We got to sleep in late. Or late for Zambia. 6 am. We'd agreed with Nevers last night that instead of taking the boat to the airstrip, we would do one last safari ride, and that we could leave at 7. Moira left before me to walk up to breakfast and when I got up there, both she and Christopher shushed me a bit. Because there, to the right of the deck, next to the swimming pool was the huge elephant we saw the night before. He was just calmly eating the leaves from the tree, no more than 20 feet away from us. Even people at the camp were taking pictures. Nevers said he ordered that up for our last meal there.
Yuri, Ashley and Christopher all came our to see us off and wish us good bye. They are all such wonderful people. Ashley told us they hardly slept as about 12 elephants decided to eat from the mango trees in front of their place last night. In NYC, we have alarms and sirens. Guess it is similar (not really).
Here we are with Christopher (first pic) and Nevers (second pic):
We had a long, leisurely hot ride to the airport. We went through old village, where we walked yesterday, Hippo City and Out of Africa. This is what the guides call the areas. Nevers looked a bit for the lions but we mostly saw our old friends, the elephants, warthogs, buffalo, hippo etc. Later, Moira and I talked about how it was a really great ride, as the colors and sounds were so great, and that is something you can't capture in pictures or video, no matter how hard you try. But here is just one picture:
Nevers got a call over the radio that they had found a green bag of Moira's she left behind (even though we both checked the tent). We were perplexed as to what bag it was and how they knew it was Moira's. She then realized it had her little elephant she bought at Mulberry Mongoose. And Yuri knew it because she joked with him about how her bags were heavy and that was all she bought. They asked where we were staying and are going to try to get it to her before we leave. That should be interesting to see if it makes it. Stay tuned.
Before I forget...one thing I love that Nevers would say when an elephant approached "Hello Mr Elephant...we respect you." He said the animals just have to know that you are allowing them their space, not trying to hurt them, and that you respect them. Good words to live by in general.
35 minute, small hot flight to Lusaka. Last time there. Quick turnaround for 1 hour plus flight to Livingstone. We had a driver named Peter pick us up and drive us the 1 hour to our next locale, Royal Chundu. Peter gave us a bunch of details about Zambia, like:
- The population is 14 million. 200,000 live in Livingstone
- British came in 1898
- English is the official language but there are X number of dialects, 3 of which are major ones.
- The British ruled it as Northern Rhodesia which we knew and first settled it with Livingstone as the capital. But the malaria was too bad so they moved it to Lusaka.
- They got independence in 1964.
- The three main industries are mining mostly copper, farming and tourism.
- The mango trees in town were brought from India and they are free to pick by anyone walking by
Upon arrival, Peter left and Aggie took over. She seems to run the joint. While she gave us some details, another woman gave us neck and shoulder massages, using a wooden stick. It was lovely. We also met the chef- Sungani. Royal Chundu is on the Zambezi and right near Zimbabwe. There are some hippos around but no lions or leopard or elephant. We don't need escorts in camp which is nice. Everything is up on stilts. No critters except monkeys really. This place is more a resort and doesn't have game drives. It does have nightly sunset cruises. We picked out various activities to do over the next few days and had a very good, healthy lunch. We then actually chilled out in our room which is a hut like structure. And I can say chilled as it has AC.
The sundown cruise was at 530 and that is when we met the other guests. There are two couples from LA, San Fernando Valley specifically, probably in their 60s - Michael and Debbie (he's a lawyer, went to Notre Dame) and Mark and Michelle (they have a son who lives on the UWS at 81st and West End...which is where our friend Tracie lives but he isn't in her building). This is their first trip to Africa. They started in South Africa, came here and go to Botswana next. There is a younger couple, 30s maybe, Caley and Damian from Northern Canada. They also went to South Africa first and this is their final stop. She was so excited to see the few hippos on the sunset cruise as they hadn't seen any where they were before. We saw so many before we didn't need to take pictures of them here as there were just a couple. The final couple is Laura and David from Palm Beach, FL. We actually met them at lunch. She is very talkative, told us this is bucket list for her. They were in Botswana and now here and are going to South Africa next. Funny story...when we saw them I told Moira she, meaning Laura, looked really familiar. I said, I think they were the ones on our flight here who were upset about the overhead space in economy comfort. Moira didn't think so. There was a couple that got on the plane after us and they were two rows in front of me. Someone was in the man's seat and he got upset. The person in the wrong seat had a made a mistake and moved. Then the man, who was wearing a Florida Gator's hat, couldn't find a decent spot for his bag and said, rather disturbed, "we paid extra for more headroom." There was space but he wanted it directly above him. I guess some Sky priority people who boarded earlier took it (not us!). His wife then apologized to the whole plane for it, saying "he gets anxious when he flies." As we left to go on the boat, I asked what flight they took here...sure enough it was the Delta flight from Atlanta that we were on. Later, I found out that she is Florida State and he is Florida. So it was them! They were fine on the boat ride...we all chatted.
Dinner was poolside and man, were the bugs out! The food was amazing. The chef comes by to check in at every meal. They prepare multiple courses here but none are heavy or too big including this divine three chocolate dish we had for dessert. The US could learn from the portion size here. And all food comes from within 4km of the lodge to support the local villages. One thing that I have to mention...every time we thank someone for something, bringing us food, filling our wine glass, they thank us back. We are all constantly thanking one another.
We had a bit of luxury our first full day at Royal Chundu. We got to sleep in all the way until 6:45 am! That is the latest yet and we actually slept almost 8 hours (or more in Moira's case). There are still a few hippo noises and other critters moving around but nothing like the other camps. And here is the cool thing about the morning coffee service. Unlike Christopher (who we still love) being at our door and bringing it in, there is a small door, almost like a hatch, which is accessed by key from the outside, and opens up into our cabinets. So what like a lazy butler. Someone puts our coffee order in there and then rings a bell outside to let us know it is ready and we can wake up. And we got cappuccino!
After breakfast (which I just typed as breaks fat, which is appropriate given how our clothes feel), we had a driver, Kennedy (as in John F, he told us) to take us out for our day's excursions. We were going on a falls tour in the morning in Zimbabwe. This would get us a new passport stamp, but was also necessary as the falls were too dried up where you can view them on the Zambia side. Interestingly, and maybe others knew this but I didn't, the falls are really in Zambia but fall on the border of Zim where you can see them better. After that, we were going back to Zambia to visit Devil's pool (more on that later).
The ride into Livingstone and then to the border takes about an hour. And it takes three people to get us from one country to another. When we got to the Zambia border, Kennedy said he had to transfer us to Tim, who would take us between countries and hand us over to our guide there. But first we had to wait for 4 more people who ended up being the two couples from LA. Which is fine because they are nice and amusing. But not fine because they were running later than us. They were still at breakfast when we left. We waited about 10 minutes, then all piled in Tim's van, and he drove us through no man's land, which was a two lane road, maybe 1/4 of a mile, lined with trucks and people crossing the boarder. When we got the boarder, he handed us off to Themba who would take us through customs in Zimbabwe and drives us to the falls, which took about 1 minute. The whole process, though, took at least a half an hour.
Themba first told us a bit of the history of the falls. Although they were always there, it was really Dr Stanley Livingstone, as in "Dr. Livingstone, I presume" who brought European attention to them. He was a missionary and explorer and took word back to Europe of them. Which brought worldwide attention to them. He died in Africa and his heart is buried here while his body was preserved in salt and sent back to England, where he was interred in Explorers' Row in Westminster Abbey. The falls are one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Due to erosion and shifting tectonic plates, this is probably the 8th location of the falls. They know where the 9th will be but that will take another 10,000 years to happen.
There are 16 spots to stop along the trail. Themba told us that stops 12-16 are hot and dry, no shade or mist. He suggested we start with those and work our way back, which we did. It was a smart strategy. I can't put into words how impressive the falls are or how strong they are...and pictures won't do it justice. All I will say is that it is really amazing and you get how it could be a natural wonder of the world.
The four LA people slowed us a down a bit and we didn't end up leaving until close to 12:30 which is when we were supposed to be on the Zambian side. We had to go through that whole rigamarole of the three guides to get us through two countries and no man's land. Back in Zambia, we also had to deal with some of the men hawking goods to our car. On our way over, a man named John had found Michele and she said she would see him on the way back. Sure enough, he was waiting for us and come over to the car. She and Debby made the mistake of opening up the windows and soon we had a swarm of people around us (Tim was inside with out passports). It was actually both comical and sad ("buy this so I can get more food"). Both of them did buy a few things.
Kennedy was waiting for us and told us we were still good for Devils Pool, even though by now, we were almost an hour late. He took us to the Royal Livingstone Hotel where we met a guide named Alex. He accompanied us on a boat to Livingstone Island, which is where Livingstone first saw the falls. As we'd seen the falls from the Zim side, we did speed falls here in order to get to Devils Pool. As a group was leaving (who we were actually supposed to be with), we stripped down to our bathing suits and waded into the water with Collins (as in Tom Collins as he told us). Alex had my iPhone to capture the whole thing. ( Moira said the scariest part was having to walk all that way in a bathing suit!)
So what is Devils Pool, you ask? It is essentially a somewhat still pool of water, on top of Victoria Falls, that is almost an overhang that allows you to look out over the falls as well as sit very close to the water rushing over the falls. It is almost like sitting in jacuzzi on top of the waterfalls.
We weren't sure if we should go (Moira does have a fear of heights) but when Aggie told us that it was a once in a lifetime experience we had to go for it. And she was right. We have done a lot of cool things but this is a top 10, or more likely a top 5. Alex took a continuous video of us doing it, including us hanging out over the falls to see down (Moira not quite as far as me), hanging out on the rocks and inside the pool. We actually lucked out being late as no one else was with us and we had our own personal photographer.
We had lunch on the island afterwards with the group that went ahead of us - 6 people from Germany and two from South Africa. They were somehow friends and traveling together. And I have to say, it was one of our first encounters with Germans where they weren't super loud. They were actually very nice and engaging. It might have been the mutual shared experience as we all were so amazed, but it was still nice.
Even with the various delays, Kennedy got us back to the Royal Chundu at about 4:10. The spa here is highly rated so we had booked facials. Hey, we needed to cleanse that dryness from all the dust. But the slight lateness would impact going on the sunset boat cruise. Which we opted to skip. We have one more night for that. The facials were in our room and were very good. It rained a bit on the way back (it is almost rainy season), which is the first time, other than the jungled in Uganda, we have seen rain here. During our facials, it thundered which sounded cool, but no big storm. The smell of fresh rain here is very pleasant.
Dinner tonight was a Zambian tasting menu with a wine pairing. No wonder our clothes are tight. Actually it is more the inactivity but the food isn't helping. I keep using this word but the food was amazing. The chef takes all these local ingredients and puts them together in such a great way.
About half way through dinner, the wind kicked up a bit, which helped drive away the bugs (I think it is mostly mosquitos and ants) and cool it down some more. By the time we were done, the wind was really whipping around. Back in our suite, which is really a cross between a chalet and tent, up on stilts overlooking the water, the wind made a lot of news against the roof, flapping a lot.
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