Final Day

Our last day in Victoria Falls was dedicated to what we wanted to do. Most of the group took the helicopter flight over Victoria Falls and some of those who hadn't been to Thornybush took a trip to find rhinos in a sanctuary. We had done the helicopter trip last time, so I went to the market place (where most everyone ended up). I bought a stone sculpture as our souvenir for this trip.

In the evening, we took a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. We saw elephants and hippos. We were on the cruise with a Gate 1 tour, who were on their first day. It was neat to see their excitement at spotting their first African animals. And, of course, the sunset was spectacular.

Dr. Livingstone at Victoria Falls

The next morning, we had a fascinating lecture on David Livingstone. When he first came to Africa, maps only the coast lines of Africa were mapped. He explored the interior of Africa from South Africa up to the lakes region. He is still well-respected by the African population because he was largely responsible for ending the African slave trade.

Summary

This will be known as the Leopard/Lion/Painted Dog trip. Thornybush camp was amazing, in one morning safari we saw the Big 5. On our previous Safari’s we saw a total of 3 Leopards, on this trip we saw eight, including a family with 2 cubs. We had the most active Lions ever, even the guides were taking pictures. We had never seen Painted (wild) Dogs before, and here we observed two packs with puppies, one of which was barking to keep the lions from their puppies.

There are more videos and pictures (especially of birds) on my narrated video on youtube. 

We also had quite a few interactions with the people of Africa, learning their customs, and the struggle for women to escape from male dominance. Everyone we encountered seemed especially friendly, strangers would greet us, many shared their stories with us. Finally, we had a great trip leader in Sanction, and a group that really got along well. We thoroughly enjoyed this trip. 

Sanction with us on the Zambezi River

Victoria Falls

Hwange's Catholic Church

We left for Victoria Falls, but made several stops. First we saw Rock Hyrax and Rock Mongoose. Then in Hwange we strolled down through ‘church street’ with churches from several Christian denominations. Many were in their Sunday best and greeted us as we passed. Some even asked to have their picture taken. Near the airport we watched one family pump water at the central pump to cart home on their oxen cart. Nearby was the restaurant that Sanction frequents while waiting for tour groups.

Sanction's Favorite Restaurant

We discussed poaching in Africa and what to do about it. In 1960, there were five million elephants in Africa, now there are only 500,000 with half the elephants in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. Another 20,000 die every year. Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa now shoot to kill any poachers they find, yet it hasn’t helped, too many folks resort to poaching because of the high unemployment rate. The demand for ivory and rhino horn in China, Vietnam, and elsewhere makes it a lucrative business. The number of poached rhinos in South Africa continues to increase even with the current penalties. 

In the afternoon, we visited Victoria Falls, walking the Zimbabwe side for two hours. We could see almost the entire falls, dropping 108 meters into a box canyon, just spectacular. While it is not the highest or widest waterfalls, it has the largest sheet of falling water (width x height).  The end of the trail near the falls provides a view of the bridge over the Zambezi river with bungee jumpers dangling from the bridge.

All day drive in Hwange

Baby elephant climbing our of a waterhole

Courtesy of Bob Brian

We had a quiet morning only spotting elephants descending the ridge into the valley, a colony of baboons and some Hyrax, the closest relative to an elephant. Along the way we exchanged jeeps because the starter wasn’t always starting. But after our tea break, we had a report of a lion nearby. We kept hearing lion sounds, but couldn’t spot the lion. We circled around to another road and then proceeded into the bush across some open areas. Sure enough, we came upon three lionesses. The other jeep had better success finding a herd of Cape Buffalo and elephants drinking from a water hole. They especially enjoyed watching the baby elephants struggle up the side of the water hole.

 

Our Lunch Waterhole

We continued for quite a way until we reached our lunch spot. We overlooked a large watering hole with hippos, crocodiles, impala, wart hogs, waterbucks and a troop of baboons. One of the baboons gave us a scare when it climbed up the wall and grabbed Bob’s lunch. We really enjoyed lunch here – it fulfilled the way you expect a waterhole to be: animals interacting as they came down to drink. On the way back we saw giraffe, a Giant Eagle Owl, and more elephants. We especially enjoyed two young males challenging each other, and a small herd of Cape Buffalo. We got back to camp at about 4:30 PM. Quite a day!

Before dinner, we go to try the traditional brew of the region, a corn beer, now sold commercially as Chibuku meaning “that book” referring to the book with the recipe. Our treat with the beer was Mopani worm, the larva of the mopani caterpillar, definitely an acquired taste. After dinner, we had our final Boma. The camp team did drumming, singing, and dancing, and we reciprocated with “Take me out to the Ballgame” and “She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain”. 

Lakosi Village

We’re going to visit a village of about 520 homesteads (5000 people), part of the Ndwandwe tribe. Before going, we stop to buy groceries for the village at the store in Hwange. This will be our gift to the people for letting us spend the morning with them.

 

Buying groceries for the village

We spent most of our time at the homestead of the headman of the village. While only six people live here, they hosted many of their neighbors for our visit. In this village, each of the homesteads has a water tap, courtesy of the European Union. First thing, they gave a tour of the homestead: the water tap, their water bucket shower, grainery, girl’s bedroom, kitchen, headman’s home, chicken coops and cattle corral. The bedroom and kitchen were made by the women using termite mound bricks. The bricks are the cylindrical form of a bucket, hand cemented together and then the surface is smoothed. The men build the roof with branches and straw. The straw needs replacement every five years. In the bedroom, was mosquito netting to reduce malaria, furnished by UNESCO. Shalom, the headman’s son was born in this room, and acted as our host. He was vaccinated at the local clinic for free. Most simple health problems are handled at the local clinic for no cost. But they must pay for doctor visits or going to the hospital in the town of Hwange.

 

The Kitchen

We asked what had changed the most in their lifetimes: Clean tap water has removed the threat of cholera, and there is bus transportation to the nearby towns. But a problem which persists in Zimbabwe is that the banks have no money. While general stores will accept a bank debit care, the open markets (which are cheaper) require cash. Sanction said “don’t be surprised if someone offers to pay your bill with their debit card, if you’ll pay them with cash”. Today the unemployment rate is high, even when you are highly educated, jobs are scarce. Many people go to South Africa for jobs, but there, Zimbabwe people are considered a threat (to the local jobs) because they are more educated than South Africans. The village has a shared irrigated field for growing fruits and vegetables. Built by the government in 1929, when the villagers were moved out of Hwange National Park. We ended our visit by presenting them with the groceries we had bought.

 

The villagers accept our groceries

After our home visit, we went to St. Mary’s school built in 1935. The school has 800 students and 24 teachers. School starts at 7:30 AM and ends at 4:10 PM for 9 months of the year. Subjects include the local language, English, math, science, home economics, social studies, art, and music. OAT has helped with the library, computer lab, furnishings, water pump, and paying for 4 additional teachers. The children walk from as far away as six kilometers. We visited the computer lab and then spent time with the sixth graders, conversing to them in English. I talked to two students: the girl had a good command of English and great penmanship, the boy was herder to understand, but he was studying agriculture in his class (and wanted to be an airplane pilot). Both had visited Hwange National Park on a school trip. We came away with the impression that education is deeply valued here in Zimbabwe, but the country is still struggling to build an economy that will provide jobs to these students.

Sixth Grade Students

Hwange National Park has over 45,000 elephants. We could see elephant damage to the mopane trees near our camp. Most of the trees are browsed down to waist high. The elephants prefer the leaves of the mopane over other vegetation. But the trees have a natural defense: after 15-20 minutes of browsing the leaves produce a bitter taste. The mopane tree is the first to leaf in November, but the young leaves are highly toxic until they have a chance to mature.

In the evening, we drove to Sinamatello Camp with a viewpoint of the valley. From here, we watched a lioness cross the valley and elephants browse through the bushes. We headed down into the valley and had an obstructed view of the lioness, but did get a good look at the elephants.

Sally’s Story

Sally, the 24 year old assistant manager told us her story. Sally’s mother had moved to another village and married her father, but later found that she was his second wife. She divorced her father and raised Sally as a single parent. Sally got pregnant before she had completed high school. The expectation of Zimbabwe society was that she quit school and marry the boy. This is exactly what her father recommended. Could it be because he would get the 10-cow bride price? She moved to the boy’s village for two months, but discovered that being a traditional wife was not for her. Her mother, meanwhile, encouraged her to leave the boy and complete high school. Her boyfriend’s family did not want her to leave their village. Her mother offered to take care of her child and pay for her education. Sally says “I put on ear plugs to ignore society’s wishes”. She graduated second in her class, then went on to the University. She fell into tourism as a major quite by accident. While in school, she had an internship with Wilderness Safari in Victoria Falls and had a supervisor who was an excellent mentor. She also had a four-month internship at a camp. After graduation, Wilderness Safari offered her a job and trained her in camp management – so she could support her daughter. She became a manager in November, 2013, but still faces the challenge of a male-dominated society. (For example, she is only one of two females at this camp.) Men sometimes ignore her orders or decisions. She’s learned have her facts in hand and use the employee’s surname (totem) to show respect for the men. But occasionally warning letters have been required in the man’s personnel file to ensure compliance. Of course, as a woman, she can’t hang out with the guys at camp. She’s often lonely, but decided to fill her time by studying for an MBA. She’s hoping to do marketing or accounting for Wilderness when she completes her degree. This would allow her to work in Victoria Falls, and live with her daughter.

Zambia to Zimbabwe

Our transportation between camps

This was our travel day from Zambia to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Our 12 passenger plane landed in Livingston to find that the 5 passenger plane had engine problems and they were sending another plane to fetch the rest of the group (including Sanction). With 2 ½ hours on our hands, our bus driver gave us a short tour of the town, paid for admission to the local museum, and bought lunch for us. The museum was so-so, excellent for grade schoolers providing the archelogy and history of the area. The one exception was the section on the life of Livingstone himself, which provided a lot of good background material and artifacts on his life. After lunch, we went back to the airport, picked up the rest of the ground then headed for the border. We walked the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe which provided a partial view of Victoria Falls, and a view deep into the chasm of the Zambezi river.

Victoria Falls from the bridge

It was another 2 hour drive to the entrance of the park, where we transferred to jeeps for the 45 minute trip to the camp. Here we were again greeted with singing at the camp and a delicious dinner. 

Our tent at Hwange

Lufupa and Kufue Rivers

Malochite Kingfisher

This morning we took a boat to spot wildlife along the Lufupa River. Right after we started, the camp team reported that a leopard had been seen nearby. Would we rather see the leopard or go on our river trip? They were shocked when we said we'd rather see the river animals. We saw a large variety of birds. Our highlights were a Giant Kingfisher who was tossing his speared fish to swallow him headfirst and an African Darter eating his fish. Other birds we spotted include: the beautiful Half-Collared Kingfisher, fruit bats, Green-backed Heron, African Pied Wagtail, African Fish Eagle, African Openbill,  Red-eyed Dove, White-Fronted Bee Eater near their river bank nest, the Jacana also called the Jesus bird since it walks on water, Reed Cormorant, and the spectacular Malachite Kingfisher. Of course, we also saw a lot of hippos in the water. They would periodically dive around us and then reappear with a snort, but none of them obliged us with a hippo yawn. As the weather got warmer and the river cooler, the hippos would leave the water using the hippo trails along the shore. We also spotted several crocodiles and a Serrated Hinged Terrapin (turtle). As we were returning to camp, one of the staff insisted we come see the dead hippo they had found that morning away from the camp. Instead of a dead hippo, we found lunch served under the trees. A great morning!

In the afternoon, the women were taught about the uses of the Kitenge, the colorful cloth we see women using everywhere. They were taught how to carry a baby, use it as a headscarf, or a cushion for carrying loads balanced on their head. It also can be used as a diaper, skirt, table cloth, curtains, or a bedspread. Then we had a lesson on how to pound peanuts into peanut butter.

 

Sanction with the ladies in their Kitenge skirts

We went out in the boats along the Kufue river for a little wildlife spotting. We found Hamerkops, a Giant Kingfisher, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Water Thick-knees, Dark-Capped Bulbul,  and a few crocodiles. We drifted along the river while the sun set. As we were drifting our guides tested our knowledge of animals and told us stories. A thoroughly pleasant evening.

Marriage in Zambia

Lydia, the camp manager, gave us a talk about Zambian culture, particularly life in the villages. In a village, everyone is from the same tribe and is considered family. Thus, a child has many brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles from within the village. Each village is led by a headman. A boy in the village will be taught how to hunt and fish from an ‘uncle’, chosen by the father. At the age of 10-12 he will be taken into the bush for 2-3 months. During this period he is to talk to no one, and is taught all that a man needs to know (except for sex). In fact, he is told that girls have a long tunnel between their legs, that he might fall into. Later in life, when he finds a girl, he asks an uncle to help arrange a marriage. Uncles discuss the bride price with the girl’s family (usually cattle or money). The engagement occurs when the uncle offers two white plates with money stuffed between them.

Girls are expected to be keepers of the house. Their mother will choose an ‘aunt’ to learn the skills of a woman. They are taught how to take care of her husband, her children and other relatives. Women are taught to be submissive, when addressing a man, they should kneel or keep their eyes down. At puberty, they are taught about feminine hygiene and how to be friendly to a man in order to get a marriage offer, but there is no ‘dating’.  Women should never approach a man.  They are taught that men have long snakes between their legs and you don’t want to be bitten. If a man approaches a woman in secret, the relation will usually last less than a month before marriage occurs.

Marriage is not just between a man and woman, but between the two families. The bride price and the union of the families, make divorce near impossible. Before marriage the boy and girl are taught about their obligations, sex, and family life. The marriage ceremony is usually a party for the entire village. (In the cities – a western style marriage might occur, and the marriage is registered with the local government.) A child is expected within the first year. If not, the man may search for a second wife, polygamy is fairly common (30% have more than one wife). If there still is no child, the man may be given a potion to have him fall asleep and a brother or uncle will impregnate the woman.

We noticed when we came to this camp, that there were only 2 women here and about 10 men. Our camps in Botswana were 50-50 men and women. This is largely because women seldom work in Zambia (also true in Zimbabwe). In fact men consider a woman who works as rebellious against society. There may also be a fear of being overpowered by women. Lydia is actually divorced and has three children.

As mentioned earlier, divorce is very rare. If there are problems, the headman will work with the villagers to help with the problem. Continued violence between the man and woman is one of the few times a headman will grant a divorce. In Lydia’s case, her family kept the original bride price.

Lydia

Lufupa Game Drive

The country is much more open than Botswana. We could alternate between treed areas, including palm trees, open grasslands, and swamp or river areas. Instead of Kalahari sand, the soil is clay which makes for deep pot-hole driving where the elephants or hippos had crossed the road during the wet season. The soil change also changes the shape of the termite mounds, instead of tall structures, they are huge mounds with trees or bushes growing on the top. Then there are the tombstone-like mounds of the snouted termite.

Puku

We were introduced to a new antelope, the puku, which looks like an impala, but without the M marking on the tail, and bright white stomach. This area also has a lot of hippos. We saw a large variety of birds: Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Goliath Heron, Grey-headed Parrot, African Fish Eagles, the White-fronted Bee Eater, Yellow Canary, Ashy Flycatcher, Grey-crowned Cranes, Egyptian Geese, and the Wattled Crane. We also spotted a lone Wildebeest who hadn’t migrated with the herd. He joined an impala herd for their mutual protection (watching for predators). We came upon a water hole where we could count over twenty crocodiles. Our game drive ended with the spotting of a Defassa Waterbuck, one of the subspecies of waterbuck. The Defassa Waterbuck doesn’t have the circular target on its butt like those we saw in Botswana.  

Fast moving Hippos

Picture courtesy of Bob Brian 

The other vehicle had a more exciting drive. They observed how fast hippos can move out of the water. Then they surprised an elephant herd which crossed the road in front of them. One of the females was ready to charge to protect her calf, so Brian their guide backed the jeep away quickly until the elephants passed.

Protective Mother Elephant

Picture courtesy of Bob Brian

In the evening, we headed about five miles south of our camp (an hour trip) because lions had been spotted. No lion when we got there, so we slowly searched the area. As the sun set, we stopped for our break. And then we heard a lion to the west of us. As it was getting dark we started searching with our spot light. We weren’t having any luck until we heard a loud lion grunt that seemed right next to us. But we couldn’t see anything in the tall grass. We called the other jeep over to search since there was a ravine between us and the grass mound. Sure enough they spotted him, an old lion with a problem with one eye. We crossed over the ravine and could watch him ourselves. It now very dark as we started the trip back to camp. On the way, we spotted two small-spotted Genets, a mongoose-like creature that climbs trees and two Lesser Bushbabies, the smallest primate, which were leaping from tree to tree (they can leap over two meters). 

Zimbabwe Story

In the afternoon, we got to try Baobob fruit – the fruit is a white sour tasting paste around a seed. It reminded me of Cacao fruit (from which we get chocolate). Sanction told us the story of Zimbabwe here, because it might not be safe to talk about it in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe means big house of stone, named for the 12-15^th century architecture used by the kings of this land.

In the 19^th century, the British offered protection for the Shona people against the invading Zulu from the south. Little did they know that they were signing away their land and minerals to the British. The British called this country, Southern Rhodesia, honoring Cecil Rhodes who was instrumental in developing the country. Ian Smith became Prime Minister of Malawi, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and Southern Rhodesia. In 1964 Britain gave independence to all three countries, but Smith refused to let there be majority rule in Southern Rhodesia and issued his own Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Britain petitioned the U.N. for sanctions against Southern Rhodesia. Black leaders like Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe started a guerilla war to oust Smith. In 1980 Zimbabwe gained independence and Mugabe became its first Prime Minister. But Nkomo objected to a Shona takeover of the country and wanted the Southwestern part of Zimbabwe, the home of the Matabele tribe to have its own independence. Mugabe slaughtered many of the Matabele tribe until conflicts ended in 1987 with a unity government between Mugabe and Nkomo. A new constitution was written and Mugabe was elected President.

Mugabe was considered to be a good leader (if you forget the genocide) for the country. Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa. Zimbabwe’s GNP was second to South Africa. Mugabe built schools and hospitals, even sending adults to school. Today Zimbabwe has a 93% literacy rate. Most of the white farmers stayed after independence. The constitution promised a “willing-buyer-willing seller” arrangement for land reform. But by 2000, only 30,000 blacks had resettled on the land. People demanded their land back, since the 2% white population controlled 70% of the land. In 2000, Mugabe promised that the war veterans and tenant farmers could get their land back from the whites. Most of the white farmers left, and blacks fought among themselves for the land. Sanction’s mother got the land for the farm she had worked her entire life. Most people got 6 hectares of land, but government officials ended up with large plots of land. This redistribution of land to uneconomical plots, drought, and lack of external financing, led to a sharp drop in the agricultural economy.

In 2008, when we were last here, the opposition party, Tsvangirai, took 73% of the vote. But the results were delayed and the election commission declared that neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai had gained a majority. Mugabe sent his militia into the countryside to intimidate the people. The opposition candidate pulled out of the run-off election to stop the slaughter. 2008 was a disastrous year. Inflation was rampant (30% in the 3 weeks we visited), the Zimbabwe dollar bills had expiration dates – in the end a Zimbabwe $100 Trillion note was worth US$20. In 2009, Zimbabwe formed a unity government and went to the US$ as their currency. But most people lost their life savings because you could only convert a fixed amount of Zimbabwe dollars to US dollars. In 2015, the government allowed you to again convert money based on the size of your bank account in 2009. 0-$175 Quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars were converted to US$5 and you got another US$1 for every 35 Quadrillion above that. Food did reappear in the stores, but people could barely afford food. Today, Zimbabwe still has 80% official unemployment (but entrepreneurs are counted as unemployed). If you are employed, your US dollars of salary are given to you as $2 and $5 Zimbabwe bond notes, only good in Zimbabwe. Foreign investment is minimal. Partly because Zimbabwe citizens must have control of any company. Life is still very difficult for most Zimbabweans.

One Hundred Trillion Zimbabwe Dollar Note

A surprising anniversary

Today is our 41^st anniversary and the plan is to spend most of it traveling from the Okavango Delta to Kufue National Park in Zambia. We started with our hour drive to the airstrip. We saw nothing on the way, but at the strip we immediately spotted elephants. But even more surprising was a male lion walking on the road next to the air strip. As he sauntered along, we would reposition our jeep four or five times to watch him approach again. He nonchalantly approached right next to us and then continued. Amos, our guide in training, Taps, our guide, and Sanction all took their cell phones out and shot pictures. This was one of best lion sightings any of them had seen.

We flew back to Kasane, then began our bus ride to the ferry across the Zambezi River. The trucks taking the ferry here usually wait for days to get across the river. There are four ferries, each can only hold one semi-truck and the ferries break down frequently (only two were operating today). It takes 15-20 minutes to load a truck, cross the river, and unload plus the ferries only operate from 6 AM to 6 PM. The ladies of the night do a brisk business from the drivers. While we waited for the ferry, Sanction arranged for Matilda, a local prostitute, to talk to us about her life. Matilda's mother died when she was 16 and she quit school to care for her two younger brothers. But with no job, she had to resort to prostitution to feed her family. She meets the truckers in a bar, charges $200 for those who use a condom, and $400 without. She has three to four clients a night. She started at age 19 and is now 28, with two children: 3 and 5. We could see a few injuries on her neck from violent clients. Zambia and Botswana have started building a bridge across the Zambezi. It should be completed in five years. Matilda is training to be a beauty stylist to eventually quit the profession.

Zambezi Truck Ferry

We crossed the river and picked up a bus on the opposite shore. While we were waiting a parade of men were selling copper bracelets and carved animals, trying to support their families. We drove an hour to Livingstone, a city of 300,000 with one stop light. In Livingstone, we visited a local market selling fruit, vegetables, grains, used clothing, and other things. The vendors were happy to talk to us and explain about some of the fruits, tree pods, and larvae that were strange to us. Each of our ladies got to pick out 2 yards of brightly patterned material. We’re going to learn the various purposes for this material in a few days. Then we flew from Livingstone to Lufupa Camp in the Kufue National Park. This is the same camp we opened up two weeks early in 2008 Ultimate Africa trip. Our guides are Boyd and Brian. 

Livingstone Market

We went on a sundown game drive into the night to find the nocturnal animals. We stopped at one point because we could hear the bark of a Cape Bushbuck warning of the presence of a predator, but we never saw anything. It got dark and we continued searching for nocturnal creatures. We found one bird and some Cape Hares (our guide called them Bush Hares) that only come out at night. And then, we had our second surprise for the day: a leopard walking along the road. We watched him for about 10 minutes as he approached our jeep, defecated right in front of us (no shame at all), and continued on past us. What a sight! Later we spotted a Hippo walking one of the hippo trails away from us.

Our anniversary celebration was that night: Carol and Linda bought us Champagne, the camp folks sang for us, and baked a nice chocolate cake and then we had more champagne waiting in our room, when we retired for the night. What a special surprising anniversary!

Mokoro Ride

We were poled along on a peaceful mokoro (canoe) ride this morning among the water lilies and reeds. Our animal discovery on the river was a painted reed frog, which looked closer to an insect than an amphibian. On the shore, we learned about the toothbrush tree. Sanction told us the story of how as a kid, Procter & Gamble distributed toothbrushes and tooth paste at school as part of their marketing effort. The kids ate the toothpaste and threw away the brushes, going back to the toothbrush tree for cleaning their teeth. After all, who could afford brushes and toothpaste!

Female Waterbuck

After we left the river, we found fresh leopard tracks, but after an ½ hour of searching we gave up. But we did find a Copper-tailed Coucal and both male and female Waterbuck. A group of Waterbuck is called a Target because of the circle pattern on their butts. Then we saw two Tawny Eagles building their nest. A little while later, a Side-Striped Jackal blended in with the dry grass. Finally, we spotted Hyena Eggs. Because Hyenas eat the bones of their prey, their scat is filled with calcium, making it look like an egg. We were shown how dried Hyena scat can be used as chalk on a black board. 

Okavango Game Drive

Hyena

During the night, we heard Hippopotami grunting.  In fact, while we can’t see them during the day, we can still hear them. We started our day by finding a bull elephant in must with its extended penis (not a baby elephant whose trunk is extended for air from the mother’s womb as our guide joked). During this period, their testosterone levels can be 60 times greater than normal, and the elephants can be quite aggressive. Then we spotted two leopard tracks and started tracking them. In the bush, we briefly saw one before we lost it in the thickets. We continued into a public part of the delta (our camp is on a concession area of the delta, rented from a local tribe). Here we got close to a hyena near it’s den. Then we came upon 6-7 jeeps surrounding a female leopard and its cub. Since they had a kill there, Paul, our guide said we would come back later when it was less crowded. We went on the visit an African Wild Dog Den, and found quite a few dogs sleeping with the alpha male patrolling the area. When he peeked into the den, we could hear pups. We stopped for lunch hear a parade (herd) of elephants crossing the water.

We revisited the leopard on our way home and could see her gnawing on an impala. As we continued we started hearing strange noises from one of our tires – a ball bearing was going. We stopped the vehicle and radioed for help. While we were waiting to be rescued, Sanction gave us a lesson on termites. The termites here take plant material and grow a fungus for their food. A new termite nest is started by a king and queen with many alate (winged) termites flying out to a new location. The queen begins laying eggs which develop into worker and soldier termites. The soldier termites bite ants, snakes, and other animals to protect the mound. The Aardvark is impervious to these bites. In fact, he lays out his tongue to attract the soldiers and then swallows them. Most mounds here are near trees. Which came first the tree or the termite mound?  A mound is often started near a tree because the termites use the dead plant material to feed the fungus. Birds and other animals defecate on the mound and may plant a fruit tree on the mound from the seeds they’ve swallowed. So, the tree or the mound could have come first. It took 75 minutes for our rescue jeep to arrive. As we went home, our rescuer stayed to fix the wheel bearings on location. He got back just about dark. During our drive we also saw African Fish Eagle, Pygmy Geese, Spur-Winged Geese, Hamerkop, Kudo,  and Hippos.

Termite Mound towering above Sanction

Human Wildlife Conflict

Our evening discussion was on human-wildlife conflict using lions as the example. Today there are about 40,000 lions, but only 10,000 live in national parks. In the Okavango Delta area, they’ve lost 500 lions in the last five years, primarily in the farming-ranching area south of the park. What are causes of the conflict? Animals have a shortage of prey and lack of space. Meanwhile, we want to develop the land and use its resources: grass for ranching, trees for firewood, building materials, and medicine. African Wild Dogs kill goats and chickens. Elephants trample gardens. Lions hunt cattle and goats. Cape Buffalo spread hoof and mouth disease to cattle. What solutions have been tried? To separate the buffalo from the cattle, Botswana built a fence around the delta, but this fence disrupted the local wildebeest migration. They couldn’t follow the rains to eat grass and over 80,000 died. A solution that hasn’t worked very well. To keep the elephants out of gardens, they’ve circled the garden with chili pepper, which works well. Whistles and flashlights as well as guard-dogs are used to deter lions and wild dogs. The cattle are better able to fend off lions when they are corralled for the night.  What’s the situation today? Wild dogs used to be in 39 countries and numbered 30000 ten years ago. Now only 5000 exist in just five countries. While elephants are declining across Africa, Botswana has 150,000 elephants on land that can only support 45,000. We saw the devastation of over-browsing in Chobe, here, and Zimbabwe. Should we open up the ivory trade again in these countries? But that would just encourage poaching in other countries. There are not any obvious solutions. 

Wilderness Tent Camp - Okavango Delta

Log Bridge to our Camp

We rose at 5 AM to fly into the Okavango Delta. This area floods twice each year during the rainy season and again when the rivers from Angola pour into the delta in July and August. The rivers used to flow to the sea, but now are stopped by the up-lifting of the fault on the southeastern side of the delta. After our bush plane flight, we drove about an hour to reach the Wilderness Tent Camp. Most of the trees in the region are Mopane or butterfly trees (their leaves are shaped like a butterfly).  On the way in, we saw a leopard kill (an antelope) in a tree. As you might expect that are quite a few swampy areas here, and we crossed over simple log bridges several times. We were advised that the guides had not seen any cheetahs in three months, because the water has them trapped on the main central island of the delta. Our guides here will be Paul and Taps.

Maribou Stork

Our evening game drive was primarily spotting birds: the Marabou Stork (an ugly bird), Brown Snake Eagle, Little Bee-Eater (the smallest of the Bee Eaters), African Wattled Lapwing,  Black Winged Stilt,Yellow-Billed Stork, African Darter or Snake Bird, Pied Kingfisher (which hoovers over the water like a hummingbird), Hamerkop (the guides always joke about their American house, because their nests are huge), African Sacred Ibis, Grey Heron, and a Spoonbill. While Chobe had termite mounds, here we saw several that were taller than a human, made from the sandy soil of the Kalahari desert. We saw a new antelope here – the Red Lechwe which escapes predators by entering the water. We finished our drive with Sundowner drinks near a pod of Hippos.

Marriage

In the evening, we had a discussion about marriage. Traditionally marriages are not ‘arranged’ but suggested. An uncle or aunt (pretty much any adult in the village) might suggest that this village girl might make a good wife. The boy and the girl will have a lot in common because they are from the same village. Both the boy and the girl must agree, then a bride price is paid from the boy’s family to the girl’s family, usually a number of cows. Unfortunately, this makes a marriage almost seem like a property transaction, the girl becomes the man’s property. It also makes divorce more difficult since the girl’s family needs to return the bride price. Of course, times are changing, more youngsters are moving to the city, where they meet, and don’t necessarily have a common background.

All Day Game Drive in Chobe National Park

Our first night here, we could hear a lion walking just outside our tents with his low grunt. Last night, we heard two lions. So this morning, we’re trying to find the lions. We explored the road near our camp and found tracks. Then we explored the western portion of the park adjacent to our camp – no luck. We did find a group of banded mongoose, a brown snake eagle (which has scale on his feet to prevent snake bites), a slender mongoose, Yellow-billed Stork, the Goliath Heron (largest of all herons), the African Sacred Ibis, lots of Warthogs, Kudus, and of course, Impalas.  Then Jimmy, our driver, noticed recent tire tracks on the side of the road. In the distance we could see a pride of lions. We took a quick close-up peak at them (it was illegal to go off the road), and then waited at the road to see if we would see a game chase with an impervious herd of impala. But the impala discovered the lions and began to vocalize a warning. Now the lions had no chance so we headed off for our picnic lunch. At lunch we kept our food safe from the Vervet Monkeys, but the Cape Franklins or Cape Spurfowl picked up our crumbs.

In the afternoon, we finally saw elephants, one family in the shade of a tree and another throwing up dirt near the river as a sunscreen. Eventually they crossed the river in about 10 feet of water. We also noticed a Saddle-Billed Stork and a flock of Blacksmith Lapwings (called that because of their 'tink, tink, tink' alarm call). As we left the river we came upon a bellow (herd) of Cape Buffalo. They were headed to the water, so we headed there and saw about three hundred of them – our best Cape Buffalo sighting ever! 

Our final discover of the afternoon was a Sable Antelope, a rare sight (in fact our only sighting on the trip).

Sable Antelope

African Traditions

In the evening, we gathered in the Boma, a gathering place, to hear about African traditions. We had already seen a boma at the village yesterday, here the village gathers for decisions about the village or to settle disputes. The chief of a village or a tribe is usually a hereditary position. Even today, the chief will settle most ‘civil’ disputes, but crimes are usually tried at the district government level. The chief will remain chief until his death or he voluntarily steps down. This is one of the explanations for why so many African ‘Presidents” remain in office until they decide to step down, ignoring term limits and election results. 

In our camp Boma, We ate a traditional African meal - the men are served first and we were encouraged to eat with our fingers. In traditional Africa, the women would serve the men, but we were more egalitarian, everyone went to the buffet. On the last night at each of our camps, we would eat in the boma and then have an exchange of culture. The staff sang for us a number of songs, often with excellent harmony. As thanks, we returned the favor (?) by singing an American song or two. We started with "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain" and by our fourth camp, we had added "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." 

Baobab Camp, Botswana

Yesterday was a traveling day. We left for our 11:30 AM flight at 8:30 AM, arriving in Zimbabwe about 1:30 PM. It took about another hour to get our visas. There we met our tour leader, Sanction, who seems to be a good natured, humoristic fellow. They had just opened a new International Terminal in Victoria Falls and we were greeted by an acapella group as we left the airport. It took about 3 hours to drive to Baobob Camp, passing through border security for Botswana about half way. We were the only group crossing at that time, so things went swiftly. The camp staff greeted us with singing when we reached the camp. (This would be true for all four camps). We’re in Baobob One camp which has stone buildings with tent tops with a great view of the Chobe river. (We stayed at Baobob Two last time we were here.) As part of the orientation at each of our camps, we're warned about not leaving our tents after dark, animals run freely through the camp, and keeping our candies, gum and food locked up (usually in the reception area) to avoid hungry visitors in our tents. 

Zambezi River from Baobob Camp

During the night, we heard a lion passing through camp, really close. Quickly demonstrating the warning about leaving your tent at night.  We started our morning game drive by trying to locate the lion near the camp. Our driver/guides at Baobob are Timmy and Emax. We never found it, so we headed to Chobe Park. Our first discovery was Kudu, the male Kudu add a twist to their horns every two years. Then we spotted Plains Zebra with their shadow stripe (the emblem of Botswana). Finally we entered the 11000 sq. km. Chobe National Park and quickly encountered Southern Ground Hornbills, followed by a Honey Badger scampering across the road. We saw lots of impalas. (If you don’t see an impala, it isn’t a game drive.) There numbers are huge because they have synchronized breeding, all their young drop at the beginning of the rainy season. This allows the herd to better protect all the young. As we headed to the river, we saw all kinds of birds: Green Wood Hoopoe, White Backed Vulture, Cape Starling, Tawny Eagle, African Openbill, Black-Winged Stilt, African Fish Eagle, Red-billed Hornbill (these would be almost as common as the African Dove on our trip) and our favorite the Lilac Breasted Roller. As we drove along the water, we encountered Waterbucks, a Nile Crocodile, Black-Backed Jackal and Southern Giraffe.

Lilac Breasted Roller

In the afternoon, we set off to the village of Mabele. We visited a well-off grandmother who has a nice home with electricity and water. Her sons and grandchildren live in an adjacent building. She proudly showed us her garden and summer kitchen. Then we went to a small cultural center in the village to admire the baskets the women made there. Meanwhile the kids were having a great time.

Kids having fun

Brief History of Botswana

Botswana is about the size of Texas with only 2.2 million people. During colonial times, it was the left-overs of Southern Africa, totally land-locked, it had no know exploitable resources. The first whites in the country were British missionaries. Dutch slavery practices in South Africa forced other tribes into southern Botswana. The Dutch were eventually defeated by three major tribes with the help of the missionaries. The chiefs of these tribes asked for British protection from the Dutch, making Botswana a British protectorate, but not a colony. Beef production became the major industry. Meanwhile Cecil Rhodes discovered copper in eastern Botswana. Part of his grand scheme for Africa was a railroad from Cape Town to Cairo to move goods. The tribal chief in the east petitioned the Queen of England worried that Rhodes was going to take their land as part of his grand scheme. This chief eventually became the first prime minister of Botswana. In 1966, Botswana gained its independence just before diamonds were discovered. Today, Botswana has a stable economy based on diamonds, tourism, and beef. A large part of the country is preserved as National Parks. 

Quiet Day at Thornybush

Flat Tire in the bush

This morning we’re after black rhino. Roland and Anthony have found fresh dung and tracks on the road. But before we started tracking the rhinos, we had to fix a flat tire on our jeep. Anthony walked through the brush, while Roland took the jeep around on the road. No luck, we picked up Anthony as other vehicles joined the hunt. Eventually one of those vehicles found them. By the time we got there they were in a thick set of trees and bushed. They were hard to see, but appeared to be the same set of three we had seen two days earlier.

Rhinos in the bush

We didn’t see much else in the morning. Roland told a story of a Kudo running through breakfast at the camp and jumping in the pool. Eight wild dogs followed and killed the Kudo in the pool, but they couldn’t pull it out of the pool to eat. After the dogs gave up, a lion came, grabbed the carcass, pulled it out of the pool, and began feasting. The master tracker told Roland he was going to chase the lion away from his kill and to watch how it was done. He took a blanket, opened it up and shook it at the lion, apparently, they don’t like square shapes. He continued to shake the blanket and the lion started moving away, with the tracker following until out of the camp.

That afternoon, we flew back to Johannesburg to meet the rest of our tour group for the start of the standard tour. 

More Leopards, Elephants, Rhinoceros, and Lions

We started our day revisiting the kill site in the dark – there was the male leopard eating what remained of the carcass up in the tree, with the two cubs at the teats of the female down below. Roland explained that this is a sight that most of the researchers don’t believe until they see it. A male staying with the family and sharing its kill. There is only one other documented case.

We went looking for elephants catching sunrise on the bank of a pond with a Grey Heron and Guineafowl around the pond. Then we found six Southern Ground Hornbills. They mate for life and each breeding pair is assisted by at least two other birds to properly care for their young. They are very particular to finding nesting holes in old Mopane trees about 1 ½ feet above the ground. With the elephants tearing down these trees, there numbers are decreasing. The group of Hornbills we saw had just grown from five to six birds since a chick had just left its nest. We found them eating some small rats. We did eventually find another 30 year old male elephant. We could hear the tree branches breaking and went bushwhacking through the trees, only to find it alongside another road. We ended our drive by spotting a male, female, and chick Bateleur or Short Tailed Eagle in a tree above a dried out river.

On our afternoon drive, we headed south toward Kruger Park after White Rhino or square-lipped rhino, the grass eaters. Sure enough our guides found three, a male and two female. At first they were in the brush and hard to see, but eventually they passed our vehicle in full view. Their horns sell for about $250K per kilo and an adult horn in about 10 kilos. We went further down the road and came upon two more rhinos in the middle of the road, a female and her baby. They had just layed down to take a nap and the Oxpecker birds came onto their backs, two adults with red beaks and a juvenile.

White Rhinos in the road

Meanwhile one of the other vehicles spotted a male Lion only about a hundred yards from our first Rhinos. It was the same nine year old male we had seen two days ago, but he had walked quite a few miles south to protect his territory. We stopped for our usual Sun Downer drinks and after dark, our tracker spotted a Chameleon in the bushes. I have no idea how he spotted him. 

Lion resting 

We were able to converse with Roland for quite a time on this drive and at dinner. His father is quite famous – he began the program to license guide rangers throughout Africa. Roland has been trained as a guide since he was a youngster. He is quite skilled at tracking which we have witnessed in the last few days: sight for tracks, smell to find recent kills and scat, and hearing to listen to the monkeys, antelope, and birds warning of predators. In fact, Anthony, our tracker has only been a tracker for a few months. He was a maintenance man at the lodge, but has been trained by Roland and they have become an effective pair at tracking – especially leopard and black rhino. 

Best Game Drive Ever!

We started our game drive at 6 AM in the dark with a gentle mist. Our first discovery was a genet, a small nocturnal cat we spotted in the dark. As it became lighter, we found a herd of Cape Buffalo (one of the Big Five). The Big Five are the five most dangerous animals for hunters. Cape Buffalo have moved into Thornybush since the fences have come down. Their horns are as hard as steel , bullets bound off. Next encounter was a small herd of Wildebeest, but we went on for bigger things. 

As we went along the road, we could see elephant tracks, but it took a while to finally find a 25-year-old Elephant munching away at a tree. Its trunk had been injured, but it still managed to tear apart the branches for food. We had spotted our second animal of the Big Five. After the Elephant, we came upon a Dewdrop Spider web. They usually have their webs along the ground, but because of the mist, we found them in the bushes. The web is designed to capture the water from the dew.

Roland, our guide, led us to a unique sight – a pride of lions had invaded the territory of an African Wild Dog (Painted Dog) den. There are only about 4000 dogs left in the wild (420 in South Africa). In Thornybush there are two dens with 18 adults and 9 pups. We heard the dogs before we saw them, barking at the lions. Trying to get them away from their den. The worry is that the lions will kill these rare dogs, since they compete for the same prey. We were observing a very rare situation. There were 8 lionesses with the male lion, who was within ten feet of our vehicle. He opened his mouth as we were watching, not as a threat to us, but to test the air for what was nearby. Number three of the Big Five.

As we went further along the road, the tracker spotted fresh rhino dung, still quite pungent. We started in the direction the tracker had indicated, eventually coming upon three Black Rhinoceros. The Black Rhino is the more aggressive and rarer (critically endangered) of the Rhinos. It is a browser, eating bushes, and has more flexibility with its head, allowing it to swim. The White Rhinoceros is a grazer, eating grass and its head is lower and less flexible. Both species are a gray color, so white and black is confusing. The alternative names are hook-lipped (black) and square-lipped (white). Now we had seen four of the Big Five.

Other groups from our lodge had spotted four Leopards – a male, female and two cubs. But we had to wait our turn (the two vehicle rule). There were at the spot we had identified last night as the stash for a recent kill. We stopped for our tea break while we waited our turn. After tea break, the male had separated from the others, so we went after it, finally spotting it off the road, drinking at one of the ponds. So in this one morning – we had seen all the Big Five plus the rare sighting of African Wild Dogs.

How could we top what we had seen this morning, when we set out in late afternoon? We started out watching a Dark Chanting Goshawk tearing at something on the ground. After it flew off, Roland found it had been trying to get at a lizard, but had only gotten its tail. Further on we saw Plains Zebras, which have brown stripes between the black or virtual stripes. Finally, we pulled up to the leopard kill we had smelled last night. There was our female leopard feasting on a warthog up in a tree. We could hear the bones cracking as she chewed on the carcass. Down below were her two cubs. We enjoyed watching them play around.

Time to move on and our next discovery were Pine Processionary Caterpillars, the first caterpillar lays down a pheromone trail and other caterpillars follow that exact trail. Then we found the African Wild Dogs again, but their six 1-month-old pups were out of the den playing wile at least four adults were watching for those lions. We found the lions about 500 yards away, sleeping. Our best safari day ever!