Short novel on my safari

May 19th, 08
Well, here is the short novel about my amazing safari weekend.
On Friday we left the house at 6.30 in the morning and headed to the airport. There we boarded a small, gold-colored plane and headed off. We noticed that all the tray tables had been removed from the plane and figured that’s because there were no snacks on the plane, and the flight attendants got tired of explaining that to people. But there were snacks! We got juice and chips and peanuts and cookies and tea… which is a fair amount to balance on one’s lap. The plane landed at Mafuwe National Airport (which is tiny), and we got to look at some crafts before leaving in a van for Kapani lodge. We were welcomed with warm washcloths (with bougainvillea flowers on top) and lemonade. Our rooms were beautiful!
We headed to the dining area which was a patio overlooking a lake and a field. We watched hippos, baboons, impala and various birds and then we had lunch. Afterwards, there was some free-time and we all headed to the pool. It was amazingly gorgeous and monkeys walked around the wall and jumped in the trees around us. Tea time came next and after that we went on our first safari. ‘Able’ was our guide, and he was really great at finding the animals. He also knew a tonne about them too. Let me impart some of my new-found knowledge regarding impala: Impala herds will be either an all-bachelor herd or a herd with one male and a bunch of females. The one lucky guy though only lasts in said position for about two weeks. The reason is that he spends all his time mating and defending the ladies, where as the all-guy herd spend all their time eating and getting strong. The guy with the ladies jumps around so much that no birds (which eat ticks) can stay on him so he acquires more and more ticks which suck his blood and make him weaker. The all-guy group groom each other, and have the birds so they get stronger. When they fight for dominance, power is passed. Isn’t that fascinating!!
The vehicle we drove in was pretty amazing. We would come to these drop-offs and I would think, “how in the world will we get over there?” and then down the slope we would go and up the other side! It was like a roller-coaster and Chris and I took to putting up our arms roller-coaster style.
The land was incredibly different. Some places were flat with hardly any grass and just short dead trees, other places were so green it was unreal. Sometimes we went through bushes, and there were open plains too. There were so many different types of trees. Some were huge!
The game drive exceeded all my expectations tenfold. Highlights were baby zebra, baby hippos, a baby elephant (we saw the adults too, but they were a little less exciting), giraffes, a giant herd of cape buffalo and then… a pride of lions!! They had killed a zebra the night before and the lion cubs were so cute playing as most the adults slept around them. We stopped at a beautiful place overlooking the water and watched hippos as we enjoyed icy beverages and snacks and watched the sun set. It was amazing. After that, the safari continued and we were able to find two leopards (which is quite rare). It was stocking some pooku which let out whistling sounds to warn eachother. It was fascinating to watch.
We came home and were told that the power was off. Tanya and I (being the girl guides we are) lit a candle and found our stuff and left for dinner. Then we noticed the boys had a really bright light on in their room. Of course… the lodge had a generator—we’d just been told the power was off so that we wouldn’t expect hot showers. The boy’s super bright “candle” was the cause of quite a few laughs. After a multiple course dinner that was very fancy and we headed off to bed.
Our wake up call was 5.30 the next morning for breakfast. Over a fire in the dining area were pots of tea and coffee, and porridge and toast. There was also cereal and muffins. We left for the game drive at 6.00. We found some more deer, giraffes, zebras. We also found the lions again in the same spot. I really loved watching the cubs again. We stopped for a snack in another beautiful spot with zebra and impala grazing in the background. Then it was back into the “tank” to see some hippos and a crocodile before returning home. We had lunch, some tanning time at the pool and then tea and it was time to hit the road again. We saw more impala and zebra and then an elephant decided to show us who was boss with some head tossing and trumpeting. I learned that elephants kill the most people in that park out of any other animal. The place we stopped for our snack this evening was amazing. We were in a sort of plain and in the distance all around us were animals. Zebra, elephants, giraffes, baboons, impala… it was incredible. There we watched the sunset. In the evening we were able to find another leopard and watch a group of giraffes which was neat. Another huge dinner awaited us when we returned home and then it was off to bed.
Another 5.30 breakfast call woke us in the morning and we headed off on our last safari at 6.00. No lions today, although we did see some more crocodile, some warthogs and some crested cranes—in which I have a particular interest because they are on the Ugandan flag. We stopped at a river and watched the hippos in the water during our break.
After the drive, we went home for lunch and then a break before heading to the textile factory in the area to look at some wares. Then it was off to the airport and back home again by the evening.
So there you have it folks. My amazing weekend in a nutshell. J I really had a great time taking pictures and video footage. Look forward to showing it to some of you upon my return. Here’s some sneak peak pictures. :)
Love, Dayna