hippos

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Zeb the Duck Visits Kruger Park in South Africa

This morning Samson picked us up really early.   We are driving to Kruger National Park in South Africa for the day.   Driving, the sun came up and we reached the border between Mozambique and South Africa.

Immigration point between countries

Immigration point between countries

We cleared immigration to leave Mozambique and then cleared immigration to go into South Africa.   Minutes later we enter Kruger National Park.

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park, South Africa

This is our safari vehicle.

Ready for a safari.

Ready for a safari.

I am ready to find big animals.  As you know, I, Zeb the Duck, have been on safaris so I know that I stay in my traveling bag or sit on the vehicle seat most of the time.   Our first animals are impalas.

Impalas

Impalas

Chris, our guide, says there are more than 150,000 impalas in Kruger Park.   That is a lot!   These hippos know we are here.

Hippos. Always watching

Hippos. Always watching

They are watching us.   Guinea Fowl or Guinea Hens are rather plentiful and they have a beautiful blue neck and head.

Guinea Fowl or Guinea Hen

Guinea Fowl or Guinea Hen

This is a brown snake-eagle.

Brown Snake Eagle

Brown Snake Eagle

Glad he wants to eat brown snakes, and not yellow ducks.   I love zebras.   Look at this one.

Zebra

Zebra

I believe this is a Burchel Zebra.   They crossed the road directly in front of our safari vehicle.

Zebras. The crossed right in front of us!

Zebras. The crossed right in front of us!

I love to see big animals this close.   Chris showed us this owl.

Big eyed Owl

Big eyed Owl

He sure has big eyes.   This bird with a bright red neck caught my eye.

Bird with bright red neck

Bird with bright red neck

We love birds, but I prefer big animals on safari.   Here is a warthog.

Warthog

Warthog

Warthogs are rather plentiful also, but I, Zeb the Duck, love to watch them.

Warthogs grazing

Warthogs grazing

They eat a lot and often.   The top tusks are not very sharp, but the bottom tusks are very sharp.   Don’t you just adore giraffes?

Giraffe

Giraffe

Mom and I really like to see them.   This is an animal we have not seen yet.

Blue Wildebeest or Gnu

Blue Wildebeest or Gnu

Chris says this is a Blue Wildebeest.   He also calls it a gnu.   We are seeing so many animals and I want to show them all to  you, so I will finish this next time.   We don’t want these posts to get too long.   Remember, next time, more big animals.

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Zeb Experiences a Botswana Game Drive and Dinner at Mama Africa Eating House

We are still in Botswana at Chobe Safari Lodge.   The river safari and lunch were fantastic.   We loved eating by the pool and the Chobe River.   On this safari, the humans agreed that they had seen enough birds, impalas and warthogs.   They were looking for zebras, giraffes and lions.   But they did want to stop to admire other large animals.   An early stop was to gaze at these rocks.

Large rocks? Not at all!

Large rocks? Not at all!

Oh, they are not rocks, they are resting hippos.   Hippos are so big, but they can run really fast. Remember the elephants we saw on the boat safari?   Well, here they are again.

Elephants, adult and young

Elephants, adult and young

Those two babies are so cute.    Mom was having a little problem getting them to move quickly enough, so mom’s tusks bumped into the youngster’s rumps if they got too slow.   That seemed very effective.   Cape buffalo are also very big.

Cape Buffalo at rest

Cape Buffalo at rest

The humans did say they wanted to stop for big animals.   Alright, this is a new animal for me, Zeb the Duck.

Zeb's first zebra

Zeb’s first zebra

This is my first wild zebra.   We saw a small herd of them, and what are these animals near them?

Giraffes.

Giraffes.

Wow.   These tall guys are giraffe.   My first wild giraffe also.   Oh look.

Giraffes with young on the right

Giraffes with young on the right

To the right, near the center of the photo, there is a young giraffe.   Shorter, but certainly not short.   I don’t believe I have seen this one before, either.

Kudu. See those horns?

Kudu. See those horns?

This is a kudu.   Very impressive twisted horns.   Well, our game drive in Chobe National Park in Botswana has ended.   It was great, but we did not see the big cats.   No lions, no cheetahs, and no leopards.   But we did see so many magnificent animals.   I love safaris.   This was my first time in Africa, so my first safaris, but mom has been here a couple times and experienced safaris in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.   We both loved these safaris.   I have to tell you something amazing.   The other humans on our game drive were from Colorado and one couples lives less than 10 miles from our home in Colorado.   And we met on a safari in Botswana!   Mom and I are now in the car, entering Zimbabwe.    The other humans are staying in Zambia, so we are in separate cars.

Returning to Zimbabwe

Returning to Zimbabwe

Remember that the road from Botswana into Zimbabwe and then to Victoria Falls goes through a National Park.   These baboons are really wild and ran away.

Wild baboons along the road

Wild baboons along the road

Another day I will tell you about our encounter with another baboon; one that was not afraid of humans.   We are back in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and it is dinner time.   The gentleman in our hotel office recommended a restaurant.   Here we are at Mama Africa Eating House.

Mama Africa Eating House

Mama Africa Eating House

At our table we loved the colorful placemats.

Great placemat. And peanuts and popcorn

Great placemat. And peanuts and popcorn

The peanuts and popcorn were delicious for snacking while our food was being prepared.   We ordered Nuku Nedovil.   That is a Shona dish of chicken and peanut butter with rice.  Yum!  I love chicken and I love peanut butter.   When we arrived we admired the paintings on what we thought was a storage area.

Great door decoration

Great door decoration

We soon learned that the doors come off and this is the area for the band.

Preparing for live entertainment

Preparing for live entertainment

Live music is great during and after dinner.   The food was delicious and the people were so nice.   I really liked Mama Africa.   When we returned to our hotel we certainly thanked the gentleman for his wonderful recommendation.

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A Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi River with Zeb the Duck

Mom and I are traveling alone now.   Leaving Malawi, we had an overnight stop in Johannesburg, South Africa and then we went on to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.   Welcome to Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe airport

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe airport

Our taxi from the airport took us to a travel agency on the way to our hotel.   We made reservations for a river cruise and a one day safari in Botswana.    Our  hotel is located near a craft mall and anther outdoor craft market.

Outdoor craft market is huge

Outdoor craft market is huge

More time will be needed here.   After checking into our hotel, it was time for our first adventure.    I, Zeb the Duck, love boat rides.   We went on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.   This river separates Zambia and Zimbabwe.   We are staying in the city of Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side of the river.   The bus picked us up at our hotel and then picked up more humans.   At one resort, we saw these warthogs in the lawn.

Warthogs on the resort lawn

Warthogs on the resort lawn

Isn’t that great?  Animals as soon as we arrived in Victoria Falls.   Here we are, ready to hop on this river boat.

Getting on the river boat

Getting on the river boat

We were only on the boat a few minutes when we saw this elephant, on the Zambia side.

Our first Zambian elephant

Our first Zambian elephant

This is our first Zambian elephant.   There are lots of birds here also.   We recognized the fish eagle.

Fish eagle

Fish eagle

We really like them, and we have seen them many places.   Still on the Zambia side of the river we saw this mother elephant with a young elephant.

Mom and baby heading back to the woods

Mom and baby heading back to the woods

They did not pose for photos; they tuned and walked away from us and the river.   The hippos here seemed to be playing with us.

Hippo

Hippo

They would look at us and then go under the water.   Soon come up again, but only for about 8-10 seconds.   It was cute, but frustrating also.   Here is another elephant, drinking from the Zambezi River.

Elephant drinking from the Zambezi River

Elephant drinking from the Zambezi River

We did see one small crocodile sunning on the sandy river bank.   It did not show  up well in photos.   We are in the Zambezi National Park.   They often name national parks after the river. Here is the sunset we came to see.

Beautiful sunset

Beautiful sunset

And a beautiful sunset we did see.   I, Zeb the Duck, love sunsets with the water.   You know that I was on this boat, but there were many humans and mom couldn’t get good photos of me with animals behind me, so I am not in boat photos.   We met so many interesting tourist on this cruise.   One, couple, from South Africa, will be at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.   He will be an official in the rowing competition.   We think that is exciting.   We hope they had a wonderful time.   I, Zeb the Duck, have not been to Brazil, but mom says Rio is one of the prettiest cities she has ever seen.  But, we think Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe is exciting and pretty also.   After the cruise, the bus brought us back to our hotel.   We walked to the craft market, closed now,

Elephant Walk Shopping. Many beautiful craft stores inside.

Elephant Walk Shopping.  Many beautiful craft stores inside.

but upstairs there is an Asian restaurant.   So up the stairs we went.

Let's go up to the restaurant

Let’s go up to the restaurant

The menu featured several pages of Thai dishes and a page of Chinese offerings.   Everything sounded good; we were hungry.   This is an attractive restaurant.

Namtook Restaurant

Namtook Restaurant

It is called Namtook.   We ordered from the Chinese page.   This is our chicken and vegetables with cashew nuts.

Looks great and tasted wonderful

Looks great and tasted wonderful

Do you see those chopsticks?   We used them to eat.   It was fun.   Everything was very tasty.   We are glad we chose this restaurant for dinner.   Our first evening in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe was a success.