Ok. Let’s get this out of the way early. What an incredible day! We took a helicopter flight over Victoria Falls, walked with the Lions and capped the day off by a herd of Elephants crossing the road at night on our way back from dinner. Where else in the world can you do and see these things!?!
We woke up this morning at 7:15am as we needed to be at the bank by about 8:00am. We had showers (Ev had no cold water), then we headed to the Barclays Bank in town to withdraw $200USD and R300. We told our cabbie we’d give him $20USD (a return trip into town would normally cost $10USD) to hang around while we were in there. The queuing ticket said ‘0 Persons ahead’, we waited 20 minutes to be served and were told they didn’t have enough USD to give us so we would need to come back later around 10:00am. That was a waste of time, but we still had our helicopter flight to go to at 9:00am, so with excitement, we raced back to the car and our cabbie took us back to the campsite to scoff down breakfast at 8:45am and were ready for another driver to pick us up at 9am. He arrived at 9:15am. We’re slowly beginning to realise that Africans work on their time: later than expected. This is similar to what Dan likes to call MST or Moody Standard Time. We arrived at the Helicopter ride at 9:20am and it went for 15 minutes.
As we arrived at the site we would be taking off from, there was a local playing a wooden instrument like a marimba and groups of people waiting to for their turn to ride on the helicopters. We entered the reception area and were greeted by the manager who took our reservation slip and booked us onto a flight. We were still a bit worried about time at this stage because we had to get back to the bank before it closed at 11am. We thought it may take a while because there was at least one large group of Spanish people (12 people) ahead of us. Thankfully though, we were able to skip ahead because one of the smaller helicopters that seats 3 people, had become available. Our every move was being captured as one of the ground crew was filming us as we boarded with a German woman who sat in the front as we had the back seat to ourselves. We were too excited to realise we had never flown in a helicopter and before we knew it we were airborne. The view from the air was amazing. On the way to the falls we flew over a herd of elephants that were sleeping and from a distance we could see the spray from the water of the falls. It was magnificent to see multiple rainbows through the mist. The water stretched for kilometres eventually plummeting.
We circled a herd of hippos lazing on the banks of the Zambezi River shortly after takeoff.
15 minutes later the flight was over and in all honesty we thought it was just about long enough. We landed back at the helipad and were led towards one of the staff who prepares the DVD’s. We were shown the footage of us entering, well as being in the helicopter, plus footage of the Falls. We couldn’t resist and ended up buying a copy for $30USD. We were dropped back into town to Barclays Bank at around 10:20am and finally were able to withdraw cash. They didn’t have Rand so we just withdrew USD and finally could buy sunscreen and insect repellent. For just these two items the chemist charged us $40USD!! But we’d prefer to have them than be without.
Back at camp we met our Tour Leader Johannes and the rest of the group already with their tents assembled. We were then all told to meet in the auditorium to check out what activities were available. The activities video was inspiring. There are so many things to do at Livingstone: game drives, helicopter and micro light flights, jet boat rides, white water rafting, bungy jumping, abseiling, ride the elephants, lion encounters, 4 wheeler bike rides and more. Dan really wanted to go white water rafting or do the bridge swing diving (like bungy jumping but it drops then you swing from a rope), but Ev didn’t want to do either of those. Piker! Instead we booked ourselves in for the Lion Encounter for later that afternoon and considered doing the sunset cruise the following night. We also haven’t seen the falls up close yet so we’ll need to make time for that. Everyone wanted to do the Elephant ride so we withdrew our position and let the others take it. It will give us a chance to catch up on emails. During the meeting we were getting the feeling that the majority of the people here already knew each other and it began to dawn on us that these guys were halfway through their trip. We felt like the new kids at school today. We initially thought the guy telling us about the activities was part of the tour as well but he was from the Hotel's Tourism department.
After the meeting we had lunch down at the restaurant with the group and were invited to join them all for dinner. We were becoming more comfortable with the group. Lunch was ordered and we met Don and Beatrix from New Zealand and Stefan and Susan from Tweed Heads and Peter and Di from the Sunshine Coast. We spoke about our honeymoon and also about their adventures up to this point. Don also confirmed that the tour indeed was halfway through. Lunch took a little bit longer than expected, but finally our burgers and chips came and we hurridly ate as we were told the bus to take us to the Lion walk had arrived. On the bus we met and chatted with Russell from Sydney, Greg and Katie from South Australia, Tracey also from Sydney and Deb from New Jersey, USA. The bus ride took about 30mins.
Lion Walk
As we got off the bus we were greeted by our guide, Abel. The crew served cold juice as we sat in preparation for our safety briefing. It was funny but also a bit unsettling to hear Abel joke about the lions and strawberry jam coming out of us if they bit us. The sticks we held on to were our only defense against the lions in case they got a bit rowdy or playful. Abel told us if they approach us, not to run and to point the stick at them and say ‘No’. Seemed simple enough, but we weren’t convinced though. After the briefing was over we were split up into two groups and led away by our respective guides. Abel told us we would be walking with 16 month cubs, two girls and a boy. The lions were adorable. It was quite hot and they were very lazy under the trees at the beginning of our walk but after a bit of encouragement they eventually were up and about. They were so beautiful.
Alert is the program that the company have established for reintroducing lions back into the wild. It’s a 4 stage breeding program that hand raises cubs to be self sufficient lions who will then teach their cubs how to survive in the wild. For now though, the lions we walked will be too reliant on humans so they will live in the 1600 hectare reserve with other wild animals for the rest of their lives. It’s a lot of effort for a few cubs but the African Lion is on the verge of being labelled extinct so the handlers are passionate about what they do. The company relies on volunteers and visitors like us to help walk the lions, everyday for exercise. We walked three sibling cubs 16 months old, but there were also two smaller cubs the other group walked. Our three, were tired and a bit hot, but towards sunset they were more actively playing by biting and clawing each other and flopping down on each other. The guides shared a lot of information about the program and the lions and how they interact with them on a daily basis. It was a fantastic experience to pat them and Ev said she would love to volunteer here over a 4 week period.
After the walk was over, we followed Abel back to the reception area and we were given food and drink. Our afternoon was recorded onto DVD and we spent the next 10-15 minutes reliving some of the more enjoyable moments of the walk. We again purchased the DVD of our afternoon encounter then headed back to the campsite. It was late in the afternoon and we found the rest of our group ready to head out to dinner. We raced back to our tent to put our camera back and get a quick change of clothes then headed back to reception and chatted with Mark from Brisbane while we waited for a taxi.
Dinner at Olga’s was very nice. It was an Italian restaurant and we also met a couple more members of the group, Kasumi from Japan and Johan and Regula from Switzerland and spoke about our trips. We both had a pizza each and they were the fluffiest, tastiest we’ve had. We were excited to hear more about some of the group’s travels. Some had been travelling from other continents prior to this Intrepid tour and we’ve learnt a lot about our next leg in Egypt. We felt very welcomed by our group and they are all very friendly. The group farewelled a member of the group we didn’t actually meet; Peter from the U.K. After returning from dinner we headed up to the computers to type our blog and use the internet, but they were closed, instead we found Johannes having a good time watching the sport on TV. Time for bed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/
We woke up this morning at 7:15am as we needed to be at the bank by about 8:00am. We had showers (Ev had no cold water), then we headed to the Barclays Bank in town to withdraw $200USD and R300. We told our cabbie we’d give him $20USD (a return trip into town would normally cost $10USD) to hang around while we were in there. The queuing ticket said ‘0 Persons ahead’, we waited 20 minutes to be served and were told they didn’t have enough USD to give us so we would need to come back later around 10:00am. That was a waste of time, but we still had our helicopter flight to go to at 9:00am, so with excitement, we raced back to the car and our cabbie took us back to the campsite to scoff down breakfast at 8:45am and were ready for another driver to pick us up at 9am. He arrived at 9:15am. We’re slowly beginning to realise that Africans work on their time: later than expected. This is similar to what Dan likes to call MST or Moody Standard Time. We arrived at the Helicopter ride at 9:20am and it went for 15 minutes.
As we arrived at the site we would be taking off from, there was a local playing a wooden instrument like a marimba and groups of people waiting to for their turn to ride on the helicopters. We entered the reception area and were greeted by the manager who took our reservation slip and booked us onto a flight. We were still a bit worried about time at this stage because we had to get back to the bank before it closed at 11am. We thought it may take a while because there was at least one large group of Spanish people (12 people) ahead of us. Thankfully though, we were able to skip ahead because one of the smaller helicopters that seats 3 people, had become available. Our every move was being captured as one of the ground crew was filming us as we boarded with a German woman who sat in the front as we had the back seat to ourselves. We were too excited to realise we had never flown in a helicopter and before we knew it we were airborne. The view from the air was amazing. On the way to the falls we flew over a herd of elephants that were sleeping and from a distance we could see the spray from the water of the falls. It was magnificent to see multiple rainbows through the mist. The water stretched for kilometres eventually plummeting.
 |
| Victoria Falls Flight |
We circled a herd of hippos lazing on the banks of the Zambezi River shortly after takeoff.
 |
| Hippo Heard from Helicopter Flight |
15 minutes later the flight was over and in all honesty we thought it was just about long enough. We landed back at the helipad and were led towards one of the staff who prepares the DVD’s. We were shown the footage of us entering, well as being in the helicopter, plus footage of the Falls. We couldn’t resist and ended up buying a copy for $30USD. We were dropped back into town to Barclays Bank at around 10:20am and finally were able to withdraw cash. They didn’t have Rand so we just withdrew USD and finally could buy sunscreen and insect repellent. For just these two items the chemist charged us $40USD!! But we’d prefer to have them than be without.
Back at camp we met our Tour Leader Johannes and the rest of the group already with their tents assembled. We were then all told to meet in the auditorium to check out what activities were available. The activities video was inspiring. There are so many things to do at Livingstone: game drives, helicopter and micro light flights, jet boat rides, white water rafting, bungy jumping, abseiling, ride the elephants, lion encounters, 4 wheeler bike rides and more. Dan really wanted to go white water rafting or do the bridge swing diving (like bungy jumping but it drops then you swing from a rope), but Ev didn’t want to do either of those. Piker! Instead we booked ourselves in for the Lion Encounter for later that afternoon and considered doing the sunset cruise the following night. We also haven’t seen the falls up close yet so we’ll need to make time for that. Everyone wanted to do the Elephant ride so we withdrew our position and let the others take it. It will give us a chance to catch up on emails. During the meeting we were getting the feeling that the majority of the people here already knew each other and it began to dawn on us that these guys were halfway through their trip. We felt like the new kids at school today. We initially thought the guy telling us about the activities was part of the tour as well but he was from the Hotel's Tourism department.
After the meeting we had lunch down at the restaurant with the group and were invited to join them all for dinner. We were becoming more comfortable with the group. Lunch was ordered and we met Don and Beatrix from New Zealand and Stefan and Susan from Tweed Heads and Peter and Di from the Sunshine Coast. We spoke about our honeymoon and also about their adventures up to this point. Don also confirmed that the tour indeed was halfway through. Lunch took a little bit longer than expected, but finally our burgers and chips came and we hurridly ate as we were told the bus to take us to the Lion walk had arrived. On the bus we met and chatted with Russell from Sydney, Greg and Katie from South Australia, Tracey also from Sydney and Deb from New Jersey, USA. The bus ride took about 30mins.
Lion Walk
As we got off the bus we were greeted by our guide, Abel. The crew served cold juice as we sat in preparation for our safety briefing. It was funny but also a bit unsettling to hear Abel joke about the lions and strawberry jam coming out of us if they bit us. The sticks we held on to were our only defense against the lions in case they got a bit rowdy or playful. Abel told us if they approach us, not to run and to point the stick at them and say ‘No’. Seemed simple enough, but we weren’t convinced though. After the briefing was over we were split up into two groups and led away by our respective guides. Abel told us we would be walking with 16 month cubs, two girls and a boy. The lions were adorable. It was quite hot and they were very lazy under the trees at the beginning of our walk but after a bit of encouragement they eventually were up and about. They were so beautiful.
 |
| Lion Encounter with 16 month Cubs |
Alert is the program that the company have established for reintroducing lions back into the wild. It’s a 4 stage breeding program that hand raises cubs to be self sufficient lions who will then teach their cubs how to survive in the wild. For now though, the lions we walked will be too reliant on humans so they will live in the 1600 hectare reserve with other wild animals for the rest of their lives. It’s a lot of effort for a few cubs but the African Lion is on the verge of being labelled extinct so the handlers are passionate about what they do. The company relies on volunteers and visitors like us to help walk the lions, everyday for exercise. We walked three sibling cubs 16 months old, but there were also two smaller cubs the other group walked. Our three, were tired and a bit hot, but towards sunset they were more actively playing by biting and clawing each other and flopping down on each other. The guides shared a lot of information about the program and the lions and how they interact with them on a daily basis. It was a fantastic experience to pat them and Ev said she would love to volunteer here over a 4 week period.
 |
| Sleepy kitty |
After the walk was over, we followed Abel back to the reception area and we were given food and drink. Our afternoon was recorded onto DVD and we spent the next 10-15 minutes reliving some of the more enjoyable moments of the walk. We again purchased the DVD of our afternoon encounter then headed back to the campsite. It was late in the afternoon and we found the rest of our group ready to head out to dinner. We raced back to our tent to put our camera back and get a quick change of clothes then headed back to reception and chatted with Mark from Brisbane while we waited for a taxi.
Dinner at Olga’s was very nice. It was an Italian restaurant and we also met a couple more members of the group, Kasumi from Japan and Johan and Regula from Switzerland and spoke about our trips. We both had a pizza each and they were the fluffiest, tastiest we’ve had. We were excited to hear more about some of the group’s travels. Some had been travelling from other continents prior to this Intrepid tour and we’ve learnt a lot about our next leg in Egypt. We felt very welcomed by our group and they are all very friendly. The group farewelled a member of the group we didn’t actually meet; Peter from the U.K. After returning from dinner we headed up to the computers to type our blog and use the internet, but they were closed, instead we found Johannes having a good time watching the sport on TV. Time for bed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/
1 comment:
awwwh! I'm so envious of you and your lion king experience ;) thanks for sharing. can't wait to see the video! kal says hi! x
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