MAY 15, 2019 - ZIMBABWE TO ZAMBIA

This morning we tearfully (ok only I was tearful) said goodbye to Camelthorn Lodge and our wonderful guide “Mr. Sibs” along with our favorite waiter “Ephraim”. Ephraim had the most enormous smile on his face at all times, and we always looked forward to meal time just because he brightened our day! Today was a day of transit to our new digs in Zambia, and no small feat to get here. First off, we had to exit the Hwange National Forest from deep within, on a sandy road through the dense brush — it was like a safari ride without the game. We were thrown all over the car at times as the driver navigated the twists and turns, and 2 hours later we came to “halfway house hotel” and a paved road. At halfway house we were passed off to another driver who would take us to the town of Victoria Falls and up to the Zambian border, about a 2-1/2 hour drive. Upon arrival our driver cleared Zimbabwe exit customs for us, then we walked over to the Zambian side with our luggage to get in the van of our third driver who took us from the Zambian border about 20 minutes drive into Livingstone, the main city. From there we hooked up with yet a 4th driver to take us another 20 minutes to the site of our hotel on the Zambezi River, above Victoria Falls. Our lodge has some of their rooms on the Zambia shoreline on the mainland side, and 6 huts on an island in the middle of the Zambezi river, so we had to know load ourselves into a boat for the ride across to the island, yet another 20 minutes! Hippos are everywhere, and aren’t afraid of or aggressive towards the small boat we were in so we got great closeups of them. We finally arrived at our rooms just before 1pm, had a nice lunch and siesta, then out on a sunset river cruise complete with a stopover on a sandy beach for cocktails, because of course we needed that. This place is incredibly beautiful, our “tents” are right on the river, our shower and toilet are both outdoors facing the river so nobody can see us but we can see nature. This stop is kind of our three day respite from the busy life of game drives which we will resume on Saturday through the end of our trip. Dinner out under the stars and off to bed in our open air hut overlooking the Zambezi River. Don’t fall off the deck with its 24” high “safety” (haha) rail because Crocodiles, monitor lizards and hippos abound.

This is the first road we had to travel down through the forest for 2 hours at 6:30 in the morning! Getting out of Hwange National Forest

Just some of the obstacles we encounter on the highway, along with goats and cows crossing the road and in one instance Baboons were sitting in the middle of the road inspecting some garbage