 of that to rent a one bedroom apartment for his family of four.  Given what we paid for the experience, someone is making pretty good money, but it’s sure not the guides!  Later, Jenna got to feed her elephant and also one of the babies.  She was pretty excited until it snotted all over her.  Sound like the tour was great and well worth it though.

The warthogs just wander through town here.

Once back at camp, we started thinking about packing as tomorrow is a travel day into Botswana. Once everyone came back we headed for the pizza place with the other families and Sebastian and Talia who the girls just love.  Alyssa was pretty insistent that we had pizza in Zimbabwe as we were told we have to have pizza in every country that we visit.  It didn’t rate at the top of the list but it wasn’t too bad!  We headed home to pack and crash for the day after another fun filled, adventurous day.