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