safari and horseback ride

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Safari day.  We were eating our (complimentary) breakfast by 6:30 because our rides were picking us up at 7:20.  We drove an hour to the border and hopped on a boat to cross over into Botswana.  While we were in the middle of The Zambezi River the guide said that we were in “no man’s land”.  The center part of the river separates zambia, nibibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.  I was at a location in this world owned by noone… crazy.  Anyway, when we arrived in Botswana we went through customs, which was the sketchiest (for lack of a better word) border experience I have ever had.  I smiled at the officer, she stamped my passport, done.

Our guide drove us into The Chobe Marina Lodge (rainforest/African vibe) where we got on a boat for the water safari.  For the next three hours we cruised along The Chobe River.  The animal I wanted to see most was the elephant.  I knew I would see one but for some reason elephants never get old to me.  We saw numerous elephants bathing in the river and migrating to the shallow parts.  We saw one huge momma elephant with the tiniest baby elephant I have ever seen.  I saw hundreds of baboons, some of them were momma’s with babies attached to them.  We saw numerous fish eagles, hippos, lizards (HUGE lizards that swim) and birds of all kinds.  Dad- you would have been in heaven on this part of the safari, think bird island x 1,000.

After the water safari we ate lunch at the lodge then divided into three lifted jeeps with elevated seating.  Tyler and I sat in the back row of one of the jeeps and I constantly switched seats with him so he could get better footage for the video.  We drove from the border into The Chobe National Park.  For the next three hours we drove all around the park seeing elephants, giraffes, warthogs, empala, antelope, birds, and baboons.  At one point, a momma elephant obviously felt threatened by our jeep.  Her ears were flapping and she began to charge until our guide drove forward a little and she backed off.  Tyler got the entire experience on camera but he said he is going to have to delete our squeels… oops.  Oh, and nature called during our safari and I can now say that I have peed in the African bush (TMI, I know… but I just had to). 

After the safari we drove back to our hotel and a group of us decided to go back to Olga’s Italian Resturant for dinner.  Lauren and I shared the margarita pizza and bruchetta again… wonderful, as always.  Great food, amazing conversations, and interesting people was a great way to end our adventurous day. 

Friday, June 17, 2011

I am currently sitting on the patio of our hotel watching a meeting take place across from me.  Earlier, I noticed all the men in the meeting wearing tribal outfits and the women wearing elaborate, colorful, African dresses.  I started asking around and found out that the chief’s of all the tribes in Zambia are having a conference in our hotel!

We woke up and had a short-lived breakfast with Mark and Tyler before they caught a flight back to the states.  After, Regan, Cari and I were picked up by Livingstone Adventure for our horseback ride through another national park.  Little did we know, we were going back to The Royal Livingstone.  The stables where our horses are kept are inside the grounds of The Royal Livingstone.  That alone made the $85 ride worth every penny. 

I rode Terry, he was sweet to me but occasionally bit the other horses.  Thankfully, I remembered from back when I took lessons that talking to the horse and keeping a tight grip on the rains helps.  We rode all over the grounds of The Royal Livingstone and through a national park (can not remember at the moment).  After an hour we rode along the Zambezi River about half a mile away from Victoria Falls.  We came to a point where we had to cross a little pool in the river and the guide told us to kick the horse when we were about to walk in.  The guide went, I followed, and Cari was behind me.  The pool was deeper than we thought, including the horses.  Cari’s horse got spooked and fell in the pool, two or three feet away from the current.  Somehow she managed to pull her feet out of the stirrups and hold my camera high enough that it didn’t get wet.  Her horse got caught in the current and began to travel downstream.  One of the guides jumped off his horse and went to the water and grabbed the reins of the horse.  He was able to help the horse back up to the land.  All I know is that Cari stayed calm and collected and the guides completely lost it.  I don’t think that has ever happened because they were speaking in their native language and I could hear exactly what they were saying just by their intonation and gestures.  It was an exciting ride… never a dull moment in Africa.