Plethora of Pretty Flowers

On our Africa trip we went through Victoria Falls several times as a central hub to the other countries. On one of those layovers we stopped by the Ilala Lodge to drop off some luggage and have lunch before heading out to Hwange National Park. The lodge had a great view of the Smoke that Thunders (the smoke part) and many a pretty flower. We were actually visiting in the middle of their winter so there was not much in bloom on the trip, but we did find a few pretty flowers along the way. And if there are flowers then I must take pictures!!!! Enjoy!! And don't miss the cool African bee in Picture 5 :)

Too Cute Not to Post

Back to the lion walk in Victoria Falls and a few more that are just too darned cute!


I'm Ready for my Closeup:

Greco Roman Lion Wrestling:

Ummm...Tourists are Tasty!

I'm Cute and I Know It!

Ceratotherium simum simum

WOW!!!!! A (Southern)White Rhino. One of the big 5 that I knew I would like to see but just didn't expect to. It is the more common of they types of rhino, but there are still only ~10,000 estimated left in the world.
On June 11 we were heading out to visit a local school and village just outside of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. About 10-15 minutes out of camp a call came over the radio in the jeep that a white rhino had been spotted just outside of camp and was wandering around in a large field. Our driver told us to hold on tight and we took off across the rough dirt tracks of the bush at ridiculous speed. (Actually, the drive was a lot of fun--very like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland!) We got back to camp in a few minutes and lo and behold, there in the distance was rhino number 25! Hwange had LOTS of problems with poaching and they didn't have the security to protect the rhinos so they shipped them all over to a smaller park where they could protect them and work on a breeding program. Well, it seems the program worked as they have so many that the smaller park had too many and they have started re-introducing them into Hwange (where they have better security now). They will not say how many they have re-introduced to protect them (a few have been poached--mostly to use their horns for knife handles) but this guy was number 25 (as determined by his ear notches--The code is here).
We stopped a good way away form him and though he saw us (and the 2 other trucks) he really didn't seem to care that we were there and just keep grazing his way across the field. He actually ended up coming within about 20 meters of our truck, passing just behind us. Needless to say I took quite a few pictures. Here are just a couple of my favorites.
Every wonder why they are called White and Black rhinos? Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

A popular theory of the origins of the name White Rhinoceros is a mistranslation from Dutch into Afrikaans and English. The Afrikaans word "wit", meaning "white" in English is said to have been derived by mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English and is spelt "wyd" in Afrikaans. The word "wide" refers to the width of the Rhinoceros mouth. So early European settlers in South Africa misinterpreted the "wyd" for "white" and the rhino with the wide mouth ended up being called the White Rhino and the other one, with the narrow pointed mouth, was called the Black Rhinoceros. A review of Dutch and Afrikaans literature about the rhinoceros has also failed to produce any evidence that the word wyd was ever used to describe the rhino.^[2] Other popular theories suggest the name comes from its wide appearance throughout Africa, its colour due to wallowing in calcerous soil or bird droppings or because of the lighter colour of its horn. An alternative common name for the white rhinoceros, more accurate but rarely used, is the square-lipped rhinoceros. The White Rhinoceros' generic name, Ceratotherium, given by the zoologist John Edward Gray in 1868,^[3] is derived from the Greek terms keras "horn" and therion "beast". Simum, is derived from the Greek term simus, meaning "flat nosed".

As common as an....

...Impala! When we first landed in Kruger National park in South Africa there was a short drive from the airstrip (OK, some mowed grass) to the camp. On the way we say some impala, baboons, and kudu. Our guide assured us that we would see MANY more impala (impalae?!?!) on our trip and wow was he correct. As common as an impala is a phrase used down there for good reason. These grazers are everywhere and we saw them in all of the parks that we visited. They are the main course for many a predator but don't usually care about the Land Rovers so we often got very close to them. Being unconcerned with the jeeps did make them easy to picture (see below) but one of the most impressive things about them is to see them run and jump whch is a little harder to get on film if they don't run away from you :) A couple of times something else spooked them (in fact, that is how we spotted the lionesses in Hwange but more on that in a later post) and my new camera made itself useful--it is almost instantly on and there is only a fraction of a second delay to focus usually so I was able to get this shot. In truth, they are capable of jumping 4 meters int he air--clean over the land Rover if they wanted though we did not get to see that. They are really beautiful while running and their leaps are incredibly graceful. I have added another jumping shot below as well as a group shot. These were taken in Chobe National Park in Botswana:

Waterfall rainbow goodness

(Note: I couldn't decide which of these I liked best--so you get to vote in the comments--let me know!)

Victoria Falls!!!! It really is amazing. It is an odd type of waterfall in that instead of falling off of a cliff it falls into a crevasse. So, instead of seeing the falls from the bottom like you are used to, you stand across from it, at the same height as the top of the falls! It is pretty hard to see the whole thing as the rift fills up mist. The native name for the falls, in fact, is Mosi-oa-Tunya which means the Smoke that Thunders. You can see it from a long ways away (the land around there is VERY flat) and it really does thunder! There is enough mist that on the opposite side form the falls (where you view it from) it is actually a very small rainforest! To give you an idea of just how wet it is, check out Charles, our guide waiting for Cathy and me as we walked out to Danger Point.

Wow. Just plain Wow

Near the end of the trip we were out on a game drive out in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe at sunset and stopped by a watering hole with lots of buffalo, guinea hens, and even three giraffes. However, it was the sunset that stole the show that night. This is just one of many fantasmigorical sunset pictures I got on the trip--I am sure that I will share many more over the coming months.

Really Big Putty Tat!!!

Hello! Well, I just got back from three weeks in Africa on Safari in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Needless to say the experience was INCREDIBLE and I took just a few pictures! I will be posting several of them here over the next little while but it is going to take me some time to go through the 3000-4000 that I brought home. I promise not to post them all :)
On our last day in Africa we were in Victoria Falls and there were several options for activities--in honor of my parent's 43rd wedding anniversary my sister and I took the family on a lion walk, an elephant safari, and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi just above the falls. For the lion walk we walked about a kilometer through a private game reserve accompanied by three really darned cute 14 month old lions. In the middle of the walk they had the lions lie down and we each got to pet them. Yes, I actually got to pet a lion!! He was actually pretty soft and cuddly--more so given that he didn't show me his claws! His main was a bit rougher, but wow, I pet a lion!

Update..it was actually 7230 picts