The Zambezi Queen Riverboat

We've been out of touch for the last four or five days because we had no internet while in Botswana and Namibia. Now we're in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and there is great wi-fi in our hotel.

The transfer from the hotel in Johannesburg to the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg last Monday was excellent. We were chauffered in a Mercedes Benz with a guide to tell us a bit of history of South Africa. We were the only passengers.

The plane that flew us from Johannesburg to Kasane, Botswana was an AVRO-RJ85, a regional jet of sorts. We had a very nice flight of about two hours that included a light lunch. When we arrived in Kasane, we had to go through a passport control station manned by one person for the whole plane.

We boarded some safari Land Cruisers to take us down to the river. We also had to pass through Immigration again because we were leaving Botswana. The Zambezi Queen cruises in Namibian waters on the Chobe River.

 

We boarded some boats to take us to the other side of the river to pass through Namibian Immigration.

 

We re-boaded the boats to take us out to the Zambezi Queen. The African crew welcomed us with songs. This would be our home for the next four nights.

This is a shot of the top deck where we ate all our meals. The crew was very friendly, and even addressed Linda by her first name. We celebrated her birthday onboard, and the crew sang "Happy Birthday" to her that night.

Our cabin was very spacious with private bathroom and even a king-size bed. We had air conditioning, a balcony, toiletries, hair dryer- the works. They run a very classy operation on the Zambezi Queen.

 

We re-boarded the boats to take us up (or down) river to get to the Zambezi Queen. African sounds of the crew singing welcomed us. This would be our home for the next four nights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kingfisher to Elephant

Kingfisher Lunch

This was the most hilarious thing. We were out in a blind on the shore of a lake looking at different bird species. This kingfisher has a fish in its mouth that is obviously too big to swallow. So he's thrashing it back and forth trying to break it into smaller pieces. Funny!

We saw lots of elephants in Pilanesberg refuge. Here's a shot of a family with two babies!

 

 

Here's a shot showing both babies!!!

 

 

 

Baby Elephant Sand Bath

In this video a baby elephant is picking up sand with its trunk and spraying it across its back!!!

 

Linda says I have to bribe her to include this photo. On Saturday, June 27th, we went to an elephant sanctuary. During one portion of the tour, guests were invited to feed an elephant. I convinced Linda to participate so I could take her picture.

 

 

During another portion of the tour guests were invited to come up and touch the elephant. Again, I convinced Linda. Of course, I couldn't participate because I had to take the picture.

 

 

In this segment, guests were invited to have a kiss from one of the elephants. When Linda saw the big dirty mark on the cheek of this girl, she declined.

 

 

Here both of us are holding on to the tusks. Man, is the elephant ever huge compared to our size!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome to Africa! This is our first safari adventure of the trip. We hired a local guide to take us to Pilanesberg which is a game preserve about 2-1/2 hours to the northwest of Johannesburg. We spent almost 7 hours driving around in the preserve looking for the best photographic shots of the various animals. It was a long day- 12 hours but definitely worth it.

This was our first encounter with wildlife- a group of impalas.

There are a lot of impalas in the preserve. In fact, so many that it got to the point where if anyone said, "Stop, I see something", that we would say, "Oh, it's just another impala.

We stopped by a mudhole and found a large group of hippopottimi lazing in the afternoon sun.

This is a dead giraffe. We couldn't decide how he died because there is a large slit down the back of its neck.

We saw this lone ostrich foraging along the road.

There were lots of giraffe in the preserve!!!

Our guide is a professional wildlife photographer, and he brings all sorts of camera equipment on his trips for customers to borrow if they don't have their own. He lent me a 100-400mm professional level Canon lens which I used to the utmost. Won't be buying though at $1600. for the lens only!!!

How does a giraffe, being so tall, take a drink of water? Very carefully!!!

We found a favorite watering hole for a variety of animals including giraffes, impalas, warthogs, and zebras.

Here's a group of zebra that came down for a refreshing drink. There's also a warthog in the upper right corner of the photo!

I found the stripes on these animals to be so dramatic, especially with a large, powerful telephoto lens like the 100-400.

No safari to Africa would be complete without seeing a rhino. Here we had to stop at an apparent rhino crossing.

At 4:00 we were about ready to head back to our hotel..... The problem was that we had seen no lions, and our guide was checking all the favorite haunts. We were heading down into a dip in the road when we came across this pride of six lions, two large and four smaller ones.. There were some young males in the group.

Here's a shot of one of the young males!

We were very lukcy to have found this pride when we did. We almost missed seeing them.

 

Golden Trails of East Africa Itinerary

June 23-24:  Flight from Phoenix to London Heathrow and on to Johannesburg, South Africa.
June 25-27: Tour on own including Pilanesberg Safari tour and Elephant Sanctuary tour.
June 28: Check in to Fairlawns Boutique Hotel for start of Golden Trails of East Africa safari tour.
June 29: Flight to Kasane, Botswana and transfer to Zambezi Queen riverboat.
June 30: Morning boat safari.  PM visit to Kasenu village.
July 1: Game drive in Chobe National Park. PM tender boat safari.
July 2:  Morning water safari, afternoon barge safari to view elephants and hippos.
July 3:  Disembark and transfer to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Hotel check-in.
July 4:  Guided tour of Victoria Falls and sundowner cruise.
July 5:  Flight to Johannesburg and check-in to Fairlawns Boutique Hotel.
July 6:  Morning flight to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania connecting with flight to Kilimanjaro airport. Transfer to Arusha Coffee Lodge.
July 7: Safari briefing and coffee tour.
July 8:  Morning flight to Tarangire, Tanzania, game drive and lunch in the wilds. Check-in at Tarangire Treetops Lodge with lodging in treehouses.
July 9: Morning and evening safari drives and walks in Tarangire. Masai village visit.
July 10: Morning game drive through Tarangire National Park en route to Kuro Airstrip for flight to Manyara, Tanzania. Lake Manyara National Park game drive and lunch. Arrival at The Manor at Ngorongoro, Tanzania.
July 11:  Full-day Ngorongoro Crater tour with game drives and picnic.
July 12:  Flight to Lobo Airstrip in the Serengeti, Tanzania. Game drive en route to Serengeti Migration Camp with game walk after lunch.
July 13:  Full-day safari game drive with picnic lunch.
July 14:  Morning game drive en route to Lobo Airstrip for flight back to Arusha, Tanzania. Day room at Arusha Coffee Lodge before flight to Nairobi, Kenya and onward flights to London and Copenhagen, Denmark tomorrow.