The Wallow - Victoria Falls
June 24 - 25
We met Ron and Teraleigh at Pearson on Monday morning. As we know, Bill is always packing last minute but this time he cut it very, very close. Thankfully the airport was not busy and we were through security with some time to order a Starbucks and some water for the flight. Bill was able to finish off some last minute work before we boarded.
We had an hour at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to catch our flight to Victoria Falls. The airport was a free-for-all and quite chaotic to say the least. At security you jumped into any line, grabbed a bin and stepped up to the belt whenever you were ready. Getting to the gate was even worse. All passengers had to have their tickets checked by 2 individuals to get to the gate. There was no organization and everyone was just pushing their way to the front to board their flights. Thankfully we were able to barge are way through and boarded on time.
We all had slept from Toronto and again on our way to Vic Falls, except Ron. TL definitely seemed refreshed! Our guide Caleb greeted us at the airport and drove us for 15-20 min to our new “home”.
We arrived at The Elephant Wallow and were greeted by Rejoice. The beautiful lodge is overlooking the river. We had our introduction to the lodge and then went to our tented rooms with a balcony overlooking the river, and two shower - one outdoors! Warthogs and a male bushbuck were the first animals to greet us at the lodge.
We then had a delicious lunch and headed immediately to Victoria Falls. Our guide Soul did a great job of guiding us around the lookout points. The mist was more rain than mist and we were all drenched and chilled. Say “yes” to the poncho during the high season. We may be biased now, but Zimbabwe does have the best view of the falls.
On our walk we saw:
White-browed robin chat
Go-away-bird
Male and female bushbucks
Red-billed hornbill
Trumpeter hornbill
Shelley’s sunbird - female
Collared palm-thrush - female
Driving back into the lodge we saw a scrub hare.
We relaxed by the campfire before a lovely dinner. I was grateful to have a cozy blanket while seated at dinner as I was still chilled from our visit to the falls. We headed to bed early to avoid jet lag and know that in the morning we will be getting up early for our first drive. I was delighted to crawl into bed with a water bottle in a soft fleece sleeve. It was so cozy and I had a great sleep.
June 26
I was regretting my decision to turn off the heating unit last night. It was really cold in our room and sprinting to the phone for our wake up call was a rude awakening. It was then unpleasant to remove the robe to get dressed but I had some really good motivation! Our first drive was beautiful and crisp. I was happy to be wearing a sweater, jacket, toque, and gloves. We really enjoyed the mischievous baboons along the gorge for a lovely sunrise. We saw our first member of the big five - a few old generals, the buffalo.
On the drive we saw:
Baboons
Buffalo - old generals and some young bachelors
Kudus - male, females, and babies
Impalas
Bushbuck
Marabou stork
Hamerkop
Black-winged stilt
Egyptian geese
Three-banded plover
Crested Guineafowl
Ruffed grouse
Dove - unknown type
White-browned sparrow weaver
Double-banded sandgrouse
Giraffe - male
Bird fun facts:
The hamerkop builds their nests with fabric and plastics and lined with smooth mud. Hornbill mothers take their feathers off to build the nest and confines herself inside until the babies are ready to leave the nest. She relies on the daddy to bring them food.
The white-browned sparrow weaver nest has two entrances, facing the west out of the wind, so if a predator enters, it can escape out of the other entrance.
Village visit fun facts:
It was a homestead with 2 kitchens (summer and winter) and 3 bedrooms
The men are allowed up to 10 wives if you can afford (especially if they don’t bear sons)
Totems are their family affiliations (you can not marry someone with the same totem - warthog, elephant, baboon, etc)
The villages are very communal
Traditional medicines are used (burn a porcupine needle to cure a nose bleed and boil the bark of a tree for back pain, and eucalyptus leaves for a cold and flu)
Sons are useless and you have to buy a wife for them (from my biased Western view)
Typically you are born and die in the same spot - winter kitchen (alpha and omega)
Cow dung floor keeps the flies away
Round buildings to keep the snakes out (they like to hide in corners)
On our village tour we saw:
Dogs
Turkeys
Chickens
Donkeys
Lilac-breasted roller (on the fence post along the driveway)
On the shopping extravaganza we bartered for a wooden bowl, a bracelet, 2 beaded birds, and a stone hippo. The market was exactly how we remembered it - lots of the same items at every stall and every seller had a story.
We saw a beautiful sunset on the cruise. Ron was almost pushed off the boat by an agro lady from Europe but otherwise it was uneventful. I met a lovely couple from Hamburg who had driven themselves from Namibia. We would not recommend the red wine and the food platter was mediocre but overall it was a lovely experience and the sunset was beautiful.
On the Zamboozie Cruisie we saw:
Baby fresh water crocodile
Hippos
Elephants (off in the distance)
Cormorant
Great white egret
White-crowned lapwing
Water thick-knee
Spur-winged geese (flying over us)
Had a great dinner at the lodge and Charles anticipated our every need. Our glasses were never empty!
June 27
We had another beautiful drive this morning with our blankets and hot water bottles. It was warmer this am and after the sunrise we were able to shed some layers. Our new sunrise spot along the gorge was beautiful and we were able to see the 9th rapids for the white water rafting. It is a grade 6 and according to typically Caleb who used to be a raft guide, they need to get out at that spot and walk around.
During our drive this morning we saw:
Waterbucks
Steenboks (new - very cute, small, and speedy antelope)
Impalas
Female kudu
Baboons
Lilac-breasted roller
Southern red-billed hornbill
Egyptian geese
Three-banded plover
Black-winged stilt
Pied Kingfisher (very cute with his spiky hairdo)
Marabou stork (soaring overhead)
Crested Guineafowl
Trumpeter hornbill (could only hear them like a baby crying)
At the lodge after breakfast we saw:
Tropical boubou
Common bulbul
Southern masked-weaver (female)
Red-faced mousebird (really pretty with long sleek tails and were hanging from the branches to eat on seeds or flowers)
Little blue heron (fishing in the pond by the lodge)
Southern red-billed hornbill
White-browed sparrow-weaver
Southern black-tit
White-fronted bee-eater
Glossy ibis (four flying over the river)
Lizard (not sure what kind)
Little egret
Vervet monkeys
Grey Go-away-bird
Fork-tailed Drongo
Warthogs
Banded grey mongoose
I first spotted the monkeys eating leaves out of a tree on the path while walking back to the lodge. Eventually they felt that I was too close and they moved toward the water. Ron, Teraleigh, and Bill saw them up close on our balconies at the rooms.
I was super excited to see a new animal, the banded grey mongoose. Ron saw them along our deck before lunch. They are really cute!
Had a refreshing nap after lunch, then we headed out on an afternoon drive. We had a great drive with Caleb, saw lots of animals, and watched the sunset as we had delicious snacks and drinks.
We saw:
Waterbucks
Steenbok
Impalas
Kudus
Buffalo (alive and dead)
Baboons
Marabou stork
Crocodile
Warthogs
Banded grey mongoose
Giraffe (baby and mom)
Wildebeest
For dinner we had a mini boma meal - kudu stew, warthog chops, and crocodile skewers - all excellent!
As we were getting ready for bed Bill spotted a gecko on his laptop by the bed inside the mosquito netting. I am going to dream all night about waking up with him laying next to me.
I woke up to use the bathroom at 1:00am and noticed my phone buzzing. I received a call from Mary Koopman, so I thought it must be an emergency. Turns out it was three monkeys - Katie, Lauren, and Hailey! After a short chat, I crawled back into bed and slept until our 5:15 wake up call for moving day.
