Our flight landed a little after 4am but by the time we got through immigration and collected luggage it was after 5. I was exhausted and had trouble making decisions, alternately splitting my attention between how to catch public transport and finding an ATM. Finally, Dawne stepped in and found a nice ground transport option that was reasonable while I looked at ATMs only to discover that ALL of them charged an 8-10% fee to withdraw Turkish Lira! I decided to use one in town and the nice lady at the transport company walked us to the elevator and gave us (blessfully simple) directions to find the van. It was a super nice luxury van, similar to the one we took last year and we managed to get to the Conrad by 6:45am. I was hoping to store our bags and get a key to access the Executive Lounge for breakfast (another free perk of being a Hilton Diamond member courtesy of another credit card, my Amex Hilton Aspire), however we lucked out and they were able to give us a free upgrade to a family suite that we could use right away!
My master bedroom
The place was HUGE with a separate bedroom and a living room with sofa bed. It has two bathrooms, both with showers that include waterfall, rain, and handheld heads. They had a beautiful spread of fruits and sweets for us laid out on the table. I have to admit that while I LOVE having Cosmo with me, it likely does restrict my upgrade options to pet friendly rooms, and this was probably not one they are willing to have pets in ☹
the second bathroom
the living room
our welcome gift in the room
delicious breakfast in the lounge when we arrived
Once we got over the shock of the cool accommodations, our priorities were shower first, then food. The Executive Lounge had a very nice spread. Not as extensive as the regular buffet but they had my favorite item that the buffet does not: clotted cream (that you can add to honey or honeycomb which both places have). I did the honeycomb and then remembered how annoying the wax is as it gets stuck in your teeth. I also love the fresh squeezed orange juice! and the runny scrambled eggs! I LOVE the breakfast at the Conrad Bosphorus. After breakfast Dawne went exploring while I took a much needed nap, as my ability to put together intelligible sentences was waning.
with Bahar at the Conrad
That afternoon we visited with our favorite head of guest relations, Bahar. She went to school in Boston, lived 10 years in New York, and travels around Europe including yearly visits to relatives in Paris. She also knows a lot about good food. Last year she was responsible for having the chefs make us a few local dishes like menemen (eggs, tomato with olive oil and red peppers), cilbir (poached eggs and yogurt), and honeycomb with clotted cream and pistachios (which is one of my all time favorite things now…though I can only eat it here or else I’d gain 100 pounds).
evening snack at the diamond lounge
We visited with her a bit in the executive lounge before having our light dinner there. The executive lounge serves a light dinner from 5-7 so we ate there before heading back to our suite. It was so nice to have two rooms with separate AC controls as Dawne likes it freezing cold and I like it mildly cool. Plus Dawne wouldn’t have to hear my snoring at night, bonus! We watched a movie off my laptop and discovered the cool disappearing TV in my room. I thought it was off so I hit the power button and it began to disappear into the cabinet at the foot of the bed. Once It had fully submerged, the top to the cabinet folded down and closed it in. Wow! I really did not expect that!
my disappearing TV
another nice breakfast
It was great to sleep in and really get rest. Breakfast at the Conrad Bosphorus is incredible. I think I might even rank it in the top 5 breakfast buffets I’ve been to. It has an amazing variety of items and they are all fresh and delicious. Two things that set it apart for me are the honeycomb (though I did have to go to the Executive Lounge buffet to get the clotted cream) and the ability to special order items from the chef like menemen. I think tomorrow I might ask for a small order of cilbir too. And of course the fresh juices: orange, pomegranate, and grapefruit. If you’re curious about the top 5, I haven’t fleshed them all out in my mind but #1 is Conrad Rangali in the Maldives (they literally have you pick out the fruits you want and juice them for you) and another is the Hilton Bali. I would also put the Wynn buffet in Vegas on that list though to be fair I haven’t tried the Bellagio buffet for breakfast only dinner.
cat in the bag store
After our leisurely breakfast we were planning to walk and ferry to the old town area but the rain made us change our minds. We took an Uber to the one solid non-commision ATM I was certain about in all Istanbul. Awhile back all Turkish based banks started charging a 6-10% commission fee for foreign cards. I tried several at the airport and they wanted $16 in fees to take out $200 in lira! The exceptions are some non-Turkish banks like ING, HSBC, and Sekerbank though not all of those. The night before we had sought out a nearby Sekerbank but it had the 8% fee and we also tried to find the ING but it was no longer there. The Uber dropped us at the HSBC ATM near old town with over 58 reviews and after checking for skimming equipment (strongly recommended) I was able to take out money with no fees! Thus began our shopping spree. Unfortunately I stopped in a shop before we got to the “good street” and bought a few tote bags for $10 each (after bargaining down from $12). Then saw the same bags for $5 each near the Market Istanbul store on Taya Hatun. Aargh! So of course I had to buy a few more. The market store is one of favorite places to get souvenirs in Istanbul. They had an adorable tabby cat who was curled up on some bags (see pics). In addition to several souvenirs, I bought a packet of “real lamb” cat food for Cosmo. I felt bad about being here without him as he does really like Istanbul and people here REALLY love him (especially Bahar and her team at the Conrad)!
cat in the market store
Dawne shopping for artisan made shoes
buying Turkish delight at Lokum Atolyesi
Then we moved on to the real reason we came. The food. We went to Lokum Atolyesi for tins of Turkish delight (note to self: in addition to the rose square ones the pistachio square ones are also fabulous). We went to the Spice Bazaar to get baklava from Gulluoglu in stall 88. They are expensive but good. Unfortunately I got confused about where I got my tea from last time as they both had “love tea” and the pomegranate tea that I added to it for sweetness. Omar was friendly and a masterful salesman dropping his price from 3500 lira/kg to 2500 and pulling me in to get what I thought was 600 grams of each but ended up somehow at about 700 of each. He also talked me into getting saffron from him, which I hadn’t planned on. I also got rolls of pistachio Turkish delight there.
Dawne and her "boyfriend" Omar
tons of Turkish delight
so many teas!
shop keeper trying very very hard to sell Dawne a jacket
Finally we escaped about $185 poorer, but not before he introduced us to his “friend” next door who had fine camel hair jackets. He showed us his wares and unfortunately Dawne did like one of the jackets, which instantly put the shop owner into attack mode. He dropped the price, had her try one several different colors and styles, talked about the fine quality, and basically made it very difficult to say no. However, we did eventually manage to make our way out, promising to "think about" his lowest price of $300. Incidentally when we returned with a "no thank you" he dropped his price to $250 and finally to $200! Shopping in Istanbul can be very exhausting. It reminded us of our rug experience last time near the Blue Mosque where we barely made it our alive and I’m pretty sure the guy there set a few curses on me. Luckily I don’t believe in curses. As they say in poker, it is unlucky to be superstitious.
some of my purchases
my "boyfriend" Teslim
Finally we got to MY stall, #31 Arifoglu, where “my boyfriend” Teslim always takes good care of me. I was sad to see that he had the “love tea” as well and I’m pretty sure I had gotten it from him last time, not Omar. His prices were better too as the listed prices were 2500 for the love and only 1700 for pomegranate. He ended up giving them to me for about 1600/kg. Fortunately I knew I was supposed to get the apricots from Teslim so I got a lot of those, but I paid about $40 more getting the other items at Gulluoglu. If only I had come in a different entrance and seen booth 31 first! He also had these fabulous mushroom shaped chocolates, that Dawne had me try. They were so good! I didn’t want chocolate but I had no choice. They just melt in your mouth. Chocolate. What a perfect way to end a perfect trip!
cats are all the craze in Istanbul
cat in the shoe store
Now fully loaded with our purchases, Dawne and I made our way back to the hotel. After having a nice snack at the diamond lounge, we did a little last minute shopping at a nearby mall which had lots of fake name brand stuff. Dawne got some shoes and I picked up a nifty looking North Face shirt. Again, we spotted an adorable cat curled up in the shoe store back room! We spent the rest of the evening packing, desperately trying to get all of our purchases safely packed into two suitcases each. I had brought a large duffel, which was well packed with no breakable items. I have to say, that despite all the massive amounts of souvenirs I purchased this trip and the other trips this semester, now 2 months later I don’t have any regrets of things I wish I had not gotten, and surprisingly nothing I wish I had gotten. I have to admit, the rest of the trip was a blur.
cilbur and menemen, yum!
I know there was a fabulous breakfast, a nice airport lounge, and I do vaguely remember a pleasant lady sitting in our row for the return flight, but nothing is memorable until I landed and went through customs. I confidently listed all the items I was bringing back only to learn that I had to check with the customs folks about my biltong (like beef jerky only moister and more delicious) from South Africa. Sadly, they confiscated my biltong despite the fact that it was dried, processed, and commercially packaged in a sealed bag. Julia came to get us once we made it out with our luggage and we were very glad to see her! It was strange being back home but I was so happy to see Cosmo again. His foster mom, Paula, had managed to get his harness on before I got there so I only had to connect his leash and take him for a walk while he “cooled off” to a point where he was willing to get back in a car with me. After one of his favorite Churu treats and promising I wouldn’t leave again for a long time, he even relented to give me a snuggle.
shoppers paradise, unforgettable dinner, and flying through the air paragliding
14.05.2025 - 15.05.2025
Cool bird on the snack box
The next day we drove to Victoria Falls airport to fly to South Africa. We ran into our new friends from Atlanta, Mark and Lin, as they were the other couple on the shuttle! They joined us in the airport lounge briefly before they caught their flight. We were on the wonderful Airlink Airlines. Originally I thought the name sounded cheap and generic as it reminded me of Jetblue, EasyJet, or Jetstar. However, it is absolutely nice and reliable as opposed to the respectable sounding Botswana Air that is completely unreliable and left me stranded cancelling my flight with 2 days notice and offering no solutions for alternative flights (I later learned this is not unusual for them). Not only was Airlink reliable, but their people are friendly and they give everyone this very cute little snack box with delicious food AND a colorful picture of a native bird on the box.
delicious snack on the plane
spraying human safe insecticide before landing
They also sprayed the cabin with a people-safe insecticide on arrival (like the flight into Botswana). Our flight was short, only a couple hours to Cape Town where we took an Uber to the hotel, dropped our luggage, and went to the V&A Waterfront. Unfortunately we arranged to have our Uber driver wait for us since we were so far out on the coast at the fancy 12 Apostles Hotel. I say unfortunately because I did not realize that they have a FREE shuttle to the VA Waterfront! How cool is that?! They checked us in with nice welcome drinks: champagne or juice, and confirmed our reservations for their fancy restaurant later that night.
Dawne posing with Table Mountain at the V&A waterfront
African trading port first attracted me with all their neat stuff outside
Our Uber dropped us at the V&A Waterfront for shopping at the African Trading Port, which is the only reasonably priced souvenir store I found at the Waterfront. It’s at the far end of the outdoor area furthest away from the main stage where a musical group was performing. Prices are about the same as the market in Victoria Falls after you bargain them down a bit, but here: 1) you don’t have to bargain; 2) you can pay with a credit card with no extra fees; 3) we didn’t have to worry about the luggage weight restrictions as we will have 2 checked bags all the way home from this point (and we will make full use of them!) Plus they have a great selection of EVERYTHING. Basically 10 different little rooms on the bottom floor plus 6-8 larger rooms on the next 2 floors (though most of what I wanted was on the ground floor and 3 of the upstairs rooms). Small wood carved meerkat for half the price as Botswana? Check. Small colorfully painted ceramic animals for $1-2? Check. Beautiful stone carvings for about 60% of what I could get them for wholesale at the Tucson mineral show? Check.
tons of wood carvings
I chose the egg on the right
I spent an hour there earlier in the trip and there were things I saw that I completely missed the first time. With a little help via WhatsApp from Julia and Natalie, I picked out a beautiful painted and carved ostrich egg and some wax painted batik art. I also got some t-shirts and a malachite elephant along with several wildlife postcards and other trinkets. We were in the shop for 90 minutes. I asked for an 8:00 shuttle pickup (our fancy hotel down the coast has a free shittle to the V&A) but their next pickup was at 8:30 so then I asked to shift our dinner reservation to 9:00. The last dinner seating is at 8:30, and we were NOT going to miss that as we had a free $100 credit to spend on Food & Beverage thanks to the AmEx Platinum Fine Hotels benefit. We quickly ordered an Uber and proceeded to frantically rush to the Waterfront area’s “entrance 2” asking directions along the way.
beautiful batiks
I had to get a giraffe!
cool wax batiks of 3 sisters
amazing dinner
We got back to the hotel at 8:32 and the front desk said the restaurant was looking for us. She sent us up and called them to let them know we were on our way. The meal was quite posh and delicious. I had the ostrich carpaccio appetizer, which was excellent. Then our server put little pots in front of us with small rectangular white slices inside. She said we would have a citrus cleanse before the main course. I was prepared to eat the white things when she poured water on Dawne’s which instantly started steaming. Then she placed a smaller bowl on top with a round yellow ball of frozen citrus…gelato? The experience was really in the dry ice pouring out the small holes in that bowl (see videos)
Wonderful main course
The main course was also really good. Dawne got the fillet mignon and I got the lamb, which was nicely spiced and full of flavor. We probably should have stopped there but we tried a couple desserts which we couldn’t finish, the guava custard (very good) and the cheesecake (average). The best part of the dessert was the purple tinted merengue with sparkly sugar on top (see pics above).
nice water display at hotel
Living room
We finally got to our room. I was upgraded to one of the top rooms, a suite with a huge balcony overlooking the ocean. It was dark so you couldn’t see outside but the next morning was spectacular! There was a separate living room with a low wall between them. The bathroom was huge with two sinks, bathtub, shower, and a heated towel rack. Booking through AmEx Fine Hotels gives us an upgrade when available (though this was the highest upgrade the lady at check in had ever seen…she didn’t say how long she’s been working here). We also get the $100 credit mentioned earlier plus $200 off the room rate once a year on my Amex Platinum so instead of paying $425 it was only $225! Having a $695 annual fee credit card can be worthwhile IF you can make use of enough of its benefits. Luckily the blog “Frequent Miler” helps me figure out my credit card strategy.
Huge bedroom
entry way
nice bathroom with separate shower and heated towel rack!
great view from our room
gorgeous view from our balcony
breakfast with a view
The next morning was a full day. Dawne got up early and after breakfast went to explore Table Mountain via the 8am shuttle. I had a more leisurely breakfast then took the 9am shuttle to V & A Waterfront. In 30 minutes I managed to buy biltong at the Pick and Pay, locate the restroom, buy a North Face Cape Town shirt for Craig, and buy another wax batik that Natalie liked along with some others and more postcards from the African Trading Port. From there I took an Uber to the Hyatt to pick up our left luggage and then to the top of Signal Hill also known as the Lions Head. Dawne met me there with our great shuttle driver Luyanda, who took our purchases and small bags I’d just gotten from the Hyatt back to the 12 Apostles porters. He was a godsend, getting Dawne to Table Mountain, getting me to the Waterfront, then picking Dawne up and bringing her to Signal hill, and finally picking us both up at the end of our adventure and bringing us back to the hotel with a stop at the ATM so I could get more tip money.
our amazing shuttle driver
Dawne before takeoff
Now it was time for our paragliding! We located our person, Blessing, who had us fill out paperwork, then waited for our guides to return from the bottom of the hill. Another rider summed up my feelings exactly: excited but a little nervous. There were several groups in front of us. Some we got to watch and some were waiting for stronger/better winds for takeoff. They lay the parachute out on the ground which is attached to your guide, then hook you to your guide. When everyone is ready, he tugs sharply on the parachute to get it airborne as you walk towards the edge with the wind blowing from in front of you towards the back. But then two guys hold either side of you and all four of you sprint to the edge to get enough lift for the wind to pick you both up and off you go! The less wind, the faster you have to run so you certainly want some wind, but too much wind is also bad. I don’t think it works with the wind going in the opposite direction as you would have to run uphill away from the edge. We were lucky we had two big guys (Blessing and another fellow) who would help us run to the edge. We saw another group with two failed attempts. If the wind doesn't pick you up, you simply stop near (not too near!) the edge and walk back. They were part of the group now waiting for more favorable winds.
shortly after takeoff
In reality, with two huge guys holding us and running, it was pretty easy and we were up in the air floating off. It is awesome being up there soaring along like a bird drifting on the wind. I have often admired birds for being able to do this and it was spectacular to do it myself. My guide Rai let me steer for a bit, turning left and then right as we went out over the ocean. We did a few crazy spirals though not as crazy as the ones we saw in New Zealand.
I get temporary control of the reins
Then we turned back to the park where they land and the landing was super easy with my legs tucked up and Rai walking a few steps before telling me to put my feet down as we stopped, the parachute drifting calmly to the ground. I always thought I was scared of heights, but on my first hot air balloon ride I wasn’t scared at all and the operator told me “you’re not scared of heights, you’re scared of falling.” That’s why I love hot air ballooning and now I love paragliding as you are never falling…the wind picks you up and carries you.
flying over the ocean
Cape Town has corrugated metal shacks with satellite dish tv
great meal at the lounge
We got to the airport 2.5 hours before our flight but the check in lines were long. Security didn’t take too long, but then I remembered I needed to show my VAT tax receipts before security so we had to go outside again. It was between $35-40 so worthwhile, however, you have to have all your items available for inspection and I had checked most of them in my luggage. There is also a minimum of about $28 so without my baggage I couldn’t claim anything. The VAT Tax station after immigration has one person sitting there completely bored all day because they purposely make it very difficult to claim. At least we had some good food at the lounge and it was right next to our gate so we could check on the boarding timing by looking out the lounge window! Our flight to Istanbul was looong, over 10 hours, and we arrived shortly after 4am (3am Cape Town time) so I only got a couple hours of sleep.
watching the boarding status of our gate
on Turkish airlines (faces covered to protect identity)
The Pioneer Hotel is nice! It feels like old English grounds with lots of lawn and greenery, white British colonial buildings, and little brick pathways. They had complimentary afternoon tea with little sandwiches and cakes. At night they put a mosquito net around the beds and though I’m not sure it was necessary, it did set a very safari-like tone. It was great to have a regular bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower again. However Dawne discovered a very large spider in the shower near the ceiling. After some discussion, we decided we really needed to call in for help. The front desk sent someone right away and he dispatched the spider though not until it made a break it towards the side I was standing in, which scared me silly. That guy definitely earned his tip!
maintenance to the rescue!
our sunset cruise boat
We had a sunset cruise that night which turned out to be way more fun than I anticipated. We were on a bus with several others so we got to meet some folks from Texas (and surprisingly, they do not like Trump). Then on the boat we were seated all evening with a lovely couple from Atlanta who do charity work in Africa helping educate people about AIDS. Mark commented on how all three of us women (us and his wife) are adventurers who like to travel and experience new things.
that's not a fire, but mist from the falls
nice view of our dinner table on the sunset cruise
From the boat we could see the massive billowing spray from Victoria Falls over 2 miles away. We also saw some hippos (not exciting for us after our photographic boat tour but great for everyone else) and a beautiful sunset. The cruise included appetizers, dinner, and drinks all of which were very fancy and extremely good. One of the few bad things about this trip is while the food was plentiful and delicious (ensuring that I ate way more than usual), my exercise level is way down. On safari we weren’t even allowed to stand up in the jeep, no less get out and walk around except for carefully explored bathroom breaks or afternoon tea breaks. Even on the cruise to New Zealand I managed to get more exercise and only gained a couple pounds whereas this trip I ate and sat my way into an 8 pound increase!
fabulous food on the cruise
sunset on the water
Victoria Falls
The next day we did a walking tour of Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side. The falls are very full and the mist from the water crashing down can be seen for 50 kilometers. The locals called it Mosi-oa-Tunya which means “the smoke that thunders.” Once you are in view of the falls, you can feel the drops coming down like light rain. As you walk along the viewpoints opposite the falls, this progresses to sprinkles, showers, and torrential downpours as the mist from the crashing water rebounds high in the sky then returns downward with all the force of gravity. It is high water level now for the several weeks but in July and August the water levels will drop some and there will be less mist clouding the view. Thankfully we had heavy raincoats our guide had gotten us. Once I even had to break out my umbrella. Our legs and shoes were drenched so it was fortunate I wore water shoes and shorts that were covered by the raincoat.
Falls from the Zimbabwe side!
The right edge of the falls can be viewed from Zimbabwe
view of the Victoria falls bridge from the falls area
getting ready to board the helicopter
From there our guide dropped us off at the helipad. There were 2 helicopters. Each ride was about 12 minutes and we could see groups of 5-6 lining up and walking out to catch their ‘copter. The helicopter we took in Nepal had 5 passenger seats: 2 in front with the pilot and 3 in the back. Being in front would be fine in any position since you can see everything in front of you but being in the middle in the back would suck for sightseeing. I was desperately hoping Dawne and I didn’t get stuck in the middle. We were about 45 minutes early so we waited around for awhile until they called us to weigh in. They weigh you with any gear you are bringing so they can balance the load. Then they gave us our briefing and handed out headsets. It turns out these were just to dampen the noise as the pilot didn’t speak to us at all.
on the helicopter ready for takeoff!
We hunched down and moved quickly out to our helicopter and I was so pleased to see that everyone got a window seat! One person went in front and the back had 2 sets of seats facing each other. We had incredible views soaring above the falls! You could see the giant wide river of water making it way to the falls, then pouring over the side. On the other side were canyons cut into the earth where the river ran thinner and faster. The whole experience was magical and over before you knew it. It was definitely worthwhile and one of the best helicopter tours you can take! Someone else seemed to think that the Grand Canyon was better so that has now moved from obscurity up towards the top of my “to do” list.
Victoria falls from the helicopter
long walk to Zambia border
After the helicopter, we had the driver drop us at the border. After we crossed Zimbabwe immigration, it was a long walk along a road lined with semi-trucks waiting to be allowed to cross the Victoria Falls Bridge. Then the long bridge which looked much smaller when we were viewing it from the falls lookout. From there we had another looong road to Zambia immigration. It was roughly a mile though being in a foreign country made it more intimidating. Our friend Kathie did the walk on her own, and I’m very impressed! After we got checked through immigration at Zambia, we walked to the Victoria Falls entrance on the Zambia side, not sure if we were willing to pay the entrance fee since we felt the Zimbabwe park fees were exorbitant at $50 each for foreigners. Locals get a significantly better price (around $1 I think which is still a lot of money for them). Luckily the park entrance fees on the Zambia side were only $20 for foreigners so we paid and walked in, First we walked along the river section and saw the slow moving edge of the giant river drifting towards the falls.
Dawne walking on knifes edge bridge
Then we walked across from the falls and decided to walk across the Knife Edge Bridge, which is famous for having water pouring down on you as you cross. We rented raincoats from a nice guy in the park and made our way towards the bridge. The Falls were drenching down and it looked like a terrible storm all along the walking bridge and up the right side. There were a few spots on the other side that weren’t that wet and you could get a decent picture of the falls. Then we walked back along the downpour area back across the Knife Edge Bridge where I returned my now very wet raincoat.
nice guy who rented the raincoats for $1, sooo worth it!
panorama of vic falls
Video of Victoria Falls from Zambia:
Video of Dawne and I walking back across the Knife's Edge Bridge. You can hear the falls thundering in the background:
other customers when buying sausage from a street vendor
One the way back to the border, I saw people buying sausages from a street vendor and could not resist. It was way too hot to eat right away so I had it in my bag when we saw a baboon with baby climbing up on a semi truck to check out the contents. A local advised me to put the food in my backpack. The baboon followed us to the passport control area and was hanging nearby very nonchalantly as if to pose no threat. We were not fooled so we walked over to the gate area where there were several agents and I could eat safely. After the sausage was gone she wandered off with her baby.
baboon mom and baby that were stalking us
baboon mom and baby looking for food
Selfie with Brenda and friends with my water logged cell phone
On the walk back we took some good sunset pics from the Victoria Falls Bridge. We saw some colorfully dressed local women walking across the bridge and took a selfie with them. Brenda and her sister and friend walk back and forth every day. They work in Zambia but live in Zimbabwe. Brenda in particular was pretty chatty as her English was very good. They were all fun loving and friendly. Dawne and I were tired and my feet were developing blisters from my wet water shoes rubbing so once we cleared Zimbabwe immigration we took a taxi back to the hotel where we could change shoes and we had a fabulous dinner there.
excellent dinner at the hotel
nice sunset from Victoria falls bridge on the canyon direction
at the falls in Zimbabwe side
My biggest surprises for this part of the trip: How incredibly wet the falls are even from across the way, how split the area is (very basic 3rd world living next to plush fancy hotels where the $5 bowl I bought from a vendor is significant in an economy where the average monthly income is $250), and how fun the people are: the laughing local women we met on the bridge (Brenda and friends), the humorous girl who photobombed my picture of the sausage stand, the friendly border guards who acknowledged that standing near them while eating my sausage was a good call with baboons nearby, the great couples from the SOUTHERN part of the States Texas and Atlanta
Dawne got the best deal of all. 3 bowls for $10! wish I had jumped on that too as I'll bet he had more
Fortunately our tour planner saved the best for last. We saved the nicest part for last. At $750 per person per night (the discounted shoulder season price) it cost way more than the other nights, but it was a nice treat for our last safari adventure. Our new guide Tony picked us up at the airport and took us into Chobe. Right away we could see a difference in the service. He offered us various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages from a cooler and gave us an orientation, asking what kind of experience we wanted (learning about the culture, learning about the flora and fauna…I just wanted to see animals). I said “elephants in the water” and the next thing you know, we were zipping down a road and driving to the beach where I could see 3 elephants playing in the water. Then 45 minutes later he spotted some down another beach and we saw about 20 elephants walking through the water, exactly as I had imagined! The babies were walking around their mothers, some of them were splashing each other, and a couple of juveniles were play fighting with their tusks. Tony masterfully predicted they would cross back across the water to the shore and drove up to get a good view of the crossing. Sure enough, a few minutes later they started crossing over a little ways in front of us, then some right behind us and some right in front of us!
water buffalo with birds eating the insects off it
elephants playing in the water
elephants play battling
elephants in river hanging out
elephants in river
elephants exiting the river
Dung Beetle
It was hard for the day to get much better but on the way to the campsite, Tony stopped, backed up and pulled over. Then he pointed down at the ground where a small dung beetle was struggling to push a ball up off the road. A male dung beetle cuts dung out of elephant poop and then he rolls it, making it into a ball roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Then he rolls it uphill off the road to a safe place. Perhaps rolling it on the road is what helps make it round. Female and male mate, putting the egg inside of the dung ball. He digs a hole 13cm deep and puts the ball safely in the ground. Then when the egg hatches it eats the nutrients in the elephant dung. If many males are present, the female will choose the one with the biggest ball. So many comments I can make here but I will say nothing.
Amazing singing
When we get to camp it is also full of pleasant surprises. Firstly there are 10 workers there singing an African welcome song as we drive up. They sing for several minutes with joy on their faces, clearly loving to sing. What sets African countries apart is how much they sing. At dinner, the camp manager Matthews said they “learn to sing in school and sing until we leave this world. Sing for life.” &Beyond, the company we were staying with had a singing competition between their 4 camp groups and our camp won the competition this year. Not surprising especially if you listen to their singing in the video below. Though they did not do well in the soccer competition
soaking my feet with fancy salts after lunch
They show us the bar area where we can help ourselves to drinks when we like. Then they show us to our tents. They are huge! About 17 feet wide and 17 feet deep. There is a “porch” with two chairs and tubs of cool water with bath salts to soak our feet in. Then we unzip the tent and go in. The whole door area faces the wilderness and is mesh with optional canvas coverings. There are several other mesh windows that can be covered with flaps on the inside so if we want to peek outside to see what’s going on we can. There are two comfy twin beds with plenty of space and a wall separating this room from the enclosed bathroom area. An actual flushing toilet with water is in an enclosed room and the shower and sink are in the rest of the bathroom. The bucket holding the shower water is very large and the water pressure is very good! We were in heaven! This place is a palace compared to the last week of accommodations (though admittedly double the price).
Our fancy indoor shower
an actual water flushing toilet!
our fancy tent bedroom
sunset with tons of dragonflies
We drove down to the river for sunset pictures. There were hundreds of dragonflies EVERYWHERE! They were flying around eating the midges hovering over the lake. After the sunset they brought us hot water for showers and then had us signal them to be escorted to dinner. After dark we are not allowed to walk around without an escort as animals wander through camp. A leopard walked through later that night while we were sleeping and the next night a whole herd of over 100 buffalo walked by the camp with the closest one staring into my eyes from 12 yards away before it turned and walked back towards its peers.
sunset with thousands of dragonflies
kudu extra long horns
enjoying a drink before dinner
They started us off with a pre-dinner drink by the campfire. I had a yummy sprite with passionfruit syrup. Dinner was incredible! I thought the food we had with OG was good, but this was even better! Not only were the perfect and the cut of beef fillet mignon cooked exactly to my preference, the presentation was amazing. I thought I was at Bridges in Danville! We started with a fancy soup of split pea and potato which normally I would not like but there must have been cream in it and maybe butter because it was delicious! The main was fillet on maize with a side of veggies and a mushroom reduction sauce with onions complete with garnish. Dessert was seared pineapple in a bed of sauce topped with cream and a mint leaf.
filet mignon with a mushroom wine reduction sauce
While talking throughout the day with Matthews, the camp manager, we learned more about &Beyond. They have 3 permanent camps in the Okavango plus 2 fancy mobile camps, this one and one in Savute. The company is very focused on giving back to the community and a portion of their income goes towards conservation and communities. They just finished building a school for a village near one of their Okavango lodges. They also helped transport some of the endangered rhinos to the rhino sanctuary. They also treat their workers well and people tend to stay with the company. One of the staff had been there for 30 years! He looked fairly young and Dawne said he must have started when he was 8. They have an annual get together with all five &Beyond camps in Botswana so they know people from different locations. Certainly a top notch, very caring organization. With great food and amenities.
lion cubs following mom
The second day started with hot breakfast: sausage, bacon, porridge, and eggs cooked to order. We did a short game drive where we saw a handful of jeeps gathered. We went to look and there was a large pride of lions, some adults and some cubs. They were making the impala and giraffes very nervous until they finally stalked off after a huge herd of over 100 buffalo (the same ones who would walk by our camp that evening). I looked up after taking pictures of the lions and there were rows of trucks on either side of us. At least 10 on one side and 6 on the other. All lined up parked diagonally on the edge of the road watching. There were another 10 or so on the road to the far left and the road directly across though still pretty far from us. With so many self drivers and the easy access to Chobe from Victoria Falls, the parks here wisely do not allow any vehicles to go off the road, which gives the wildlife plenty of space to do their thing without being harassed by tons of vehicles. One lion walked about 30 yards from us, but most of them were in the space between the roads, which was about 200 yards (a couple football fields) across.
Billboard for the photo boat tour we took
We opted not to follow “the chase” as we felt there were too many vehicles along the road so we found some new birds then headed to our photographic boat tour with Pangolin Tours that the lodge includes as part of their experience. We each got a 360 degree swivel seat with 150-600mm zoom Nikon cameras mounted in fabulous mounts with great mobility, tilting up, down, side to side, and of course the seat and mount themselves rotated to face wherever we wanted to shoot. They showed us how to focus and shoot and we did a little practice before they took the boat out. We started with some monitor lizards on the shore and some birds. We got amazing closeups. Then we went to the middle of the river where birds were hanging out in the reeds including some very cute chicks.
on our boat with the amazing camera setup
Dawne shooting on the boat
monitor lizard
lilies in the water
babies trying to catch up
hippo bearing teeth
Then onto the hippos, some of which were mostly submerged and some who had most of the bodies out of the water so we could really see them! We had fun trying to catch them yawning (i.e. baring their teeth in warning but yawning sounds safer to us poor tourists). The yawns were pretty short and far between, and their were two different groups so it was like a game to try to locate the right one, spin, and focus on it before it was done.
hippo yawning even bigger
African Fish Eagle
hippos laying down in the water
Crocodile on land
Next up we visited some crocodiles on and near the shore. This completed our “wish list” that we had given Tony the day before. They did a great job finding the animals we wanted to see. We stopped to take pictures of some pied kingfishers who were fishing for small fish from the shore. I managed to get some other birds in flight though I can’t remember what they were. There were 5 of them flying together and swooping around beautifully. A couple cute little wire tailed swallows hitched a ride on our boat. At the end of the cruise they gave us the memory cards in the cameras so we could take them with us. Such an incredible experience!
Crocodile on the water near our boat
two kingfishers and one fish
five birds flying circles together
we picked up a couple of hitchhikers on the boat, wire tailed swallows
banded mongoose baby following mama
After lunch in town (and a chance to use the internet!) we did a game drive on the way home. In town we saw yet another large business (aka group) of banded mongoose. They were on the hunt for vermin, running across a dirt parking lot and around/under some buildings. Once back in the reserve Tony spotted a leopard lying on side of the road. It got up and walked behind our truck and off into the bush. I can’t believe how lucky we were to see not one but three leopards this trip! Then my phone rings with a WhatsApp call. The guide and Dawne look at me. It's Cosmo’s foster mom, Paula, who he is staying with. Instantly my heart sinks as she would probably only call if something was wrong with Cosmo. Perhaps he got injured and needs the vet. It's hard to hear as the call is breaking up a bit but Cosmo got out yesterday with their cat and they got him back, but he got out again today and took off. They can't find him and they are supposed to leave for church for Mother’s Day, but she's in a panic because she doesn't want to leave Cosmo out there. I assure her the rascal is fine and he won't come back until he's ready, at least half an hour so she should go to church then call for him when she gets home offering his favorite treat. He'll also come home when hungry so make sure there's no food available outside. After I hung up my guide looked at me and asked how I got the call as there's is no service out in the bush! Crazy. I guess God wanted her to go to church and helped out 😊
leopard lying on the side of the road
leopard crossing road right behind us
leopard wandering off
a real live unicorn though not born that way as he lost a horn
baboons wandering the field at sunset
Southern Ground hornbill
6 more people joined us for dinner that night. Four English had come in from Victoria Falls and two Germans had flown in that day so they were pretty tired after their afternoon game drive. We feft lucky we were on a different schedule and had Tony all to ourselves as the camp does hold up to 10 people in their 5 cabins. It was nice to meet some new people though we still missed our travel buddy Kathie. The next day we saw the smallest elephant we’ve seen. Tony thought it might be one month old. It was crossing the road with its parents. He worked really hard trying to find a cheetah to no avail. We did see some Southern ground hornbills and Tony told us to zoom in on their eyelids…they have eyelashes! We met up with our transfer van to Victoria Falls, which went smoothly though we were held up at the Zimbabwe border because their internet went down for about 10 minutes. That’s why you need to always have cash as a backup when paying your various fees (visas, park fees). When I paid for my Zambia Park fee, the guy had to open his side door and hold the machine outside for signal!
eyelashes front view
"go away" bird (if you hear its alarm cry you should go away before the lions get you)
