I'll start off the update from the trip to Victoria Falls and slowly make my way to the present. A lot has happened in the last two weeks.
Day 1: We left bright and early on the 19th of November and traveled around four hours in the minibus of doom (It fit 12 people, we had 13. It also was completely lacking in seat cushions). We eventually arrived at the granite ridge lodge and went on a game drive at Miambo national park.
Our guide was Andy, a man with an impressive reserve of knowledge and a an envious life. Not only does he have free run of the entire game reserve while he works, but on his free time he often takes a backpack and lives in the park itself. Miambo is particularly known for its rhinos. It has both black and white Rhinos and as a result has alot of problems with poaching. Their solution is to shoot all poachers and suspected poachers on sight.
The anti-poaching staff are given automatic weapons and a liscence to shoot anyone they even suspect of being a poacher. We met up with a few of these gentlemen as we went up to a viewing point. They were not only sleeping on the job but one of the two actually left his ak 47 lying on a rock as he climbed a large rock to speak to his fellow man at arms. We did see several rhino and they are a very impressive beast. After the game drive was over we retired to our lodges and prepared ourselves for an exciting six hour drive the following morning.
Day 2: After an incredibly enjoyable six hour drive in our trusty white bus we arrived at Hwange national park. We stayed at a sister project of antelope park involved in game counts and the general upkeep of the national park. We went on another game drive but this time did not see anything...until we left the park. On the road outside the official boundry (Hwange has no fences and thus the game can go outside the official park.) we nearly ran over a group of six female lions lazing about on the tar road! We stopped and looked at them and they continued to sit there and look at us. This lasted for around thirty minutes until they finally got bored of us and moved off to the side of the road. As we passed by them one of our vehicles broke down and poor Nathan (One of the head guides at AP's sister project) had the pleasure of trying to troubleshoot a smoking engine while six lionesses watched him from behind. It was amusing only because of the fact that I was in the other, working, vehicle. Nathan finally got the vechicle up and running and we returned to our lodge and had a nice meal of roast beef and termites. The termites constantly bombarded the lights above us and very often fell right into our food. This coupled with large dung beatles (Which I promptly dubbed suicide bombers as they would fly right into your head and hit you with the force of a bomb) made for a very pleasant meal.
Day 3: Again we woke up bright and early and drove for a blessedly short time of two hours to get to Victoria Falls. Upon arriving we went straight to the booking office where I booked both white water rafting and bungee jumping. After finalizing this we went to our accomidations at Hunters Lodge and unpacked. Several hours later (The girls had alot of things to unpack!) we took a trip to the Victoria Falls national park. The only word I can really use to discribe it is majestic. The falls were not in full force yet but it was still quite the sight to behold. It was certainly daunting to look over the edge of the gorge and see a sheer rock wall and a fall of several thousand feet. Later that night we went to the Bohma resteraunt and ate a very large meal consisting of various game meats and strange food. I had crocodile, ostrige, warthog, buffalo steak, a mopani worm, and impala. All of which were very good!
Day 4: On this day the group split up and did different activities. Myself, Sandra, Lenny, Dan, and Markus chose to go white water rafting through the mighty Zambizi. It was a great experience for some and terrifying for others. I fell into the former catagory. We began by having a safty talk and then descending the gorge using a path I could only describe as trecherous. It was steep, slippery, and many of the paths had no saftey rail and had you side stepping along a narrow path. At one point we were climbing down a half stairway half ladder construction when I discovered that it was missing steps, was wobbily, and the railing was either rickity or in some places missing entirely.
We survived this rather insane descent and got in our boat. Our guide was a man by the name of Colgate (Yes, like the toothpaste) and despite his absurd name he was very good at what he did. We went down ten or so rapids and I managed to fall out only once when the boat completely flipped. Falling out was not a great experience because not only did I have the german and the boat on my head pushing me down, but the life vest was so tight that you could only take half breaths. Despite this, I survived and managed to come up under the boat spitting up half the river in the process.
Several rapids later we went down rapid number five. This rapid was the worst of them all in terms of difficulty as you went down a ten foot drop and into a massive set of waves. We went down and the boat actually went verticle and only myself, Markus, and Colgate managed to hold on by dangling from the top ropes of the completely verticle raft. It was a great adreneline rush. The girls and Dan, on the other hand, had fallen out nearly every rapid and were not happy campers. They perservered, however, and the half day of rafting ended with no casualtys. We then had lunch and proceeded to ascend what I can only describe as a mountain. After a half day of rafting and nearly drowning once or twice, this was not a pleasant experience. Once again, however, we made it up with no casualtys and only one stubbed toe.
As the day wore on my stress level began to gradually increase, as I was I was schedualed to throw myself off a bridge the upcoming morning. I went to bed dreading it and got no sleep until around four in the morning when I decided it wasnt worth the stressed and I abstain from doing it.
Day 5: I woke up in the morning feeling good about my descision but decided to accompany the others doing it (Lyn, Laura, Shelton, and Dan) for support and in case I had a last second change of heart and wanted to do the bungee after all. We got to the bridge and I took one look over the edge and the slight chance that I would have done it disapeared completely. It was an 111 meter bungee (300ish feet, I believe) and at the bottom was a large number of sharp rocks and rapids. These rocks would be what I would have had the pleasure of seeing rushing up at my head as I threw myself off the bridge. I'm very happy I decided not to do it. The others were absolutely terrified and miserable the entire time before the jump but said they really enjoyed the jump itself. I still dont think its worth the misery before the jump, however, and stand by my descision not to do it.
Later that day we were set to go to Chundu Island and loaded up into an open topped game drive vehicle and set off. As we reached the park it was located in it started to rain cats, dogs, and alligators. Luckily we parked under the tatched roof entrance to the park and sat there playing cards as Shelton decided what to do. He finally sent the vehicle to have a roof put onto it as we were going to long way around (The quickest route was inaccessable due to the rain). An hour later the vehicle returned with four pieces of wood tied to the sides and a bedsheet draped over the top. That was our shelter from the pouring rain. As many of you are probably realizing, this did not work very well. We all got soaked and when the vehicle broke down we took it as a sign from the Gods and went to a bar instead.
Day 6: This was our last morning at Victoria Falls and many of us spent it at the markets haggling for gifts and cool trinkets. I must say, I enjoyed haggling quite a bit. It was fairly easy since everyone in Zim is desperate for money and if your stubborn you can get a very good good price. I've got a nack for it and managed to get some incredible deals. At roughly 12:30 we loaded up into our favorite vehicle and had a very sore and tiring 8 hour drive home. I faired better then most as i'm slightly more resilient then the others and also kept myself amused with my ipod and several games of cards with a few of the others. When we finally arrived I was very pleased to be "home" and was very happy to see my lions again.
Thus ends part one of the massive update. I'll try to do the other half tonight.
2 comments:
Wow..sounds like you had quite the adventure. Glad you made it back in one piece, despite nearly drowning. Sounds like working with the lions is much safer!! I see you think of them as "your" lions too. Just don't try to smuggle them home in your luggage!!
Bill :) Incredible! That is all I have to say.. kthxbai <3
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