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HONEYMOON, Part 3. ZIMBABWE

My final honeymoon blog installment was delayed as Glen and I met up with my sis in Cape Town who headed there after a dream trip to Namibia. After the heat and dust, we treated her to the sights of this lush city as well as a day in the winelands (which surely are the most gorgeous in the world!). Time in my favourite African city was marred by the fact that my furnace back in Toronto kacked while we were in Zimbabwe and my lovely tenants were without heat for 9 days!!! I tried to remedy the situation via phone and email and even called in dear friend Boyd to help—seems it all had to do with locating a part. EISH!! Well, the heat is back on (finally!), my tenants endured with amazing patience and grace and my sis began the long trek home to the US two nights ago.

Time for life to get back to normal and for this newly married couple to settle in! Long awaited good news arrived Friday: my South African Residency Visa has been approved! It is being sent from Pretoria to Johannesburg and hopefully will arrive soon. I remain here with fingers crossed until it is actually in my hands.

But, back to Zimbabwe…… Glen and I were transported overland the short distance from Kasane, Botswana, to the Zimbabwe border where I learned that the visa for my three day visit would be $75 US! Visas for South Africans are free and nationals of most other countries pay $30 US, but evidently this is what Zimbabweans are charged for a Canadian visa. I was not happy handing over $75 to that tyrant Mugabe. But, once the formalities were sorted and we were dropped off at Imbabala Lodge, my anger disappeared. From the moment we arrived at the thatched roof lodge, I knew we had arrived at someplace very special.

At Imbabala, there are only 8 thatched roof chalets spread out over the grounds—they were spacious , tasteful without being pretentious, and comfy. I particularly liked that each one had its own hammock.

Meals were taken communally—all 16 guests sat at one large table under the trees, weather permitting, giving US a chance to chat with visitors from all over the world. Some of the most interesting were white Zimbabweans—I didn’t think there were any left! Chris, a school principal from Bulawayo, told us of how the Mugabe government outlawed school fees a couple of years ago. When we asked what he did to keep the school open, he said he simply asked parents for a “donation” equivalent to tuition—and with a 98% success rate, he added. Now there’s someone to admire!

One cannot be in Zim without being aware of and talking about politics. Glen was reading Peter Godwin’s damning new book about Mugabe (may his days as dictator end soon), but this was our honeymoon after all…. so back to enjoying this Zimbabwean oasis.

There we were on the mighty Zambezi, close to the corner where Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Botswana meet—staying at the best location of the trip and treated to the BEST wildlife sightings ever!

On our first night, we went out on a small pontoon boat with an excellent guide, Abie. But before one heads out for the early evening activity at Imbabala, afternoon tea is provided in the garden. Freshly baked goodies are served—talk about the life of colonials! The only problem is that the local troop of monkeys also know that tea is served at 4pm—they are so fast they do manage to grab a slice or two of cake before being chased away.

Although elephants are rare on the Zambezi in December and January, Abie had a hunch we just might see some. As we headed around a bend in the river, there they were. Herds of elephants travelling in neat rows down to the river! Abie cut the motor and let the boat bank itself while we just watched and watched as about 75 elephants drank and bathed in the river. Cameras clicked non-stop. It was a wondrous sight that no one, not even the Zimbabweans, had seen before.

That night as we dined under the trees, an elephant wandered into the garden. She seemed only concerned with munching the grass, completely unconcerned with us diners who were fascinated by her presence. Evidently, during the night, she was joined by four others.

A herd of impala have learned that the Imbabala grounds are a safe place to spend the night and appear after dark each evening. They rest while one member of the herd keeps watch.

After the amazing luck of our first river cruise, Glen and I decided to do it again the following night but knew nothing could surpass what we had seen. We cruised quietly for an hour or so, seeing crocs, hippos and amazing bird life. And then we spotted them in the distance—a row of elephants heading to the river. Abie gunned the motor and one of the guests began counting—50, no 100, no—about 150 elephants of all sizes and ages! Need I say more???????? It is a site I will never forget.

Our honeymoon could not have ended on a higher note—yet we managed to squeeze in one more amazing experience. We were flying back to Joburg via Victoria Falls Airport, so we left early asking the driver to make a detour to the Falls—and we were so glad we did. The Falls are over a kilometre wide and descend into a narrow deep chasm. The intensity of water gushing into this narrow gorge causes great clouds of mist and in some places, there is so much mist falling that it seems it’s raining! Despite having rented large umbrellas, we were soaked after a couple hours of viewing, but it was well worth it.

It’s our first quiet weekend without visitors in a month. Time for Glen to get back to work and for me to find some work!

HONEYMOON, Part 2. CHOBE

If we thought the flight into the delta was spectacular, we never imagined it could be surpassed by the flight out. We sat on a log near the Oddballs landing strip and saw a small plane land smoothly. After unloading provisions, we were the only two passengers aboard this 4-seater for the one hour flight to Kasane. There we were on our own private plane! We flew out of the watery delta and then over a forested area, not seeing any sign of habitation during the entire flight. Botswana is the size of France but has a population of less than two million, so it’s not surprising that there are large empty spaces.

We arrived at the Chobe Marina Lodge— the antitheses of Oddballs Camp! We had a luxury room with all the mod cons, but the best was having a balcony overlooking the river. We received all the honeymoon treats including a nice bottle of South African bubbly—and celebrate we did!

Chobe National Park is know for its large herds of elephants and buffalo, so we were excited to get game watching. On our first evening, we went on a river cruise and saw hippos in the water, hippos out of the water munching on the lush green grass and hippos chasing hippos. For an animal that is usually seen as eyes and ears peeping above the waterline, we were thrilled! It was an exciting start to our stay in Kasane, a modest but pleasant Botswanan town.

We went on several game drives and were treated to lion viewings! The best was a beautiful young lion pair who seemed to enjoy posing for us. The thousands of elephants eluded us, but we did see a few. The guides seemed to take great delight in driving as close as possible them-- it is completely unnerving when such a massive creature heads straight toward the safari vehicle. We loved the hippo and lion sightings, but were longing for more elephants…..

In Part 3, we cross the border into Zimbabwe.

Honeymoon, Part 1. The Okavango Delta.

On Dec 28th, after having been married for an entire week, Glen and I boarded Air Botswana Flight #212. Our destination was Maun, located in the northern part of the country. We both noted the rundown state of the aircraft, which looked to be 30 or 40 years old, and crossed our fingers for a safe arrival—which, despite a bumpy landing, it was. Once in Maun, the excitement really began-- we boarded a six seater plane and headed to the Okavango, a unique location in a land-locked country. Rains that accumulate high in the mountains of Angola flow inland to create a vast lush delta. Once out of Maun, there was nothing but wilderness—no sign of human habitation whatsoever. Because we were flying low, we could see elephants and giraffe wandering below.

The bush pilot was amazing—he landed on the dirt landing strip in the Okavango as if it were teflon—and there we were at Oddballs Camp—our first destination. We were greeted on the landing strip, just outside the camp by Joyce, the ever pleasant manager and our guide for our stay, Kitso.

Although the camp can accommodate 32, we learned we were the only two guests and were treated like royalty. We had booked into a dome tent, but were upgraded to what I called the Presidential Suite—a hut of dried reeds with a thatched roof complete with a full bathroom and hot running water. The mosquito net covered bed was decorated with fresh foliage for our arrival. The only downside of our exotic hideaway was that we shared it with the fruit bats who lived in the peak of the roof. Sure enough, there they were hanging upside down over the bathroom. Joyce, ever pragmatic, commented, “Well, they were here first…” I decided that the best way to deal with then was to avoid looking up as they totally creeped me out in the otherwise very pleasant surroundings.

As we settled in, we could hear the grunts of hippos in the swampy delta outside our hut and that night, one was so close, we could hear him munching grass! Hippos are LOUD! We headed out in a mokoro (a flat bottomed dugout canoe) that is poled through the papyrus. We were both a little nervous as the delta is full of hippos (the most dangerous animal in Africa) and crocodiles. Kitso, our guide, explained that we shouldn’t worry—we travelled through narrow passages in the tall reeds barely wider than the mokoro. Just as we were to cross an open channel, Glen shouted “Hippos!” and sure enough, two eyes and ears just above the waterline, were directly in our path. It was a heart stopping moment and our guide the halted the mokoro immediately. We waited while he judged what the pair were up to and then, when he deemed it safe, quickly crossed the channel.

The next morning, after a quick coffee and muffin, we headed out with Kitso for a walking safari at 630am. After about three and a half hours of non-stop walking, we hadn’t seen much wildlife with the exception of abundant birdlife. Suddenly, Kitso, our unarmed guide, looked down and said one word, “Lion.” At first, I thought he was joking, but we began following the lion tracks. He upgraded the call to “A pair of lions” and we continued. Even I could tell that the tracks were getting fresher and fresher when Kitso’s final proclamation was, “It’s a pride.” After about 30 minutes of tracking, we were losing steam—soaked from the waist down from the tall wet grasses and flagging in the mid-morning heat, we turned back toward the mokoro as the tracks moved further inland. I was relieved. Although I was excited at the idea of seeing a pride of lions, I was also terrified.

We returned to camp to be served a huge English breakfast. Guides and managers dine with the guests (that wouldn’t happen in South Africa!). It gave us a chance to talk more about the animals and their experiences living and working in the delta.

During one of these breakfasts, Kitso confided in us that his uncle, a guide in one of the nearby camps, had been killed recently by a bull elephant during a walking safari. In order to make sure his hikers were safe, he literally sacrificed his own life to protect them. Kitso mentioned sotto voce that the guides had been forbidden to tell guests about his uncle’s death for fear of hurting tourism. After hearing this, I was doubly relieved that we hadn’t found those lions but was again reminded of just how remote and wild the delta is.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when we head to the Chobe River in search of elephants….