We were on brief lockdown in our tents this morning as a boisterous elephant had charged one of the guides on his way to wake us up.
On the move again today, this time to our final bush camp in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. We rode in the safari vehicles to the airstrip, the flat, unpaved clearing in the bush and took two small planes to Livingstone, Zambia, a young man, one of the staff members was on a plane with us, going in to his home town so he could vote in the elections the next day... then we drove across the border into Victoria Falls, getting our first look at the famed Victoria Fall, the largest waterfall in the world... it is the same height as Niagra Falls and 1 1/2 times as wide, and produces 3 times as much water. Incredible doesn't quite cover it!
We drove through the town of Victoria Falls after landing and Jan and I noted a business named Fawlty Towers, named after one of our favourite British sitcoms written by and starring John Cleese. We had some time to kill before continuing our journey and were allowed by a local hotel to stay in their lounge area. Jan and some of the others went downtown to the shops... Jan got a small statue of 2 giraffes that she bartered for... from the asking price of $12 down to $8... the shop owner encouraged her to barter, so that was fun. And myself and a few others hung out at the hotel where we were able to use their WiFi for our first Internet access in 10 days... yay!!!
I had a message on Facebook from Reuben, the friend we will spend some time with in Cape Town later on the trip... to those of you Papa's chess players, Reuen is General Akpufni on Papa's, so really looking forward to meeting the General in person!
After clearing customs at Victoria Falls Airport, we were informed that we all wouldn't quite fit on the plane scheduled to take us to Linkwasha Camp in Hwange National Park, and two of us would have to go on a very small plane... Jan and I were all over that! A four seat airplane, seating the pilot, Jan as copilot, with me and the luggage in the back two seats. What can I say... way cool!
We landed at another 'airstrip' out in the middle of the bush, no more that a flat space in the desert and were greeted by Mafuka and our other guides for this final camp, Linkwasha Tented Camp. Mafuka, soft spoken and really looking the part, is older than any of the guides we have had, about our own age, and incredibly knowledgeable of and tuned into the bush environment. We were to learn later that he has survived being bitten by the deadly Black Momba snake using ancient wisdom and a salve and ingestible antidote prepared from the bark of a tree.
Arthur told us a story tonight as we had appetizers and a drink before dinner, about a smart old wild dog, a monkey, and a leopard. The leopard was hungry and had stalked the dog until he had it cornered. The dog, seeing no way out, grabbed a bone that was lying around and sucked on it, and said 'oh yes, that was a tasty leopard.' The leopard was astonished but thought better of taking his chances with this crazy wild dog, and skulked off. But he was still ravenous when the monkey came up to him and said, 'leopard, I saw the whole thing, the dog didn't kill a leopard, he was tricking you.' Well, the leopard was still hungry and wanting to eat this dog more than ever now, and decided to have another go at it. The monkey told the leopard he could be helpful in the hunt but would really like a ride as they pursued the dog. Again, the leopard managed to corner the dog and, again, there seemed to be no way out for the dog. The dog thought and thought as the leopard approached menacingly with the monkey on it's back. As the leopard was ready to strike, he noticed the dog was wearing a Rolex watch. Strange, he thought, but continued his attack... until he saw the dog checking his watch and saying, 'Ah, right on time, the monkey has brought me another leopard.'
Another story comes to mind with Jan having co-piloted our plane --- The aspiring ascetic had climbed the mountain, a long and arduous trek, to seek truth from the contemplative guru. 'Tell me, oh wise one,' he said, 'I see the Hindu depiction of the universe, our earth, being borne on the back of the elephant. Please tell me what is under the elephant.' The guru stated simply, 'It's elephants all the way down.' A friend of ours has a small plane much like the one on which we flew from the Victoria Falls airport to Hwange. He has a small plaque on the dash in the plane that says, 'It's elephants all the way down.' Having just seen countless elephants, and now finding ourselves in a small plane with Jan as co-pilot, I couldn't help but wonder what it all meant. We saw 40 or 50 elephants around a water hole just before we successfully landed... good job, Jan!
Our pilots, Alex and Jan...
Our accommodations in Hwange National Park...
Outside shower on the left at the base of a tree growing out of a ten foot high termite mound...
Do do do, lookin' out our front door...
Jan in disguise at the pool hoping an elephant comes up for a drink...
Wildebeest...
Wild beasts...
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