Our African Adventure

Living in Missoula, Montana means you have to accept the fate of traveling for at least half a day before making it to your final destination. It is a small price to pay to live in a town surrounded by mountains, flowing rivers and fresh air. Let's get real - a half a day to make it to Zambia? No. It took me a full 30 hours to make it to my final destination. On the morning of Saturday, September 27th I began my adventure. The first leg of the trip was easy, a quick two hour flight to Denver. Here, I met up with my Dad who agreed to take this adventure with me. I am not sure he knew what he was getting himself into, but I was happy to have the company.

From there, we hopped a plane to New York City. Conveniently, my sister lives in the City so we decided to break up the 30 hours and spend the night in the big apple. It is always such a shock traveling from small town Missoula to New York City. People are everywhere, the noise is so loud it feels like it is penetrating your body, the lights are so bright you need sunglasses at night, and the taxi drivers make you so stick to your stomach that you can hardly hold down the delicious street pretzel. Though we were only in New York for a brief 14 hours, we were able to catch a show, wander through Times Square, and spend time with my sister who I hadn't seen in far too many months.

The next morning we were up at 6 AM and at the airport waiting in line by 7 AM. This is where the trip truly began - a 15 hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg. We got lucky and somehow got the bulkhead seats on the South African Airway flight. I hunkered down, kicked my shoes off, and turned on the TV. I watched a couple of movies, read an entire book, and slept. My dad, on the other hand, believes in staying awake the entire time he travels. It is his way to prevent Jet Lag. I don't agree with him. We landed in Johannesburg and he confessed to watching 8 movies.

Upon landing at the OR Tambo International airport I felt grubby. I wanted a shower, or at least some fresh air, but we had another 3 hour flight to Livingstone. We wandered the airport for our two hour layover and finally made our way to the gate. I did not see any planes outside, but lines of busses. Instead of walking directly onto the plane, you board a bus which takes you to the plane. It was nice stepping outside, as I had been breathing airport air for the past 18 hours. Finally, we were en route Livingstone, the land of Victoria Falls and the mighty Zambezi!

Today was our last full day at Victoria Falls and we wanted to make it count. Once again we woke up with the sun rise to beat the heat of the day. This was ecspesially important today because we were going to be with animals, and animals (like me) do not enjoy being active in the heat.

We were off to the Makuni Big 5, a conservation company aimed to breed and release animals into professionally managed wildlife reserves all around Zambia. At Makuni Big 5 we had arranged to walk with lions, pet cheetahs, and ride elephants. To be honest with you, I was not so sure I would enjoy this. It sounded fake. Who gets to walk with lions?

When we arrived, we were greeted by very professional guides who explained the day to us. We began with the lions. Two huge lions, one male and one female (brother and sister), made their way to my dad and I. Personally, I am very wary around big animals. Being from Wyoming, I grew up being surrounded by bears, moose, bison, and more. You would think I should be used to being around big game. I am not. I am terrified of large animals. As the lions came up to us, I stepped back. These cats were magnificent - so calm, yet fearsome.

Up next were the cheetahs, which exhibited the same personalities as the lions. One of the cheetahs was a two year old female. She is brought to different schools around the area to provide environmental education and to raise awairness about conservation efforts and poaching. I flew all the way from Montana to see these incredible animals. It is quite a thought that people who live right near these wildlife reserves have never seen a cheetah, and do not know of the incredible efforts that are being made to save these animals.

One of the highlights of this day was that our guide was late picking us up. Normally, this would leave me a bit frustrated, however as we were waiting in the lounge a guide came up to me and asked if I wanted to see the lion cubs. YES. We made our way through the volunteer housing (Makuni big 5 has a great volunteer program) and found a large enclosure. The gate to the enclosure was opened and as we entered two 8-week old cubs fumbeled outside of this little log play house. I could not stop screeching. These two cats were the CUTEST little animals I had ever seen.

After this tour, we said goodbye to the Stanley Safari Lodge and made our way to the David Livingstone Hotel. We were supposed to meet up with our raft group, but had not set a time or a place. Conveniently, right as we were checking in I saw dirt-ridden people holding dry bags. It was fate - we had found the people who we were about to spend the next five days with. To start the greetings off, we were told that we would meet on the Lady Livingstone at 6:00 PM for drinks and snacks. The Lady Livingstone is a cruise ship that takes you on a relaxing venture through the upper Zambezi. Did I mention it had an open bar? After sitting down with our new river family to discuss the next 5 days I could harldy sit still. The part of the trip I had been looking forward to most was just about to begin!

After spending our last evening looking out over the Zambezi River, we woke ready to head to Botswana. The logistics of getting to our lodge in Botswana included van, boat, and plane. I was a bit nervous about everything connecting smoothly, but it all worked out! We spent a two hours driving to the Chobe River, where we were met by a small boat to take us to Botswana. The boat driver pointed out that as we were crossing the river we were looking at Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. Pretty cool!

After a quick ride from the "dock" we found ourselves at a very small airport. This was our first bush plane experience. A man who looked to be about twenty hopped in the front and prepped us for flight. As the tiny plane flew down the runway, we were soon soaring in African sky headed to our first camp - Savuti Safari Lodge.

We arrived, hot and sweaty, and were greeted with cold washcloths and cool drinks. The management briefed us on our next couple of days and showed us our beautiful room. Right outside the tent door were elephants. Probably 50. Our camp was located right next to the Savuti Channel. This channel fluctuates in water levels without reason and unpredictably. When there is water in it, animals are attracted to the area. Luckily, there was water in the channel during our stay. For the next two days we explored Chobe with an incredible guide and wonderful people!