Today is September 5th, and you have been waiting for news since late last month, I think since August 25th, my last post before leaving Moshupa for Kasane and the safari and Vic Falls. Anita and I are now in Nicosia Cyprus, having enjoyed Cairo for 2 days. More about that later. Let's share our safari experience. I had time in Moshupa to create 4 word documents about those days, and I am hopeful that I can simply cut and paste to get them in quickly. Here goes....
August 26, 2008 – Moshupa to Kasane – the safari begins
We were up very early this morning as we needed to leave Moshupa by 5:30 am to meet Kristen (Njale’s cousin) in Kumakwane. Njale will leave her car at Sputnik’s (her sister) where it will be safer than at the airport. Since we needed to be at the airport and anticipated having to deal with Gaborone rush hour, we wanted the extra time. We were at the airport by 8 am for our 10:30 am flight to Kasane. Kristen stayed a while with us, then left us to wait.
We checked in as early as possible. Njale sent one bag through and Anita and I carried our duffles for the 3 day journey. As we walked to the airplane, we were told to give the duffles to a baggage handler who placed them in a compartment in the front of the plane, apparently right under the pilot’s space. We took my camera and Anita’s book on the plane. She sat at the window, me next to her, and Njale at the window across the aisle. Two seats on each side of the aisle on a relatively small plane.
The flight was smooth. Anita watched the ground for as long as it was easily visible to see what she could see of Botswana. We cruised at approximately 20,000 feet. After an interesting snack of peanuts and raisin mixture and dried beef strips, I slept for the rest of the flight, awakening as we were touching down in Kasane.
We were met by Lucky who became our guide for the rest of our stay. He grew up in Maun at the edge of the Okavango Delta and began his guide training in the Moremi area of Chobe. He worked in the Delta for a while, then went to Mokolodi outside Gaborone, and finally spent some time in Zimbabwe at Hwange. In 1990, Jim and I spent time in the Delta and at Hwange. Lucky was aware of the camps where we enjoyed our first safari experiences.
After arriving at Water Lily Lodge, we checked in, unpacked a bit and moved to the bar and deck area in the back yard for a bit of lunch.
As we waited for someone to serve us, we noticed a warthog outside the fence rummaging among the grass ( looks like really tough crabgrass) for something to eat. Interestingly, we noticed that it knelt to its knees to eat. None of us were aware of this animal behavior.When we asked Lucky about it a day later, he explained that warthog necks are very short and do not bend easily, so if the food stuff is not
high enough, it is difficult for the warthog to eat, so it kneels. Young warthogs are closer to the ground because of their size, and still, we saw some kneeling. A young hog joined the first one, which Anita named Walter, after a friend of hers in State College. Walter is apparently a she as here SHE is with a youngster. At least I think it is that same WALTER.
After lunch of salads and sandwiches, Anita and Njale walked into town to see if a camera shop we saw on the way from the airport might be able to fix the camera Njale brought. We could not get the view screen to work so we could not be certain we were actually taking photos. The photo lab was unable to fix it and Njale bought a disposable camera.In the meantime, I enjoyed a bird watching adventure. Water Lily Lodge puts out a plate of fruits and nuts to attract some local birds. I photographed a bird about the size of a starling which was iridescent in the sun to turquoise green and blue – we learned from Lucky it is called the glossy blue starling. There were also tiny (wren sized or smaller) blue and red birds. Finally a brilliant yellow pair showed up. I’ll need to do some research of these, as we could not describe them enough for Lucky to identify.
I also went to our room to read the information presented about Water Lily Lodge, which opened in 2004. Janala Tours is the company that booked us into the Lodge, and planned our game drives. They are related somehow, but I am still not certain of the exact relationship. Suffice it to say, the relationship works well, as we had a wonderful time as you will read.I learned that the sunset boat cruise for which we were scheduled was due to begin in about 30 minutes, and I had no way of contacting Njale or Anita. One of the front desk girls began calling Njale’s cell phone number, but she did not answer. Time was passing quickly, and finally she sent me to the end of the pier to the boat. She went looking in the town (not too big, so it was not a long search), and actually found them. They were looking for Njale’s cell phone which they thought they had left in one of the shops. Ultimately we found it in the pocket in her jacket in the room. At least they made it back for the tour, which was held for them. While waiting, I thanked the other passengers (approximately 20 all together) for their patience and understanding as we waited for my friends.
As we left on our 3-hour tour, I whispered to Anita who was sitting right in front of me (Gilligan left on a 3-hour tour). We giggled softly, because our captain had already given us our first lesson in game watching – be quiet.
We passed several of the larger lodges on the Chobe River which is one of the largest of the five rivers that ultimately form the Zambezi river taking water to the Indian Ocean from as far away as Uganda. Some of that water flows into the Okavango Delta, which is the largest inland delta in the world. When we crossed the border into the Chobe Game Reserve, we pulled into a small dock to check with the rangers and let them know the nationalities of the passengers – most on our boat were German and then us and Njale. I think one other couple was from somewhere else.
During our three hours we saw :
1. black ibis,
2. many hippos,
3. elephants,
4. kudus,
5. antelope,
6. cormorants,
7. baboons (older ones and younger ones playing in the trees),
8. crocodiles (large and small, mostly sunning on the beach but one surfaced right beside me in the water),
9. fish eagles (look much like a bald eagle),
10. jacana birds,
11. storks,
12. egrets,
13. spoonbills,
14. cape buffalo,
15. kingfishers, and
16. bee eater birds (which nest in holds in the river banks).
The highlight of the tour was a huge pod (learned the name of multiples) of hippos near the end of the tour. They were gathered in an inlet formed by a floating island in the middle of the Chobe River. The ownership of the island was under conflicted discussion for so long between Botswana, Namibia and Zambia that the decision went all the way to Le Hague for the decision. I believe all three countries share ownership now. And the animals that swim to the island are on protected land.
The pod of hippos numbered somewhere between 30 and 40, with part of their heads, and sometimes their bodies out of the water. If we were too close in the boat they became a bit agitated and began to rumble and blow water from their nostrils like whales. As we sat quietly to observe them, we noticed that there were small hippos, which explained the agitation. One hippo climbed out of the water onto the bank and that process was amazing to watch. They are ungainly animals as they reach land.
Finally we needed to head toward Water Lily Lodge, but not before joining other boats from other lodges to watch the sun set over the Chobe river. As the sun started to set, I tried for some of the classic African sunset photos with blood red sun and blackened trees. The sun was still too bright and all I got was sun streaks in my lens. As the sun began to get lower in the sky and a bit less bright, I got better photos. The best ones came just as the sun set, the sky turned pink and purple and the river water reflected the colors. Wait until I post some of these photos.Here they are as promised - beautiful African sunset over the hippo pool. (NOTE TO ALL READERS - I haven't figured out why but the block does not publish the photos in the same locations as I place them when editing. For instance, you may find the final two photos from this river safari some distance - paragraph wise - lower than these sentences. Please bear with me as I continue to learn this simple and difficult technology!)
I am so sorry that we have been unable to post the photos as we take them. I promise to get them on as quickly as I can, perhaps while we are in Cyprus. My sister’s brother is into computers, has a computer at his home (which my sister does not), and may be able to help me get them posted. (Incidentally, I currently have 2 1g memory cards filled with over 1100 photos. I’m writing this to a Word document, because we have had no internet access in Moshupa since returning from Kasane 2 days ago. I asked Jim to put a message on my blog alerting you wonderful readers of our difficulties.)
There has been some confusion about our payment at the Lodge. I knew I would need to pay for Njale as her reservation was confirmed just a couple of weeks before we left the States. I spoke at some length with Sonja, who is the manager, about my understanding and expectations from my arrangements with Walter (who is my contact with Janala Tours). She promised to speak with him tomorrow and let me know how they would settle the differences.
We did learn that the bush camp is not ready for a night game drive and dinner on our return from Vic Falls on Thursday. We knew it was only a possibility, and yet we are disappointed.
We are getting settled in the rooms now – Njale and I are sharing a room and Anita has one to herself. We are laughing as we uncoil our mosquito nets that need to be placed around our beds each night to protect us from mosquitos. The interesting part of the netting is that when you wake during the night to visit the bathroom, you must remember as you are still half asleep just how to get out of the middle of the netting.
Until tomorrow, good night.
August 27, Water Lily Lodge, Kasane
The hot showers at this lodge are wonderful! Strong water pressure which I realized is because the hot water tank sits right above the shower. The room we are in is on the second floor and the roof is elevated and thatched. There is space above the bathroom for the reinforced ceiling to support the hot water tank.
We were awakened at 5 am because our morning game drive begins at 6 am. Njale decided to stay in bed and sleep, which was probably good. Botswana blood is thin and she is wrapped in blankets when Anita and I are running around in barefeet. We liken the weather to late spring or early summer, and Njale and most Batswanans are still in winder clothing.
Lucky brought 2 blankets for each of us – our personal tour with him as our guide. With multiday safaris, often the guide remains the same so that unseen animals can be located during succeeding drives. We wore long pants and long sleeved shirts, and Anita brought a light jacket. We were happy for the blankets and did not really warm up until about 2/3 of the tour was over when we stopped at a river overlook for hot tea and biscuits. It was COLD riding in that open truck while Lucky sat in the cab with the heat on. The window was opened so he could speak with us, and I was happy to have taken the seat immediately behind the window because some of the warm air came out to me. Anita was behind me in the second seat.
During our morning drive (another 3-hour tour!), we saw a large pod of hippos. We actually saw them twice – once while we were at river level and were quite close, and towards the end of the drive from the top of the ridge along the river. We learned that the hippos spend the night near the land bank and huddle together for warmth during the winter.
We also went past a very old building, partially falling down and overgrown with
trees and vines. It is part of the structures used by workers before the area became the Chobe Game Preserve. A corporation owned the land and was logging the trees. Thus most of the growth we were visiting is less than 30 years old and most trees are less than 25-30 feet tall. When the land was sold back to Botswana for Chobe, the people living in these buildings moved out of what was to become the park, and Kasane was born.
Kasane did not exist before the park was created. It is still a very small town with lots of lodges, most outside the park. There are a couple inside the park and they were allowed to remain. You can walk the entire town from one end to the other in about 30 minutes.
During the rest of our game drive we saw:
1. one hyena (only his backside as he was walking away from us),
2. many McDonough antelope (so named because of the ‘m’ markings in black on their butts),
3. many elephant herds with many babies and young,
4. a bachelor herd of buffalo,
5. many guinea hens (Njale raises them in Moshupa),
6. lots of elephant dung,
8. more red leschle antelope,
9. jumping fish in the Chobe River near the overlook where we had tea,
10. fish eagle nests,
11. many other birds not identified,
12. termite mounds (we learned you can tell the directions by the position of termites in the mounds in relation to the sun. They stay on the side away from the sun, and move with the sun.
13. more warthogs,
14. a single beautiful male sable antelope,
and15. a beautiful sunrise (although not as pretty as the sunset of yesterday.).
Njale was up and ready for breakfast during which we ate fresh pancakes with syrup, fruit (guava, papaya, and peaches), juice, scrambled eggs with bacon and sausage, with fresh toast. Njale and I walked into town to the Botswana Tourism Office to get books and posters to bring home. Anita was disappointed that we did not bring any posters for her, although we did bring the books. She got her posters when we went out for our afternoon game drive – Lucky was willing to stop for her. (Incidentally this is exactly what Jim and I experienced during our safari experiences in 1990. No request was ignored and every effort was made to address the request in a positive fashion. Makes you feel very special and wonderfully attended to.)
Because of our large breakfast, and because we had been stuffed at dinner last evening, lunch was only ice cream sundaes with both chocolate and caramel sauces for me, bananas and cream for Njale and chocolate sauce for Anita.
My discussion with Sonya was amazing. The areas of concern was the definition of ‘full board’ that is you have fully paid for everything – meals, lodging, and activities. Sonya’s expectation was that we would pay additionally for all beverages, which was not what I expected. After she and Walter spoke, they decided that they would accept my expectation. I explained that full payment in America generally includes food and soft drinks but not any alcohol, thus the misunderstanding. I am fully satisfied with their decision, and will certain not disagree any longer. She also told me that although the bush camp is not ready, they do not want to disappoint us regarding the night game drive, and are attempting to arrange one for us after dinner on Thursday, the day we are to spend in Vic Falls.
Our afternoon game drive began at 3 pm and Njale joined us for this drive. I was still surprised because she was very uncomfortable at the camp in Zimbabwe’s Hwange Park after the wedding celebrations in 1990. She rode in the back of the truck with us for the afternoon, during which we saw:
1. very large elephant herds (comprised of matriarch’s whose rumble sounded when the babies were possibly in danger),
2. more McDonough antelope (in large herds on the savannah near the Chobe River with elephants and giraffe),
4. waterbuck antelopes (like shaggy antelope) on the same savannah,
5. many flocks of guinea hens,
6. several herds of kudu with male and female (the male horns are spirals and quite beautiful),
7. sable antelope (both singles and one very large herd of mostly males with just a few females being chased. We heard sounds from the herd that Lucky said he had never heard before. The weaving from Oodi Weavers that I purchases features 2 sable antelope and a baobab tree.),
many more hippos,
8. lots of giraffe (mostly sighted with the heads popping up above the tall trees from which they are eating),
9. a male and female lion (although they were at least 300 meters away so Jim may need to do some 
Photoshopping to the pictures so people will believe they are really there.),
10. blacksmith plovers,
11. several Couri Bustards (the largest flying bird in the world),
12. purple rollers (brilliant birds of many colors),
14. a small herd of zebra, and
15. many unnamed birds.
The highlight of the afternoon was the elephant herd that we followed to a muddy water hole where they delightfully bathed and rolled in the mud, then followed with a dusting to keep the insects from their skin. The young wallowed in the mud, while the older elephants scooped the mud up with their trunks and tossed it to their backs.
Sitting and watching animals acting like they are supposed to makes it almost impossible to go to zoos.
I warned Anita of this phenomenon which is why we went to see the pandas at the National Zoo in DC before we left. Jim’s late brother Brian warned me before I came to visit in 1990; He was completely correct.
Back to the Lodge for dinner and an early bedtime. We are exhausted from the sun and fresh air all day in the open. Anita and I compared memories of the animals we saw to try to have as complete a list as possible.
We were up in time to enjoy breakfast of onion and cheese omelets, toast, fruit and bacon before our departure to Victoria Falls at 8:30 am. Our first stop was the border crossing for Botswana where our passports were stamped for departures. A few hundred yards of no man’s land and we were at the Zimbabwe border.Anita and I needed to purchase a Zimbabwe visa for $30 American – no other currency accepted from Americans. We had tucked it away with our passports to ensure its availability today. We received beautiful visas pasted into our passports.
We were in Zimbabwe only a few miles when we saw a small herd of about 5 giraffes. Two young males closest to the road were play fighting, so Lucky stopped the van (no open truck today) so we could watch and take photos.
We reached Victoria Falls by about 10 am and Lucky asked us to be back to the van around 12:15 pm. We paid our $20 American admission and began our walk though the park grounds to the Livingstone Statue locatated just at the southern most end of the falls which stretch for 1.7 killometers between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The falls are visible from either country but should you be considering a visit, I hightly recommend the Zimbabwe side. You can not see much of the falls from Zambia as it is where the Zambezi river makes a 90 degree turn away from the narrow canyon that was created by the falls.
Right inside the park entrance, we ran into this little vervet monkey sitting right in the middle of the path - protecting his turf by charging anyone who came near. We walked around him and did not seem to cause him unrest.
There was not as much water coming over the falls today as there was in 1990. Not that it made too much difference in the sight of this magnificent world famous waterfall.
The mist that rises from the water obscures your sight regularly. And sometimes the mist is so heavy that you feel as if it is raining. There were several times that I turned my back and held my camera near my face so that it was protected by the brim of my hat.
I can’t really describe the falls in words – this is one time that my pictures will be needed to show you what we saw.
We did climb down 73 steps to a lower viewing place and then 73 steps back up. Zimbabwe steps are taller and wider so for people like me with relatively short legs and a bit of weight to lift, the time up and down was longer. I believe I took 146 steps down and 146 steps back up, because each ‘step’ was 2 for me. We all sat a bit at the top to rest. There were no handrails, and the mist from this location make the stone steps slippery, so we moved slowly and carefully.
Njale and Anita decided to go see the International Bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the last view point on the path past the falls.
NOTE - the tiny white speck in the center of the photo to the left is a person who is standing on the platform at the bottom of those steps. This is the lowest point a person can get in the chasm without being at the bottom.
Note - the photo right was taken on my way back to the Interpretive Center - it shows people on the edge of the chasm on the Zimbabwe side and across the chasm are folks walking to Livingstone Island from Zambia, on the part of the river where the water is REALLY low. Compare this to the map shown at the start of this visit to Victoria Falls which shows water coming over the entire edge at high water season.
I wanted to spend some time in the Interpretive Center before we left the park to join Lucky, so I passed on the bridge and walked back by myself. I was just finishing with the Center when the two of them arrived. We reconnected with Lucky and were on our way to lunch at a restaurant of his choice.
We stopped on the way to see the ‘old tree’, a baobab that is estimated to be 1500 years old. It is one of the biggest trees I have ever seen excepting the redwoods in California. I had to be approximately 100 feet away in order to get the tree from top to bottom in a photo. I lost some of the side branches even then. Look closely at the lower right side of the photo and you can see Anita waiting patiently under a light color small tree while Lucky takes her photo.
Lunch was salads and burgers, and American money was requested. The economy in Zimbabwe has been in the American news recently and the struggles of the Zimbabwe people made this visit emotionally difficult. Whenever our van stopped, we had 2-3 people at each window immediately, either begging for money or trying to sell us a craft item. When we were out of the van we were surrounded by people with similar intent. Not in any sort of frightening way, but with the most difficult and pleading voices that one could not ignore. There was security at the shopping area where the restaurant was located and the individuals were not permitted to follow us. They were present in our heads always.
After lunch we walked to a craft bazarr where the items for sale were made by the individuals who offered them to us. Again, this was extremely emotional because we were stopped at each of the small shops by men who were mostly selling similar items – carved stone animals and family oriented items, wooden bowls and carved animals of all sizes, some woven baskets and cloth table coverings. Each person pleaded for a purchase in order to feed their families. If I had purchased one item from each shop, I could not have helped the country. I did purchase two small items, because the artist presented something to me that touched me in a way that the other items did not. I spent very little money only because I felt so powerless to do much in a positive way.
As I went back to the car, I was follow with other merchants from the first shops who wanted me to return. I was asked to trade in my shoes, my socks, my hat, my glasses, anything that might be expendable. Anita brought a couple of tee shirts to trade as advised by a friend, and was able to obtain several nice carved wooden items for each shirt. While sitting in the car, 4 small children came with cups to beg for their blind mother. I had left all my coins in Moshupa instead of needing to deal with them at airport security screenings. Njale gave me 4 2-pula coins for the children.
I wish the world could get Mugabe and his government out of office. Zimbabwe merchants in Victoria Falls do not even accept their own money since it is so worthless. I was offered $10,000,000,000 notes as souveniers for $1 American. I did not buy any, I could not do it.
As we drove back to Botswana, and just before we crossed the Zimbabwe border we saw more elephants. This time it was a herd of almost 80-100 animals that wanted to cross the road. We stopped to let the herd cross, and took photos. Other cars stopped and beeped their horns. Lucky said they were afraid of the animals and wanted them to cross quickly. This herds was mostly females with lots of young, some were so small that they looked as if they had been born only a couple of days earlier. NOTE - all photos are of different parts of the very large herd.
We rested a bit before dinner back at Water Lily Lodge. 
We had preordered our dinners since we expected to be late getting back from Vic Falls. Each of us had decided to try something from the Asian section – Njale and Anita had Chairman Mao’s Sizzling Chicken and I had the same only Korean style (meaning spicy).
The entrees were brought to us in a bowl with another bowl of rice and a plank of wood with a cast iron shallow bowl shaped like a cow. That cast iron must have been extremely hot because when the chicken, vegetable and sauce mixtures were spilled into the cow bowl, it SIZZLED and steam filled with spices filled the dining room. When mine was served the hot spices made the waitress cough, and we started coughing as well. In fact, everyone who entered the dining room coughed so much that the windows were opened.
We laughed so much that the chef came out of the kitchen to make sure we were OK and liked our meals. She started coughing as well. We will be the talk of the Lodge for some time, I am sure. My meal was so spicy that after a while I could no longer feel my lips or my tongue. I needed lots of water to put out that fire! It was delicious.
Our night game drive began as soon as we finished dinner. Our first try to go into the dark forest was stopped by a pile of dirt on the road. Some construction was planned, so Lucky turned us around and started another way. He told us we were heading for the town dump where he thought we would find hyenas enjoying a late night snack. John, an extra spotter with a strong light, was also certain. And the hyenas were there, along with 6 elephants. The experience reminded me of going to the town dump while camping in Michigan with my family to watch the bears eat garbage. We also saw a honey badger which was a rare sighting.
Leaving the dump area we drove through fields and other open areas where we spotten 3 more waterbucks. As we went past the waterbucks we entered deeper into the forest, on dirt and sand roads. We twisted and turned, and turned and twisted, until I was no longer certain that Lucky knew where we were. At one point, he told Njale who was sitting in the cab with him, that he thought he knew where we were. (He later told Anita he had a GPS system to help guide him though the forest.) We were close to where the bush camp is being constructed. We saw no more animals, but saw lots of dark forest with close-in trees and bushes, some so close that one branch scratched my face just a bit. Ultimately we ended up at the back of the Kasane airport and back on the tarred road we had used to get back and forth to the Chobe Game Preserve. After about 2 hours we were safely back to Water Lily Lodge, in time for sleep.
We needed it because tomorrow we will be leaving to fly back to Gaborone.
August 29, 2008 – Happy 38th Anniversary to Jim and Karen
Water Lily Lodge and staff -
This is the vehicle that carried us on our 4 safari game drives.
I finally met Walter with whom I have been corresponding since early April to plan this adventure in Kasane. He was working in the dining room as I settled the bill for Njale’s additional expenses. She ended up being just a bit less expensive than Anita and me.
Lucky took us to the airport 
including the almost 5 foot
wooden giraffe that Njale
brought back from Victoria
Falls. Botswana Air checked it
with no difficulties. Apparently
this is not an unusual request.
We stopped briefly at the Kasane government building to see an old baobab tree that had been used as the town jail after
the interior rotted away.
We tried hard to reconfirm our flights from Gaborone to Johannesburg and from Johannesburg to Cairo on Monday September 1st, with no luck at Kasane or at Gaborone after we got home. So I called Jim to see if he could help. It gave me a chance to wish him a happy anniversary and to tell him I missed him.Kristen came to the airport to take us to Kumakwane where we found Njale’s car with a dead battery. After a jump start we were on our way to Moshupa. A quick stop at the grocery to replentish the kitchen, and soon we were home.
We returned home to find no internet connection and no water. Water returned before the internet connection (NOTE – it is August 31st as I type this into a Word document and we still have no internet connection. I am saving to a flash drive with the hopes of uploading these entries soon.)
With water back, Anita and I did laundry because tomorrow we have to be ready to send some stuff back to the US instead of carting it with us all the way to Cairo and Cyprus. We are especially interested in sending the warm clothing we brought which we will no longer need, and some of the souveniers that take room in our limited luggage space.
Refilwe has agreed to stay up to move dry clothes from the dryer for us and put the second load into the dryer to dry overnight. Tomorrow we will fishing the boxes and get them to the Moshupa post office.
That’s it for now.
Now you are caught up for our safari adventures. In the next few days, I'll be trying to find time to spend at this computer to bring you up to date on our adventures in Cairo, and Cyprus. Happy reading, my friends.
Here are some good wishes to those whose special days have been missed...
Happy birthday to -
Arleen Talley on August 26th
Mary Parron on August 26th
Holly Moss on August 27th
My sister-in-law Becky Papenfuss on August 28th
Helga Sparrow on August 31st
John Snavely on August 31st
Cathy Raggio on September 1st
My godson, John Rowland on September 5th
Happy anniversary to -
Contobia Adams on August 26th
Karen and Jim Trennepohl, 38 years on August 29th
Mark Houck and Margaret Ann Nolan on September 1st
Jim and Becky Papenfuss on September 2nd
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