A Week of Wonder - Where to Start?

Well it’s been a fair few days since we’ve had a chance to update, due to a complete and utter lack of internet. What an incredible few days it has been though.

I think we left you after our first couple of days in Livingstone – since then, things just carried on being equally as incredible. On Saturday we were up early to make a brief expedition to Botswana, our final destination being the Chobe National Park where we were due to go on safari for the day. We were picked up by a minibus and taken into Botswana with another volunteer staying at our backpackers, Chris, who had been working in a hospital. To get over to Botwana we had to cross the Zambezi river where four countries bordered: Zambia, Botwana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. We got on a little motorboat to make the two-minute crossing, along with a load of Dutch girls and and two elderly English couples who were joining us on the safari, and after going through immigration we were picked up by another minibus to get into Chobe.

crossing to Chobe

There were quite a lot of us to fit into the minibus, and in the process we experienced a rather amusing cultural faux-pas. The driver was trying to squeeze us onto the seats four abreast, but as one of the Dutch girls made her way into the back with her friends, he grabbed her arm and said, ‘No, you are too fat. Erm… Let that girl go there, you come in the front.’ He was rewarded by a chorus of offended gasps of disbelief from all the girls! They evidently hadn’t heard that calling someone ‘fat’ here isn’t an insult, and is sometimes even a compliment.

We arrived at the lodge, just outside the national park, to be given a breakfast of muffins and coffee (Eva and I jumped on the food like we hadn’t eaten in a month). Our morning was to be taken up by a river safari, and in the afternoon we would go on a game drive. We all piled on to a two-storey boat and began our float down the Chobe River.

The cruise was very peaceful, and to say that we got our money’s worth would be an understatement. The riverbanks were lined with crocodiles, hippos, buffalo, elephants and every type of impala and deer you could imagine. And it wasn’t just the land which was alive: the smooth surface of the water belied the world underneath, which would be revealed as a hippo’s head surfaced, or as ominous ripples spread from a point.

a waterbuck

buffalo

impala

scary guy

the impala suspiciously eyeing the croc

this monkey had shockingly bright blue... well, spot them for yourself! 

The mammals were so incredible, it was easy to ignore the birds which darted through the air and strutted through the shallows. Storks were everywhere, not to mention the huge eagles which soared overhead. I’d never seen birds quite like this – even the swallows which swooped right alongside the boat looked wonderfully vivid.

the most beautiful bird I've ever seen

a vulture over its nest

these birds were absolutely huge - one would easily have risen way past the height of my hips

As we returned to shore, the weather was beginning to warm up (it had been a disappointingly grim morning). We had a buffet lunch which was surprisingly good – of course, we made the most of it. Then it was time to set off on the drive into the park on an open-topped truck. Just in case things were running too smoothly, we got a puncture on the way into the park, but luckily one of the English men was a farmer and manage to change the tyre very efficiently.

I never would have thought it would become commonplace to see giraffes and elephants, but after a while driving around the park we began to realise that we couldn’t stop to photograph every new herd which we came across. It was truly beautiful though – the only way I can demonstrate this is with another inundation of photos…

a dried-out buffalo carcass - evidence of the lions

cutie 

baby elephant 

elephants' bums

giraffes have to splay their legs to reach the ground, which I find hilarious

he was a big guy

being groomed by several little birds

can't remember the name of this, but I thought it was incredibly odd-looking

On leaving the park, we’d managed to see three of the ‘big five’: the giraffes, elephants and hippos were all very accommodating, but the lions remained stubbornly elusive and the rhinos have been poached to extinction in the park (although I was harbouring a secret  hope that there might just be one hiding somewhere that we might come across). But, feeling well satisfied, we made our way back to the hostel.

Although we couldn’t have asked for better days, our nights were somewhat boring in comparison to the other places we’d visited, mainly due to the fact that although the hostel was full of other people like us, they were all in groups which seemed rather comfortable with their own company and difficult to integrate ourselves into. However that night we somehow managed to get talking to the massive group of Irish medical students who’d been working at Livingstone Hospital. After a few drinks and a lot of talking, we’d made some new friends an ended up frequenting Livingstone’s nightlife for the evening.


We groggily awoke the next morning at the unearthly hour of 6am to go on an elephant encounter – something I’d been looking forward to especially. We were given cups of coffee (which, considering the hour we’d gone to bed, was much appreciated) before being introduced to the elephants which we were going to ride: these ones are fitted with tracking collars yet aren’t trapped within any boundary, but stay within a close radius and allow themselves to be trained due to the food they receive in return. It’s only when faced with these giant creatures that you can really take in their enormity – they each already had a guide on their back who was dwarfed by the creature on which he sat. Eva and I were placed on Madenda, the ‘Dancing Elephant’ – we only found out the meaning behind his nickname when we were already on his back, the guide explaining that he was rather impulsive when it came to snacking and if anyone tried to prevent him from wandering off in search of food, he would start ‘dancing’ and attempt to throw them off. We soon experienced this wild streak when, instead of following the elephant in front, he began rampaging through bushes to get to one particular tree and tore literally half the tree off to munch along the way.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet got the photos of the elephants off Eva, but as soon a I do I’ll pop them up. We ended the morning by sitting with our elephants and feeding them - ours was incredibly greedy and it was a struggle to keep his eager trunk out of the food bag! When we left, the trainer demonstrated how clever the elephants are: he told them to 'salute', and each elephant curled up its trunk and raised its front right foot off the ground. Just to confirm, these elephants are only trained on a reward scheme, and are never punished.

After lazing around the pool for the afternoon, we had booked a sunset cruise for the evening, with food and an unlimited bar! The food was plentiful and enjoyable, and we became so engaged in chatting to the others (including American volunteers, some of whom were studying Law like us, and an English boy called Josh who was just about to start Law at uni) that we almost missed the sunset - glad we didn't though, because it was truly beautiful.

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We hadn't planned anything for our final day in Livingstone, but during the course of our stay we'd heard so many wonderful things about the trip to Livingstone Island, a tiny land mass in the middle of Victoria Falls, that we were persuaded it was a must-see (I was further enticed by the prospect that it included an Eggs Benedict for breakfast, which I'd been craving since we got here). The boat left from the Royal Livingstone Hotel, which seemed to me like the most luxurious accommodation I've ever seen. The grass was green, the pool was clear and surrounded by plush white sun-loungers and even an upholstered chaise longue. Feeling decidedly out of place and awestruck, we walked down to the little motorboat and joined a German couple, ready to be ferried over to the island.

a view to the island - what looks like smoke is spray from the falls just over the edge

Motoring towards the edge of the falls was a bizarre experience - it seems like it wouldn't take much just to whisk the little boat over the drop. I was trying to imagine Livingstone himself doing this in his little canoe - what on earth possessed him to try it, I don't know. But we reached the island, right on the edge of the falls, and our guide led us around barefoot because of the mud. He held on to us, and got some photos of us with the most incredible backdrops I have ever seen. We could literally look down Victoria Falls to the bottom.

We even got to have a dip in a little pool right on the edge of the falls. This wasn't the infamous Devil's Pool, which is at the top of the main falls and is only open for swimming at the end of the dry season when the currents are weaker - instead it was a small crater at the top of the secondary falls (which become dry altogether at the end of the dry season). Still, I think it was the most awesome place I'll ever get to take a dip.

Eva was rather taken with the 'Loo With A View' - a hole in the ground which looked out straight over the falls

We got out of the water to be greeted by a wonderful breakfast, as promised, straight from the Royal Livingstone: a very fancy Eggs Benedict, a muffin, a scone and freshly brewed Zambian coffee. All with a view over the falls. It was delicious.

The day was concluded in a lazy manner of sunbathing. Today we had the old bus journey back to Mazabuka - we're in a different lodge again, as our last one was incredibly noisy, and so far this one seems brilliant. Hopefully Kenneth will remember to pick us up tomorrow so we can continue with our SAPEP work - no more tourism for us!

Hope everyone has had a good few days, and apologies for being out of touch. Lots of love.