Really WILD Wildlife!!!
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
1
187
190
Trip End
Jun 28, 2009
Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The flight was very long (15 hours or more) to Johannesburg, then we had to fly to Livingstone, Zambia (another 2 hours), then get on a bush plane to Chiawa Camp (another 2 hours), so by the time we got there we were pretty tired. But even though we were tired, it was still very cool to look out of the plane and see elephants and hippos in the Zambezi River. The Zambezi River is the fourth largest in Africa and it is amazing to fly over it in such a small plane. Kate was a little nervous but that was okay.
When we landed at Chiawa, which is right on the Zambezi, we had to take a boat to get to the camp. We stayed in tents, really nice ones. The first night we went on a short night drive and saw four porcupines! We even got to collect some of the quills from a poor porcupine who had been killed by a lion. That was great. Our guide Boaz was amazing.
While we were eating dinner, we heard lions roaring but they thought they were far away. However, the next morning we had a huge surprise! Just as we were about to walk down the path to breakfast, Boaz drove up in the Land Rover and told us to get in, quick! A mating pair of lions had killed a water buck right in the camp! They were roaming around and it was too dangerous for us to walk around. We drove over to the fire pit where breakfast was served and while we were just eating, a huge hippo charged out of the river and came running right towards us! Since hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa, that was scary!
As we were getting in the land rover again to look for the lions, a big bull elephant came charging through camp. It was truly WILD there! We found the lions sleeping in the bush right behind camp, then went and found another pair of mating lions, more elephants, hippos, buffalo, and lots more. The lions stayed in camp the entire time we were there, which made it tough to walk around. We had to have a guide with a gun with us at all times to protect us. My mom even got charged by the male lion while she was standing next to our tent with one of the guides. Luckily, it was a fake charge!
One day, while we were at the main camp, a big bull elephant walked up. He came right up to us and Dad, Mom, and I got a very close look at him. His tusks were huge! Then suddenly, he started walking down the path towards the tents and just then, Tallulah, Kate, and Keira and Anna Sarah were running down the path!!! Shaiza, their mom, saw that they were about to come face to face with a huge elephant, so she blocked the path and they were able to run back to their tent. Crazy!
Mom and Shaiza went for a walk and saw two more lions and a hyena. They also saw a huge crocodile with a huge eel in its mouth. And while we were there, we also saw a leopard in a tree right by the river in the middle of the day, which is very rare! Dad and Jon got to go canoeing on the Zambezi and saw tons of huge crocs, hippos, elephants, and more. Chiawa was a great place. We had marshmallows over the fire one night and also a very good chocolate cake. Kayla and and Jason, who run the camp were very nice to us, too. I hope we can go back there soon.
Now we are flying to Cape Town, my favorite city!
