Victoria Falls: The Mist that Thunders!

     Saturday, May 27, 2023, we made our way back to the Zimbabwe border. We made friends from Paris, France standing in line at immigration, which we bumped into again and again at the falls and dining twice. After waiting about 30 minutes in line, we realized we could just go to the residents of Zimbabwe window since we have working visas. There was only one line and no one there to direct anyone. Once across the border of Botswana, we changed drivers and entered Victoria Falls to meet our personal guide, Terrai with Kazungula Low Budget Travel. This guy is a personal friend of a member; which Reeve Nield lined up for us. He drove us all over the Victoria Falls area and gave us advice and delivered us to the airport Sunday afternoon for $100. He was quite pleasant to visit with, plus he got a free helicopter ride and lunch with us.

    We had lunch at the famous "Look Out" restaurant, which overlooks the gorge. You can watch the bungee and zipline daredevils go off over the gorge. Looks scary! I would've tried it but, we are missionaries and are supposed to avoid risky activities. I tried ostrich meat, like steak slices, on my salad. It wasn't the best and I got sick afterward.

     After taking us to our lodge to drop off our luggage, Terrai came to take us to see Victoria Falls via helicopter. This was a wonderful way to see the whole falls and gorge from an aerial view. I sat in the front by the pilot and Bruce & Terrai were in the back to even out the weight. We had an amazing view! This natural wonder is named, "The Mist that Thunders" in Shona. You certainly can hear the roaring waters thunder even a few miles away.

An exciting helicopter adventure over Victoria Falls to see some amazing views of this natural wonder!

WELCOME to VICTORIA FALLS! Our welcoming committee danced for us. Vic Falls is one of the world's seven natural wonders. Now we know why...(2023.05.28)    Baboons everywhere, loved the mom and babies!

We went and saw the "Big Balboa Tree". Its trunk circumference is enormous!  These trees produce a hard pod with seeds; you can break them open to get "cream of tarter". The Shona people eat the inside or boil it into a custard-like porridge by adding a little water and sugar. Zeri, at the temple site, gave me one to try.

At the Victoria Falls Market, all sorts of artisans are selling their goods and expect you to barter on price. Bruce fell in love with this artist's talented drawings of pen and ink. He coached him to set a price and not barter because his talent was worth it. We bought this original of the Balboa tree. 2023.05.27

    We stayed in the Lokuthula Lodge and attended a fun buffet dinner and drum show. It was fun to drum and dance around with the staged Africans for photos.

I tried a little piece of crocodile meat appetizer. I think that's what made me sick. The buffet was quite fancy with a whole pig roasting, kudo steaks, and eland stew along with yummy butternut squash soup, salad bar, dessert bar, and all sorts of sides. By the time we got our main course, after the soup, I was getting quite nauseated. Bruce had mentioned he was tired and didn't mind leaving early. I felt like vomiting and told Bruce, "We need to leave" because I was getting sick. We barely made it outside when I vomited on the grass next to the paths back to our lodge. I felt better after I lost it, literally!  I really think I got food poisoning from the ostrich meat or the crocodile meat. Yuck! I actually slept it off and felt much better in the morning without any nausea the next day.

The Boma Drum Show and Dinner were lots of fun; except I got food poisoning! I think we've become Africans so sorry kids; we may not be coming home for a while! 2023.05.

    On the last day, we walked the Victoria Falls trail. Terrai had us rent rain slickers. We really wished we would've brought swimming suits instead; because we still got drenched! The falls were amazing from both views. As you walk back along the fall trail, there are rainbows glistening in the sunshine from all the mist. Photos can't even capture the beauty of this majestic natural wonder. 

We made our way back, soaked, to the David Livingston statue, explorer, founder, missionary, etc. 2023.05.28

We flew back "home" to Harare on Zimbabwe Air and made it safe and still sound. It was an enjoyable trip, and we checked things out for future friend and family visits.

Zeri, from Electrical HZT site, gave me a Balboa pod like the big tree we saw. You hammer them open and eat around the hard seeds inside. white chalky inside is what they make cream of tarter with. Zeri told me to boil the seeds with a little sugar and it makes a great porridge super food.

Lions, and Crocs, and Hippos, OH MY! Safari in Botswana

    We saw at least 50+ elephants and giraffes during our safari at Chobe National Game Park in Botswana. 2023.05.25-27

       Bruce and I had an amazing trip to Victoria Falls and Botswana's Chobe National Park over a 4 day weekend. The temple site workers had both Thursday and Friday off due to Africa Day. We are on the site volunteering and as missionaries, when the workers are off, we are also. Of course, you're never "off" as a missionary. Elder Anderson taught everyone he met, our van and jeep drivers, the lodge hostess, the waiters, etc. We gave out the only 3 Books of Mormon we brought; but, we are sending 3 more next week with Sister Whitlock and her family. They are going to Victoria Falls and the same safari next week. Our friend, Reeve Nield, arranges the traveling and lodging for us. Everything went slick even crossing the border through Botswana immigration and back to Zimbabwe.

    The Chobe National Game Park was amazing! We saw so many animals in their natural habitats. Our lodge, The Tlouwana Camp, means "baby elephant". Appropriately named, since we saw many elephants just beyond our tent and while we dined, feeding at the watering hole. We were quite pampered, being the only 2 guests in the camp and safari. We had a nice tent lodging with a proper shower and bathroom. There was an electric fence around the lodge area to keep the animals out and the humans in.

 On the game drives, we must have seen over 50 elephants and giraffes, along with lots of impalas, kudos, bushbuck, wildebeest, cape buffalo, baboons, vervet monkeys, squirrels,  zebra, wort hogs, vultures, and guinea fowl.

 The new animals we added to our list: lions, crocodiles, hippos, a jackal, a hyena, a monitor lizard, an iguana, and stripped mongooses. It was so cool to see animals on both water and land. On the first day, we had about a 5-hour jeep safari ride exploring the bush with Jacks, our driver, and guide. He had sharp eyes and pointed out things we wouldn't have seen otherwise.  The next day we had an early morning drive from 05:30 a.m. until lunch. It was cold in the open-air jeep, but they provided us with blankets. We didn't come prepared with coats; the mornings and evenings get chilly this time of year. It's still nice and hot during the daylight hours. That evening on our second day, we went out on a boat on the Chobe River. We saw several crocodiles on shore but many more in the water. You never want to go swimming in these waters!

Lions! Yes, we saw two male lions feeding on their fresh kill of a cape buffalo early one morning with 4 females in their pride. Unfortunately or fortunately, we were about 200 yards away so couldn't get close-up photos. Bruce kept praying we wouldn't be eaten by lions or bit by snakes; his greatest fears! We only saw snakes at a snake park in cages, thank goodness. Our camp hostess told us they had just removed a "spitting cobra" from the premises shortly before we arrived. They also spotted a "baby" python, so we were very careful to watch where we stepped!

A lion paw print...Two male lions and females in the distance (center) eat their fresh prey. 2023.05.26

Hippos in Chobe River, they can be quite aggressive so we didn't get too close. The African sunsets on the river were amazing! We got to see these beautiful sunsets looking into the Namibia border from Kasane, Botswana. The Chobe River divides the two countries and they share the important river for tourists in Botswana and trade for the Namibians. Jacks taught us a lot of history and facts about the area.

We loved that Jacks stopped and went around these arm ants crossing the road. He said if we respect nature, nature will respect us. The other saying he stated, "We will see what nature provides." 

Below is a guinea fowl, they have beautiful blue heads with black spots. They are running all over the bushlands. 

We spent an hour during the day at a wildlife snake preserve. Bruce could've skipped this for sure! I got brave and not only felt the muscles of the python but put it around my neck; only because the snake keeper was holding his head very tightly; I hope!

We spotted a monitor lizard on the shoreline. 2023.05.27

This beautiful elephant put on quite a show for us.

Our boat got within a few feet of him on the shore. I love elephants; they are so majestic! We also came across a herd of giraffes; in which, Bruce came to tears. That night coming back to the lodge in the dark our spotlights shone on about 30 giraffes. It was amazing to see. We even saw a darker male giraffe almost mate a female right in front of us. They moved into the bush for some privacy! Perhaps our favorite part of the wildlife experience was seeing 5 teenage male elephants in the river swim across to shore in a parade right in front of us! It was absolutely amazing and too cool to even describe!

These "teenagers" swam on a "parade" in front of us using their trunks as "snorkels" 2023.05.27

Beautiful wildlife along the Chobe River. We loved the sunsets and viewing all kinds of animals.

More hippos on our river boat cruise on the second day of our Chobe National Game Safari.

Jacks, our tour guide for both jeep and river safaris. Love the African sunsets! 2023.05.27

    Our sweet little granddaughter, Annabella, had her third birthday on May 23rd. We miss her! She's a little princess. Ben is such a fun and cute daddy; they had a party for her