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2 - Rocktail
Bay (South Africa), Tafika (Zambia)
May
27 - June 4 (Sunday)
Today is
a Sunday... I only know this because this morning as we left Tafika
camp in the South Luangwa valley in Zambia, many of the local folks
were dressed up and headed to church (on foot, bikes) in the
"city" of Mfuwe, where we caught our charter flight here
to Zimbabwe. Since it's a Sunday, I know it's been 9 days
since we've sent email... and even though I know I can't send this
for another 6 or so days, I'm in the mood to write... we've
experienced so much stuff, and our adventures in Zambia just ended
this morning. Now it's on to the NEXT phase of the trip. 2
hours ago we arrived at Ruckomechi camp on the Zambezi river in
Zimbabwe; tomorrow we head out for 4 days of canoeing down the
river. Definitely no phones or power there... we have one hour
before our next game drive, and I'm using the oh-so-precious
resource of BATTERY LIFE to write. It kind of blows my mind that
we've been so completely out of touch... 1 message from-us-to-you in
2.5 weeks (and counting), and the only word we've heard AT ALL from
the U.S. was a phone call from Renee our travel agent the night we
sent our last email...  Don't
get me wrong, we're neither lonely nor homesick. It's just
wild to be so out of touch. Here's what we've been up
to:
Rocktail Bay, South Africa
 After
our last email (by the way, I didn't stay online long enough to
check any of YOUR mail), we left Johnannesburg early early early for
Rocktail Bay, a lodge on the BEACH in northern south africa.
It isn't big-game territory... it was more of a chance for us to
rest from our arduous safari schedule during the preceding 8 days in
the Botswana bush.
At
Rocktail we mostly just laid around on the beach, plus did some
snorkeling and some fishing. Kristina has read 3 books so far,
and I've finished 2. It was a nice, relaxing 4 days and even with
the low game count, we were friendly with vervet monkeys and a
resident bushbaby (pictured to the right). Each of the 3
mornings we got up and did a nice long walk on the beach... 1-2+
hours each day. A great calf workout, and the ONLY chance we have to
work off all this food. One
of the coolest things about Rocktail Bay was the charter flight in
and out. We flew in a "Maule" 4-seater, one of us up
front with the pilot. This thing could take off with about 60 yards
of runway and land in 100. Chris, the pilot, flew us LOW and
we got some awesome views of hippos, pelicans, and dolphins in the
Indian Ocean.
 Tafika
Camp, South Luangwa Valley, Zambia
Next we
headed to Zambia. Tafika Camp was a fairly rustic but
beautiful place.. all
the chalets handmade with local grasses and reeds...
thatch roof, the whole bit. Very cool. Even on the
2 hour ride over rutted, hardened-mud roads from the airport to the camp, it was clear that the
Luangwa Valley is special-- we saw massive herds of impala and
zebra, and bounced through villages with no lights, watching women
carry water on their heads and replying to children's enthusiastic
shouts of HELLO to us as we passed.
 We
experienced a bunch of "firsts" at Tafika. On our second
day at camp, we woke at 5:30 am and instead of game
viewing via car, we went game viewing via "microlight".. a hang-glider with an
engine! Awesome fun.
After a
quick breakfast, we embarked on our
first WALKING safari... we left the camp walking single-file
behind a dude with a bolt-action rifle, creeping silently and
listening. Within 5 minutes we heard
the moaning of a lion (imagine a David Rubenstein sigh, but 2
octaves lower.)... our throats tightened... it's unnerving
knowing you're walking around on the same ground as a lion is,
moving between tall grass, wondering whether he's watching you. We tracked
it for 20 minutes and were rewarded with a quick butt-eye view before
it disappeared. Believe me, being on foot following a lion
reminds you of your place in the food chain.
 Every
night we'd wake up in the middle of the night, and could hear lions
wailing, or hippo eating the grass DIRECTLY outside our tent (one
night we got up and watched one with our flashlight!) We also
spent an hour making a fun and enlightening trip to the local village of
Mukasanga, where we
visited the school and the kids sang and recited poetry for us.
Kristina got a first-hand chance to try winnowing corn.. hard
work.
But
our last
night at Tafia was our best game drive yet -- after touring
around on a gorgeous, warm Luwanga valley night, we were
surprised by a sundowner on the beach of the river with everyone
from camp present! After a couple of gin & tonics, we headed
back out, and were treated to our first sightings of
animal eating their kill... crocodile feasting on a hippo
carcass, lions and lion cubs puttin' on the fats with a warthog,
and great looks at a couple of porcupine. Don't worry, we have video. (but
not much on the lions... like I said BATTERY POWER is the most
precious commodity out here.)
The
weather has remained spectacular. At Jo-berg airport, Joe bought an
extra polar fleece jacket and some long-johns, but since Zambia is
farther north-- and therefore warmer-- we haven't needed the extra
clothing.
Also,
we've been awesomely lucky with the people at the camps. At Tafika,
we were the ONLY guests (and the first guests of the dry season), so
we got to spend quality time with the Coppingers who own and run the
camp. Great people... they are home-schooling their two kids
and are active in keeping the village school
going.
We've
moderated the number of wildlife photos we're taking... it's amazing
how "commonplace" it starts to feel after awhile.
And we've (just today) declared ourselves "intermediate" skill game,
bird (and plant) viewers now... we have contests to see who can name
the most stuff. (Lilac-breasted roller is one of my
favorites... Kristina always nails the Natal Mahogany. We
still occasionally have some difficulty distinguishing the raintree
from the sausage tree, but you know, that one can be tough.)
Stay
tuned, we'll write again after the river trip. That is, if a
hippo doesn't get us...
Adios!
Hey..
you guys had a memorial weekend holiday, didn't you! Hope it
was fun... didn't even realize tbere had BEEN a memorial day weekend until now...
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