Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park

Zambia has a small National Park on the outskirts of Livingstone.  It carries the same name as the native name for Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya.  It has a variety of animals but none are preditors except man so the animals here are pretty safe.  One of the attractions at this park are the White Rhinos (The name is derived from their wide mouth not their color.  At some point instead of saying wide it got changed to white.)  We scheduled an event that they call Rhino Walk.  So off we went to see the Rhinos.  We left Chanters Lodge in an interesting old Toyota pickup with our guide, Arnold, and Robert the driver.  We entered the park and drove until we picked up our armed guard who would guide us to where the Rhinos would be found.  They are guarded 24 hours a day and 7 days a week as there is so much poaching in Africa for Rhino horns and Elephant tusks.

While driving to pick up the guard we came across this Waterbuck.  The pictue does not show the description that the guide gave us of the back end of this animal.  He said it looks like a white toilet seat that provides identifcation of whom to follow when they are running from preditors.

 

 

When we stopped to "pick" the guard we moved to the back of the truck so we could better view the animals.

 

 

After driving a short distance we  parked the truck and headed through the brush with strict instructions to follow closely behing our guides and follow their footsteps for our safety.

 

 

Our first encounter was with the zebras.  They were shy.  Their stripes are identification like fingerprints are for us.  The young quickly memorize their mother's stripe pattern.

 

 

We wandered around for awhile being taught which animal had left their dung and whether the animal was male or female, alone or in a group.  Aronold also taught us about the various trees and shrubs and their uses by both natives and animals. Some of the trees even have a defense mechanism to prevent the animals from eating all of their leaves.

 

 

Then we quietly came upon three, female rhinos and two male calves. 

 

 

The bigger baby was an orphan that the mother of the younger calf  had adopted and was nursing with her own calf.  Female rhinos are picky about their mate and will not conceive with a dominate male she is not in love with.  The dominate male, and father of the younger calf, recently died.  So far these females have not accepted the new dominate male. 

 

 

Their poor eyesight mades it possible to get pretty close. Their hearing is very good and they follow the sound of footsteps, so we were cautioned to not move quickly or loudly.

 

 

Arnold had brought scones (biscuits), muffins and drinks for a picnic lunch close to the Zambesi River.....but not too close as crocodiles were known to be very plentiful near the water.  The bird is the pied king fisher.

 

 

After lunch Arnold went out of his way to make sure we saw giraffes. We were fortunate to get such a close up view of them.

 

 

Earlier we had seen a bachelor herd, but they were far away.  This group were females with a calf. 

Females grow hair on the top of their horns, the males do not.

 

 

Before leaving the park we passed a herd of cape buffalo and more zebras.  These animals co-exist very comfortably together.  We thank Arnold and Robert for such an enjoyable morning adventure.

 

 

 

 



Chobe National Park

There was another want to see activity as part of our service in Zambia.  That was to visit a National Park and observe the flora and fauna of Africa.  This past week while we were in Livingstone we were able to accomplish that goal as there are two National Parks close to Livingstone.  One is Chobe National Park just across the border from Zambia in Botswana.  Chobe offered a one day trip that gave us the morning on the Chobe River and the afternoon in the bush along the banks of the river.  The guides on both parts of the experience were excellent at relating interesting information about the plants, birds and animals of the areas we traveled. 

Our ride in the morning was in this boat and as you can see it was almost a private tour.

 

 

Our first encounters on the water was with several species of birds. This cute little couple of wire-tailed swallows put on a show for us and kept resting on the bow of the boat then flying around and landing back on the boat to see if we caught their show. 

 

 

This is an African darter (sometimes called the snake bird) that we shot a picture of before he darted into the water.  They spread their wings out after surfacing to dry them so they can fly.

 

 

The African fish eagle is probably the most familiar bird of prey in Africa.  We saw at least four of them flying around and in nests high in the trees along the river bank. We heard a male and female calling to each other.  His is a high voice, hers is lower

 

.

This lovely little fellow is the white fronted bee-eater.  It builds nests in small holes in the dirt banks.  If the hole was enlarged it was because monitor lizzards raid the nests.

 

 

And if you don't believe us, here comes the monitor lizzard.

 

 

This big crocodile was sunning himself because he is cold blooded.  He is also blood thirsty.  We stayed in the boat!  Please note how he has one eye opened and is watching us.

 

 

At first we could only see hippos in the distance.  Then they all of a sudden appeared in abundance.

 

 

This hippo is a male because he is away from the pod and has scars on his body from trying to fight his way to dominance over the dominate male.  Typical behavior in male African animals.

 

 

The elephants were coming down for water.  They can go 3 or 4 days without drinking.  We were amazed by the number of elephants that kept coming.  An older female leads the younger females and young elephants.  The mature males stay in separate bachelor herds.

 

 

After a delicious buffet lunch at the Chobe Safari Lodge we took a jeep ride and experienced many more elephants on land.

 

  

This is an elephant digging a mud spa. They splashed, rolled, slipped, crawled and had a wonderful time of it.  Some even swam across the river to the Island.  All you could see was the tip of their trunk when the water got too deep for them to walk.

 

 

What the elephant leaves behind, the baboon picks through for hidden treasures.  Elephants have a poor digestive system and so the nuts they eat from the trees are intact for the baboons to feast on.

 

 

These guys belong to group that is known as "The Ugly Five."  It is a funeral of Marabou storks.

 

 

Impalas have these markings on their behinds so they can recognize and follow each other in a chase.

 

 

You hunters might salivate over this big, Kudu buck.  His stripes on his back are light and faded which indicates he is old.  That might also be why he is alone. 

 

 

Here is another member of  "The Ugly Five". This warthog is just chilling in the shade.

 

 

We took a break and got out of our jeep to stretch and releave ouselves before heading back to the boarder.

 

 





One of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World

Victoria Falls has been on our want to see list since arriving in Zambia.  The opportunity to go there presented itself  when our friends, Mike and Nancy Fisk from Malawi, completed their mission and needed a ride to Livingstone where they were to meet friends from the states.  "Victoria Falls is locally known as Mosi-oa-Tunya which literally means the Smoke that Thunders.  David Livinstone, The Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view the falls in 1855....He gave the falls the name 'Victoria Falls' in honour of his queen."

 

Nearing the Falls it is easily understood why the local people call it "The Smoke that Thunders."  You could see the mist and hear the thunder.

 

 

The river at the falls is 5,604 feet wide and 360 feet tall so it is impossible to see it all at once.  Maximum flow is 3,000 cubic meters/second. 

 

 

This is just a small portion of the falls.  It was amazing to realize there was this much water flowing over it for a much longer distance than we could see.

 

 

There is a constant mist rising from the water as it drops the 360 feet into the narrow gorge below.  A view on Google Earth will give you an idea of the width of the gorge.

 

 

There is a bridge called "Knife Edge" that we crossed over to what is called an Island, but is more like a peninsula.  We wore ponchos, but still managed to get plenty wet.  It was like a heavy rain that ran in streams on the trail in some places. (If you get your feet wet you will be miserable the rest of the day.)

 

 

When you get to the end of the Knife Edge trail you get a view of Zimbabwe.  The falls are all in Zambia but to see the rest of the falls you need to go to Zim.

 

 

This is the bridge some people bungee jump from and is also the way to Zimbabwe. 

 

 

This is the mostly dry part of us after our walk on the misty trail.

 

 

This little guy took one look at me as if to say, "Grandma!"and came running straight towards me.

 

 

Later in the day Papa was found relaxing with his friends the guinea hens.