By Any Means Possible, Including Elephant

The past week and a half has definitely lived up to African adventure! Oscar, our truck, had some troubles, and in order to keep on schedule we used some random forms of transport to try to stay on schedule. As well as adjusting the schedule a bit to accommodate Oscar. :( The first time it happened we were stuck at the Cheetah Park in northern Namibia - not my idea of a great time, surrounded by wild cats (mostly behind fences). We rode through the reserve on the back of a pickup truck and our guides threw fresh pieces of donkey, as the cheetahs stalked our truck. I swear I had a cat nightmare like that once, only no one had any donkey parts to fend them off.

Because the truck was broke down, we also got the chance to visit a local Hemba village and learn about tribal culture. The children were SO excited to play with us. The villagers were all very welcoming and excited to share their culture with us. Interestingly, the women cover themselves with mud to cool and clean themselves, because the area is so dry. The men, however, bathe when they are out hunting.

Next we headed to Etosha NP for some game drives, riding in the roof seats for a nice view, along with some sun and wind in the face. Because of a heavy year of rains, animals seemed to be few and far between, but we did manage to see some lions chilling in the grass as we were almost about to leave.


Unfortunately, here is where the kerfuffle really began, because Oscar's engine seized and we were stuck. We stayed at a random park/campsite and had a chance to play a little pick up soccer (yay!), but ended up a full day behind schedule and transferring our packs and food about fifty billion times between vans and open-sided safari trucks and campsites and back on the open-sided vehicles to traditional Botswanan mokoros (canoes) to head off into the bush of the Okavango Delta. Through it all we were led by our legendary chef, Denford, who generally kept us in good spirits despite being basically without a home (Oscar). The mokoro puts you eye level with hippos, which are crazy crazy huge up close! Here's a pic of my mokoro guide:


Our time in Botswana was short but sweet - spending time in the bush camp with our mokoro guides and singing and dancing by the fire was definitely one of the trip highlights so far. The sunset mokoro trip, however, was a bit disappointing, as traveling through the reeds at that time of day leaves one covered in tiny bugs and other nastiness. I even got a spiderweb in the face at one point. Ew.



We also visited Chobe NP in Botswana and took a sunset boat cruise, and had a blast watching elephants and hippos play in the water. The hippos are disgusting, really. Noisy burping sounds, pooing all over each other, munching noisily, etc. Being in a large boat allowed us to get quite close to the animals and made the safari cruise incredible. Below are a few of my favorite photos from that trip!





Now, we have made it to Livingstone, Zambia, where we will spend a couple days relaxing. Yesterday we got drenched at Victoria Falls - it was like walking through a rain storm at some parts and very fun after being cooped up in a truck all morning. This morning I went on a elephant ride, which was SO much fun on Madinda the dancing elephant, who felt the need to lift his feet and rock us around a bit. Elephants can have such personality.
Apparently Madinda faked an injury once to try and get extra treats after seeing another injured elephant receive special treatment! I also got to feed him treats afterwards and have confirmed the fact that the ellies are my favorite African animal!