Bee surprised us

  Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
November 08, 2011Our last morning drive started out with a close up look of the go-away-bird. He was very photogenic & posed for the camera. We also saw one of my favourite birds too, the lilac-breasted roller. I really want to get a photo of one in flight before the trip is over. We saw lots of vultures this morning. The rest of our drive was pretty uneventful, we saw carmine bee-eaters, scattered elephant bones, impalas. The baboons were really entertaining this morning. Some were really close to our vehicle & we enjoyed some of the young ones playing around. The one guy must be a terrible two because he was bounding around & trying to stir up trouble. One was still so little, clumsy & really cute.

We were able to get a closer look at the Kori this morning Lions. We were not seeing very many animals when we headed down to the riverbed. We were all keeping a look out for the lions when Bee surprised us. She had head that the lions were resting under a tree & leisurely drove us there! She is so sneaky!!

The lions were amazing. There were several females & one young male. They were all very sleepy, so typical of cats, but occasionally one would open it's eyes or sit up. Even the big guy sat us & posed for us! They are very beautiful & impressive animals. It was a joy to see them!

It was getting late, so we headed back to the lodge. We came upon a stopped vehicle who had just seen a leopard jump down from the tree & head to the river. We waited for a while to see if it would circle back & another guide looked around the river bed for us. We had no luck, so we went back to the lodge to pack up & have brunch More Babies. Penny & Mark were supposed to leave immediately after we returned, but were fortunate to get their transfer changed to 10:00.

We had a great brunch, the food has been incredible, & walked along the boardwalk. The boardwalk has some nice areas to sit & relax. It is a good spot to view some birds on the water or animals on or near the property. The Chobe Lodge property & service has been amazing. The people here are so pleasant & helpful. We have really enjoyed our stay here.

We saw Bob, Barb, Mark & Penny one last time. They boarded crowded vehicles while they headed to the border. We are getting the royal treatment & we had our own ride!

At the boarder we had to get anther Visa for Zimbabwe because they would not provide us with a multi-entry Visa our first time. What a waste of time & money!

We met Bryson at immigration & he is going to take us in a van to the hotel Elepants on their way to the Water. I was really tired & I napped during the ride into Vic Falls. Bill listened to music on his iPod.
 
An hour or so later we were dropped off at the Victoria Falls Hotel, but our room was not ready yet. We met Barbara who is our Thompson onsite rep. She is going to take good care of us. We had lovely lunch on the balcony, a steak sandwich & an ostrich salad. This hotel is a magnificent colonial beauty. Each room is massive & lavishly decorated with animals or animal skins. The view from lunch on the manicured lawns is of the bridge. IN the distance we can see the mist from the falls.

When our room was ready, we headed up with Wellington & laid down for a 10 minute rest.

We walked into town & bought some stamps, did some window shopping, met some of the folks at Wild Horizon, & had some soft ice cream.

After our walk in the extreme heat, we had showers before the booze/sundowner cruise on the Zambezi Eating Worms. We met new friends from New Jersey, Shelly & Steve. They are such a lovely couple. Steve is a retired ad guy from the publishing world & Shelly works in a doctors office. They had great stories about their work, travels & their recent trip to Cape Town.

While we were drinking & chatting, many others were "flipping out" over the birds, crocs & hippos - damn newbies.

After the cruse we were dropped off at a local Boma where were dressed in a traditional sarong & had our faces painted with dots for the ladies and stripes for the men. The BBQ was really good. We sample many things: the warty was good, we also had croc, buffalo (a bit tough), boerwurst, lamb, sirloin, impala stew (pretty good), & breamer fish (nice & mild). I have joined the ranks of Molly & had a mopane worm!

We had a story teller share a fable about how the giraffe got it's long neck Happy Times on the Boat. He was friends with a croc, well, to make a long story short, the croc decided to bite his head, this lasted for a long time & then the croc eventually tired & let go. The moral of the story is something about getting along with everyone or something to that affect. I am going to have to listen to the video again…

Bill participated in more face painting & had a lion painted on his face. Someone offered to do braiding, but there were no takers at our table. Bill & I checked out the fortune teller - we are going to have 2 boys & 1 girl. My success will be based upon my husband. I guess time will tell!?

Steve thinks that we should quit our jobs because we have great skills that compliment each other. I think he is onto something…. We had such a wonderful evening, that Steve & Shelley invited us to come celebrate my Birthday & their daughter's Birthday (Christmas eve) The KoriStory!. They have our email address, so if we hear from them & if Porter has a seat sale, we may take them up on their offer!

There was a lot of entertainment, singing & dancing during dinner. At the end of the evening there were drummers & we were each given a drum. We were then given instructions on how to use them. It was so much fun! The grand finale also included audience participation. Several people, mostly men were brought down to the dance floor in the middle of the restaurant. I was encouraged by my husband to join the crowd, yes I am always the sucker! So, I did participate & I don' think I embarrassed myself too badly. Luckily for me there were 2 white guys who really did embarrass themselves!

Ndaba drove us & another couple back to the hotel. On the way to our room I took a couple of photos of the noisy frogs.

While we were away for the evening they fixed our tub drain & the TV, but the a/c does not seem to be working well…. Too tired to care though!

Pictures & VideosThe big GuyOur Victoria Falls Hotel RoomThe EntertainmentShelly and Steve