Days 63 thru 67

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

It is with a sad heart that I begin this post. We have had word that Petros, our safari guide at Chobe Game Park, died suddenly this week. He was an amazing person who had a wealth of local history and knowledge. He will be missed. This brings home, once again, how fleeting life is and how nothing is guaranteed. RIP, Petros.

We also heard about another walking safari accident in South Luangua National Park in Zambia. Two older women hailing from New Zealand and the UK got trampled to death by a mother elephant protecting her calf. Their guides tried to stop the charge by shooting the elephant, but failed in their efforts. It is a stark reminder to always remain vigilant. We can’t find the details to this story; something is off, though, as guides do everything to protect their clients. It seems as though the clients weren’t doing what they were told to do; something is certainly fishy as guides put themselves between the clients and the animals.

At the end of the last post, we had arrived at the lake and had decided to take a full day off and just relax in our lakeside abode at New Kalala Lodge in Iteszhe Teszhe. We had breakfast and dinner delivered to our room, and the staff was delightful! This lodge is a hidden treasure for travelers and I cannot recommend it enough. Our bodies certainly needed the respite. Just because you have a 4×4, doesn’t mean that you ride in comfort; quite the contrary as we are now taking the more rugged paths, and the jarring and shaking leave us exhausted at the end of the day. Hold on a moment; we can’t blame the 4×4 for us taking more rugged paths!! That, I believe, is a function of the driver rather than a function of the car!!

I must say that the break was exactly what I needed as, at the end of our stay here, I felt healthier than I have in about three weeks! The road from Iteszhe Teszhe to Livingston consisted of over 200 kms of gravel road, with some parts completely washed away. So the going was slow, and bumpy, again…but not as bad as we had feared. And it helped that, along the way, you’d turn a corner to see a couple of elephants run across the road, or some impala playing. Fortunately, the last 100 kms were nicely paved, so we were able to complete the full journey in one day. Google showed numerous guesthouses and lodges all around Livingston. What it did not tell us was that it was a long weekend and, consequently, how full all of these accomodations were. We spent about an hour jumping from one place to the next in search of an opening. We finally found a spot that had one night available, with additional openings in a different rooms the following nights. We jumped on it. The place is named Fawlty Towers, after the British show with the same name. They even have pictures of John Cleese and the cast on the walls in the bar, though the bartender, Mike the Fixer, says that none of them have ever been there. But one thing is for certain about Fawlty Towers, the staff is absolutely wonderful.

Sadly, we were misinformed about openings the next couple days so we had to move to a less than stellar place named Olga’s Rooms. It’s not that the room was bad, per se, it’s just that it was NOT Fawlty Towers and it had hundreds of mosquito inhabitants already staying there.

Livingston was once the capital of Northern Rhodesia which is now Zambia. It was named to honor Dr. David Livingston, a missionary and European explorer of Southern Africa back in the mid 1800’s. The famous quote “Dr. Livingston, I presume?” was asked by a New York Herald reporter, named Henry Stanley, after he had been tasked to go to Africa to find Dr. Livingston who had been missing for six years.

As is our habit, we first visited the Livingston Museum. The thing that stood out at this museum, was the huge number of visitors! We are used to seeing a handful of adults and some students in most museums; but this one was busy! My favorite section was a brand new exhibit about bird eggs and nesting showcasing local bird.  I was surprised to have seen most of them here already. Unsurprisingly, the power went out while we were there, so we had to complete the Dr. Livingston exhibit the way Henry Stanley probably experienced Africa, with the flashlight from his cell phone 🤪.

Our remaining plan for Livingston was to do a morning game drive in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park and then visiting the falls in the afternoon. However, we found the park charmingly beautiful and fun, so we chose to stay there the whole day. We weren’t certain whether to make the trip to Livingstone or not as it’s sort-of doubling back on ourselves. But I’ve always loved this town and we had the time and vehicle so…here we are.

There are nine rhinos in this park and, somehow or other, we managed to find them all! The lovely thing about the rhinos in this park is that they still have their horns; they are assigned armed army guards to protect them from poachers!

And speaking of elephants, I don’t know what was up with these elephants but, for some reason, they all seemed to be drawn to our car!! And we’d just learned of the tourists who’d been trampled to death…!!

But this truly was the theme of the day; even if some of the elephants crossed sensibly in front of us, one would always walk toward us!!

The giraffe turned out in force for us too.

I was extremely happy that Dan had the opportunity to see lots more mountain zebra as I think they’re beautiful creatures!

To make up for a full day game drive, we decided that if they had a room at Fawlty Towers, we would extend an extra day. Fortunately, they did, so we moved from Olga’s Rooms back to our favorite place. This also gave us the opportunity to visit Victoria Falls. This also allowed us to post on our blog; we’ve been dealing with very limited (or no) wifi for days so have been unable to let our friends know that we’re still alive and well. We were getting worried!!

I have always preferred Mosi-oa-Tunya from the Zambian side (though the grandeur of the falls is seen better from the Zimbabwean side). But, because I stand alone in this opinion, I was starting to think that my memory was failing me. Thus, it was with some trepidation that I anticipated this visit to the falls.

So, now that I have visited both sides of the Falls, I have to say that I love the Zambia side better. Though you don’t get to see its full size, you get to feel more of its majesty. Walking across the bridge called Knifes Edge, gave us the ability to look directly down into the canyon, as well as get COMPLETELY drenched by the over spray. We had completely underestimated the amount of water we would encounter and had opted to save the $1 rental fee for a raincoat. Okay, that sounds really stupid; but my attitude is that I’d rather give the money to someone who needs it rather than spending it on a bit of luxury for myself. Looking back now, I actually really loved the experience of getting soooo wet, but while trudging through the deluge, I was regretting my decision.

Livingston has surpassed my expectations. I thought that this was going to be another tourist trap border town. But I feel safe walking around here, and the people are really great. As Kenneth Kaunda used to espouse,  “One Zambia, One Nation!”