Botswana - Selinda Camp

Our two days spent in the Selinda Spillway in Northern Botswana at the Selinda Camp were so special.   It took some doing getting to - involving two airplane rides in two 6 seater planes (and that includes the pilot), a drive in a safari truck, then a boat ride in a very small boat with all our gear to the camp.   We were warmly welcomed into the camp by one of the managers and were treated like we were the only people at the camp for those days.   We were also welcomed by Scarface, the loner old male hippo that is seen around the camp.  On the first night the girls heard him by their tent... thank goodness hippos can't climb steps.  The camp was another beautiful safari camp on a private game reserve with access to tons of land - and animals.   I think that perhaps even my sister Beth, who hates any form of camping, would enjoy 'camping' in these luxury 'tents'.   Our guide's name was Mots and this time there weren't any other people on the game drives with us.   Mots surprised us more than a few times with his driving skills... through and in water that came up to the hood of the truck.   It was funny to see the headlights buried under the water during our night drives.  The routine was similar from the last camp: up at 5:30am for the first game drive for 3-4 hours, back for lunch, relax for a couple of hours before tea time, leave on the second drive by 4pm for another 3 hours then dinner and bed.   There was a coffee break during the morning drive and the 'sundowner' break during the afternoon drive where the guide would find a safe place to stop the truck in the middle of no where to have a snack and a drink.   The food was spectacular - and so much of it.  And did we see animals... see the pics below.   We and the other guests were surprised by an outdoor dinner set up about two miles from camp in open field with our full gourmet meal being cooked on grates over multiple fires.  They had set up tons of lanterns for lights, even all throughout one of the trees.  It was a magical evening and one of the highlights of the trip for me.  It was sad leaving Selinda after our two day stay but at least we had one more camp to look forward to visiting before heading back to Red Hook and the real world.

One of our many tiny planes

Scarface, appropriately named from all his battle wounds

Lots of lion prints for Mots to track...

... which led us to this lion pride of 18 with lots of cubs!

 

Lioness with some of her cubs

Warthogs

 

All eyes (and ears) on us during a boat cruise

Baby ele nursing

Two-headed giraffe (haha)

Mots on the left driving with the water up to the hood

Kudu in action

Spotted hyena baby

Wildebeest

Impala - known as the fast food of the bush

Cool pic of the landscape

View from the cabin

Zambia pictures

Petting the two 6 month old lion cubs



Before the jump...



... and on the way down

High Tea at the Royal Livingstone Hotel

My view of the Zambezi river while sipping Earl Grey

View of mist from the top of the Falls at sunset from Royal Livingstone's sun deck

Petting Lions to Bungee Jumping

What a day...  The first activity of the day was a Lion Encounter.  We were picked up at the hotel at 6:30am and were driven to a lion conservation facility.   Their mission is to increase the number of lions in Zambia as the overall Africa lion population is declining.  Part of their fundraising is to allow visitors to walk with lion cubs in Zambia's smallest national park.  These particular lion cubs will never be on their own in the wild due to their human interaction but their offspring, that will be born in the wild, will live fully in the wild without any human interaction.   We walked through the bush with two 6 month old cubs for an hour.  All they wanted to do was run and play with each other and they weren't so interested in walking with the 10 in our group.  They were so fun to watch!  Each person got a chance to pet them. 

The breakfast buffet was still open at 10am when we arrived back to the hotel which was good because we were starving.  After breakfast we decided to walk to the big rail/road bridge seen in my last blog at Victoria Falls and see about ziplining across the falls - from Zambia to Zimbabwe.  We were completely harassed once again by men trying to talk to us and sell us things until each of us, except Elena, shouted at them to stop.   To make a long story short Elena decided she wanted to bungee jump instead.   I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about watching her dive 333 ft into the gorge.   Well, she did it and loved it!  Victoria and I were NOT going to bungee jump and settled for the zipline across the gorge instead.  It was pretty scary to start off because you weren't sure how fast it went.  I made sure not to look down...  Brad chose to stay behind to watch and take pictures and video.  

We hung out at the pool for an hour in the afternoon before going our separate ways: Brad and the girls on the Zambezi River Sunset Cruise and me to the Royal Livingtone for high tea on the hotel deck overlooking the river and then to watch the sunset from their special sun/cocktail deck right on the river.  Zebra were roaming around the deck and their pool while I was there.  It was a very relaxing time for me and the others enjoyed their cruise with free snacks and drinks.  They saw lots of hippos in the river. 

This is the last post I will be able to enter as we head to Botswana tomorrow morning to visit two different game reserves.   The places at which we are staying don't have a phone number contact and one of them is off the grid.   We were told that both camps do not have internet access.   I will have one more post but it won't be posted until we are back at home this coming weekend. 

FYI - The internet access at the hotel isn't working well which prevents me from posting any pictures. :-(

Victoria Falls, Zambia

We had a great day today at the Zambizi Sun hotel right next to Victoria Falls in Zambia.   On the other side of the falls is Zimbabwe.    Ziplining tomorrow will require us to purchase visas to Zimbabwe as it starts on the other side of the Falls.   After acquiring heavy duty rain coats from the hotel we braved it across the bridge.  We were drenched.   There was a nice walk around an island.   The water is at the highest it will be all year which means the spray from the falls can be seen for many miles.   The breakfast buffet was delicious but interesting because we were entertained by the guards outside the hotel restaurant trying to keep the monkeys out of the restaurant.   We saw two of them be successful in their mission to get in, grab some fruit and get out.   Right outside the Falls entrance was a market with the locals trying to sell their goods.   We barely made it out of there alive.   They descended upon the girls and I and completely harrassed us - that is until I told them to get out of my face as directly as possible.   You cannot be nice to these people.   I am not exaggerating when I mention I had to be that direct with over 30 men.  They were everywhere wanting to get you to buy their stuff.  In the end I did want to buy a couple of things so I stated loudly that I would buy something from the person that was not going to harrass me.   That helped but only a little.   I was glad to get out of there...  There were also a lot of baboons wandering everywhere.   A huge one came up to Brad and wanted his diet coke.   One of the locals told him to just give it to him or else he wouldn't leave him alone.   I also saw a mother baboon that had JUST given birth and was holding the still unclean baby at her breast. 

We then made our way to a small airstrip where we were taking a short helicopter ride over the falls and the gorge.   That was really cool, especially with the water level of the river so high.  The rest of the day was hanging out by the pool, switching rooms because the lock on the girls room didn't work and having a low key dinner at a cafe around the corner from the hotel.   We've got an early morning tomorrow when we head to a lion encounter. 

Success in stealing an apple from the breakfast buffet

 Baboon with Brad's Diet Coke

The girls at Victoria Falls



Arial view of the Falls: Zambia on the right of the bridge, Zimbabwe is on the left (our hotel is in the upper right)



The Falls at sunset

Random Pics



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Victoria at the pool's edge





Our waterfront on the Vaaldam in South Africa



Elena our stand-in tracker

The Big Five

The Arathusa Safari Lodge in Sabi Sands park, near Kruger National Park in South Africa where we spent the last three days, was gorgeous.   We are all going through withdrawl now that we have left.   I have just been able to get back online to update this blog and realized that, for some reason, my blog that I entered from Wednesday is no longer posted.   It was posted long enough for Victoria to read it but then disappeared.   This entry will be a summary of the amazing time we spent at Arathusa.   The lodge is small with about 18 guests.  All meals are served outside overlooking their lake make from a small dam.   The main lodge is all open and overlooking the lake where lots of animals hang out.   We go on two safaris a day, one from 5:45am to 8:45am and the second from 3:30pm to 6:30pm.   We didn't have a lot of down time as we were on the go with other activites mid-day, including a helicoptor ride for Victoria's 21st birthday where we saw Blythe Canyon and God's Window), spa visits for the girls (where the girls signed me up for an anti-aging facial... so nice to be though of...), and a bush walk where we ran into a family of warthogs.   The safari drives were surreal... almost like our current version of Jurassic Park.   The animal sightings were incredible.   We saw the Big Five: rhino, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo and lions including 6 week old lion cubs, a 2 month old elephant and lots of baby rhinos and cape buffalos.   We got to see a lot of fresh kills also - a leopard feasting on an impala in a tree with his head and leg bones dangling, 6 month old lions cubs feasting on a wildebeast and a rare, sad sight... a big bull elephant kept venturing into one of the camps and causing a lot of damage.   The authorities were called in and determined the elephant should be put down.    To discourage poachers the elephant's head was cut off... and over 300 vultures descended around the body for a meal.    The buzzing from the flies was so loud.   Not something I was thrilled to see before dinner but it was definitely interesting.   One of the coolest things we saw was a herd of elephants.  We were positioned well when we saw a couple grazing on a tree.  Then all their friends kept coming and coming and soon we were surrounded with elepahnts on all sides of us, going about their business destroying trees in the process of eating them.   The leopards were so beautiful and so easy to stare at.   We lucked out and were asssigned the best guide and tracker in the area, Ryan (24 years old) and Debeer.  I had read about them from tripadvisor.com.   Also in our truck was a lovely English couple who was visiting Arathusa for the third time and coming again in September.   The best part of the day was the 'sundowner' break during the afternoon game drive.  This was a cocktail hour with drinks and snacks set up in the middle of a field (anywhere the ranger wanted to take you) to see the sunset.  We didn't want to leave Arathusa this morning but needed to make our way to Victoria Falls in Zambia.   Instead of driving the three hour drive from the lodge back to Nelspruit airport we chartered a 'light transfer' (ie, a 4 seater airplane) which only took 25 minutes.   When Brad sat down in the back seat the whole airplane tipped up :-).

Six month old lion cub

White Rhino



A very content male lion after his wildebeast kill





Leopard resting after his impala meal

Cape Buffalo



The girls with Ryan our guide during our morning coffee break



The two month old with his young friends.  Mom is to the left.



Aupair Reunion

Our flight to Johannesburg was very long but at least it took off close to on time (10 am EST) and made it safely there.  Elena wasn't so thrilled about the plane food and after some frustration she said, "Why can't they just serve cheeseburgers?" Jolene met us at the airport and drove us directly to a small peninsula on the Vaal Dam about 2 hours South of Joburg.  Jolene; her husband, Grant; their 18 month old daughter, Daniella; Jolene's father, Vernon; and Vernon's wife, Cathy; made arrangements to stay overnight in a friend of Jolene's home right on the water out in the middle of nowhere.  It was a stunning location, and a beautiful day.  Victoria joined us later in the morning with Michelle, Michelle's boyfriend Niel, and their 20 month old son Guvan.  We were supposed to spend the day with Michelle and her family on Sunday but with our flight delay we weren't able to.  On her way to see us, Tori stopped at a place at which Michelle used to work and got to hold and play with a 2 week old lion cub!!  We spent the day eating great food at a great location and visiting with our two past aupairs and their new families.  For dinner we ate a traditional African Braai, which is a variety of mixed meats on the barbecue, and pap which is similar to corn grits but with a sauce made from cooked tomato, onion, and spices.  For dessert, Cathy made crepes with cinnamon and sugar, yum!  After saying goodbye we all crashed by 9:45 pm and slept right through to 4:30 am when the alarm went off, to get up and out of the house.  Our flight from Joburg to Nelspruit Airport, close to Kruger National Park, was at 9 am and with traffic we had to leave by 5 am.  Thank you again to our wonderful hosts for making our day and evening so special!

Tori and Elena with Guvan and Daniella

On Our Way - Again!

After a very long check in process we are on the plane with the doors closed and ready to go. Tori is safely with Michelle and will spend the day and evening with her. Jolene is picking us up at the airport early tomorrow when we arrive. I am so excited that Michele will be able to spend part of the day with us tomorrow! Jolene is making all the arrangements for us to meet up with Tori and Michelle. Can't wait!! Wheels Up!!

Computer Glitch

Well, Africa is going to have to wait a little longer for the Howlands. After sitting on the tarmac for three hours at JFK today while South African Airlines tried to fix a computer problem the pilot broke it to us that the flight was going to be delayed further... like in 22 hours from the original departure time. So at 2:30pm we all got on buses to spend our afternoon and evening at the lovely Doubletree Hilton JFK. Thank God we used a travel agent as she was able to call Victoria and our aupairs to let them know what was happening. I was able to email Tori back and forth from my phone. We were all so bummed because we had a whole day planned to spend with Michelle, aupair #7. My biggest priority was making sure Tori would still be met at the Johannesburg airport by Michelle because she was flying in from Namibia an hour after our flight arrived. After a number of emails and calls we confirmed that Tori would be met as planned by Michelle. Jolene, aupair #2, said she would pick us up on Monday morning (thank you Jolene!). We will need to figure out still how to meet up with Michelle and Tori. At least the safari part of our trip doesn't start until Tuesday morning but we missed being with Michelle and her family!! One minor problem with the "delay" was that our luggage was being held on the plane. Big bummer as I usually never check luggage. We got a taxi to a Verizon store to buy a power cord for my phone as mine was checked. For dinner we had the fine dining at the hotel cafe because it was free. BIG MISTAKE. A not very good buffet was awaiting us. There were no other options without spending another 30 min in a taxi fighting traffic. Then to top off the not good buffet for dinner they were out of their signature cookies for dessert The good news is that things can only get better from this point! The bus picks us up at the hotel to try this again Sunday at 7am. Let's hope they got the plane fixed...

It's Finally Here!

After over nine months of planning the time has finally arrived for our Africa trip.  Our flight is Sat., May 7 at 11:15am out of JFK.   It will be 15 short hours to Johannesburg where we will meet up with Tori in the airport.   Her flight from Namibia arrives one hour after ours.  Can't wait to see her!   Over the next 15 days we will be staying at six places in three countries and going on three different safaris.  Africa here we come!

Africa Trip Countdown