My African Adventure

I'm in Johannesburg for a night after my 7 day safari from Livingstone, Zambia through Botswana before embarking on a 4 day tree-hut safari to Kruger National Park.

We've been camping for 6 nights and spend numerous hours on the road, but also been on game drives, horse rides and camping in the Okawango Delta going in to the delta by mokoro, a special kind of canoe.
It's been nice to see a bit more of Africa, we've been through quite a few veterenary check points where we've had to wash our shoes because of a foot and mouth decise that has broken out. For every checkpoint we've had to get rid of fruit, meat and milk as well.

In Chobe National Park some of us went on game drives while others went on a sunset cruise. I opted for the sunset and sunrise game drive.
Chobe is known for having a lot of anmals, especially elephants, and we saw quite a few, one a little too close for my liking when it litterly tried to charge our truck! That guy was big! We also saw giraffes, zebra, impala, puku, warthog, kudu, buffalo, crockodile and a few noses and ears of hippos, none out of the water though. I've got a lot of photos of just water and a hippo ear or two sticking up.

After Chobe we went to Maun, the gate to the Okawango Delta. The mokoros took us into the delta where we camped for 2 nights.
It was really peacefull and nice to be in one place for a few days without any travelling. It's quite amazing going to bed in your tent and watching the fire burning close by and the sky is filled with stars through your moscito netting. Not to mention falling asleep to all the animal noices. We could hear the hippos coming up of the water to grass just 50m from our camp. The 2nd night one of them decided to come up to grass just behind our tent. The sunsets and the sunrises in the delta are amazing, the sun is so red. After the two night we went back to Maun where we spent the day. Nicci and I went horseback riding in a nearby game park filled with animals.

The next day we set of for the Rhino Sanctuary near the border to South Africa. We actually came across some wild dogs/painted dogs crossing the road, we were really lucky, they are hard to spot and it's not many left. We went on a game drive at the Rhino sanctuary using our little mini bus and we got to see the rhinos up close, right in front of us on the road.

Tomorrow it's on to Kruger. Hopefully I'll get to lion in the wild and maybe a lepoard.

Vic Falls is the adrenaline capital of the world and home to the famous falls. I've had two full days two see the falls and do some of the many activities offered. I went to see the falls yesterday, I knew I would get wet, but I was not prepared for how wet I would get. I might as well have jumped in the pool with all my clothes on, it wouldn't have made any difference, I couldn't have gotten any more wet. The falls were amazing, they span alomst 2 km. At times it was really hard to see through all the water mist. You can actually see the mist several km away raising up into the air, it's like the smoke of a vulcano.

I booked an adventure package including a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river and two free activities of your choice. I did the helicopter flight, it's only 15 min, it takes you over the falls, it was nice to see it from the air since all the mist made it difficult to see it all from the ground.
And nice to be in a helicopter without a survival suite on going offshore. Yeasterday ended with the sunset cruise, it was a nice trip, we were on a small boat, just 8 of us, and we got to see hippos! My first hippos!! The sunset was really nice as well.
I also did a half day adrenaline package as part of the deal, including the flying fox, the zip line and the gorge swing. We started out nice and easy with the flying fox followed by the zip line. The flying fox is a wire across the gorge fastended at approx the same hight at both sides. You are attatched to the wire with your harness on backwards. You run off a platform an soar oaver the gorge imitating Superman, but without the cape. Easy, nothing to it really. Next was the zip line. It's quite steep and reaches over 100 km/h. A little more nervous this time, but great fun. Last but not at all least, the gorge swing! The group of volunteers that went to Vic Falls did both the bungy jump and the gorge swing and came back saying that the gorge swing was more scary than the bungy. It didn't cool my nerves ant more while I was strapped in.
The gorge swing is kind of like a bungy jump, it's a 70 m free fall, but as the ropes are connected to a wire spanning the gorges it turns into a swing when the ropes finally catches you. There were two of us this morning doing the swing, the other guy was clearly more of an adrenaline junky than me, he did the swing head first from a handstand on the platform. There was no way I was doing that! I went the boring way, feet first. The ropes were so heavy they almost dragged me over the edge and into the abyss by their weight alone when I was released from the rope securing me to the platform. The first three sec were scary but when I got over the fear it was actually not all that bad, I would do it again if given the possibility.

The 2nd part of the day has been spent canoeing on the river. I really wanted to do the white water rafting, but sadly it was canceled due to the high water level. So I ended up doing canoeing instead. Not quite as exiting as rafting, we only passed a few lower grade rapids, the rest were smooth paddeling. But we got to see elephants on the bank of the river, some of tham taking a bath in the river, cooling off. We also got to see one hippo and one crockodile, that is we saw two eyes sticking up of the water.

I must say, I feel a bit bad acting like a tourist and spending a whole lot of money on all these activities when the same amount of money I've spent jumping into a gorge could feed a family for weeks. Life isn't easy for a lot of people her in Zimbabwe, a lot of people have no job, no money and no food. It must be really hard for them to watch us spending so much money on pointless things. There are people on the streets asking for clothes. I gave a way a lot of my clothes to some of the staff at Antelope Park before I left, including my fleece jacket. I had a hard time parting with that jacket, but when I think of all the clothes I have at home the decision was easy. I reallt hope things turn for the better for these nice friendly people soon!

Tomorrow it's on to Livingstone, Zambia to meet up with the safari group for the 7 day trip through Botzwana to Johannesburg.
Bye bye Zim!! I'll be back!!

The last week at Antelope Park didn't start out too godd, the meat prep was just as dreadfull as I had feared. I was feeling sick the whole day, both before and after. The cold room is a refrigirated container, at the time it was holding at least two donkeys, I didn't enter to confirm is there was any other animals in there. One of the donkeys had been killed by it's owners neighbour when it wandered into his corn field. Instead of giving it back he killed it. And not in a nice way, by using an axe! No wonder I was feeling so bad, I'm overly sensitive to these things.
I didn't take part of the actual meatprep, I was standing 10m away while one of the staff was dismembering the poor donkey. He took off all the legs, the head and the neck and left the rest in the container before we went to feed the walking lions. Boma and Bakari got the head and the neck while the MK's; Meeka, Moyo, Mara and Kali got the four legs. Meeka and Mara ended up fighting over Meekas leg even though there was one for each, kids...

There has been a few highlights this week as well. I've had another fantastic horseback ride! This time it was just Didier and me. The scenery is amazing! We came really close to both zebras, giraffes and some female kudu. We managed to sneak up on the zebras and antered along with them when they took off, it's quite an experience riding alongside a herd of zebras. We did the same thing with the giraffes, they have a really funny way of running, long legs and long neck. My horse jumped a few termite mounds along the way, in the heat of the chase, it was fun jumping again, it's been 15 years.

Another highlight has been bottlefeeding the 2P's, Pakas 4 weeks old cubs. The cubs are taken from their mother when they are 21 days old. From then on they are bottlefed and exposed to people. I was so glad I got to experience it before I left, they only started allowing the volunteers to feed the cubs a few days before I had to go. There has also been two other litters born in the park the last week, both Lulu and Chemma had their cubs. The import permit for the cubs from South Africa came through this week so Lewa will finally have a playmate and companion.

I've also had a marriage proposal this week, the day I left. It was really sweet, a love letter for the road attached to a gift along with some words and frases in shona translated into english for me to learn. He really put some time and effort into it, asking me to bring wedding rings when I come back. He is the sweetest guy, but I don't think I'm quite ready to get married to someone I've known for three weeks and not even kissed. All though an African wedding would be fun. Might be somewhat of a culture crash. Men in Zimbabwe can have more than one wife, or rather girlfriends at the same time, but they can only be legally married to one. It's been the subject of many a lion walk and given us all a lot of funny conversations.

The morning of my depature we got up at 4 am and went to hear the morning roaring at the breeding program. That's were all the big lions are. A lions roar is amazing, I love the sound, it's so powerful. When they all roar at the same time it's like your whole body vibrates. I recordet the roaring on my mobile and if it turnes out good I'll be using it as the sound of my alarm clock. That way I'll wake up every morning to the sound of the lions roaring and it will always remind me of the time I spent with them. Thank you Evans for taking us at 4 in the morning!! I know you'd much rather would have slept.

It was really sad having to leave, I've gotten attached to the lions and to the people working at the park, they are all so friendly.
I had a good last walk with the Mk's the morning I left. But it was so sad leaving them, I cried my eyes out when I had to leave them behind in their enclosure for the last time. They are around 14 and 15 months old now and will have been retired as walking lions by the time I'm able to go back unless I go back in the next couple of months.

I can't believe it's been two weeks already, time certainly flies by when you are having fun. It's funny how shovelling shit actually turns into fun when there is a bunch of big lions just a fence away. There has been a lot of manual labour this last week, enclosure maintenance, painting the poles of the enclosures, cleaning the enclosures and shovelling sand to but in the elephants enclosures. But we've also had a language lesson, learning a bit of shona and been elephant hearding, it's fun walking with the elephants back to their enclosures, also called bomas. You get to see them up close, to feed them, touch them and study them, they are quite amazing animals, and they have a lot of crude force, one of them got tired of picking leafs off a tree, having to lift his trunk to pick them off, so he just knocked the tree over and continued feeding of it on the ground.

I've gotten into the routine now, getting up at 6 am, walking the lions for a hour an a half before breakfast. I like the morning walks, it's still cool and the lions are more active, I love watching them play, wrestling each other. I know that some of the volunteers here have gotten bored with the walks, but I love them, how often do you get to spend time walking with lions, how can that possibly be boring? Especially when you get to interact with them, touch them and play with them.

The three week old cubs have now arrived in camp and is in a playpen in the same enclosure as the 4 month old Lewa. We will get to bottle feed them sometime during this week. They are still so small that they don't see properly yet. They don't look much like lions at this age, they look more like a cross between a lion and a sheep actually.

We get half a day off every five days, I used my last off day to go horseback riding again. It's quite an experience riding next to both zebras, impalas and warthogs, you get a lot closer to the game on horseback than you do on foot, especially when you've got a small pride of lions with you. There has also been some new arrivals at the stables, three nights ago a little baby horse was born. So now there are two small baby horses here, they are so cute. The youngest, a girl, is still a little shy, but the three week old boy is so friendly and loves to get a good back rub. There is a full moon at the moment and we are going on a lunar horse ride tomorrow.

We've also been on a day encounter, taking some of the other lions out to hunt. I prefer the day encounter to the night encounter, on a day encounter you get up before 4 am and drive out when it's still dark and the sky is filled with stars and all you can see of the game is some glowing pinpricks in the dark. After a while the sun rises and you can see the game. Watching giraffes at sunrise is magical.

One night some of us went on a vehicle stalk, it's a game we play. We all go into the bush, then they leave us, drive the truck a few hundred meters and we're supposed to get back to the truck unnoticed through the bush, while they search for us with a big spotlight. We hide behind trees and in the tall grass and slowly make out way towards the truck. It's a lot of fun after you forget that there are snakes and spiders sharing the bush with you that you can't see in the dark. At least the snakes take off as soon as anyone gets to close.

Some of the volunteers have gone on a 5 day trip to Victoria Falls, but a lot of new volunteers have just arrived, most of them are actually in their forties and fifties so the average age at the moments is late thirties.

I'm really looking forward to the lunar horse ride tomorrow, but I'm not looking forward to one of the other activities that is on my schedule for tomorrow. I'm doing meat prep and cub feed, meaning that I have to prepare meat for the lions, which includes chopping up a dead animal of some sort, probably either a cow or a donkey. Not looking forward to that at all!!!

Almost a week has passed by and it's been packed with activity. Usually the day starts with a Lion Walk, either with the MKs, or the 2Bs. The MKs are four 15 months old lion cubs, three females and one male, and the 2Bs are two 18 months old male cubs. A Lion Walk is a 1.5 hour walk in the bush with the lions following and walking among us. The MKs are nice to walk since it's four of them but also because the two females that has been born and bred her in the park are friendly and you can touch them, give them a nice belly rub and stroke their back when they walk past you. The 2Bs are getting close to the age they are retired from being walking lions because they'll soon get to an age where they will be too hard to handle especially when there are clients/guests on the walks. It can be easy to forget that these lions actually are wild animals, they act a lot like really big cats. But we always have lion handlers with us and we've had an inductions in how to behave around them. There is also a 3 month old cub here which sadly don't have any siblings so she has no one but her teddy to play with, so we do cub sits with her, take her for a small walk and play with her.

We've also been horse riding and taking the horses for a swim in the lake, I've never swam with a horse before, hanging around it's neck while it's swimming. There are also four elephants here which walk around on their own when their not used for rides, so one of our activities is elephant herding, to get them back to their enclosures for the night. While we're out walking the lions or the elephants, or out on horseback we often come across game, mostly impalas and zebras. Apparently there are quite a few giraffes here, but I have still yet to come up close and personal with one. The grass is so tall at the moment that it's hard to see the smaller game. The tallest of the grass reaches above my head in places. We also have to take part in less pleasant activities like enclosure cleaning, meaning picking up the lions pooh and removing the bones and hide left over from the last feeding. It's a rather smelly job in the heat. You just have to take the good with the bad. The bonus is that we get to spend time around the big lions. There is a total of 104 lions in the project including the ones at the release site. But it's only the 6 walking lions and the small cub we are allowed to go near, everyone else we have to admire from a far or through a fence. Other activities includes boma, which is cleaning the elephants enclosures, that's not that bad ,it's just four of them and it doesn't smell as bad as the lions enclosures. Then there is meat preparations which means preparing the food for the lions, which can include cutting up a whole or any part of a cow. So far I have not had the pleasure and I'm not all that keen to do it either. I've also been on one night encounter, a night encounter is when we take some of the older lions out and go look for game for them to hunt while we follow them in a vehicle. There is also a day encounter, at a night encounter we bring a red light that reflects in the eyes of the animals making it easier to locate. I was half hoping that we didn't come across any since I didn't really want to see a kill, but I did want to see game. But the lions we took out is still a bit young and inexperienced so they were never a risk to neither the impalas, the giraffes or the zebras.

I love walking the lions, watching them play and just studying them. They are such graceful animals, though not all that good at getting down off of trees they've climbed up into. And I love hearing the bigger lions roar, it's an incredible sound.
The horseback rides are nice as well, you get closer to the game on horseback that on foot walking the lions. And you have a higher vantage point so they are easier to spot. I've still to go on a elephant ride, which gives you a even higher vantage point.

Every Saturday we go into town to visit the orphanage, to spend some time with the kids.