Breakfast was set up in this great way, with chairs facing the river. You could seriously sit at this place and watch elephant and hippos all day. But we won't pull a Sheila and do that. They did have a gentlemen making eggs, but once again we got a little confused. We told him we wanted fried eggs and he smiled but yet we didn't get them. It turns out Christopher brings them to us. Because of course he does. He also made us lattes. Have I mentioned I love Christopher?
Game drive began around 6:30. We have Nevers to ourselves. It is pretty amazing that almost half our drives have been private so far. The park here is 9,042 square kms, or just a little smaller than Southern Luangwa. The terrain is a bit different too. A little more lush and green in areas (no doubt thanks to the proximity to the river) and very wooded in others. But there are also some very dry desert type areas, which remind me of Namibia. There aren't giraffe down here but there are elephant. A lot of them. We saw herds of up to 12.
When we had our morning tea break, Nevers asked us what other activities we may want to do. We told him walking safari and the canoe ride. There is also a boat ride, but that is on the same boat that brought us in and will take us out, so we figured we had that covered. There is also fishing. We suggested canoe for the afternoon activity and Nevera said that right now, it was too windy (it was a little breezy) and he wasn't sure if a canoe was available with the big other group of 12 here. I thought they were leaving today but whatever. Nerves suggested game drive tonight to try and see lion and tomorrow, walking safari and canoe. Ok.
We drove until about 9:45. When Nevers pulled, we were met by John instead of Christopher. He was walking with us to show us the pool when he said, quite plainly, "Elephant." Sure enough, there in front of where we parked the jeep were three elephants, including a baby one. We all stood somewhat still, watching them. You especially need to be cautious when a mom is protecting her baby so we didn't want her to think we were getting in the way.
It is really hot here (that is what we get for coming at the end of the dry season) so we spent the afternoon at the pool, which looks out on the river. Actually pretty much everything here looks out on the river and you hear hippo constantly. I love it. Except for the flys. They tend to dive bomb you a bit and seem impervious to any bug spray. The pool was truly the best place to get away from all that. It is amazing how a quick dip under can bring down your body temp and hide you from the flies.
At tea, Nevers suggested that we put on pants instead of the shorts we were wearing. He said we might be out later and the bugs could get bad. We have rarely been wearing pants because it is so hot. This is our first time in Africa that we haven't even needed a pullover or a fleece in the morning or later at night. We really could have brought 4 shirt sleeve t-shirts and called it a day.
The evening drive was rather uneventful at first. All the animals, with the exception of a few impala, seemed to still be asleep or hiding in the shade somewhere. At one point, I said to Moira, "Christopher never asked us our dinner order." We didn't think he was falling down on the job, maybe just that we were having a buffet. After our sundowner, with Mosi of course, we started the evening part of the drive. There was no spotter which means that Nevers had to hold the light. Holding it requires a strong arm. We already decided that could be a new arms workout class...spotting. And back. And forth. And now the right arm. Just when we thought we wouldn't see anything, Nevers turned off and shone the light on a male lion sleeping. But even closer was another male lion who was sitting up more and had his eyes open on and off. He yawned. We watched with both the red and white spotlight. He got up and walked across the open area and then sat down again.
On our way back to camp - or what we thought was camp - we saw lights that we thought were the cabins. As we got closer, I realized they were too close together and as we turned off, we saw a big fire going and chairs set up around it. There was also a long table set up for dinner, a bar and a grill going. Dinner in the bush! They'd dropped us a bunch of clues - too windy for canoeing, wear long pants, no dinner order - but we didn't get it. They did this for us in our last camp in Botswana so we should have figured it out. Oh well, it was a nice surprise. The others in the camp - 4 people from France, a solo man who is the general manager of another camp and a couple, Jo and Rob, who are from Zimbabwe originally but now live and farm in Zambia, and who seem to friends with Yuri and Alex who own the camp - were all there with their guides as well. We sat at the end of table and mostly talked to Nevers. We found out he has three daughters (for some reason, all our guides have daughters although Bwalia also has a son) - Judy, Kate (but prounced Katie)...and Peggy. Just kidding. That is for the Hamilton fans out there. Her name did begin with a P though. We just can't remember it. We all drank wine and ate good food. I had my third dessert of the day (pecan pie at lunch, chocolate cake at tea, and malva here) which is getting out of control. I feel bad wasting what the chef prepared. At one point, I asked Nevers what the special name was for the dinner in the bush. He looked at me quizzically said, "bush dinner" which was quite funny to all of us as it was such a dumb question on my part.
We don't get much sleep here as we go to bed around 10:30 and usually are awake before our 530 wake up call (Christopher saying good morning outside our tent). This morning, we didn't wake up before Christopher was on our tent doorstep. Today, he asked if he could come in with our coffee before opening the door. From there, it was the same drill as yesterday. Breakfast looking out on the water. Latte made and served by Christopher. Moira got a heart in her foam. I guess Christopher realized she is the chief.
We had a park ranger, Kenneth, with us for the walking safari, wearing camouflage and carrying a gun, similar to the other safari.
When I mentioned the gun, Nevers said "is that what you call it in the states?" We thought he would correct us and tell us it is a rifle. But instead he said, "I call it a walking stick!" That joker. We drove about a half hour until we got to place that was good to walk. Nevers gave us similar instructions to our last walk, with the key one being if we come across a big animal, which is rare, hold your ground. Everyone's instinct is to run but that is the worst thing you can do. The real purpose of the walking safari isn't to see the bigger game, although sometimes you do, but more to see the small things you can't from the jeep - insects, smaller animals, plant life, droppings, tracks, etc. And we saw all of those.
We walked about two hours until we got back to the jeep for morning tea/coffee. There, I made the observation that doing a walking safari is like being an impala at night . You walked straight in a line, and go to an open area, in order to see all your surroundings and potential threats. When a jeep from another camp stopped and talked to Nevers, Moira noted that we were acting like the impala when we stop near them - turn to face the intruder, try to determine if they are friend or foe.
As we approached the camp, Nevers told us we could dress the same way we were dressed now for the canoe ride, but to wear flip flops or water shoes. He told us he had a surprise for us for lunch and to meet at 11:50 and wear water shoes there too. When we arrived in the deck areas, the French people were there too (who we haven't even tried to make conversation with...they do speak English but not regularly and they are loud...like the Germans tend to be) with their guide, Richard. We all got in the motorboat for about a 5 minute ride, around various hippos, to a shallow area, where the camp had set up lunch. There was a bar, a table with a buffet and a long table under a tent for us to sit and eat. Nerves and Richard told us to feel free to take off our shoes as we got out of the boat and waded to the bar, where Mike the bartender waited for us with Pimms. Seriously Pimms. Like we are at Wimbledon. But in a river in Africa. It felt so good to have our feet/lower legs in the water as we ate a delicious meal. The shade kept it so cool. It must be what a hippo feels like as it just cools all day, waiting until it is cool and dark enough for dinner.
Another afternoon at the pool to try and stay cool and also relieve our itchiness from the bug bites. Thank God for anti-malarial meds. There was a lot of hippo activity on the bank of the river across from the pool, which Moira said was more interesting to watch than tv.
Tea at 3:30. I had the fortitude to forgo the dessert (although the lunch dessert, chocolate mousse, with graham layers was, in a word, amazing). Today, Christopher took our dinner order, so we knew there weren't any more surprises coming up. He did ask if we would be okay eating dinner with the management, which meant Yuri and Ashley. We said sure, as long as it isn't the people from France. Just kidding. Not really.
At 4, Nevers (who paired up with Moira) and Henry (who was my canoeing buddy) gave us the rules of the trip. Essentially, if you are capsized by a hippo, swim away from the canoe as hippos will go for the larger object (the canoe) if they feel threatened. If you are capsized by a crocodile, hold onto the canoe as it will consider it too big to attack. I said that if I am capsized, I don't know that I will be of the right mind to notice who did it to distinguish what to do next. They promised they would tell us. We set off with the current and went down the river for almost two hours. Nevers and Henry (fellow guide, been here two years but in hospitality for awhile, was barista of the year in Lusaka which led to him being hired as bartender here, always wanted to be a guide) did most of the rowing but we pitched in a bit.
It was very peaceful, gliding by hippo and elephant, listening to the birds.
And the colors, as they are most places along the river, were beautiful. I was wondering how we would paddle all the way back before it got too dark when I realized that they send a boat to take us back. Which is smart as the current is pretty strong and going against would, I imagine take quite a long time, making us hippo dinner. We left the canoes by the side of the river and Ryan (the guy in charge of all the guides) drove us back. We had our sundowner on the boat as we went back. It took a good half hour.
Tonight was the first night we weren't out on a game drive and we actually had time to shower before dinner. We even got to the bar in time to have a drink there. Christopher cooled the glasses before he gave them to us, by putting ice water in them and then wiping them down. Have I mentioned we love Christopher? Yuri joined us at the bar a bit until we sat down for dinner. I felt a little like we were on the Love Boat and got invited to join Captain Stubing (early 80s reference for you). There was champagne for all of us at the table, which we thought was because it was Ashley's birthday but it was really to toast us. Dervla, who put our trip together had noticed since we use Kensington so much, that we had taken a year off and when she asked me about it, I told her it had to do with some health issues. I told her that all was good now, but it was why we wanted to make this trip epic. She told me she was going to see if she could get some extras for us because of that and I think this was one of us. Yuri toasted to celebrating and good health. We can all drink to that.
It was a very nice dinner. Yuri is originally from Joburg and started as a guide. Ashley is from Zambia, Lusaka specifically. They are the camp managers and got married last year in Bali during the wet season when the camp is closed (late November to March). They met through friends at Victoria Falls. My guess is that they are in their early 30s. Very young to be doing this. Ashley was going to be an accountant but switched to this and is studying for a degree in hospitality now. She said it was nice to have dinner with us as she is the only woman in camp, which we hadn't really noticed before. The guys brought her a cake - her favorite chocolate one that the chef makes - with candles at dessert time.
One last thing - back in our tent, packing up to leave tomorrow, we heard chomping and heavy steps outside the tent. Even in the pitch dark out there, we could see the white tusks of a big elephant. Or should I say huge elephant. Two years ago, we would have been terrified. This year, we tried to figure out how to record it in the dark.
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