Africa 2022 - Botswana

 Sunday, August 21, 2022

After several years of planning and rescheduling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I actually believe we may be returning to Southern Africa in a few days. It had not come without some glitches however. Originally there were five of us going, my wife and I, my sister G and my BIL, and a sister-in-law. I booked safaris for Botswana and Zambia several years ago, and as we went through the pandemic, I maintained contact to make sure our reservations were being held. We had booked a stay at the Chobe Safari Lodge in Kasane, Botswana, with an addon of a few nights at Moremi Crossing in the Okavango Delta. I also had secured accommodation at Marula Lodge near the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. This park is the site of many, many nature programs because of its wildlife and lion population. We made deposits in mid 2020 and as we entered 2022, it looked like the world was opening up from the pandemic and all was a go. Africa suffered a great deal because tourism dried up. Preserving wildlife and providing employment for locals in popular safari locations is dependent on people coming on safari. Without safaris, it is difficult to convince people in Africa to support conservation and there are no funds to support guides, rangers, naturalists, and camp workers. As one guide told me a few years ago, it is difficult to criticize a man for poaching to earn a living if there are no alternatives and his family is starving. 

In February, I received word that Marula Lodge was closing permanently, a victim of the pandemic. I also noticed that a safari camp we stayed in in South Africa, and really enjoyed, also closed indefinitely. Sad. The scramble was on to find a new accommodation in Zambia. This was complicated by the fact that we not only needed to book a accommodation, many of which are grossly expensive and, in my opinion, over the top in decadence, we need to coordinate with our existing reservation in Botswana, as well as arrange transportation between the two locations. Driving would take too long, so that means small, local flights. I was familiar with a safari camp, Flat Dogs Camp, which is a regular advertisement in Travel Africa, a magazine I subscribe to. I looked into it and it was reasonable, as safari camps go. After booking two years in advance, I was now scrambling to get new bookings six months in advance. I was able to secure accommodation, with restructuring the trip to begin in Botswana rather than Zambia, and Flat Dogs was able to arrange for flights from Livingstone airport, where the Botswana portion ended, to the Zambian capital of Lusaka, overnight in a very nice looking resort near the airport, and then shuttle and fly to Mfuwe, the nearest airport to the camp, where we would be picked up and driven to the camp. They of course would get us back to Lusaka for a return flight home. Everything went quite smoothly, but of course that could not be. First I got word just before finalizing the booking with Flat Dog Camp that my sister-in-law had reservations and decided not to come. That left some issues with Chobe Lodge since our deposits were non-refundable. After initial contact I left it with others to deal with if they wished. So now we were all set. That is until two weeks prior to the trip, when I got word that my BIL was suffering back and walking issues and it was not getting better. He decided he needed to make the call early for the sake of others and decided he would not be coming. A wise decision but sad, since he really wanted to go and we were booking this trip now with the realization that with age, he would not be able to put it off too long. His daughter was able to take his place but that also meant getting the vaccines and meds needed for the trip on short notice, and since airlines will not allow you to change names on a ticket, all his tickets had to be cancelled and new ones issued. In the end, that went as smooth as one could expect and only Lufthanza was causing some concerns. We will see Tuesday whether there will be further issues. Otherwise, our bags are packed, our pills taken or laid out, camera batteries are charged up and SD cards cleared. If we needed to suddenly leave on 15 minutes notice, I think we would be able to do it. Stay tuned for the adventure.        

Tuesday August 23 - Thursday, August 25

Our last experience with Lufthansa was very bad and I swore that I would not use them again if I could help it. But here we are. I must admit this time things went smoothly. Staff were much friendlier, check in went easily and even with an 11 hour layover in Germany, our luggage was going through right to Zambia (supposedly) without needing us to retrieve it along the way and clearing customs. I did do seat preselection go get more leg room on the longer stretches. For our 9 hour flight to Frankfurt we had seats beside the exit door with washrooms beside us on the other side. There was plenty of room to stretch out or even stand if you wanted. In front of us were fold up seats used by cabin crew for takeoffs and landings.  We got familiar with other passengers because there are a select number of people that seem to use the washrooms repeatedly, and then stand in front of you for a while. Soon after we left Vancouver we were served wine and then dinner with more wine. We did leave about 50 minutes late. We left at 5:10PM and were to arrive in Frankfurt at 10:30AM, which is 1:30AM Vancouver time. Soon after dinner was served, the lights went out for most of the flight. Who goes to be at 8PM besides one person I know? In fact, lately we have gotten into the bad habit of playing Semantle, and online word game, and it keeps us up to 1:30 OR 2AM some nights, so we arrived in Frankfurt before bedtime. Needless to say, I did not sleep, except a total of maybe 15 minutes. We did have an nice chat with the stewardess during landing. She resides in Frankfurt and referred to it as a dirty city compared to Vancouver. It is industrial and the main area to see is the new old town. Frankfurt was destroyed by bombing during WW2 so the old town was recently restored to recreate the old buildings, etc. 

After landing we planned to check our carryon bags into a storage locker and explore the city. We wandered aimlessly trying to find where the storage was. There were no signs and you couldn’t find airport staff for assistance if you life depended on it. Most people we asked could not speak English. Finally I interrupted two car rental staff and they directed us. We check the bags and then went to take the train in for the 20 minute trip. You had to buy tickets from a machine and again there wasn’t any staff to help with that. We figured it out finally but only after it kept rejecting my Visa card and I resorted to cash. We went down to the track and discovered we were on the wrong side of the station for the direction we were going. We wondered around some more before we found the stairs that led to the other side. (You had to climb the stairs, cross over to the other side and find stairs leading down.) Seemed easy enough but the stair were well hidden. We made it to the central train station in downtown and went to the tourist office. We learned that we had actually paid to use the subway train, which stops at every station, but used the fast train which only made two stops. However, there were no people around to check for tickets anywhere. We spent the afternoon walking around the restored old town, which was very nice. It was a hot day so we stopped at a cafe for a beer or a pear beer, which Frankfurt is noted for. I just wanted a cold regular beer. I could only get nonalcoholic beer. However, it was cold and okay. After stroll along the river we return to the old town area and went to a restaurant for an early dinner and drinks. I did not feel like another beer so I ordered an “orangina” which was listed under sofas. The waiter looked at me funny like, are you sure you want that? Of course, I always like a cold Orange Crush like drink. I should have known when I had to specify whether to get the yellow one or red one. I took red. That’s closer to orange. It ended up being a small bottle and the drink resembled fruit drinks we buy in small tetra packs. I also struggled with the menu. I was feeling quezzy from the heat so I needed to eat, but nothing appealed. It was okay if you accept salad as a legitimate food I guess. I do not want octopus in my pasta. I settled for gnocchi which ended up being a plate filled with gnocchi and some curry sauce. So so. To go back to the airport we needed to find the subway station marked by a green circle with a white letter S. Again, why would you put up signage directing people where such a station is? I guess no tourists go to Frankfurt and the locals know. I did have a map and stumbled on the station. We were now pros, so we found the ticket machine and got our tickets. We found the stairs to the station. Again we ended up on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak. We boarded the No. 9 train which our pamphlet said we needed for the airport. It was packed. After a few stations, Jo asked the woman beside her what the name of the airport stop was. The lady looked bewildered. We were going in the opposite direction.  Being Dutch, we were delighted to have seen several train stations without paying extra for it. We got back to the airport with still a few hours to spare. 

When to boarding call came, the first was for priority passengers. Almost all of the people at the gate went. Then it was just for the rest of us. Our seats were even better than the last flight. This was a 10 hour flight to Johannesburg. We were in the first row behind business class or economy plus, I’m not sure which, but the row was back about double the normal row distance and we did not have to contend with exit. We chose the window and aisle seat and the middle seat remained empty. We could again stretch out, even with our carryon tucked under the seat in front. We left a little late, and soon had our wine and then dinner. A second dinner! Again, lights went out after that. We learned from our stewardess on the previous flight that there was a room with bunk beds, so the staff can go sleep for a while 90 during the flight. With very little sleep, I was much more tired and did manage a few hours of sleep. My entertainment screen did not work well so I gave up on watching movies. It was a long haul but the little sleep helped. We had a horrible breakfast. The main feature was a very cold and very heavy grained bread with ham and a cheese slice, a large pickle to help sogify the bread and some kind of carrot sauce. I just ate around the pickle. I generally do not like yogurt for breakfast, (lunch is okay), but today it seemed very good. I think my body had no idea what meal I was eating. 

On arriving in Johannesburg we located the SA Airlink counter to get boarding passes for our flight to Zambia. Our flight was not on the departures board. We also had the airport become totally black a number of times due to electrical blackouts. The stress was beginning to set in. We had to wait for the airline staff to man the booth and when Jo went up to ask if our flight was still going, she said yes and proceeded to get us our boarding passes, manually by calling someone because their system was down. There was no explanation why other Airlink flights were listed but not ours. On arriving at Livingstone, Zambia, a very small airport, we went through the usual routine of showing passports several times as well as proof of vaccination. No way you were getting in without being vaccinated. Then we discovered that none of our luggage had arrived. Many others had the same issue and they came from other departure areas, so we felt the problem must have been in Johannesburg, not Frankfurt. We had a driver waiting to pick us up to drive us over the border where another Botswana driver would take us the rest of the way to our lodge. We spent over an hour with the lost and found official recording all the claims and filling in detailed reports about how our luggage looked, where it should be sent if found, etc. Some people needed it by the next day because they were off somewhere. We were at our lodge a few hours away for the next week. We arranged for the luggage to be sent to an airport close to our accommodation of it was located. Meanwhile we had no extra clothes, toiletries , battery chargers for cameras, etc. I was stuck in my jeans and runners despite the warm temperature. To leave the airport you had to have your bags, including carryon scanned by security. Fortunately our driver was able to make contact and learn about our long delay, so he waited. By the time we left, the security staff had gone home for the day and we could just walk out with no checks whatsoever. Secure? It took another 90 minutes or more to get to our lodge. The Botswana border was a pleasant surprise. It was a new facility and there were only two other people going through. We went inside and were done in no time flat. Chobe Safari Lodge did not disappoint. It was wonderful. There was a beautiful restaurant area overlooking a large pool and the Chobe River. There was also a bar and plenty of places to hang out with great views. The woman who runs the lodge was very nice. Our rooms overlooked the river and were great. All meals were included in our stay and we had pre-booked daily safari drives and river cruises. The lady said she would help us get our luggage. Walking to our room, I was amazed at all the bird sounds everywhere. I have never heard so many different bird calls. I will be very busy here! But first dinner. Dinner was buffet style but it was still quite fancy. We had to check in and be assigned a table, and we had a table staff to take orders. Even though all meals were included and prepaid, this did not include water or other drinks, which were charged to the room By now, lack of sleep had set in so we went to our rooms, I spent some time writing this blog, only to have it not saved so I had to rewrite it the next day, and hit my pillow by 10PM. It was great to take a shower after two days of travel and I was happy I had taken Jo’s suggestion to pack an underwear and clean shirt in my carryon, just in case. I was out like a light in no time.   

Friday, August 26

Our day began early, with a meeting in the lobby at 5:45 for our morning safari drive through Chobe National Park. There was a big crowd there and many safari open sided Jeeps to be assigned. There was a large group here that looked like they were from Toyota. The drive to the park took only about 10 minutes but was very cold. I had taken warm clothes and toques for this purpose but of course, they were in my suitcase somewhere. The sun came up around 6:30 and it began to warm up. We drove on a route along the Chobe River. We came across a herd of impala antelopes and then a large herd of African buffalo crossed the dirt road. There were some massive, old guys. A few minutes later we came across three female lions walking along. They headed towards where the buffalo were and we turned around and soon found the lions crossing the road. Suddenly one of the lions went into stalking mode and the others circled around to surround an old male buffalo. There was an attack and we could see the buffalo flailing and kicking up dust with a lion on him. It was difficult to see through the trees but what was going on was clear. The bull shook off the lion and did get away. This was the first time I ever saw a lion actively hunting. After this we came across hippos out of the water grazing, large elephants, many large shore birds like spoonbills, various egret species and heron species. I also saw African skimmers for the first time, scooping up water as they skimmed the surface of a water pool. We saw several crocodiles along the river banks, a beautiful fish eagle, many beautiful smaller birds including a few birds I was hoping to find, and  two giraffes. We were all amazed at what we all saw in the first few hours. My niece was on her first African trip and we suggested that she had pretty much seen it all now and could cancel the rest of the trip.  When we returned around 9:30AM, I checked with the front desk on the status of our missing luggage. I spoke with the lost and found officer in Zambia, and got nowhere. They were trying to trace the luggage but needed more info. They wanted us to check back later. This was the first of perhaps five times we were asked to call them later. The owner of the lodge said we would keep on top of it and to check back in a few hours. We enjoyed a buffet breakfast with personally prepared egg omelets. Nice to eat a good warm meal after the Lufthansa breakfasts. Walking to our room I came across a group of banded mongoose along the path. Them I saw a waterbuck doe and fawn grassing in front of one of the accommodations buildings. Everywhere there were beautiful, different birds calling me and I had to respond. I spent some time photographing. I also found many different birds in the trees near our balcony and an as yet unidentified eagle feeding a large infant in the tree nearby. This place is awesome!

In the afternoon I spent some time again dealing with the front desk and Zambia airport on the state of our luggage. By now we were still wearing the only clothes we had since Tuesday, and some had not brushed their teeth in three days. The lodge offered toiletries but that was limited to soaps and shampoos. They did not have any toothbrushes or toothpaste. Finally I got word that our luggage had be found and was being sent from Johannesburg to Zambia. I requested that they be forwarded on to Kasane airport which was near the lodge. We expected to have it arrive here at 1:30PM tomorrow. We were unhappy with how poorly this was treated but looked forward to clean clothes chargers, etc. Since a dead battery on a safari is one of my worst nightmares.

At 3:00 PM we started our boat cruise on the Chobe River. It too was wonderful. We saw several monitor lizards, hippos, red lechwes, a type of semi-aquatic antelope, greater kudu antelopes, buffalo, a variety of birds, and hundreds of elephants. We watched from close by as a family of elephants ranging from the huge matriarch leader down to a few weeks old baby cross the river to an island on the Namibia side of the river. The younger elephants were completely submerged with only the tips of their trunks sticking out of the water so they could breath. Once all were on the island with very distinct line showing how much of their bodies had been underwater, the group started picking up dust and throwing it over their backs covering them. They were now three toned. Grey parts that were dry, dirt covered heads and backs, and dark parts that were wet from the river. This is done to cover up and smother any ticks or other insects on their skin. No sooner had they covered themselves, and they walked into the river again to cross to the next land to join hundreds of elephants congregating there. An awesome sight. We cruised back at sunset and had a late dinner. This time I was in bed by 11PM and asleep by11:05 PM.

This was a day of mixed emotions. We were extremely disturbed by the uncertainty of if and where we might get our luggage, whether anything might have gotten stolen in the process, and what to do if the luggage did not arrive. We had nothing. On the other hand, we has such a good day seeing so many different and wonderful things.   

Saturday, August 27

The day began early again, with another game drive at 5:45AM. By now I was into a routine. I was often extremely tired by early evening and would go to be somewhere around 10PM. By 4 or 5 AM I would be awake and unable to sleep. The early excursions were therefore not a problem. This morning there were far less people waiting for game drives. I think there was a large contingency that had been here and were now gone. Again we were not dressed for the cold morning starts but this morning the guide gave us all blankets and it was much more comfortable that first hour. We went into Chobe National Park again but took a few different routes inland. We did first come to the sandy beach where we had spotted the three lions before and we could see some lions in the distance. One was sitting erect while about four were sleep. We drove up the dirt road leading back to where they were. It was not hard to find. We were preceded by a number of other safari vehicles. Everyone jockeyed for position to see the lions who down the hill and behind bushes. Every now and then the one lion would stroll back and forth and would appear in a clearing between the trees. Soon there were over ten safari jeeps all boxing each other in and moving back and forth trying for best position. We never got a great view because of the trees, and I think most of us were probably okay to carry on but because of the persistence of the guide, and the fact that once you were hedged in, it was impossible to leave. We spent a long time here before we finally could get away. We didn’t see much on this drive. I did spot a small grey blob in a tree near the road and asked the guide to stop. We found a tiny owl, known as a pearl-spotted owlet but it was difficult to get photos through the branches. We also saw several groups of elephants. One big elie got within several feet of the back of our vehicle as he was busy breaking branches from a tree. We saw lots of other smaller birds like spurfowl and guineafowl but barreled by. We didn’t even count impalas anymore because they were so common. We did see a nice hornbill, called a Bradfield’s hornbill but the guide didn’t stop. Soon we learned why. We stopped in a clearing which was the designated coffee and tea stop for the morning. Within minutes there were at least ten hornbills flying around. Clearly people had fed them and they came looking for handouts. I took a picture of seven sitting in one bush alone. 

After our drive I went to the front desk to check about our luggage. The owner told me she had talked to Charlie, the lost and found agent in Livingstone and he told here there was no flights going to Kasane today, so our bags would arrive tomorrow. I blew up and told her some of us were still in the same clothes we put on five days ago, we had no toiletries other than the soap and shampoo they provided, and by now the batteries of our electronics were dying and we had no means of recharging them because our cords and chargers were in our suitcases. We hardly felt like going on an excursion if we couldn’t even take one picture. Furthermore, for three days we have been told it was coming the next day and at this point had did not have any trust in anything Charlie said. I did apologize to her because I was taking out my frustration on her and it was not her fault. She understood. We had a family meeting and decided that since the Livingstone airport was 90 to two hours away by vehicle, it was worth it to see about having someone drive there and pick them up. By now it seemed certain that our bags had been identified and did make it to Livingstone. We were willing to pay whatever this cost if it was possible and would try to get it back from the airline. Jo agreed to go talk on our behalf because I was too frustrated and afraid I would say the wrong thing, plus in typical fashion, when dealing with these issues, everyone has all sorts of suggestions on what you should do and say, but they don’t do so themselves. We also had to meet with the Activities area to plan the itinerary for the rest of our stay here. Jo reported back that the office was making some contacts to try and send a driver. We waited for a callback but of course that didn’t happen so we had to run after it again after lunch. Finally we were told that a driver from the transport service the lodge uses had authorization and could pick up the luggage for us. He would be at the lodge at seven PM today. By 7:20 PM no one had showed up and we were not at all sure if we were getting screwed again. However shortly thereafter he arrived and I was ready to hug him. We were told we had to pay the driver $93. I was prepared to pay him but he said he had received new instructions not to collect any money because the company was covering the cost for us. We have no idea who “the company ” was but we were just happy to see our luggage, all zip strapped up to prevent access. Everything was there, although my bag had clearly been inspected by Customs, and every zipper had been opened and all my toiletries were all over my messily strewn clothes. I didn’t care. 

We did rearrange out future excursions including changing one of our morning game drives to be a private drive, where only the four of us would go and we could have more say in what we did. I said I wanted a guide with birding experience so we could concentrate more on things the other guides overlooked in their quest to find the large animals. We shall see. After a late dinner we sat along the end of the deck near the river, near some trees spotlighted in the dark. All of a sudden Jo pipes up, “what is that?” Partway up a tree was a critter I had hoped to find but did not expect because it is nocturnal and not commonly seen, a genet. A genet is a small adorable creature about the size of a small red panda with short climbing feet. It has a grey and white striped body and a long, fluffy white tail with black rings. It’s head is very cute but seems a little small for the rest of it’s body. I fumbled for my small camera but it was not set up for night photos so did not work. I grabbed my iPhone but by now it was up the tree. It remained there for a few minutes, but then scurried down the tree. I took pictures but there was a shutter delay and I ended up with a long grey streak around a tree. Nevertheless exciting and a good closing to the day. Showers, shaves and clean clothes were in the wings along with multiple rechargings.

We also saw a crocodile swim past our room today. A good reminder not to dip your toes in the river.

Sunday, August 28

Today we could sleep in because we did not have to meet up for out Victoria Falls outing until 8AM. So I woke up at about 4 and could not sleep again. It was wonderful though putting my jeans away and slipping into shorts and a clean shirt. I wasn’t sure how the day would go. When I had booked this trip, I had arranged for an unguided trip to Victoria Falls, where a driver brings you there and picks you up again, but you are on your own for the rest. This included buying your own lunch. When I picked up the itinerary here it said we had a guided tour of Victoria Falls with lunch included, plus a stop at the local craft market. Sure enough, we plus a young woman from Kenya were picked up and driven to the Zimbabwe border. This had been a three hour ordeal when I entered back in 2014. This time and at this crossing, it went much smoother. There were only a few people in front of us, all on excursions to the Falls. We had to fill in a form with details, contacts, etc., show our vaccination card, have our passport stamped, and pay a visa fee of $75 US each. Seems Zimbabwe is not a fan of Canada so we have to pay a visa fee while Australians, British, Africans and many others do not. What did Trudeau to? (Of course this was true back in 2014 as well.) We switched drivers and vehicles, with a Zim guide meeting us for the trip to Victoria Falls. We saw some wildlife along the 90 minute drive including warthogs, (commonly seen everywhere), impala, kudus, giraffes and a few elephants. We got to the Falls where we had to pay $30 each to enter the park. Zimbabwe’s currency is so heavily discounted since the days of Robert Mugabe, a super corrupt leader, that the country operates on US $. Gas here was $1.75 per litre. I joked with our Guide, Smart (guides seem to have made up Anglo-Saxon names like Mathews and Smart, that I wanted to see a turaco, a gorgeous green bird I saw on the info board for wildlife near the Falls. I was walking beside Smart along the path to the Falls when Smart suddenly did a little jump like he had stumbled on a rock. He then pointed out a small, snake about 15 inches long that was slithering into the bush beside the path. Apparently this had crossed in front of us and Smart jumped to avoid it. I nearly stepped on it. He could not identify it because it was too young to have distinctive features, but decided it was poisonous. A few minutes later he pointed up into a large tree. There was the turaco I had challenged him to find. I thought I did not get a picture of it as it hopped around and disappeared but I did see it. It was also dark inside the canopy of the giant tree. However, when we got home and I examined my photos, lightening up the dark ones, I did find evidence of the turaco on many photos, even if they were not National Geographic quality. Smart was good about pointing out several other birds in the area. It was a hot day, but we often walked in shade or felt spray from the falls. We walked to the end and then made our way back, popping in to view points along the way. The falls had many more areas where there was bare rock, since we were in the dry season so the volume was much less than on my last visit which was in early June. However, the falls were easier to see because there was far less mist. The falls are actually in Zambia. We did see some bungee jumping off the Zambia Zimbabwe bridge, a frightened long distance down! We also saw on the edge of the falls where there was a pool of water that you can go to and swim along the edge of the falls. A frightening thing to do! We did get lunch and only had to pay for drinks which cost $4 to $5 for a large iced coffee in my case. The woman we were traveling with received a boxed lunch and went to do a bungee jump while we ate. Then we were dropped off at the market. We were now behind schedule so were only given 20 minutes to look around. The market was a frightening experience too. There were rows of booths all displaying carvings, mostly animals, bowls, and bottle openers. Each booth had soft spoken vendors who harassed you to buy their wares, even if you said you were not interested. Bargaining was a must. In the end we never saw half the market and were chased into our vehicle by a vendor Jo had shown an interest in one of his bowls. We did end up buying it as much to help give them a sale that because we really wanted it. The drive back was uneventful and the border crossing was again quiet and quick. After a nap, we went through the motions of having dinner, because the half chicken I had for lunch was still keeping me full. Some had the steak for lunch. It was two pieces of fillet minion which Jo claimed was some of the best meat she’s had.

All in all an excellent day.

Monday, August 29

Today was to be a free day, scheduled to give us time to just hang around the lodge and not be rushed by excursions. However, we ended up rescheduling our last boat cruise in the Chobe River until today. That meant we still could sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast. So instead, I woke up at 3 AM and could not get back to sleep. I stayed in bed trying to sleep until just after 5AM when I got up, made coffee and did this blog. We were not having breakfast until 9:00. It is nice to be able to get up early for scheduled safari drives, but being up early for no good reason sucks. We spent the day just relaxing by the river and I enjoyed a milk shake. At 3:00 we went on our boat safari. Once again it was great. We saw so many crocodiles on the banks, fish eagles, got too close to some hippos in my opinion and joined some other boats hovering around an area where experienced guides felt that a large herd of elephants would congregate to drink. It is hard to imagine that these animals could function normally with so many people near by but they seemed to. It was wonderful watching the interaction within the herd and the young ones. They came to the banks and drank, and then slowly made their way back into the woods. We saw a lot of water fowl, lechwe, buffalo, and other creatures. We were rarely hungry for dinner and that’s a good thing because I found the dinners less than inspiring. The roast beef was way to fatty for my liking so I avoided beef cuts at all costs. Many of the food dishes were not very familiar and not to my taste. It was always a challenge to find enough food to keep me going. Tonight I only took what they called spaghetti with an Asian flair. It filled the belly but not the heart. For dessert I took what was labeled vanilla ice cream, and topped it with chocolate sauce. Seems good, right? However, they didn’t tell us they had filled the ice cream with raisins! Too often we eat food that we can not say for certain what it is. Even the morning orange juice seems to have something else mixed in. (Breakfast is my favourite meal, with freshly made eggs or omelettes and sausages.) After dinner we enjoyed a drink on the patio. My camera was ready should a genet pop by, but it didn’t happen. 

August 30, Tuesday

This was our last day at the lodge and began with our private game drive at 6AM. It was nice to be able to stop when we wanted and not to worry about what others liked. However, while I indicated that I was looking for a guide who was a birder able to find birds and willing to stop for them. So many discount birds and fly right by. Unfortunately I was still the one who had to find things except the obvious. We did begin by coming across a large pride of lions. There were 18, including several of cubs perhaps a few months old. They lumbered down the road. We got in front of them and watched them pass us within 5 or so 6 feet, more or less ignoring us and the other six or seven safari vehicles. They lied in the grass for a while before wondering towards the river. What a show! After that there was not much to see. We did stop for some birds other drivers generally ignore like the lilac-breasted roller, fluorescent coloured starlings, helmeted guineafowl, and grouse. After the usual coffee break in a clearing we began our drive back to the lodge. We came to an area where we found a huge giraffe sitting in the shade of a tree, a large group of kudus with a number of huge males and some elephants coming down the hill. Soon we came across a group of perhaps six or seven giraffes, and more elephants. The lions stole the show though.

Following the drive, we had no plans for the rest of the day. We decided we were never that hungry for lunch and the buffet was not inspiring so we would order something a la carte. The restaurant serves buffet style and you can also sit on the patio and order a la carte. You can not do so in the restaurant and you cannot take your buffet food to the patio. The restaurant tries to be high end, except for the food. There is a maître d who gets your room number and seats you. The wait staff take drink orders and hover over you. As your last bite I’d approaching your mouth, they take your plate away. If you are not quick enough, they pull out your chair for you. If you stop eating for a minute they are on you, asking if you are done. One night I had to tell a waiter I wasn’t happy with his service. My sister ordered a bottle of wine.Three of us were planning to have a glass with dinner and then she would take the rest to drink later. Her insisted on pouring and then came around to top up the glasses. My sister said no, she would take care of it herself. He insisted he had to pour. I told him I did not appreciate this as we did not all want top ups. I covered my glass and said I only wanted one glass. I’m not sure he got it. Service on the patio was something else. A few days ago we decided to each order a pizza. We waited over 90 minutes for it. Good thing we had nothing better to do so you let it go, although now dinner was that much closer. The pizzas were good but to much. None of us ate more than half. Would have been good to know that we should have shared. Today we thought we would try it again, but this time we put in our order with the waiter, Twinkles, (he insisted that was his real name but in fact they all make up names to use), took our drink order and left. Someone else brought the drinks and then Twinkles disappeared, perhaps on a break. It took some time under nail we asked another waiter if we could please order food. Then we waited and waited. The potatoes were still in the ground. It took two hours to get our food. We were entertained by a troop of vervet monkeys that came and looked for opportunities to steal food. A head waiter had a slingshot and fired rocks at them to no avail. We did see a monkey sit on a rail, acting relaxed. When he saw an opening, he dashed tro a table nearby, grabbed a good piece of leftover hamburger and climb in the tree to enjoy lunch. When we were finally done, Twinkles came with the bill. We had prepaid all our meals but that did not include drinks. You would get a bill with the food and drinks on it and you had to sign and give your room number. Our room was 82 and my sister’s was 81. Instead of two bills, one for each room as usually happens, Twinkles made one bill. I told him and he suggested we just put it on room 82. I asked if he though I should pay for everybody? He just smiled. I didn’t mind covering it, but I resented that a waiter should decide that because he couldn’t bother to make two bills, after leaving us without service for so long.

We sat at out genet spotting table for a drink later. This time we heard a strange call and then I saw something fly into the open rafters of the main building. I went on a search and found a large “giant eagle owl” sitting there. It is a large owl at least as big as a bald eagle. That made for a nice end to the day. In the end, you have to laugh at some of the things like waiting two hours for a few fries, and remember the lion sighting and the nice relaxing day. We will miss this place when we leave tomorrow.