Elephant stuff/a lion/almost stuck in Botswana

Day two of my two day adventure took me to Chobe national park in Botswana. I rode to the river crossing with a young doctor from Colorado named Joanna. She was in Zambia for a month doing a residency exchange program at a hospital in North West Zambia that I completely forgot the name of. It started with the letter S and was complicated. Her boyfriend was doing the same thing in Uganda and they were competing to see who would have the best Safaro pictures from the last day of their stay. I am pretty sure she won because we saw some amazing stuff.

We drove to a river and took a 2 min boat ride across that river to Botswana and did the whole immigration thing. Then we drove about 17 mins to a game lodge that was on the Chobe river. It was much more swanky than I expected it to be. Well, I didn't know what to expect, and it was very nice. We saw a little money steal a packet of sugar and run up a tree. I knew that it was going to be a good day from that alone.

The first adventure of the day was a river cruise. The Chobe river runs along the border of Botswana and Namibia and there is an island that has an interesting history of conflict that I'm not really going to get into much. Long story short, Namibia wanted to farm it and Botswana wanted to preserve it for it's tourist value. Botswana won . . . eventually. Apparently for years each country put up it's flag and the other would tear it down. So now it's a muddy marsh in the rainy season and dry in the dry season (who would have thought) and animals swim to it, through crocodile infested waters, to feast on it's lush grasses. The grasses were lush indeed. In fact, if I were to eat any wild grass, that would be the grass to eat.

As we sped along the river we saw Impala, Puku and Udu. They are nice, and plentiful. Impala are called the fast food of the wild because they have hind markings that look like an M (McDonald's) and they are eaten often by Crocs and big cats. They are plentiful like chicken nuggets so we don't have to worry about them going extinct or anything like that. After we passed our first group of Impalas and other antelope we saw a 8ft long crocodile. Then some Impalas came to the water to drink where the croc was hiding. Now don't judge me, but I was 100% thinking "come on crocodile" and was recording video hoping for a scene right out of NatGeo Wild. Unfortunately, no such thing happened and we moved on.

We saw some Fish Eagles (the national bird of Zambia), which look like bald eagles, and hunt fish. We also saw their nest. This one was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom duplex with roof access. It was massive. We saw more birds and then saw some hippos in the water. They were pretty boring and looked like rocks that blow mist in the air.

Then came the big guys. We saw a boat near the shore in the distance and rushed over. They had seen an elephant in the bushes but I guess they got impatient and took off as soon as we arrived. Too bad for them because the elephant put on quite a show. It ate and did all sorts of elephant stuff. The coolest part is that we got to watch it walk into the water and swim to the island and reemerge to feed on that list grass that I imagine tastes like cotton candy. They do a sort of breast stroke and bob up and down and use their trunks as a snorkel. It was amazing to watch. After the first elephans we saw a second one that was like 25 ft from us. It too did elephant things. One never gets tired of seeing elephants do elephant things for some reason.

We travelled some more and saw a croc sunbathing with it's mouth open and another elephant doing elephant stuff and then some more hippo rocks. As we left the last elephant we saw a small orange thing above the tree tops in the distance.

GIRAFFES!! What the heck. I think someone paid these animals to come out. The giraffes were fun. They splay their legs out to drink and look really awkward. This one had a skin disease caused by tics and was a lil lumpy but was still cool. They kept suddenly bucking up and down to get rid of the birds that pick the ticks off off them because they were getting irritated. A warhog walked by and tried to get in the spotlight as well. It was a pretty rich scene. After the tall guys, we went somewhere else and saw some baby hippos and went to a patch of Lily pads. These were really nice. The guide pulled one out of the water and showed us the bulb at the bottom that locals peel and chop into sauces and eat. He then made a necklace from the stem and flower and passed it around. After that we meandered around for a bit until it was time to go to the lodge for lunch.

The buffet was pretty decent. I got to try warthog meat. It was pretty much like tender beef. Didn't taste warthoggy at all. I also had several desserts and lots of iced tea and lemonade. I hadn't had much refined sugar during the trip so I kind of went bonkers.

The afternoon was Safari time. We took a short ride to Chobe National Park in a safari vehicle and went on our adventure. It started off with more fast food Impalas and some Kudu. We passed some nice views of the river that we were just on and then out came the big guys. We passed a herd of elephants feasting on plants. This huge female was basically breaking tree branches with her as if she were picking dandelions. The little ones were shoving leaves into their little triangular mouthes and some of the others were stripping leave off of the stems and eating the stems . We passed tabg group and hit another group that was on both sides of us. One meduim sized elephant crossed the road within about 5 feet of the vehicle and then stopped in front of us. The guide told us that they have pretty poor eyesight and see the vehicles as one unit. They are used the sound of them and as long as we don't try to make ourselves known they will continue to do elephant things as if we were not there.

Further down the road we saw more elephants and then some giraffes in the distance. After several more Impala we came upon a group of baboons. Now I had just seen them close up the day before at the Falls so I wasn't really impressed. Then we saw one baboon, um, answer the call of nature with another and moved on. For the next 30 mins we saw what seemed like billions of elephants, but never got tired of those grey guys.

We had a quick rest stop after we saw some lion tracks from the night before in the sand. We got out of the vehicle at a designated stretch point and took a break from all of the sitting and bouncing. The guide laughingly told us to watch out for lions. I'm pretty sure he was serious, but he said it in such a fleeting manner so as not to worry us for real. Joanne asked if she could go squat by a tree and I was relieved that the guide said yes because I had to pee as well. I marked my territory and rejoined the group for the last leg of the tour.

As we went along the edge of the water another truck passed us and the guides spoke briefly and we sped to a point a turned into the bush. There it was. A lioness less than 15 feet away from us trying to take a nap. It glanced over at us and then closed it's eyes. The guy sitting in front of me, who was silent up until this point, loudly exclaimed "well that lion is just laying there!" Now we had been warned at the start of the trip to keep our voices low and had been pretty good. I don't know what in the world compelled him, at this very moment, when a lion is 15 feet away, to be loud. Naturally the lion lifed her head, opened her eyes and shot him a glance of death. We shushed him and enjoyed seeing the lion. A male lion apparently passed by in the bushes about 35 feet away but then quietly vanished. Someone thought that it would be a good idea to change seats and since lions have sight that is sensitive to movement, it became very alert. Our guide, seeing the lion look annoyed, decided that it was time to go and we sped away. We saw a dung beetle in the road pushing a ball of . . . dung, with it's back legs moving backward like dung beetles do. Basically animals do all of the animal stuff that you see them do on tv. It was still amazing to see them do it up close and personal.

We went back to the lodge and then back to the border. So the park is in Botswana, as I mentioned, and we had to show our passports to cross the border. I told the immigration officer at the Airport that when I came I would be going to the game reserve and I needed a double entry visa. Well, come to find out the visa he gave me was single entry. So when I got to the border to come back into Zambia, they said I had to pay 200 Kwacha because I didn't pay the right fee at the airport. How am I supposed to know what to check for after I told the guy what I needed. Well, it just so happened that Dr. Thomas told me to only bring my passport and no cash because there are pick pockets sometimes at the pier. So I only bought 50 Kwacha in my pocket secretly. When I was told about the issue, got, as he would call, "American mad" and the lady behind the counter really didn't care for it and told me that if I didn't pay I would have to stay in Botswana. Luckily our guide had the 200 Kwacha I needed to get back into Zambia or this would have potentially been a much different post. I was about to get really irritated and refuse to pay when I remembered that the guards have AK-47 assault rifles, and I'm in Africa, so I'm glad the guide had cash. Afterwards Dr. Thomas told me if I was really nice and was willing to sit there and just wait and look sad for a few mins they would have let me in. Now I know.

Now that I'm spoiled by live game, the zoo seems like watching the Wizard of Oz on a small 13 inch black and white tv. I need to take my girls on Safari they would never forget the experience and will only want to have bigger and better adventures. Thank you again to Mr and Mrs Dr. Thomas for giving me this incredible gift at the end of an incredible trip!!

Victoria Falls, aka my Zambian Baptism/Lazy Baboons

Today was day one of my two day "touristy" adventure in Zambia. Ba-Eland, Ba-Innocent, Lumba (Ba-Eland's daughter) and I went to Victoria Falls. I squeaked by at the Zambian rate, they assumed I was Zambian, of 12 Kwacha (about $1.25) instead of the American rate of 250 Kwacha (about $26). Shhh, don't tell anyone. Sara Wingert warned me that I would get wet, and so did Dr. Thomas, but that was not an accurate statement. Let me preface this by saying that this is right after the rainy season, so the river is swollen, and there is a larger volume of water that splashes back up. We rented ponchos and walked into the park and followed the path. We passed a statue of David Livingstone (I presume), and shortly after caught our first glimpse of the falls. It was incredibly beautiful and roaring with all the power of a full Zambezi River. As we walked further I started to feel the slight drizzle of the splashback from the river. Five steps later it was as if I had walked into a sprinkler system at full blast. The rain was hard, it was not too cold, but very annoying. Luckliy​ my phone is waterproof​, so I don't worry much and took pictures and recorded video through the storm. We walked toward a bridge and it was a scene right out of Moby Dick, but I wasn't chasing a whale. There was a river of water on the bridge and I wore shoes, the same ones, again. At this point I wondered why I even rented a poncho. It stuck to me like a wet towel and I kept almost tripping over it. As we walked I text Dr. Thomas that this would probably be my last trip to the falls unless I was bringing my girls. I was annoyed, but convinced myself to keep going because it was beautiful and a great experience. When we crossed the bridge the deluge subsided a bit and I got some really great views and pictures. We walked back across the bridge, and I cursed it again, then we went to the back of the falls where the river flowed. This part was much more dry . . . In terms of water coming down on me, and had some nice views. After that we found another path that took us further out away from the waterfall toward Zimbabwe and we had a great view of the gorge and watched some brave souls bungee jump off the bridge. On the way there and back we encountered some baboons.

People warn you that the baboons at the falls are agressive. Well the ones I saw really didn't care that we were there. There was one laying on the road that refused to move as we walked past it. They are cute from the front . . . but, um, thier butts are pretty gross quite frankly. The little ones were adorable of course, just like babies of most species are, and I got a good close shot of one.

All in all, it was an amazing experience! The views were incredible and I would go back. As Gene Wingert would say, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate dress," to paraphrase. Here are a few pics of what I was able to see.

Last day in Sikalongo/Packing Woes

This is my last night in Sikalongo. As I packed I felt like a child at the end of a stay at a relative's house where they have a cousin there of the same age who just became thier bestie! I don't want to leave, but I must. I cannot bear to be away from my girls any longer and I have lots to take care of in the States. I do, however, have this distinct feeling . . . urge . . . certainty, that I will be back to Zambia.

This morning I visited Bina-Doris's house and got to meet her adorable youngest son and grandchildren. Ba-Mulenga took me there the long way, which I discovered on my way back, so that I could see the Sikalongo secondary school. It had some beautiful wall paintings of Tonga words that my girls are going to love seeing. I watched Bina-Doris make some Nshima and hung out with the kids. They taught me some Tonga words and doubted that I could jump over this 4ft wide pit that was about 5.5 feet deep. I proved them wrong. Easily. The girls picked some flowers and put them in thier hair and showed me the goats and got some little chickens to come over to greet me. I love being with people. My trips to the villages and visiting the homes of the people here have been my favorite moments by far besides my conversations with Dr. Thomas.

Later in the evening I was invited to dinner by Reverend Nseemani and his wife. We had a great conversation about politics and history. I met his beautiful family and his tough little 3yr old son who I had to work extremely hard to get barely crack a smirk. We ate some Nshima, cabbage and beef and he drove me back to Dr. Thomas's house, which was about 130 meters away (we needed the car to pack, I'm not THAT lazy).

Tomorrow we drive down to Livingstone where we will stay until we both fly out on Monday. I will get to see Victoria Falls in the afternoon and go to the Chobe game reserve on Saturday which will be a whole day trip.

Tonight I learned some things. First, I REALLY hate to pack. Second, I'm REALLY terrible at packing. Lastly, packing REALLY stinks.

Here are some pics of the cutie pies I hung out with at Bina-Doris's house, Bina-Doris and Ba-Mulenga, and Reverend Nseemani's family and me striking a pose.

Spelling and grammar

Just a quick note in my defense. I write these posts on my phone memo pad and usually copy them over to the Blogger app. I generally write them while in the car travelling somewhere or at the end of the day when I am deliriously tired. There are probably quite a few errors . . . but I'm sure you can forgive me for them, especially you teachers out there :-p

Siaola Village/Bush hunting

Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to visit Ba-Eland's village, Siaola Village. He lives about 1/2 kilometer away from Dr. Thomas and once you leave the Sikalongo mission station, the difference is stark.

Once you leave the Sikalongo mission station the grass on the side of the road is noticable higher. The roads are dirt, but much more narrow. After about 7 mins we reached a small row of shops. These are small concrete buildings no taller than 10 feet about 15-17 feet deep and maybe 17 feet wide. I saw quite the microcosm of society as I walked through the shops. I met several of Ba-Eland's relatives and neighbors, I met his cousin, who was carrying around fermented "Sweet Beer," which had turned into a sort of wine called Mukoyo. He had been drinking it for some time and was slightly drunk. Apparently that is not out of the ordinary for him. I then met some of the elders of the village who were sitting in a clearing without tree trunks arranged in an open square. One of the elders, Ba-Hyunga spoke perfect English, which surprised me, I later found out that he is an English teacher, which cleared things up for me.
 
As we walked to Ba-Eland's home, his help was requested. A chicken had escaped and was hiding in some bushes and some children were trying to catch it. We managed to scare it out of the bush but it was far too quick for us and the boys and it ran down the road. I recorded as much video as I could until they turned the corner I stopped because I was laughing too hard to run after them.

At Ba-Eland's house I met his wife and 2 of his daughters. His youngest daughter, Dosia, Dodo, instantly became my bff. She is 3yrs 8months old and as energetic and talkative as any girl her age would be. She was a bit shy at first but by the end of the night she was climbing on my back and I was twirling her through the air. The children are on holiday from school, so I haven't had the chance to play with many of them and I miss my girls so she was a welcome change of pace from dealing with adults most of my time here. Ba-Mrs Siaola made me some local corn that she just roasted. It tasted like sweet corn mixed with popcorn and was delicious! After chatting for a while, Ba-Eland disappeared for about 3 mins.

Upon his return, Ba-Eland had on some rain boots and as I looked up, I saw a rifle on his shoulder. For a split second I thought, well, this is how it's going to end, I'm going to get shot in the mountains in Zambia. Then my better judgement returned and I realized that this was not the case. We were going to travel into the bush to first see his garden, and then go further out to see if we could hunt some Guinea Fowl. Keep in mind that I had no idea as to the terrain we were going to traverse, so I just slipped my dress shoes on without thinking about how much walking we would do.

We then hiked to see his garden, where he was growing Chinese Cabbage, and from there, up and into the bush. I got to carry the rifle, I had never walked with a gun before so he made sure the safety was on and that I pointed it toward the sky, don't judge me. From there I looked like I was hunting a wasacly wabbit. We walked about 2.5 kilometers and I just felt at peace, as I often do in the wild and I thoroughly enjoyed the Zambian countryside. We passed through a few gatherings of butterflies, or Concolikwa, saw quite a few ant hills that were at least 10 feet high. We walked on a dirt path that connects other sections of the Sikalongo greater village and passed the Chief's house. We came to a small clearing and Ba-Eland decided that we should turn back. No birds to shoot, but I did have fun carrying the rifle.

We went back to Ba-Eland's house for dinner and sat inside of the kitchen hut to stay warm. This is the Zambian winter so it reaches the mid 50's at night and that is freezing to Zambians. Ba-Mrs Siaola was finishing up some Nshima, relish and a freshly caught chicken, so I had the chance to spend some more time with Dodo, and her older sister Lumba, who is 15. I let Dodo play some of Aioki's games that are on my phone and showed Lumba some pictures of the States and some that I took from the window of one of the many flights we were on as we travelled over. We ate a wonderful meal and then Ba-Eland took me back to the Thomas's house illuminated by the incredibly bright and detailed Zambian night sky.

It was the best day that I've ever had outside of North America!!

Back Alley shopping

Today I had the chance to go shopping in the Choma open market, the Choma Museum, and the Batoka market (again).

The Choma market is literally a labyrinth of stalls. I mean, if Ba-Innocent did not come with me, I'd probably still be there looking for directions out. It is as back alley as you can imagine. You can find everything from foam flip flops to diesel engine parts there. I saw buckets of screws, dried fish, cell phone chargers (chagas), live turkeys, a coffee shop, candles and one liter bottles of fresh milk from . . . well some mammal.

I really went there for the Chitenge fabric. They are 2 meter cloths that are used for dresses, making other clothing, head wraps, head wraps that make carrying baskets easier, carrying small children, tablecloths, tapestries, etc. They come in nylon, nylon-cotton blends, and cotton, and are just gorgeous. If I could have bought one of each type I would have. I also managed to find a dress for Aioki, and a skirt for someone to be determined. I picked the cloths that caught my eye and I know that my sisters, mother and grandmother will be able to make some cool stuff out of them.

At the Choma Museum, I bought a few handmade wooden animals, a small purse and some baskets. I also saw an artist on the side of the road that we kept passing by and stopped to buy a painting. I bought an elephant painting because I have been given the Mudenda name, and the animal that represents them is the Elephant.

I'm sorry, but everything I bought is for someone specific, of course, but I wanted to share the beauty of what I was able to find so far!