Well, I finally did my first tourist thing here in Zambia. I was invited short notice to accompany a pediatrician, who had been volunteering here at Macha for a month, on a weekend trip to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls and go to Chobe National Park in Botswana for a two day one night safari.
The falls were beautiful, though a bit dry this time of year on the Zambian side. The safari was incredible, and well worth the money. I saw around 60 species of birds, most of these during our first morning riverboat cruise where one of our guides was quite informed about birds. Of the 60 some species, all but half a dozen or so were new for me. (I hope to update my bird list soon, I have been having quite a bit of internet problems of late.) We saw lions, buffalo, crocodile, giraffe, zebra, baboons, elephants, wart hogs, monkeys, mongoose, many types of antelope, hippos, water monitor lizards, and a jackal. (I hope to put a complete list at the bottom of this post for those interested in more details.)
It was so amazing to see these animals in their natural environment. Our guides were great and gave us all kinds of fun facts about the animals. For instance, wart hogs and hyenas will share dens since one species is diurnal and the other nocturnal. Water monitor lizards are the crocodiles worst enemies because they eat their eggs. Crocodiles can live up to 120 years. Giraffes spots get darker the older they get. Hippos, though living in the water, eat only grass and when they defecate, they swirl their tails and their feces spreads out in the water to feed many species.
We saw thousands of impalas, they became quite common to us, but I became more and more fond of their elegant markings, they became one of my favorites. We saw a two-month old baby elephant nursing and a newborn baboon (still with dark hair and bare pink ears) clinging to its mom. We had a close encounter with an elephant who came to within 5 feet or our vehicle (their eyesight is not very good) before sniffing us, flinging its trunk, turning its head and walking off. Some of the most scenic sights were just looking out over the plains near the river and seeing hundreds of zebra, antelope, giraffes, wart hogs and baboons all mixing together or seeing in the distance long columns of elephants heading across the flat to the rivers edge in the heat of the day. We laughed at the giraffes getting a drink of water and were struck silent by the sight of several lions awakening from their days rest as the sun set and heading out for the hunt.
We saw a total of 13 lions in two different groups. One group had a large male several females and a scruffy 2 1/2 year old male with only the beginnings of a mane. The other group was all female. There were a couple elephant carcasses near our camp (closer than our guides let on), so we heard lions all night long calling with their deep guttural sounds. Thankfully there was a full moon so trips to the letrine during the night weren't so scary. In the morning we drove to the elephant carcasses and the big male lion and one female were still feeding with many vultures waiting in the trees for the lions to get tired and go to bed for the day. The lions ran away when we approached though the female quickly returned to feed on the baby carcass. The male with his muzzle still bloody from feeding kept at a distance. The female would keep an eye on the vultures and the adult elephant carcass as she was feeding on the baby. Occasionally, just like a house cat, she would pull up short, settle down on her haunches and then bound towards them and chase them away. Then she would return to the baby carcass some 25 yards away and continue feeding.
An interesting note of our safari participants is that we were largely volunteers. Amy and myself from Macha, a Peace Corps couple from Botswana and a VSO couple from Choma. Both couples had adult children visiting them. There were also two women in our group who were volunteering with a lion conservation group in Zambia.
Many of you have asked when would be the best time of year to visit. If you want to go on safari and see the animals, September is best (perhaps August and October as well). This is the dry time of year when the animals can't hide in the grass, and a time of year when most water sources dry up and they need to head to the river once a day for water. Though other times of year would be good for the falls. I have heard that Victoria Falls is one of only 3 or 4 places in the world where you can see a moon rainbow. On a full moon night in the rainy season when there is plenty of water and mist at the falls, apparently you can see moon rainbows.
I must thank my friend Amy for some of the pictures in this post. Her camera had a better zoom and better definition, so some of the shots are hers.
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