The puddle jumper flew us from Sable Valley to Rra Dinare (Father Buffalo), which was further into the Okevango Delta. Our next guide, Amos, met us at the plane and drove to what was now our third safari camp. It was both more remote and primitive, but also more luxurious than the others. It was hard to get my head around the contrast. All the wildness around you, and then great comfort in your tent and the dining area.

As we drove on safari that afternoon, we now found our eyes more capable of observing wildlife. We often saw animals before, or at the same time as our guide – a Lion, Cape Buffalo, Kudu, Jackal, warthogs, and always Impala. We came across a herd of elephants with several young ones. One in particular was tiny. Our guide said it was the youngest he had ever seen – perhaps two weeks old. It stumbled some, while trying to keep up with it’s mother. We stayed well away from them, as we didn’t want to spook mom.

Late in the day as sundown was approaching, our guide heard on his radio about the appearance of three Cheetahs, but quite a distance from where we were. Amos asked if we were up for a race, and of course we said yes. We spent the next half hour speeding and bumping across the dusty tracks in the sand and clay, and arrived at our destination close to sunset. There they were, a mother and her two daughters, laying in the shade. We were, perhaps, within 25 feet of them and watched for the next fifteen minutes or so. They finally roused themselves, and quietly walked away in the coming darkness. Their movements were graceful and elegant, and achingly beautiful to watch.

There were only ten of us in camp that night. Our six, an Italian couple, and a French/Belgique couple. As a special treat, the dinner table was set up al fresco under the stars with candles and candelabras. The food and drink were excellent as always. GT’s before dinner, a Chenin Blanc with our first course, and a Shiraz/Cab blend with dinner. Later, when it was time to go to bed, our escort guided us to our tent. In this case, we were on an elevated walkway. We suddenly heard noise below us and our guide shined his light under the walkway. Huge Cape Buffalo were laying down and settling in for the night. Their heads and horns were maybe five feet below us.

The next morning, we walked to the dining area for a quick breakfast before our early morning safari. The sun was just rising. Greeting us during breakfast was an elephant munching on a tree that was just a few feet from the dining area. When they are that close, you see how huge they truly are.

More and varied animals were seen in the next day and a half. We saw the three Cheetahs again, this time on the move. Elly’s again, and for the first time, lots of giraffe. We’d seen giraffe before, but never this many and never this close. The word stately comes to mind, when trying to describe the way they walk.

On a canoe trip, we saw birds and frogs and other small life. Remember, don’t put your hands in the water – you never know for sure what is below the surface.

The last morning, we came across a pride of hyenas with an antelope kill that our guide thought they’d taken from a pack of painted dogs. There were probably about 12 hyenas including some young pups. We watched them eat, and then noticed that the matriarch was limping. She was favoring her right front leg. Did something happen in the confrontation with the dogs? We didn’t know, but perhaps it was broken, or otherwise hurt. If it doesn’t heal quickly, she probably wouldn’t last, and another hyena will take over the pride. It only takes one mistake.

We returned to camp and packed. Amos drove us to meet our plane, which flew us to Maun. There we transferred to a larger plane and our flight to Cape Town, where we would be going on a different kind of safari – wine hunting.

**

I’d like to do a call-out to Karen Dewhurst of Sikelieli African Safaris (a family owned business). Karen was our travel consultant and arranged the middle part of our itinerary during our time in Africa. She did all of the work to coordinate our trips to: The Hide, Victoria Falls and the Ilala Hotel in Zimbabwe, and Sable Alley and Rra Dinare Safari camps in Botswana. All accommodations were amazing, the food and wine excellent, and the animal viewing exceeded all expectations. Additionally, I can’t quite imagine coordinating all of the travel arrangements themselves during this portion of the trip – the vans, puddle jumpers, planes, pick ups and drop offs. It all worked perfectly. If you are coming to this part of the world, I highly recommend them. You can reach Karen, and Sikeleli African Safaris at:

Karen Dewhurst

karen@sikelelisafaris.com / (+263) 78 310 6561 (Zimbabwe)

Sikeleli Africa Safaris Ltd.
(+1) 604 281 3274 / Toll Free: 1-844-972-3274 (North America)
https://sikelelisafaris.com

*********

This is the seventh in a series of short blogs about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

He was Young and Made a Mistake (Sixth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/he-was-young-and-made-a-mistake-sable-valley-in-botswana/

Vic Falls – The Smoke that Thunders (5th Blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/the-smoke-that-thunders/

First Safari Camp, at The Hide (Fourth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/first-safari-camp/

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

When we arrived at the kill site, the hyenas were trotting away and five painted dogs were moving in. The giraffe was killed the previous evening by another male giraffe. The two males had fought and this one made a mistake. Perhaps half his body was already gone. As the painted dogs feasted, the buzzards were waiting their turn behind them.

The previous day, we’d departed Vic Falls in a van, and arrived at the Kazengula Border crossing about an hour later. We walked from Zim into Botswana and after clearing customs, boarded another van for transport to Kasane. There, we flew on a puddle jumper to our Camp at Sable Alley. (See callout to Karen Dewhurst, and Sikeleli African Safaris at the bottom of this blog. The coordination during this part of the trip was simply amazing.)

Getting off the plane on the clay airstrip, the hot air hit us like a brick. We were in the Okavango Delta at the hottest time of the year, and it was much hotter than Zimbabwe. We would find ourselves drinking untold amounts of water over the coming days.

Our guide, Zambo, took us out that afternoon on our first safari with him. We tracked and eventually had a siting of a leopard on the move. We viewed more elephants, and other animals, then drove back to camp. It had been a long day.

After cleaning up, we returned to the dining area. It had cooled down as the darkness fell and there was a fire going. We had gin and dry lemons while sitting around the fire before dinner, and then switched to a Chenin Blanc with our first course – Cold Broccoli and yogurt soup with a blue cheese crumble. The night continued with a very fine dinner, more wine, dessert, and after-dinner drinks. Eventually, we were escorted back to our tents and a deep sleep (for all of the safari camps, because of the animals in the area, you were not allowed to walk from the main area to your tent after dark without a guide – sometimes they were armed, sometimes not).

The next morning at breakfast, Zambo told us about the giraffe kill, which he’d just heard about on the radio. We drove there first thing. After watching the dogs, and then the buzzards feed on the giraffe we moved on to look for other animals. We came across hyenas with pups that moved on quickly, and then another leopard. This leopard was known to the guides, and they called him Nicholas. It turns out that Nicholas was comfortable with vehicles, and the noise didn’t scare him away. We actually would see him two more times during our visit.

Later that afternoon, we returned to the giraffe kill site, to see if lions, or any other animals had come to the feast. We arrived to find an adolescent hyena sitting in the center of the giraffe carcass. He was fending off the wild dogs and the buzzards who were all trying to get more of the meat. We asked Zambo why the hyena was there alone, and he said he was young and had made a mistake. He wanted more food after the rest of his pack left, and so he stayed. He could hold off the dogs indefinitely, but when a lion arrived, he would be trapped in the carcass and killed. He should have left with his friends. It only takes one mistake.

*******

This is the sixth in a series of short blogs about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

Vic Falls – The Smoke that Thunders (5th Blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/the-smoke-that-thunders/

First Safari Camp, at The Hide (Fourth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/first-safari-camp/

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

*******

I’d like to do a call-out to Karen Dewhurst, and Sikeleli African Safaris, our travel consultant who arrange the middle part of our itinerary during our time in Africa. She did all of the work to coordinate our trips to: The Hide, Victoria Falls and the Ilala Hotel in Zimbabwe, and Sable Alley and Rra Dinare Safari camps in Botswana. All accommodations were amazing, the food and wine excellent, and the animal viewing exceeded all expectations. Additionally, I can’t quite imagine coordinating all of the travel arrangements themselves during this portion of the trip – the vans, puddle jumpers, planes, pick ups and drop offs. It all worked perfectly. If you are coming to this part of the world, I highly recommend them. You can reach Karen, and Sikeleli African Safaris at:

Karen Dewhurst

karen@sikelelisafaris.com / (+263) 78 310 6561 (Zimbabwe)

Sikeleli Africa Safaris Ltd.
(+1) 604 281 3274 / Toll Free: 1-844-972-3274 (North America)
https://sikelelisafaris.com

Walking along the trail opposite Victoria Falls, it’s easy to see why they call it “The Smoke that Thunders.” You can hear the Falls rumbling when you are in town, which is over a kilometer away. The smoke? The huge amount of mist that is generated by the Falls pouring into the chasm below.

We had arrived in the town of Victoria Falls the day before, after driving from The Hide Safari Camp. Following a quick wash-up, we were driven to the Zambezi River and a sunset cruise with cocktails. The river was beautiful, and we saw wildlife and a wonderful sunset. As we docked, we thought our entertainment was over, but it turned out to be just beginning. Our travel agent, Karen, had arranged a surprise alfresco dinner for us on the banks of the Zambezi – Three courses, of course washed down with much wine. During dinner, there was also musical and dance entertainment. It was a great way to start our time in Vic Falls.

The next day we visited the Falls themselves and they did not disappoint. Our friends, Dave and Bill, said there was a much greater volume of water during their previous visits, but I wasn’t disappointed. Cathy and I both spent time just staring at the Falls, watching and listening to it cascade below. We didn’t get drenched in water, but the mist was a nice cooling factor. One of the Seven Wonders of the World indeed.

We arrived back at our hotel, the Ilala, to find a note from Marty on our door. We were to meet at 5PM for Pink Gins at the old Vic Falls Hotel, followed by dinner at 7. When we first discussed this trip back in March, it was Marty’s description of drinking Pink Gins at the Vic Falls Hotel that clinched it for us going on this trip. I was pretty excited.

In the late afternoon we cleaned up and changed clothes. In the past, jackets were required for dinner at the hotel. They had relaxed the dress code, but collared shirts were required, and no jeans, or safari clothes were allowed. We walked over to the hotel and arrived just after 5PM. It’s a magnificent hotel that’s been there since 1904. We crossed out to the veranda and joined the others.

Pink Gins were ordered all around. Marty was right – it was a setting out of a book. We could see the Victoria Falls Bridge that crosses over the Zambezi River from Zimbabwe into Zambia in the distance, with a train stopped on it. To the left, the mists from the Falls themselves rose above the trees. Nearby, three warthogs with 5 babies crossed the lawn. As dusk turned to darkness, we ordered our second Pink Gins and candles were lit on the tables.

A little after 7PM, we adjourned to the Livingstone Dining room. There, we had a seven course meal, accompanied by a couple bottles of South African Shiraz. All of the food was excellent, but the dishes that really stood out for me were the Ostrich Carpaccio, and the Scallops with Pork Belly. Dinner finally came to an end, and we lumbered back to our own hotel, and bed.

We spent a couple more days in Vic Falls relaxing. We did some shopping and had other wonderful meals, including Kudu filet and Crocodile Risotto (I definitely need the recipe for that!). We also visited the 1,000 year old Baobob tree, just outside of town and had sundowners there. Marty told us of a close encounter he had with an elephant near the tree, a few years before.

While at the tree, we talked with some locals who were selling various items, and had a beer with them. As it got dark, they moved back to their wares and started hauling them into the woods. I asked what was going on and they said rather than carrying the items back to their village, they just hid them in the woods 50 yards or so off the road. No one would be crazy enough to wander around out there in the dark, with the animals in the area.

That night, Cath and I had our final dinner at The Three Monkeys. The next day, our group would cross into Botswana.

***********

This is the fifth in a series of short blogs about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

First Safari Camp, at The Hide (Fourth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/first-safari-camp/

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

“You make one mistake, and you end up in someone’s stomach.” It was our first day at the camp, and Nicholas, our guide, was telling us about the animals in Africa.

We were at the Hide, a safari camp in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Our group was there for three nights and had unbelievable opportunities to view game. We were lucky enough to see four of the big five, including a cheetah on the way to our camp, and a leopard on the day of our departure. In between we saw lion, cape buffalo, wildebeests, baboons, impala, sable, kudu, giraffes, zebra, numerous species of antelope, and elephants. Elephants were every where.

The second day was special. That morning, we approached a watering hole where some wildebeest and a few zebras were drinking. As we watched, more zebras came in from the east. We were about to leave, when something else appeared out of the woods to the east, about 300 yards away. The animals were hard to make out, so binoculars popped up – sable – 6 of them. They were much more cautious than the zebra. It took 15-20 minutes for them to cross the 300 yards. Walk a few steps, stop, and look around. Walk a few more steps, stop, and look around. This continued until they finally arrived and started drinking water. At that point, Nicholas made us tea and coffee, and we had a second breakfast. While we drank our coffee, more zebras came in from the north, and a single bull elephant from the west. As we were packing to leave, a pack of perhaps 40 baboons came hurriedly from the east. No slow and go for them, they moved at a rapid pace. Zebra, wildebeest, elephant, saber and baboons all gathered around the watering hole, taking their turns and drinking their fill.

Driving back to camp, we passed a vehicle going the other way. Both vehicles stopped and the guides spoke together. As we departed, Nicholas informed us that the other guide was from Kariba (also Nicholas’ home town) and passed him a tip about a pride of lions that moved towards a watering hole we had visited the day before. We discussed whether to go now, (well over an hour away), or wait until later to drive there. Nicholas said the lions would probably not move in the heat, so we would go that afternoon around 4PM.

We had lunch at the camp, and dozed for an hour or two. Finally 4PM came and we moved out at a good pace to the location. On the drive, animals appeared everywhere along the way. Several herds of elephant, a large herd of cape buffalo, individual giraffes, more wildebeest, and small herds of impala were all there. Except for the buffalo, we didn’t stop for pictures, pressing on in search of the pride of lion.

We arrived near the watering hole, and Nicholas started looking. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed into brush about 70 yards away. We saw our first lioness. He moved our vehicle to a better vantage point and parked. We spent the next hour watching the pride slowly come to life in the late afternoon heat. One after another appeared from under the bushes. They stretched. They sat. Some moved slowly down to the water for a drink.

Nearby baboons were sounding an alarm, but the lions ignored them, as they continued to mill about. At some point in time, Nicholas served us sundowners, while we continued to watch. A couple of younger lions played with each other. Mostly they lounged about. Finally, it was getting dark and time to return to camp. There were impala in the distance, and perhaps the pride would hunt them as dark settled in. It only takes one mistake on the part of an impala.

Back at camp, we freshened up and had cocktails by the fire. At 8PM the drum sounded, announcing dinner. We moved to the white linen covered table and sat down to a dinner of roast lamb, served with South African Shiraz. For dessert, there was a chocolate mousse that Cathy says is the best she has every tasted. It was a great ending to an amazing day.

****

This is the fourth in a series of short blogs I will publish over the next several weeks, about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

At the start, I found it difficult to concentrate on fishing, with the elephants eating and drinking nearby. It was our first evening on the lake, and also my first real view of elephants.

We had left Kariba town earlier that afternoon on our house boat, P-Ten. The lake is over 400 Km long, and for a while, was the largest man-made lake in the world. That afternoon, we only motored a couple of hours, before the crew anchored the boat in a small inlet called Palm Bay.

With the houseboat’s two tinder boats, four of us went fishing in one, while the others left to view wildlife. As Magoo, Sinks, Roseanne and I moved towards the first fishing spot, I was warned again not to put fingers or hands in the lake. Evidently, more than a few tourists and locals have been lost to crocodile attacks. Along the way, we passed multiple pods of hippos. They are amazingly graceful, for such large animals.

At the first cove we pulled into, our lines were baited by Steve, our guide. We fished for a while, but the group wasn’t having much luck, so we moved on to a new location. Turning into the second cove, elephants came into view. We had observed several elephants earlier that day through binoculars while motoring up the lake, but this was our first close viewing. They were maybe 25 feet away on the shoreline. After baiting my hook and casting out, I found myself watching the elephants rather than my line, and lost two fish that way. Eventually, I caught a squeaker and a small tiger fish. A couple of the others reeled in some bream, which are excellent eating.

Later, we moved to a third location, and finally returned to our houseboat as the sun was setting. The others were already there drinking sundowners. We joined them and compared stories of our late afternoon activities. Fried bream appetizers were soon served by the crew and we became more animated as the darkness grew around us. Later, we settled into a nice dinner with several bottles of red wine….

…..We’re into our third day now, and have seen numerous elephants, hippos, Cape buffalo, gazelle, kudu, crocs and many beautiful birds, whose names I cannot remember. We are going out on a tinder in a couple of hours with the Wagner brothers for more animal viewing, and are told that there is a good chance we will see lions. Last week at this location, the crew saw a lion bring down an impala on shore.

Tomorrow morning, some of us will go fishing again, while others are looking for game. I’m betting the views from both boats will be pretty good.

________

Addendum –

⁃ We didn’t see any lion that night, but were able to get within ten yards of some huge Cape buffalo, and perhaps five yards away from a rather large croc on the shore. There are some real advantages to game viewing from the relative safety of a boat.

⁃ We fished several times over the course of our five days on Lake Kariba. As a rule, we had middling luck. Then on the last evening, while Cathy and the Wagner brothers went out for a last wildlife viewing, Roseanne and I decided to fish one last time. As soon as we cast our lines, we were getting hits. We ended up catching well over twenty-five fish between us, in a little over an hour. For most of that time, there was a single bull elephant silhouetted in the setting sun on a spit of land fifty yards away from us. The view was perfect. He eventually walked off and into the surrounding woodland. We admired the colors of the sunset a bit more, before Steve piloted us back to the houseboat.

⁃ Later on our vacation, we were in Cape Town and met a mutual friend, Ian – he commented on fishing at Lake Kariba – “ah, great times. The laziest vacation ever.” I’d have to agree. It wasn’t safe to walk on shore, so the only part of my body that had any exercise was my left arm. I used it while casting for fish, and also for 12 ounce curls.

******

This is the third in a series of short blogs I will publish over the next several weeks, about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I wrote most of this while still on the houseboat. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

I popped my second Zambezi about 9:30 that morning. We’d been on the road from Harare since 6AM, and were a little over halfway to Lake Kariba. The eight of us were in a van, with a small trailer.

Sinks, Roseanne and Marty had met the rest of us at 5:30AM, at the guesthouse where we were staying. We loaded our luggage, and the considerable number of boxes of red and white wine, gin, brandy, whisky, Amarula, tonic, limes and various other drinks into the trailer (Five days on a houseboat is a looooong time). A cooler of beer and water went into the van with us. The rest of the beer, club soda and water for the trip were already on our houseboat in Kariba.

Once we cleared Harare, the traffic lessened, while the road worsened. Potholes and rough road were the norm. Along the way, we passed several old abandoned tobacco houses with busted windows that were no longer in use and had been empty since the early 2000s. They were victims of the land reparation that took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s. What had once been fields of tobacco, corn and other crops were now mostly empty. Roseanne, who was sitting behind me , told a few stories of that transition. The most memorable was about her husband’s brother, Mike…

….Mike, as a 19 year old, had cleared and built his farm himself in the 1950s, in what was then Rhodesia. The farm was a couple of hours outside of Harare, and at the time, there was no electricity there. In fact, he originally lived in a cave on the land. In building the farm, he had the help of some men from Tanzania, who were walking to Johannesburg to find work. He told them he had work for them at the farm, and they agreed to stay. They sent one man back to Tanzania to bring their wives and families. Over time, they helped build the main house, build their own homes, and worked the farm. Mike added a school and a clinic to the property, and streams were dammed to increase the water supply. The children of the workers grew and started marrying locals. For years, this life continued. In the 1970s, Roseanne would always bring visiting friends to see the farm, as it was such a beautiful place.

The guerrilla war, or civil war, depending on your view, started in the ‘60s and became more and more violent in the ‘70s. After years of fighting, a peace agreement was reached, and the transition from Ian Smith to President Mugabe took place. Over time, one of the results of the transition was land reparation. Although Roseanne’s brother-in-law had helped Mugabe’s government during the transition, he eventually lost his farm in the late ‘90s, and had to leave it. He was given papers for future compensation, but two decades later, he has yet to receive anything for his farm….

We drove on. About 9AM, we arrived at Lions Den, a well known break point that was halfway to Kariba. More importantly, it’s known for their homemade sausages and wurst, known in Zim as Boerewors and Biltong. Marty bought a few pounds for us to eat as snacks on the boat. We hadn’t left the compound before we greedily broke into the bags, sampling the several varieties he’d bargained for. All were delicious, and just salty enough to make a beer taste extra good. We climbed back in the van and I popped that second Zambezi. It’s probably my imagination, but it tasted better than the first one. I attribute that to the Biltong.

Fifteen minutes down the road, we felt a jolt. The driver slowed, and pulled off the road. We’d hit one too many potholes and shredded one of the trailer tires. Fortunately, we had a spare and twenty minutes later, we resumed our journey.

There was more beer and Biltong, and stories of previous trips to Kariba…flipped cars, elephants blocking the road, and a jumbo (elephant, not jet) blocking the runway once, when Roseanne piloted a small plane from Harare to Kariba. We also learned of Ghost Trees, Baobab Trees and other plants we saw along the way. Cathy, ever sharp eyed with regard to animals, saw a few monkeys in the trees.

The time passed quickly.

We pulled into Kariba town about 1230PM. Luggage and booze were transferred to our houseboat and we were underway. Fishing for bream, along with views of hippos, elephants, Cape buffalo, and crocodiles, were in our future.

*****

This is the second in a series of short blogs I will publish over the next several weeks, about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related blogs can be found at:

Pink Gins (The trip is planned) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Two parties were the bookends for our time in Harare, Zimbabwe. The first was at Roseanne and Sinks’ place and was our welcome to Zimbabwe. The second was at Peter and Judy’s, two new friends we met at the Hash run.

Cathy and I had arrived in South Africa a couple of days before. The flight to Johannesburg is 17 hour long, so we wanted a recovery day before heading to Zim. After sleeping in that first morning, we spent a half day touring Soweto, the slum area where the school riots had ignited in the ‘60s, helping to set South Africa on the road to independence. It was interesting to see the area where Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela had lived at different times. Both went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, although they didn’t know each other in Soweto.

The next day, we caught our flight to Harare, and linked up with the rest of our crew. Marty, Jim and Bill had arrived the day before, while Magoo got there in the middle of the night. Roseanne and Sinks, friends of Marty’s who had helped plan parts of the trip, were hosting a welcome party at their home. They would also travel with us for the houseboat trip on Lake Kariba.

We arrived at the party and Roseanne and Sinks greeted us like old friends. We hadn’t met in person yet, but had corresponded via email for several months and felt like we knew each other well. Also, all of us had run with various Hash House Harrier (H3) groups around the world and had that in common. The party was great fun and we met several local Hashers who were also invited. We spent the rest of the day eating, drinking, and making new friends.

On Sunday, we went to a festival at a local school. Think something like a county fair on steroids. The fair had everything from tractors to table linens for sale. We bought a few things, and then stumbled upon the gin tent. G&Ts with grapefruit slices proved quite refreshing.

Monday was spent touring Harare and a couple of its markets during the day, and then that night, we hashed with the Harare H3. A couple of the Hashers picked us up at our lodge and drove us to the start. Several of the people that night were folk we had met at Roseanne and Sinks’ two days before, so it was a bit of a homecoming, although it was our first time hashing with them. Later, after finishing the run, we had food and beers with the Hash. It was much like a hash back home, except shared mugs used during one part of the evening were washed with a bleach solution between drinks, due to the Cholera concerns in Harare. Later that evening Peter and Judy, two of the hashers, invited the six of us to their home for lunch.

The next day, we arrived at Peter and Judy’s a bit after noon. We were greeted with hugs and drinks. A few of the folk we had hashed with the night before were also there, and by now, we were all friends. Lunch went on for most of the afternoon, and there were lots of stories told of older times in Africa and Zimbabwe. In the late afternoon, we finally said farewell and walked back to our lodge. We needed to finish packing and get ready for our trip to Lake Kariba the next day. Our van was leaving at 6AM, and then we had a seven hour ride to Kariba. It would be a long day.

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This is the first in a series of short blogs I will publish over the next several weeks, about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.