Hello, friends, and welcome to the border between Botswana and Zambia. I am proud to announce that I was a model citizen my last night in Botswana and in tip top shape for our border crossing into Zambia. It’s a good thing too because this border is notorious for taking an extremely long time. The crossing into Zambia is done via ferry and sadly there is only one ferry, which is a bit on the small side as you can see below.
We actually boarded the ferry within a few minutes of arriving, but we couldn’t go anywhere without our truck and the queue for the trucks was insane.
Once we cleared immigration, which was an absolute breeze, we had the pleasure of sitting on the Zambia side for about 2.5 hours waiting for Raymond and the truck. Ugh! There were tons of locals eager to sell us their wood carvings, copper jewelry, and various other handicrafts so with 2.5 hours to kill we had ample opportunity to browse their collections. They were all quite friendly, engaging us in conversation and eager to hear about our thoughts and impressions of Africa as well as stories about our countries, families, and friends. Despite the long wait, it was surprisingly pleasant, with good conversation and a shady spot on a log under a tree.
As soon as Raymond arrived we blasted out of there and rocked on to Livingstone, where we’d be staying for the next 4 days. How luxurious to be in one location for longer than 24 hours. It doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a huge difference mentally at least knowing that you don’t have to tear down the tent the next morning. I actually treated myself to the luxury of having my backpack in the actual tent. Normally, I would just grab a few essentials from my pack instead of lugging that massive beast into the tent, but with 4 days it was time to get crazy and just bring ‘er on in. Remember, folks, it’s all about simple pleasures here.
After we pitched our tents and got a bit settled we were given more information about the various activities available to us while in Livingstone, home of Victoria Falls. Of course you know I was all about the Falls and couldn’t wait to see them up close and personal. Since I seem to be all about the aerial views these days I decided my first glimpse of the falls would be from above in an ultra light glider. As you may recall, I took a glider ride over Wadi Rum in Jordan and absolutely adored it. When Amar was here he did both the ultra light and the helicopter rides and thought the glider ride was better because of the open air experience so I took his advice and signed up. The only disadvantage of the glider was that we weren’t allowed to take our own cameras with us, but they strapped a camera on to the wing so I am still able to share some pics with you.
Are you ready?
Do you feel excited?
I hope you aren’t afraid of heights because here we go…
What can I say except thumbs up, my friends!
This was the beginning of the rainy season so the Falls were just getting going again, but as you can see there is still a ton of spray coming from the water. My pilot was saying that while it is certainly impressive to see the Falls in their full, thunderous glory, the visibility is not as great because the spray is out of control. I’m sure any time one sees Vic Falls it’s terribly impressive. They are just so massive! We flew into Zimbabwe as well for some additional views.
As we were flying back to the landing strip we crossed over some shallow water where some hippos were chillin’ as well as some elephants taking a drink from the shore. It was incredible to see them from the glider. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of this to share with you, but take my word for it when I tell you that it was awesome!
And now to prove that it was actually me up in that glider, here’s my Top Gun pic. Notice the strut as I confidently make my way back to the reception area. Maverick, Goose and Ice Man, you can been my wing men anytime!
What a great way to kick off my time in Zambia. Let’s end my first day here with something spectacular.
Any guesses about what I’m about to show you?
I’ll give you a clue. It’s something I photograph a lot and each time I feature it I gush about how much I LOVE it.
Yes, you guessed it…sunset. Get ready too because Livingstone has some of the most magnificent sunsets I have seen on my entire journey.
Pretty great, huh? I told you.
The next day I decided to keep the adrenaline pumping and take a walk with some Lions. Yes, despite the stories I shared with you about my Delta guide and Maretha coming face to face with roaring lions, I decided that this was something I wanted to do. Lion Encounter www.lionencounter.com operates the African Lion Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild Program on behalf of ALERT, the African Lion & Environmental Trust www.lionalert.org. Both organizations are doing fantastic work and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Free-ranging lion populations have decreased between 80 - 90% over the past 30 years. Given the rapid and startling decline as well as the greatly reduced potential for natural decolonization of many of their habitats, ALERT supports assisted lion reintroduction into some specific locations, which meet their criteria for sustainability.
In situations where there is no available source population of wild lions, ALERT initiates a 4 stage program to reintroduce lions originally bred from captive individuals. In the first stage the cubs born in their breeding centers are taken from their mothers at 3 months old, which is apparently consistent with captive breeding programs among carnivores. The experienced staff of Lion Encounter takes the place of the dominant members of the pride, training them only to the point that it is safe for them to be with them. Each day the lions are taken into the bush and given the opportunity to build their confidence in their natural environment, both during the day and night. By 18 months they are able to take down game such as smaller antelope and by 2 years old the lions are seasoned hunters and ready to move into stage 2.
In stage 2 all human contact is removed, however prior to their entry into stage 2 the lions are radio-collared and micro-chipped to monitor their progress. The lions are given the chance to develop a natural pride social system with plenty of game to hunt and once the pride is stable and self sustaining, it is moved into stage 3.
In stage 3, the pride is moved into a larger, managed ecosystem where there are no resident humans, there are sufficient prey species to hunt, and there are also competitive species such as hyena. The lions in stage 3 will give birth to cubs who will be raised by the pride in the managed ecosystem, which is very close to their natural environment.
The cubs born in Stage 3, with all the human avoidance behaviors of wild lions, will develop the skills that will enable their re-introduction into appropriate game reserves, conservancies, and National Parks across the African continent.
In stage 4, lions born in stage 3 are released into the wild in several natural social groups. It’s pretty amazing, right?
Before meeting the lions we had to watch an instructional video about the project as well acceptable behavior during our lion encounter. We were each given sticks to carry, not to beat them with, but to distract them if they should suddenly fixate on one of us or come a bit too close for comfort. We were advised to move the stick back and forth on the ground to engage the lion in a game of some sort and always remain standing with locked eye contact to assert our dominance. Um, ok. Is it common for the lions to fixate on one of us? I certainly hope not. Fingers crossed.
Uh oh, this is some serious eye-contact.
Can you believe how close we got to them? I have to say that when we first reached the lions and I saw just how big they were and the massive size of their paws and teeth, I definitely had a pang of fear and immediately questioned myself about the brilliance of this activity, but I was in it now so I might as well embrace it.
Um…yeah. That, my friends, is no joke.
So on the heels of that shot let’s go ahead and get even closer to the lions.
Notice my stick. Yeah, it’s kind of a joke, but I was gripping that thing for dear life. The only time we were allowed to get close® to the lions was when they were resting. During these brief moments, we were advised to slowly approach the lions and have our photo shoot. There were about 6 guys with us at all times who were surrounding the lions from all angles and watching their every move, advising us what to do when. I cannot tell you how happy I was to have these guys with us.
Now it was time to actually touch a lion. No, I’m not kidding. The guides approached with us, instructing us to approach from behind, maintain eye-contact and never, ever go anywhere near their faces. We were to crouch down in a position that would allow us to quickly get back to our feet if the lion made a move that was consistent with disfigurement or death. When I crouched down to touch the lion, my heart was beating like a drum and my hands were shaking. As I crouched down to give it a little touch, it quickly turned it’s head and locked eye-contact with me. The guide advised me to stand up in a calm and even tone. As you can imagine, I was wigging out at this point, but the lion didn’t seem that interested, giving it’s back a little lick and then resuming it’s relaxation in the grass. The guide instructed me to crouch down again, which I did and nervously pet the lion for about 2.5 seconds.
I’m not sure if you can really see my expression in this picture, but let’s just say that I think I left a racing stripe in my pants. I mean, I’m touching a freaking lion!!!
It’s fur was quite coarse and a bit rough. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “hmm, it’s coarser than I imagined.“ Of course this was immediately followed by, “please don’t let this lion lunge at me, please let me get out of this experience alive!”
The lion looks kind of vicious in the shot above, but it was only yawning. Still, check out those teeth. I’d hate to feel those chompers ripping into my flesh. It also looks like someone could use a little visit to the dentist. That’s some wicked plaque, lion!
Yeah, these kids don’t play gently. They were definitely biting and clawing at each other, but it was all in good fun. The Lion Encounter staff that accompanied us would also have to play a bit rough when a rambunctious lion would get a little too aggressive, slapping it in the face just like a lion would do to assert his dominance. They were comfortable with the animals, but it was all about maintaining their dominance and keeping their height above the animals. Scary!
At the end of the walk it was revealed to us that rangers with machine guns were hiding in the bushes in the event that something super sketch went down. I had no idea they were there, but it is reassuring to know that there were greater precautions taken than the thin stick. Thankfully, there was no need to pull out the big guns.
What an amazing experience! I will never forget it and cannot say enough positive things about my time with the lions. It was such a privilege to be so close to these magnificent animals. I was so touched by the great work being done by these organizations and I will continue to monitor their progress in the years to come. This was definitely something special and something I would highly recommend.
While we were waiting for them to put together a video of the experience for those who were interested in purchasing it, we were able to walk around the grounds (not where the lions were hanging) and see some other animals.
Aww, could that be cuter? I just can’t get enough of elephants, especially the babies. Well I hope you enjoyed my first 2 days in Zambia. Stay tuned for a day trip into Zimbabwe as well as my dive into Devil’s Pool. Intrigued? I hope so. See you soon.
