October 1-2, 2025

October 1-2, 2025

Aimee grinned when I told her we are turning around now. Unfortunately we are a long way from home. We got a little stressed at breakfast when we learned our flight is delayed three hours making it likely we will miss our connection. Luckily we found open seats on another airline.

After breakfast we met our driver who transferred us the seven miles to the Botswana border. After walking through the two border checks, we met our next driver who ferried us back to Victoria Falls. We stopped at a cafe that has a great patio overlooking the Zambezi River gorge below the Falls.

At the airport we caught our first of three flights to Johannesburg. We had more than enough time to make it through customs and board our second flight to London Heathrow. We are flying on a British Air A380. It is a doubledecker plane just like the doubledecker buses the English love. Aimee and I don't like the seating configuration though. We are not together, and we are both flying backwards staring at some stranger in the face. Luckily my seat mate was a cute English girl. Despite the oddity we both slept almost the whole flight.

We circled several times around London before finally using autopilot to make the landing. Aimee and I both used the shower facilities in the lounge. It was a nice badly-needed luxury.

Our last flight to Phoenix started in typical London fog. The clouds parted over the southern tip of Greenland giving me a great view of this mountainous, glacier-fed, fjord-filled landscape. 

Later we flew right by Pikes Peak reminding me of our trip there last month. The Colorado Rockies were ablaze in Autumn color with the turning of the Quaking Aspen trees. Whole groves are the same color because they are a single organism connected by a massive root system.

After two days and almost 24 hours of flight time we land in Phoenix. I can barely keep my eyes open as our driver ferries us home.

September 30, 2025

September 30, 2025

Happy Independence Day to Bo'tswana, (land of the Tswana people). They achieved their self-rule 59 years ago from Britain but remain part of the Commonwealth. All the locals are dressed today in blue, the main color of their flag. We help them celebrate by toasting with blue cocktails at lunch.

We are up before dawn for a morning game safari. After climbing aboard our jeeps, it is a 15-minute drive to Chobe National Park. We see lots of baboons running through the little town of Kasane like they own the place. They must reproduce like rabbits as many have babies clutching their underside. Our driver said elephants wandering through the town also. Mostly desert, Botswana is one of the least populated countries in the world. The few people they have are mostly far away on the southeastern border with South Africa.

Once in the park, we navigate bumpy sandy roads to the river. We see lots of elephants and Kudu antelope on the way. During the dry season, the animals have to hang close to the only water source for hundreds of miles.

We see numerous water birds in the river again. Africa’s birds seem to be more colorful and more diverse than what we see in the US. Not surprising though bird watching takes second fiddle to the extraordinary big game animals of Africa. We see African Spoonbills fishing in the shallows and a White Crowned Lapwing with yellow wattles hanging off its beak. There are lots of Helmeted Guineafowl running on the beach and an African Sea Eagle in a tree. We also spy a rare Puku Antelope with a relatively hairy coat. We see a few hippos in the distance.

Just off the beach we pass a baby elephant carcass being consumed by Vultures and Marabou Storks. It was killed by lions. With abundant game the lions concentrate on large easy meals instead of wasting their energy chasing the very fast and smaller Impala.

Our driver got word of a lion sighting so we sped down the beach and inland. We met up with a pride of nine lionesses. The first was sprawled out on her back sleeping. Just like me after I have overeaten. They are all very close within yards but very tired after the feast.

Returning along an interior road we pass small groups of Elephants and giraffes. We learned giraffes' spots start out light and get darker as they age.

After three hours we are back at the lodge for a late breakfast. Like the animals, we are relaxing during the heat of the day. I spend it reading the paper and downloading photos. Aimee knits and reads.

In the late Afternoon we load onto our jeeps for a second game drive. Once inside Chobe NP we see a pack of Mongoose scamper across our path, and then just a little further we come upon several more digging furiously at the base of a tree in pursuit of something.

At the river front we get the land version of yesterday’s elephant experience. Apparently Cape Buffalo spend the entire dry season on the island grazing. The elephants require a more diverse diet and must make the river crossing frequently. We watched a group of elephants swimming back to shore earlier than yesterday. The group leaves when the matriarch decides it is time. After crossing one youngster uses the tree in front of us to relieve an itch. Several recoat themselves in protective dust.

We saw a couple giraffes along the shore too. We pass the baby elephant carcass again. This time the Vultures have been replaced by a lone Black-backed Jackal. He is very skittish and keeps looking for danger.

Then we spot an even larger pack of elephants in single file ready to cross. They are towards the sun, so we race past them and turn around. They passed very calmly right between several jeeps. They are nicely framed with Hippos in the distance. While watching the group, one stray elephant suddenly appears within arm's reach giving Aimee a fright.

We raced further down the beach to catch up with the Lion pride we met this morning. We find them but they are now at the river edge a few hundred yards off the beach. I am jealous as there are several cruise boats parked within feet of them getting the close-up photographs of a lifetime.

Circling back inland to go home we pass lots of elephants migrating, a few Zebras and a giraffe crossing the road ahead. Then suddenly we encounter six running giraffes. I wonder if they are playing or being chased. We also watch a huge troop of baboons heading towards the river.

Before leaving the park, we see a lone Sable antelope and then watch the sun set in a blaze of orange.

Since our room is on the ground floor, we have been careful walking especially at night. As we opened our door to go to dinner, Aimee jumped, seeing a Bushbuck antelope staring right in her face. One of the buffet items tonight was Phane, a fried caterpillar of a local Emperor Moth. Crunchy!