"We'll have the eggs, please"

Funny story about breakfast our first full day at Mfuwe. We were ordering toast as per usual when we noticed a bowl of eggs. Oh, eggs, we said. We will have some of those. We sat down to breakfast with Frances (poor guy has to eat all meals with us), ate our toast and waited for our eggs to appear. Frances sat patiently with us. After about 20 minutes we realized that the eggs in a bowl were hard boiled and no one was preparing anything for us. Oops. 

The last post was too long so I won't bore you with too many details on this day. What I will say is that Moira overheard Sheila from Vancouver (aka the Elephant Lady) tell someone on the staff that she didn't go out on the game drives but that she saw everything we did from her veranda. Really, Sheila? Really? Did you see:

- Baby warthogs? Who were about two months old and are hidden by their mothers until about that time because they are prey. 

- Two giraffes fighting each other, by hitting their necks together? 

- A pride of lions, led by Ginger and the Guardian (pictured below)? And that pride has actually taken down about 10 hippos year to date. 

- A mother and father duck leading their ducklings across croc and hippo infested water? And almost getting attached by the crocs but making it out okay? 

- Four giraffes who came into our lodge area after lunch, and were close enough that you could really see how tall they are? 

- A leopard, who then walked by your jeep, allowing you to get great close up pictures FINALLY after 4 safaris? 

- A hyena at night, with blood on its paws and jaw, who has stolen an impala from a leopard? And said leopard stalking angrily around. Turns out while leopards are Impala killing machines, they can't fight off hyenas once they have killed impala as they hunt together, while leopards hunt alone. 

- Oh and did you know that hyenas are always born in twins? And given it is a matriarchal structure, it is okay if it is boy/girl twins or boy/boy twins but if it is girl/girl one kills the other? I wonder what would have happened if the Olsen twins were hyena, which one would survive. My money is on Mary Kate. 

No, Sheila, I don't think you saw that from your veranda. 

Two other notable things...there is a family here with a little boy, Oliver, age 4 and a little girl Annabelle, who is 1. We are not fans of kids on safari as they disturb the animals and are too young to remember anything. But this Oliver is really cute - not as cute as Oliver George Johnson of course - and took a liking to us. His jeep had tea time next to ours this morning and he came over, quite boldly to chat. That is when we learned he is 4 and from South Africa. He and Moira had a big discussion on the tv shows he watches (mostly Disney and Nick). When it was time for the afternoon game drive, he told his parents, he preferred to go out with us. That would have been fun...for about 5 minutes. Luckily we convinced him we would wave to him from our jeep and see him at dinner. 

Second thing, we got massages at their spa, because it is award-winning and it is vacation. It is amazing how good a massage can be when you don't walk in a stress ball to begin with. 

At breakfast on our final day, a herd of water buffalo came through behind the lodge. The dust arrived almost before they ran in. There must have been 200-300 of them. It was really impressive. We'd only seen two water buffalo together the whole time we'd been here so far. They only start to arrive around this time of year as the water dries up where they usually are. 

Our last drive was uneventful. We saw Ginger and the Guardian again. We saw the sole wildebeest that is in the area, which made me sad. He's been on his own for 7 years. All the others left to go north and for some reason, he stayed behind. It is rather amazing that he has survived this long on his own, although he did have a small posse of impala trailing along with him. 

There were two very nice people on our ride with us. Cordelia and Steve from Philadelphia. Unlike Garth and Sheila, they actually had conversations with us, instead of talking to us (Garth and Sheila never even asked our names). She mentions two grown children who live in NYC. Their son (later found out it is her son, this is a second marriage for her) actually has had a love of Africa since childhood and came here for a year to work at a cheetah rescue place. He has also done work regarding anti-poaching and black diamonds. In fact, they once got a call from South Africa that he was found by the side of the road, but was alive. Someone had likely hit him with a truck and taken off. Someone else came to steal his watch and discovered he was alive, and called the cops but still took the watch. They think the hit and run may have had something to do with his investigating black diamonds. That was the first time Cordelia flew to Africa. If it sounds like a novel, it kind of is as she - well they - are both authors. Her name is Cordelia Frances Biddle and she writes mysteries. She and Steve have also written under the pseudonym of Nero Black. Later, I looked them up online and both were actors. He was in some movies and she was on One Life to Live. Which used to shoot in the Armory building where Moira works. 

Left Mfuwe. Drove to airport. Hot wait at airport. Hot flight to Lusaka with screaming child on board (Moira: "this feels like Romper Room."  Two hour wait at Lusaka airport. 35 minute flight in small, hot plane to Lower Zambezi. Are you sensing it is hot? 

Our guide, Nevers (produced Nevis) was waiting for us. We had about a 15 minutes drive and then a 30+ boat ride to our next camp. In the boat, we dodged hippo and saw elephants and Cape buffalo on the shore. We then arrived at Sausage Tree Camp. We were met at the dock by Ashley (who I am assuming is camp manager), Christopher (who gave us cold towels and is our muchinda, which is like our personal butler) and Mike (who gave us refreshing drinks). This place is, in a word, amazing. It is right on the Zambezi river. The decor is incredible. Christopher took us to our tent (#2) and while there is no AC, it is nicely shaded and there is a strong fan. There is a beautiful leather couch and nice carpet which look out the screen doors. In front of that is a nicer veranda, which faces the river. The bathroom is outside and actually has trees in it. It is beautiful. Christopher told us he is in charge of cleaning our room, bringing us coffee, being our waiter and getting us anything we need. Muchinda actually means attendant to the chief. I am not sure which of us is the chief. I will let Moira be the chief after the year she had. 

Cute story. Christopher was showing us where we can put our laundry. He took out a small mesh bag and told us those are for our lady smalls . He later referred to them as our ladies. He was almost shy about it. 

We opted for a quick evening game drive with Nevers and Master as a spotter. Quick meaning about an hour. But after seeing some elephants and civits, we found a leopard, stalking impala. (Side note: I would never want to be an impala. They pretty much have to travel in packs to be somewhat safe, yet they are constantly preyed on by lion and leopard. They can't sleep at night and have to stand in alert in open spaces. It seems exhausting with little reward) 

We waited for awhile watching him but the impala sensed him and ran away. We got back to camp right at 8 for dinner which is outside on the deck. Christopher had taken our orders earlier and with Mike, they treated us so nicely. Christopher is also in charge of walking us back at night. I asked him about a key and he said they don't lock any tents. Why you ask? Because if an elephant charges you, you can get into the closest tent, no matter whose it is. He was charged last week but assured us it doesn't happen often. I love Christopher so these elephants better not hurt him!