The highlight of our trek through South Africa, Botswana and Zambia was without question the stunning landscape. We experienced the bustling cosmopolitan ocean-side city of Capetown which reminded us of Monaco, the varied bush terrain of South Africa's Kruger National Reserve, the yellow flaxen desert of Botswana's Kalahari desert, the lush green plains of the Okovanga Delta, and the stunning precipice of Victoria Falls and the expansive Zambezi river in Zambia...
Most of our days began with a 5am summons to awake, have a quick cup of tea, and set off on our morning game drive. We would already be well in place to see awakening animals as the sun would start to rise and the landscape would come alive. We saw it all - the Big 5, as they say, plus much much more! Lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, zebras, giraffes, antelopes, impalas, meerkats, rhinos, monkeys, baboons, water buffalos, hippos, elephants - and even penguins, seals, dolphins and sharks on our marine safari in Capetown!
The animals we got the closest to were the lions. They seemed to pay no heed to our diesel land rovers, although our guides were quick to say it would be different if we were on foot! We spent several occasions watching a pride of lions laze around in the late morning sun, napping and not doing much of anything! The lion cubs were the most interesting as they usually nudged their parents to play. The elephants also came quite close to us - beautiful creatures, and we saw many babies, just like something out of a Disney movie! The animals that were the most skittish were the zebra and giraffe - couldn't ever get really close to them as they would start galloping away! Silly zebra!
In all, we were in four different camps, all very different one from the next, but all alike in that they were IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! We would be flown in on a tiny plane and dropped on an airstrip IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Somebody would be there from the camp to pick us up and take us to the camp IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Phew - we had quite the experiences, from eating dinner by gas lanterns, to waking up in the middle of the night covered in biting ants, to groping in the dark at 5am for clothing and layers of it as the morning air was always very brisk.
Biggest surprise was how much the animals blend into their surroundings. Even the elephants are almost invisible until they are right upon you. Somehow we thought it would be easy to spot something as big as an elephant, or even a giraffe for that matter! Some days we would even drive for hours without seeing anything. Other days, we would hit the motherlode and stumble upon herds after herds of a huge variety of fauna...
Other highlights:
-- sunset boat ride through the Okovanga Delta surrounded by throngs of papyrus plants and lotus flowers
-- lunch in the Kruger under a tree with giraffes grazing nearby
-- tracking a leopard from her den filled with cubs as she hunted for food
-- witnessing a lion at dusk roaring to his siblings across the valley, and hearing their calls in response
-- awakening to the sound of hippos grunting
-- falling asleep to the sound of the loudest crickets you've ever heard in your life
-- hearing a baby elephant trumpet 10ft away as he called for his mother
-- observing the ugly but fascinating hyenas, hunchbacked and menacing, but beautiful in their spotted coloring
-- seeing a herd of 200 water buffalo invade a small watering hole and somehow all manage to fit in it!
-- visiting the Victoria Falls and having Campion propose to me (again) to commemorate his first wedding proposal atop the Gull Foss Falls in Iceland! (And yes, I said yes, again!)
What else? No question, it was the experience of a lifetime. We took thousands of photos and the weeks to come will be spent sifting through them. But in the meantime, here are a few more highlight photos below. Now back to reality to sift through hundreds of emails and get back to work! And trying to shake the nasty jetlag, phew, exhausted! Love, T+C
Other photos also available here - being uploaded as we speak...
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