2014 ULTIMATE AFRICA Tues/Wed 9/16 & 17 Flight We're off for the LONG journey! Up way too early today, so we certainly aren't rushed. The car service came right on time and got us to the airport in great time. Check in went well, and "pre check" worked like a charm. Had lunch at Dickey's BBQ, staying on our jet lag diet. Flight to Atlanta was almost half empty, we loaded and left gate on time but were told air traffic control in Atlanta was holding up flights. Upon landing in Atlanta we quickly found out why! As we were taxiing to the terminal I caught a glimpse of a large tail with an American flag, as we saw the rest of the plane around a building I recognized Air force One! Not sure why he's here, but his landing is likely why we were held up a bit. We forgot how big this airport is, took the train from concourse A to E. Fast and efficient. Found the food court and decided on Qdoba vegetarian to be our proper dinner. Dinner on the flight will be too late and would be protein. This flight is going to be quite full. Board says 5 empty seats! We had to check in at the desk so they could be sure we had enough blank passport pages; South Africa is supposedly quite picky about that! Had to show passports again when boarding. Or seat mate is nice, he does this flight a couple times a year. After we finally take off we have frequent turbulence and the pilot is WAY too conservative, with the seat belt light on way more than half time! Delays dinner service, glad we ate already as we need to get to sleep on Africa time. Sleeping just doesn't work today. I do rest for 5+ hours but never really sleep. Get "up" about 8 Africa time and eat our peanut butter sandwiches, then get a snack on the flight. This flight proved to be one of the most miserable either of us have had. We couldn't sleep, didn't eat enough or at the right times, we felt weak and sick. Just want to get off this thing! The last snack they served was cold chicken salad. Needed the protein, so that was good. But both of us had to force it down. It wasn't served until about 2. We had been a bit hopeful when the flight map seemed to indicate that we'd be landing about an hour early. Too good to be true, the pilot announced that it was off an hour and we'd only be a little early from our scheduled 5:00 arrival. Once we landed, and got off the plane, we both felt a lot better. The passport line was very long but moved, took about 20 minutes (and the need for blank pages is a joke – they stamped on a page that was already pretty full). Our luggage was waiting for us! After customs, we saw the OAT rep, and she offered to help us to the hotel even though we didn't use their air. Hotel check in took a bit, but then to our strange room. Shower in corner of the room, not in a separate bathroom. Had dinner in hotel, a nice Mediterranean pasta, perfect for our jet lag diet.

Both ready for bed before 9. Thursday, 9/18 We both slept pretty well till after 3, then it was very little. Up at 6. Breakfast buffet was very good. Made to order omelets. Sat with some of the other OAT folks. Went to pay our dinner bill from last night and the BOA chip card was declined (said call auth center). So I went and got the Cap One card, same thing! Strange, called both that we were traveling. If they had called it may have been fine. Just paid cash. Glad we really don't need the credit cards! It has to be the hotel’s system, it can’t be an issue with two different cards at two different banks. Met everyone in the lobby to head for the airport, short drive. Seemed like we walked farther at the airport after we got out then the hotel was! Fairly quick check in (even if the guy didn't know who American Airlines was when we tried to enter our frequent flyer number). Thru all formalities, with way too much time left, some looking at lots of jewelry stores before getting to the gate. Bused to the airplane, pretty full flight. While waiting to board we talked to a couple on a different OAT trip, their guide was Edison and he sure looked like the Eddie we had in 2000 on our first trip here. After we took off and leveled off, we went back to introduce ourselves. It was him! He's been with OAT the whole 14 years! After telling him some of the unique things from our trip (helicopter, his wife/son going with us in the balloon at His Falls), he did remember us. We showed him the poems that Penney had written about our trip and he remembered them also. Great talking to him. We had to get our visas when we got to Vic Falls airport, and the line was quite slow. Luckily I don't think they waited too long for us. It is hot here, ac on bus was slow cooling off. We dropped some things for some people at the hotel we will be at at the end of the trip. Then off to the border. One lady realized when we got to the border that her passport was in the bag she left at the hotel! So they called and had someone bring it out. We were delayed about an hour. We went thru exit control to leave Zimbabwe, then entry control to enter Botswana, then waited for the passport. Finally off to drive quickly thru Chobe Natl park to get to our lodge. Saw a nice herd of elephant, a sable (rare), a ground hornbill and some vervet monkeys on the way. Met at the lodge with song and dance, as usual, and snacks. Then to our rooms to unpack a bit before being escorted (after dark you cannot walk alone) to the dining room for dinner. Chicken, vegetables and couscous. All good. Tired, back to room to get organized for tomorrow. Shower felt wonderful. Still pretty warm, hope sleeping is ok. There is a ceiling fan

Friday, 9/19 Slept ok for a few hours, it was still quite hot. Hard to get back to sleep. 530 drum wake up call was very early as I had finally gotten back to sleep. Now it was cool, definitely needed long sleeves to start the day. As we looked out our cabin, there was a huge herd of buffalo crossing the river and making their way across our view. Very nice. Quick continental breakfast and off to our first real game drive. The formalities to get into the game park are interesting. For some reason they need to see all of our passports each time! Champion will just keep them till we leave here, nowhere else does this. We saw kudu, a magnificent water buck fairly close, huge heard of buffalo - a few very close, a fish eagle, giraffe, of course impalla, huge herd of zebra. We made one stop for drinks, cookies and bathroom. Then drive back to camp, stopping to check out of the park. Lunch was lamb pie, several great salads and corn bread. It is getting warm now. Back to room, had to sleep, and boy is it hot. Over 90 in room. Did sleep a couple hours. Had local ladies do a basket weaving demo, then, of course, sells. Donna found one to add to our collection. Afternoon tea, then back on the vehicles to the park. Highlights included a large herd of eland, including babies. Not real close and clear, but still amazing. Also sable, a troop of baboons, with a cute little baby. Stopped for drinks then headed out of the park by the deadline. And we saw a few elephants cross the paved road we were on! Followed a short while down the road by three lions! Unbelievable! It was getting dark, so pix not great. The last lion was limping.

Back for dinner. We found that it did cool off faster today than it did yesterday - thank goodness. Dinner was good, had fish. Then back for a welcome shower. Tomorrow will be in the park from 7 till 3 or so, a long one, hope it is cooler. Saturday, 9/20 Wow, what a day! Up very early again, omelets for breakfast then off to the park. Big sightings today. LIONS - we saw them a couple times. Early we saw some a way off the road, males and females, got ok pix. Later in the day we saw a pair of young females along the river. Great views and pix there. LEOPARD- the highlight of the day (the trip?). Our leader spotted a leopard very near us beside the road just as we were leaving, he'd been quite hidden. He got up and gave us a great view and pictures. Then slowly walked away from us, climbed a small tree, then came back down and walked away. An amazing close, clear view. Best we have ever had! SABLE - we had seen a single one yesterday, had never seen one in the wild before. Today we saw a whole herd very near us, down by the river. After watching

a few minutes, they all came up the hill to the road, and crossed right in front of us! ELEPHANTS - there was a herd of over 100 playing in some water holes near the road. Lots of young ones as well as adults. Some rolling in mud holes. KUDU - we came up on several male kudu right on the side of the road. Our guides said they had never been that close before. They seemed oblivious to us being there, just kept on nibbling on the tree leaves. GIRAFFE - saw several throughout the day, but most were solitary. Did see a few in close proximity near the end of the day. DEAD ELEPHANT - we came upon a dead elephant (from natural causes) surrounded by vultures. It appears that the elephant isn't yet "open" and the vultures cannot eat. Apparently no other meat eater has been here to cut into the skin. After lunch, we again passes by this site, obviously the wind has changed, we now know what dead elephant smells like!

We had lunch out in the park. Chicken, pasta salad, potatoes and wonderful butternut bread. Today didn't seem as hot as the last two, hopefully it is a good trend. We got back to lodge about three, the needed to pack for an early start tomorrow, flying to the Delta. Dinner was a traditional BBQ served by the fire with minimal light. We were told they eat with fingers. Even soup doesn't use a spoon, we sop up the soup with bread. They did have silver wear for the main course but Donna stayed traditional. We had beef sausage, pork ribs and steak, with polenta, squash and corn on the cob. The staff performed dances for us after dinner, then wanted us to perform. Luckily, Bea put some old American dances together that went over well.

Sunday, 9/21 A very early start today - 430 wake up. After breakfast, we boarded a mini bus for the airport. Going thru the park, we found about six or so wild dogs on both sides of the highway and on the highway! These are very rare. Our company rep who met us at the airport said she's been here a couple years and has never seen any! We were really lucky. There was also a sable in the area. It took about an hour with the wild dog stop to get to the airport. The check in area looks familiar, we came thru this airport a couple times 14 years ago. Normal airport security, but such a small airport that it is very simple. Quickly checked internet news and sent an email, then we were called to board. Walked out on the tarmac to our 12 seat airplane. The pilot gave the safety instructions before we boarded. No way even Donna can stand in that plane. We got the seats just behind the pilot so I could watch the takeoff and landing, as well as the instruments. Flight just under an hour and fairly smooth. Didn't see anything exciting on the way.

Landed smoothly at the air strip, and saw the group before us waiting for their flight out. Talked to them a bit before they left. Obviously cooler here in the morning, all had jackets. They said this camp was better than the first. On our drive from the air strip we found another leopard! Unbelievable! He was under a tree just lounging. Didn't care a bit that our two vehicles were within 10 feet of him. Stayed and took pictures for at least 15 minutes. He changed poses for us several times and gave us one big yawn! Stopped for coffee and then also found a giraffe, a kori bustard, and even a pair of ostriches - our first of the trip. These guides are very good, and seem to have an interest in birds unlike the guides at the last camp. Temperature certainly started warming up by the time we got to the lodge. This lodge is great. All of the buildings are on stilts, with elevated walkways between (with some animal crossings provided). Had a good lunch after meeting the camp staff who all seem very good. We have tent #1 at the far end. Nice walk in, 24 hour electricity, ceiling fan and running water. Best of all, there were two elephants within easy view of our porch! They stayed in that area for a couple hours. Organized our new "home", and read for awhile till our afternoon get together for the next game drive. Champion gave a talk on Zimbabwean wedding customs, then off for our afternoon game drive. The road in and out of camp is terrible, it is deep sand and ruts like Chobe, only worse. We noticed an elephant on the side of the road, then looked closer and saw a whole "parade" of elephants heading towards the road behind us. Probably a couple dozen, babies of several sizes, and lots of females. Then our guide noticed vultures circling so we went to check it out. We found two male lions with a giraffe kill! The lions were lounging/resting off to the side and had pretty much cleaned out the inside of the giraffe leaving the meaty legs and ribs. They'd also torn into the head pretty good. We parked, took pictures, moved, took more from another angle, etc. The lions would move a little, then back to sleep. One got up and moved closer to the kill, then plopped back down to sleep. Then the other got up and started pulling on the giraffe. Finally he started eating again, not sure how, as his belly was extremely distended already. He didn't eat much, then walked further away and lay down again. We watched for well over an hour, skipping our "sundowner" stop. What a enjoyable day (especially for a "travel" day). We told several people on their first safari that they should appreciate how lucky they are. We've seen more in the last two days then we have seen on any of our other four! It has been amazing. Our guides are really good, and they and all of the camp staff somehow learn our names with one try. Dinner was the best we've had tonight. A wonderful beef stew, great vegetables, squash soup and a pineapple dessert. All of the food was appropriately hot, and

the vegetables were cooked (our last place had warm food, and nearly raw vegetables). We were walked back to our tent, as usual. At the crossing where the walkway lowers to ground level for animals to cross, there were several buffalo. Onks (one of the drivers, who was walking us to our tent) had us be very quiet as we walked across the crossing.

I don't know how they are going to top any of this and the last few days on the rest of this trip. Monday, 9/22 We both slept fairly well, it got pretty cool last night and we both pulled up the blanket. Our alarm went off just before Onks came to wake us at 6. He told us the buffalo was very near the crossing and we should be very careful, or wait for him when we were ready to come down for breakfast. When we were dressed and going down, Onks met us and took us via the staff walkway to a jeep and drove us to breakfast, the buffalo was just too close. We headed off for our morning drive and they heard of a leopard sighting so we headed off for that. We found him and followed him for a few minutes. Thank goodness these jeeps can just seem to plow thru anything. After a bit he got into brush that was too thick to follow. We decided to head towards yesterday's giraffe kill but when we passed the lion sitting there and barely saw the giraffe we knew Paul had heard something on the radio. We soon found a cheetah! We were able to follow him for half an hour or more. Again driving thru brush and small trees. What great fun following him. We then found two adult female lions with four cubs, about a year old. Watched them walk along some water, and settle down for a rest. After stopping for our morning coffee, we headed back to yesterday's giraffe kill. Lots of vultures in the trees around it. The giraffe carcass had been moved further under the tree, probably to hide it. They've eaten more, separating one of the legs, exposing the leg ball joint very plainly. One lion was sitting by the giraffe; the other was a few yards off under a tree. Time to head back, what a morning. Lunch was very good (fish, a great vegetable salad, and fruit). Back to our tent to rest. Just as we sat out on the porch, we noticed a young bull elephant grazing not 20 yards away. We watched him continue to eat and move around, coming even closer to our tent at one point. After a half hour or so, he wondered off towards the next tent. Amazing to have an elephant so close to us! Had a talk about Zimbabwean history by our leader, Champion, then off for our afternoon game drive. Saw lots of birds including a tawny eagle eating a fish. The highlight was finding the lions and cubs we saw this morning. They were all lounging under a tree. Oblivious to our two jeeps sitting there. They would roll on their back and lay with their legs sprawled out and stomachs up. Quite a sight. They'd get up and walk a short distance, the plop back down again. Very amusing. Learned that the one adult female in this group actually has excess

testosterone that produces a small mane, like a male. She's infertile, but will fake estrus and mate with a male to protect the cubs as a male will sometimes kill the cubs to get a female to mate with him. After dinner, on way back to tent, we saw two buffalo sleeping near the walkway, one very close to where we were walking. I did not like going over that ground level section in the dark with that buffalo so close. It's cooled off, should be nice sleeping. We have a later wake up tomorrow, as we have mokoro rides in the morning.

Tuesday, 9/23 Another cool night last night, didn't sleep quite as well but had a later wake up today, 630. Off on a morning game drive. Saw some interesting birds, including a great view of an eagle owl. Also got a great view of a couple wart hogs. Stopping for our coffee break we met the rest of our group who had done the first round of the mokoro rides. We boarded our mokoros for an hour ride down the channel. Saw a few interesting birds, and lots of water lilies but nothing much more. The mokoros were very wobbly, and not a lot of fun. But there wasn't the constant bugs, spider webs, and frogs falling into the boat as we had when here 14 years ago. During our afternoon break time, we found ourselves surrounded by a literal zoo. At one time from inside our tent we could see an elephant, baboons, kudo, wart hogs, impala, bushbuck and innumerable birds, squirrels. After a talk by one of the drivers on the Okavango Delta, we set off for our afternoon game drive. We again saw the ostrich pair with about a dozen chicks, then on to the highlights. We stopped back at the giraffe kill from two days ago to find they had again moved the giraffe and finished off much more, but one of the two lions was still guarding the remains, with the vultures still waiting in the trees around. The guide thought he'd probably leave tomorrow and let the others take over. From there we headed to a cheetah who had recently killed an impala. The guide thought within the last few hours. He had already eaten a good chunk of the impala, but unlike the lions who ate the insides of the giraffe first, most of the insides of the impala were still hanging out! Dinner tonight was again the farewell show by the campfire, with dinner served there. I'm not too impressed with these farewell dinners. I don't like eating on my lap, in the dark; and the food at these aren't up to the standards the other nights. I know it is supposed to be traditional African eating customs, but it isn't pleasant.

Wednesday, 9/24 A big travel day. Did a bit of a game drive to the airstrip, then waited for the planes. Five planes came in, three for us, not sure what the other two were for. We flew in the 12 seat plane, there were 2 in one other, and four in another. It was a one hour flight to Ksane airport, where we left three days ago. Waited for

the other two planes, then loaded up on two safari vehicles, towing a trailer with our luggage. A fairly short drive to the river bank where we went thru exit passport control from Botswana (Champion handled this by collecting our passports). We boarded two small boats to take us across the river to the Zambia side. There we boarded an air conditioned mini bus. The driver took our passports (and our $50 each for visas) and took care of everything for us. We had about an hour or more drive to Livingstone where we drove around the city a little bit. We drove thru the market area and saw all of the little shops selling food, clothes and anything else you can imagine. Then to the airport where we went thru the minimal non-US security and waited for our planes. Here we had two 12 seat planes and divided us between them. Botswana has a law requiring two pilots on these flights so we had a co pilot this time. I feel much better that way. The pilot was from S Africa, the co pilot from New Zealand. This flight was an hour and a half, and we got up to 12,000 feet, much higher than the other flights. We landed at the airstrip near our lodge and boarded safari vehicles for the lodge. These vehicles are similar to those in Botswana, but much more difficult to get in and out. The three rows of seats are also not staggered as they were before, so seeing from these will be much more difficult. This lodge looks very nice. A big central building with an office, huge dining/sitting area with fireplace (very hot this afternoon, don't need fireplace now), a big balcony overlooking the river, and the bar area is separate outside this building. We were served pizza on arrival (we had a sandwich on the bus to Livingstone). We were assigned room six, so that is a bit of a walk from the main building. The tents are huge! We have a king size bed with a sitting area, the bathroom area followed by another bedroom with two twin beds. Some people have even bigger tents, others don't have the separate bedroom. These are on concrete bases, with canvas walls but have have wood frames. Electricity for lights, but not for charging (have to do that in the office). Water is heated by solar as in the prior camps. We headed out for our first game drive here. As I thought, the safari vehicles are not great. We did get to see our first crowned cranes in the distance, and even saw their courtship dance. Saw our first pukus, antelopes similar to impala, but a little smaller, without the distinctive coloring. We continued this drive after dark, and he used the spotlight to find animals. We did find a hyena, but he kept moving and we only got short glimpses of him in the spotlight. Also saw an elephant while following the hyena. Back to camp for dinner. There was a hippo near the parking area, so a guard with a gun was there while we got off the vehicles. The night game drive made our dinner later and we didn't get back to our cabin till 9 or so. On the way to the cabin, there was still a hippo in the area, so we had the guard with the gun again. I tried to take a shower and never did get the hot water, so it was pretty cold. The temperature from the hot afternoon had quickly cooled when the sun went down.

Thursday, 9/25 It really cooled off last night, the thermometer showed about 58 in the room at 630 wake up. We heard lots of sounds thru the night, including what had to be an elephant near our cabin mowing down a small tree, we heard it crack and fall. Also heard hippos grunting during the night. The usual quick breakfast, then back on the jeeps. Saw some African wooly pigs across the water, something that is fairly rare; Champion said he hadn't seen any in several years. Again saw a crowned crane, a bit closer today. We had our coffee stop at a big hippo pool; saw them fighting a bit. A distant sighting of a saddle billed stork. White breasted bee eaters near their nests in the side of a sand wall. Saw an elephant shaking a palm tree to get the fruit to fall, he also scratched his butt on the tree. The tsetse flies were pretty bad this morning. The burned elephant dung in cans on the front of the jeep to keep them away. Seemed to help till the fire burned down and he had to restart it. Very pesky critters, I was bit a couple times. Back to camp, dropped our things off at our room and found a wart hog just off the path next to the main building, waited for Champion to rescue us. We had brunch today, they took egg orders, then put out the buffet while they prepared our eggs. After brunch, Champion briefed us on the Victoria Falls activities, and took our tee shirt orders (they have a great UA trip tee shirt available). The lodge manager walked us back to the room to help with the shower. easy for her either, but finally figured it out and we had HOT water. takes minutes to get the hot water makes it hard to adjust the faucet don't know which way to turn it. Donna was able to wash her hair, and decent shower tonight.

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Quite hot again this afternoon and we headed out for a game drive. The tsetse flies were horrible, especially for Gary. Johnny started the elephant dung smoke pot, and it helped a little but Gary was still bitten and bothered a lot. We saw a glimpse of a blue duiker, a strand grysbok, and two wattled cranes. After stopping for break and drinks, we heard of a leopard sighting so headed off in that direction. Once it got dark, the tsetses were better but still not gone. We went off road and searched with the spot lights for the leopard with no luck. Saw the rear ends of two elephants in the process. Back to camp for dinner. Dinner was wonderful, steak, roasted potatoes, egg plant parmesan, and carrots and zucchini. Very good. We had birthday cake for dessert, a surprise even for the honoree, they hadn't told them about it. An uneventful walk back to the tent. Followed by a wonderful shower with hot water!

Friday, 9/26 We were able to sleep in this morning to a 7 wake up. It didn't seem as cool last night, or it could just be that we were later. Heard loud lions just after we got to our room last night, and the usual hippo sounds throughout the night. Instead of a game drive today, we took two boats up the river. We saw lots of kingfishers, perched and flying. A few crocs, fish eagles, and, of course, hippos. The birds were interesting, and the ride on the boat very peaceful. We stopped at the far point for coffee, etc. Then rode back to the lodge. Had a briefing on our big travel day tomorrow. Followed by brunch. We had a chicken pie that was wonderful. We skipped the made to order eggs today. Seems a bit warmer today, so our siesta time is hot. Champion warned us that Hwange will likely be hotter than here. Hope he's wrong. While reading this afternoon a warthog came up to our porch from the water (we were inside), he nosed around under the porch, then ran on to the next cabin. Later this afternoon we had a talk on Zambia, including a demo by the camp manager on how women use a special piece of fabric, which was given to all of the ladies in the group. After that we got back on the boats. Our boat was for fishing; Donna fished, Gary watched and took pictures. Donna did finally catch a small mouth tilapia. One of the guys on the boat caught four! Dinner again started by the fire. But this time we only had our soup (wonderful potato leak soup) there, then went back to the dining area for the main course and dessert. We had fish and ox tail. Donna tried the ox tail, said it tasted like beef. Had the usual staff show after, but inside the gathering area. On way back to cabin we had a short astronomy talk, on the southern sky.

Saturday, 9/27 Another travel day. Full breakfast, then on the safari vehicles to the air strip. We realized during our stay that the four pilots for the two planes serving this and the sister camp stay at our camp for the night when they bring in a group, then are ready to take the next morning's group back early. The planes sit on the airstrip overnight. We were on the same plane as before, with the same co pilot, but a different pilot. We flew much lower today as it was morning and much cooler. It was a smoother and faster flight back. Back at the Livingstone airport we boarded a minibus for the short ride thru Livingstone to the border. Had to get off the bus to go thru exit passport control (getting our passport stamped and they didn't even look at the picture page to see if it was our passport). Back on the bus for a very short ride to the bridge over the Zambezi (the actual border), we all got out and walked across the border, looking down in the gorge below the falls. We saw numerous people in rafts on the water. Again boarded the bus for the short ride to the Zimbabwe border passport control. Very quick entry, we had bought a double entry visa when we arrived here from Jbrg. Then we finally got our new bus

(cannot use buses across the border). We first stopped at the Victoria Falls Hotel for bathrooms and the view. Then we drove on to the market to look around while Champion made arrangements for our Vic Falls activities. Finally back on the bus for the two hour drive to the Hwange National Park entrance where we were met by our guides for our time here. Boarded the safari vehicles for the 40 minute drive to the camp. Long bumpy dusty roads. Everything here is very dusty and dry. Saw very little wildlife on the way in. A nice looking lodge, were served a lunch, even though we had eaten a sack lunch on the bus from our last camp. Very hot here, thermometer in our tent said 94. Our tent is nice (but hot), especially the bathroom area with no windows for ventilation. Sure hope it cools off here at sundown, like at the last camps! Sat out on our porch to read, saw five elephants under a tree not too far from our tent, down the hill. We went out on our drive at 5. Did I say these roads are rough? And dusty? We saw a few giraffe, hard to spot with these totally brown landscapes. There's no green anywhere. Also followed a warthog a short distance, but he was determined to run away from us. Watched the sun quickly set about 6:30 then were heading back. Our guide stopped the jeep, it was pretty dark and totally quiet. Somehow he saw some elephants just a short way off the road. We watched and realized there was a long line of them. We turned around and went back a short distance and they were all crossing the road. There had to be at least 50! In the dark, just being able to make them out, it is really amazing seeing that many elephants crossing just in front of you. There were some young babies also. As the line went on, they started going faster, almost running across the road. Quite an interesting experience. Back to camp and dinner. We had a tomato and apple soup - very good. Then rice with orange beef, carrots, and stuffed squash. An excellent dinner. Followed by apple crumb cake. Thank goodness it quickly cooled off when the sun went down. It is still 80 in our tent at 9:00, but that is so much better. Shower felt wonderful; and boy is the hot water hot! With this heat and sun, that tank really gets hot.

Sunday, 9/28 Slept well last night it finally cooled off and we pulled up the blanket. It was 65 when we got up at 5:45. Quick breakfast and on the jeeps. We were with the younger of the two guides today, Thobani. He was good, but finding animals here is much more difficult. We found a giraffe, and of course, lots of guinea fowl. We stopped and the guide said there are lions out there. Boy did they blend in, but we finally found them in the dry grasses in the distance. There were three females and a male, spread over some area. They would get up and move, then lie down again. We drove up to a high hill, where the National Park lodge is and watched them from there. The higher viewpoint was farther away, but actually easier to follow them from higher up. It is apparent that game drives here will require more work to find the fewer animals. We were certainly spoiled at the earlier camps on this trip. They were almost like zoos.

Back to camp for a nice lunch then the afternoon rest. It is going to be a hot one again. By 3:00 it was 104 in the tent at the end with the most ventilation, it was 100 in the shade on the porch. We both took showers to try to cool off; Gary didn't even use any hot water! We had a talk on various African traditions, and left for the game drive about 4:15. Hot and dusty! We saw a couple small elephant herds, then found out the other jeep had found a leopard. So we raced off to meet them. "Racing off" on these roads is quite an experience on the back of an open jeep! On the way we passed a huge herd of buffalo, but we kept on going. When we got there the leopard had moved a ways off the road but was still visible moving slowly across the field. With binoculars we had some good views, but he was often hidden by trees or high grass. After watching him for a while we headed back to where the buffalo were, but they had moved on and couldn't be found. Wrapping up our afternoon drive, we again came upon a herd of buffalo (10-12 or so) on both sides of the road, heading for the river. There were a few babies. Back to camp for dinner (chicken), then a shower that felt really good. A long drive tomorrow, in this heat it will be interesting to be out till 3:00.

Monday, 9/29 It never did cool off much last night, about 69 when we woke up. Quick breakfast and off for a LONG day. We saw several herds of elephant. One group was not crazy about us being on the road they were crossing. They all looked at us as they crossed, some even trumpeted. Kind of neat experiencing that although a few of them looked a bit angry as they looked at us. Saw a few giraffe at various times, the usual impala and kudu. We stopped late morning at a man made watering hole, there is a thatched roof structure you can watch the hole from without being seen easily by the animals. There were hippos in the pool and we saw herds of kudu, impala, warthogs, waterbuck and even buffalo come to the pool to drink. There were crocs in the water but none ever went after anything. It was fun watching how careful animals were approaching the water making sure no predators were around. They served our lunch there also. It did, as expected get pretty hot, and the roads were as dusty and full of potholes as before. On the way back, we found some lion cubs, never saw the adults, but there had to be a kill nearby, as there were vultures all around. Since we can't go off road here, we couldn't search for it. We got back to camp about 3:15, after leaving at 7:00 this morning, a long hot day. Shower felt great, but will probably need another this evening before bed. It was 105 in the tent, right at 100 in the shade on the porch. Had our final dinner and show for this camp tonight. They did it better here, had the dancing and singing by the fire before dinner, then dinner back in the dining area. Dinner was good, had barbecue steak and pork chops.

Noticed tonight that there is only one woman working at this camp. That has to be a strange situation for her.

Tuesday, 9/30 It never did cool off much last night, still above 70 this morning. It is certainly creeping up each day now. I guess we should have come a couple weeks earlier. Full breakfast this morning, for our long break till lunch. They did give us lunch bags to take along (small sandwich, banana bread and an apple). On the drive in the jeeps to the minibus, we saw a herd of elephant, kudu, impala, and a couple giraffe. To the bus, then off to the school. We visited St Mary's Catholic grade school. About 800 kids with only 22 teachers! As usual, the kids were very well behaved. We visited a sixth grade classroom. We each sat down with one of the kids and talked with them. They showed us their workbooks, they write so neatly. The girl I talked with wants to be a pilot! Not sure they have any concept of what that really means. The other girl I talked with wants to be a nurse like her father. We left the school and stopped by a local store. Very meager place, only bare necessities. We each bought something to take to the village. We bought cooking oil. Then off to the village. We were met by the community, mostly women and invited into their "kitchen" building. It was very crowded in there with the 16 of us and about ten ladies, their young kids, the male elder of the community, and a 21 yr old man who acted as the interpreter. It was also a bit warm in there with only the door and one window. They explained how they lived, had us ask questions, and they asked us questions. The ladies all wanted things to be better for their kids, wanted them to have a way out of the villages. These ladies are totally dependent on their husbands, and cannot do anything on their own. We then walked around to see the other buildings and the ONE water faucet in the whole village. When we finished we gave them what we had bought at the store. The young man who interpreted for us, rode with us for a while till we dropped him off at a shopping area; we gave him the sandwiches from our lunch bag, we were seated close to him on the bus. It took about an hour or more to get to Victoria Falls, we went straight to the hotel. Quickly got things together, then off to the park at the actual Falls. We had an absolutely wonderful lunch (at 2:00) at a café in the park. Then off to walk the path along the falls. Much less water then when we were here in 2000 in March, but still impressive. After about two hours of walking in the park, we headed to pay for our tours tomorrow, then back to the hotel. For once we had a decent amount of time to get things organized and take showers before dinner. Dinner at the hotel, in an outdoor restaurant. Temperature not bad sitting out there. Dinner not great, but we did have another birthday - cake not great either. Will be nice sleeping in a hotel tonight! With a/c!

Wednesday, 10/1 It was sure nice sleeping in a room, with ac. BUT we killed several bloody mosquitoes in the room. More than we ever had in the bush. We both were awake

before the alarm. Met up with John and Kirsten who were joining us for the lion walk. The bus picked us up and we pretty much filled it up, a total of 20. About a 15 minute ride outside of town to the site. Had a safety talk and signed the release forms then off into the field. They released two six month old cubs to run amongst us. They were typical kittens, running and playing. We were able to walk among them, reach down and pet them. But they didn't want to stay still very much. We left the kittens and met up with two 18 month old cubs. They were more sedate and we were able to squat down next to them and pet them more leisurely. Their fur is kind of wiry. The guides were great at taking our cameras and taking tons of great pictures of us with the cubs. It was great fun. They also took a video which they offered to sell to us, we passed, the stills will be great. We returned to the main area after about 45 minutes with the lions. They served us a hot breakfast, not the items I would have chosen, but it was good and we were hungry with the early start and no breakfast. Back on the bus and we were the first dropped off. Luckily our room was already cleaned and we were able to get things organized for the flights tomorrow. After we got ready for dinner, the electricity went off. Then on, and off several times. It came on as we left for the lobby. We were back on a mini bus (again), should be only one more time, on the way to the airport tomorrow. We arrived at the pier and boarded the boat. Found out that we had the boat to ourselves. The tables were set nicely. The sun was setting; it was quiet sailing up the river, away from the Falls. The temperature was perfect. Dinner was great, had appetizers, squash soup, chicken breast, vegetables, and potatoes. Had a spice cake for dessert. It was an excellent farewell dinner. Driving down the private road from the dock we saw two elephants by the road, one large one right by the road. An interesting view in the dark. One last animal sighting. Maybe we will see more on the way to the airport.

Thursday/Friday, 10/2 & 3 This morning was a nice leisurely "get ready", compared to all the early wake ups and quick get ready. AND no sunscreen today! We slept till almost 7:30, oh so nice. Then got up and organized some of the packing, got ready and went to breakfast. The buffet here is really pretty good, and they do eggs to order, we had omelets. No rush, it was oh so nice. Then back to the room to finish packing and out by 10:00, as we were supposed to. Bus didn't arrive till about 10:30, but we still had plenty of time. Arriving at the airport there was quite a slow moving line. Finally it started moving steadily. Checked in, turned bags over to Champion to take to wherever. Had about an hour plus to wait for our flight to Johannesburg. The flight finally boarded, had to walk outside and up the stairs. Had a great hot sandwich on the flight. Parked out on the tarmac in Jbrg, took the bus into the terminal. Found our way to the passport/immigration line, much shorter than when we arrived two weeks ago. Quickly thru that and to luggage claim, ours were some of the first bags out, amazing. Grabbed a cart and made the long walk to the international check in, had to take an elevator. As soon as we found the check in

counters, Delta was the first airline we saw! We were really early, about four hours before flight time, so no line and we were checked in. We decided to walk the length of the international terminal outside security to use up some of the wait time. Once we decided to go thru security, we had a line that didn't take too long. But just past security we had to go thru exit passport control, and that line was a mess. Finally thru that we walked toward our gate, found a restaurant that looked good and decided to have our "lunch" on home time. Had a great open faced grilled chicken sandwich with avocado. We both picked the same thing. Paid with no issues with the credit card. After the issues we had with two cards at the hotel here two weeks ago, we were a little concerned. To the gate, there was a little more security there for a flight to the US. Turned out to be nothing more than a few questions for us, there were tables and they did search some of the hand luggage, but not ours. While waiting for boarding we saw the guy that sat next to us on the way over, we caught up on each other's trips. The guy sitting next to us on this flight is a restaurant owner from Louisiana. He was on his safari in South Africa with some friends, leaving his wife and kids at home! Interesting! So far (it is 4:50 pm Dallas time, 11:50 pm Africa time) I'm still fairly awake, Donna is sleeping. Our goal is to try to sleep on Dallas time so it is a little early. I watched a movie already (Million Dollar Arm), it was very good, Donna watched a movie also. We had dinner (this was our dinner on Dallas time, a little early) during the movie. We both did better than normal sleeping this time. I woke up a lot, but have slept a lot also as the hours went by fairly quickly. Gave up on sleeping about 4:30 Atl time, that's about 2 hours out. They'll be serving breakfast soon. Nice breakfast on flight, and finally landed! Immigration went great with our Global Entry, had to wait a bit for luggage, but straight thru customs with the special line. Rechecked bags then had to go upstairs for "pre check" line. That went quick, but the TSA agent was rude. Found McDonalds for a bit more breakfast then on to gate. Started raining, and some lightning so the ramp was closed and our flight delayed an hour. Glad it was the last flight, but we want to get home! Finally up for the short flight. Our driver met us at baggage, Donna picked up our lunch for home. Good to be home from a wonderful trip.