Victoria Falls, Zambia

June 21
Luckily, due to icing my knee and taking advil, I am walking without pain. For breakfast I eat the dinner I missed last night, and we return to Victoria Falls, one of the ‘Wonders of the World’. Knowing we will get wet from the spray of the pounding water, we wear ponchos, flip flops, and bring a change of clothes. The double rainbow created by the reflections of the water, the immense depth (1000 meters) and width (1800 meters) of the falls, and the powerful force of the water is spectacular! (pictures 1,2,3) Entranced , I watch it for a long time.
The local market at the falls has more variety of crafts, and after purchasing a pair of Toka masks, and a beautiful carved wood platter with giraffe handles, I take an amazing 15 minute helicopter ride over the falls (picture 4), where I am able to see the magnitude of the falls, and the gorges through which the water flows down to reach the fertile farm land. The Toka people founded Victoria falls in the 1700’s and called it the ‘smoke that thunders’. They wore masks to protect them against the spirit of the Falls.
After returning to Tongabezi for a hot bath and late lunch, I meet Kingsley who joins me for a sunset canoe cruise (picture ). He is a white, rugged, hard working, sensitive man, who grew up on a farm in a country in the middle of Africa. He lives in Johannesburg (aka Jo’Burg), but works all over Africa for a company that builds and manages housing for construction workers, to upscale lodges in an environmentally sensitive way.
We are paddled through gentle rapids, see a few hippos, and pass by the small private island which can be reserved by Tongabezi Lodge guests for camping including all lodge services. We see waves of 1000’s of tiny birds called Queilea, which are like locusts and eat the crops. On the bank of the river I see a very large lizard that looks like a baby alligator. Upon returning, we warm up by the outdoor fire where I meet an extended family from Miami, celebrating the grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Sarah, the daughter in law, and I connect immediately, play Jewish geography, and find out we know some Miami people in common. The family is in the building business and recently moved to Las Vegas.
Each of the Chalets are different, and one of them is a very cool ‘tree house’ with no walls except the side of a hill as its back wall, and separated from the elements only by one piece of wood railing (picture 5), sitting next to the wide river. I am thinking I could be happy living in this tree house, volunteering my time at the school next door operated by the Lodge, and helping with guest relations.
June 22
I had planned on giving away the sneakers I bought in Israel at the beginning of my travels, my down coat, socks, pens, extra hat, medicines, skin lotions, and anything else the local people might be able to use, prior to leaving Africa. I trade and give away some of the items in the 2 markets I have purchased at, and the rest I gave to staff at the Lodge. The people have very little in Zambia and are very appreciative. With the extra room in my luggage I am able to pack all of my purchases, except the wood carved chair I checked in as my second piece of baggage that 1 week later has not arrived in Miami and the airline does not know where it is!
I would have stayed here longer but I only have a 4 day turn around in Miami before I go to Aspen for 2 months. I am flying to Denver, picking up my car, bike, and my daughter, Ashley who will spend 3 days with me in Aspen. I have only seen her for 2 days in the last 6 months and miss her so much. She is an amazing young women and I am in awe of her.
This is the end of my planned 8 months of the international traveling part of my 12 month journey. I look forward to my continued personal journey in Aspen, Co, which has always been my healing time offering natural beauty, great hiking, biking, world class music festival, July 4th celebration, and time for reading, meditation, and contemplation.
I have appreciated every minute of this opportunity to see many parts of the world. I thank God everyday for this privilege, and for the support and encouragement of my family and friends. . When I analyze what I have accomplished so far on my journey, and the changes I see in myself, I smile and am proud of myself.
Before I made the decision to take a year to travel, I had fears about traveling by myself, not being able to share it with someone I loved, and spending the money and being irresponsible for not working.
This part of my journey was not only well worth every minute and every penny spent, but essential to my personal growth and well being.
I am more comfortable with going with the flow. Have more confidence I can take care of myself. I have given serious thought about what is really important to me and choosing the life I may want. Before, many of the decisions in my life were influenced by the needs of my children and husbands.
I will continue to work on myself in regard to how I interact with and respond to the people around me; remind myself to stay in the present, and have the faith that things are, and will be, as they are supposed to be; and be thankful everyday for the many blessings in my life, especially my children who I love beyond words, my loving sisters and parents who have constantly shown how much they love me, and each of my nieces and nephew who add to my life just by being who they are; my friends who I am lucky to stay connected with, ;and all the comforts I have the privilege of having in my life, and for the State of Israel, which I believe represents not only the Jewish people, but the condition of mankind.
To all of you who have followed my blog, thank you for joining me.

Chobe National Park game drive, then on to Zambia

June 20
My morning begins with another 5:30 am wake up call for a game drive. We see elephants eating branches and leaves from tress, baboons picking through elephant maure to eat the undigested seeds, and hyenas (picture 2) and jackels, both of whom eat anything left by other carnivors. Birds, monkeys, and a water buffalo herd (picture 1) finish off our morning observations.
After 30 min on the stationary bike in the gym, quick shower, and breakfast, I am driven 30 min back to Kasani airport to meet another driver who takes me 40 min to the Zambia border (on the way we wait while elephants cross the road). I transfer onto a small boat for a 3 minute ride across the river, where I am met by my lodge guide, go through customs and border control (picture , and continue on a 40 minute van ride to Tongabeze Lodge near Livingston.

I immediately love this place. My private chalet (picture 4,5) made of wood and stone is at the far end of the lodge and sits on a wide peaceful river. the staff are gentle, friendly, and willing to please.

For my afternoon activity I choose to visit the 'curio shop' that supports a local orphanage, and then onto the local market (picture 6). Due to the strict weight limitations on luggage on all of the small planes I took, and being the end of my trip, I had planned on shopping here and at the airport in Johannesberg (Jo'burg). Each stall seller greets me with "please come into my shop. It costs nothing to look", followed by either they or their grandfather made the craft they are selling, which can't be true since most of the products are the same. As I scout the market for something special to buy, it is exhausting to have to continually say to each seller that tries to engage me and point out each of their items for sale, that I want to see everything that is available in the market and will return to their shop after I decide what I want to buy.

Returning with my purchases of a carved wood chair, and 3 stone carvings, Issac, my personal valet greets me with a hot bubble bath!

My guide explained that I am fortunate to arrive on the last night of the ‘lunar rainbow’ at Victoria Falls, so as I rush to be at the office for a timely departure I turn off the lights and don’t see the step down to my veranda , and crash my knee into the solid wood door. Withering in pain, I quickly hobble to the office in the dark. With an ice pack on my knee, we leave with other quests for our rare evening view of a rainbow across Victoria Falls. We arrive to a locked gate, and after our guide spends an hour looking for the employee with the key (who has not shown up for work), we reluctantly return to the Lodge. To distract myself from my pain, I look at my pictures on the office computer and chose the ones for my blog with input from Issac.
I enjoy the warmth of my heated blanket, but my throbbing knee wakes me up several times during the night with worry that my swollen knee cap is fractured and I won’t be able to walk around Victoria Falls tomorrow.
Zambia , a democracy of 72 tribes, gained its independence from England in 1964. It has a population of 11 million, with copper mines, tourism, and agriculture being the main industries, and a small clothing manufacturing sector. Zambia exports maize, sugar cane, corn, and cotton. People speak their tribal language, and English, which is the official language.
My guide tells me that most of the children go to substandard government schools which cost approximately $450 per child per year. Vocational programs cost about $300 for each semester of classes (every 3 months). This is a lot of money for the average Zambian.

Chobe Game Lodge, Botswana

June 19

When I woke up I opened my curtains and saw impalas at the waterhole. I watched them as I did stretching exercises. After breakfast I and driven to the airstrip and fly on another 6 seater plane to Kasini airport, where a guide greets me and other guests. On the drive to Chobe Game Lodge, we pass many animals, including fish eagles, warthogs, kudus, hippos and impalas from the road. We see a lion 20 ft away, watching animals (prey) on the other side of the road near a water hole.

Chobe Game Lodge is a 50 room lodge located on the 7,300 sq mile Chobe National Park on the bank of the Chobe River. My view from my room is of the Caprivi floodplains. This lodge has a gym, very cold pool, very expensive and slow internet access, with impalas sitting in the garden, and the sounds and flight of many birds.

This fertile land grows bananas, corn, mango, lemons, oranges, vegetables, and cotton. A dairy farm sells milk and cheese to the local lodges.

On my sunset cruise I see many birds, elephants (picture ), hippos (picture ), and a crocodile (picture ). There is a honeymoon couple on the boat, as there has been at every lodge I have stayed at so far.

June 20

My morning begins with another 5:30 am wake up call for a game drive. We see elephants eating branches and leaves from tress, baboons picking through elephant maure to eat the undigested seeds, and hyenas and jackels, both of whom eat anything left by other carnivors. Birds, monkeys, and a buffalo herd finish off our morning observations.

After 30 min on the stationary bike in the gym, quick shower, and breakfast, I am driven 30 min back to Kasani airport to meet another driver who takes me 40 min the the Zambia border. I transfer onto a small boat for a 3 minute ride across the river, where I am met by my lodge guide, go through customs and border control, and continue on a 40 minute van ride to Tongabeze Lodge near Livingston.

Chobe National Park, Botswana June 18

June 18

My bungalow, one of 12, is approximately 30 ft wide and 15ft deep, facing several water holes only 20 ft away, where elephants, impalas, and other animals often come to drink. At 6:30am my guide comes to escort me to breakfast. At 7am we leave for a game drive. The rising sun creates a sky of light blue and orange (picture 6).
Botswana is 80% sand. The roads we use for the game drives are deep sand, slow, and bumpy, with bush branches swating the canvas on top of the jeep and sometimes us. It is illegal to drive off the road so it is frustrating when we can't get closer to or follow the animals. I see an elephant foot print in the sand with a leopard paw print in the middle of it, many birds, gnus, and impalas. We see elephants, and when one of them comes very close to the road in front of us and gives us the threatening flap of the ears, our guide turns the jeep around so we can be ready to flee.

From the porch where we eat lunch at the lodge, I watch a herd of male impalas and family of elephants at the water holes in front of us (picture 1,2). While we are on our afternoon game drive, a leopard was seen at the water hole at my lodge. Our guide points out a 1200 year old Baobab tree which is pollinated by bats.

Looking for a change from the game drives, I get permission to leave tomorrow, a day early, to visit another lodge for one night, owned by the same company, on a river near the border of Zambia. I will then continue on as originally planned the following day to Zambia (at an additional cost of only $30 to cover extra transfers).

Sitting around the fire with one of the camp managers, I discuss the idea of working at one of the remote lodges I have visited around the world.

Chobe National Park, Botswana

June 17
Returning to the airstrip by boat, I am picked up by the same female pilot (picture 1). After a 15 minute ride, we stop to pick up another passenger, and continue for a 30 minute flight to a landing stip where a camp guide drives me 20 minutes to Savute Safari Lodge, inside Chobe National Park.
The camp is filled with many different birds. The days are sunny and breezy, and the nights are cold (no heat or A/C). Last night several lions came into the camp, and a leopard was seen today. I am not allowed to jog at this camp due to the many dangerous animals in the vicinity, and running will catch their attention. We must be escorted to and from our rooms after dark.

On our afternoon game drive, we saw many groups of impalas, a wildebeast (aka gnu), many giraffes, birds, and elephants. Giraffes have an awkward gate due to stepping with their 2 right legs, then their 2 left legs. Our guide explained that the reason we see so many impalas is because female Impalas will not mate if food and water is scarce, and if they are ready to give birth and food and water is scarce, they can hold back up to a month.!
The clouds help to make a particularly interesting sunset (picture 2), and as I turn around I see the moon behind me (picture 3). Just as the sun went down we got a call on the radio that a leopard was spotted nearby. We junp in the jeep and within minutes we stop in the road as the leopard is walking 200 ft away. It quickly walks behind the bushes, and as we head back to camp, (It is a Park requirement that the guide must have us back before dark) our guide notices something and stops the jeep. Straight ahead of us a lion is casually walking directly towards us! He tells us not to say anything and don't move except to take a picture. The lion struts like the king of the jungle, and walks right by my jeep no more then 5 ft away. My flash is on and the picture comes out dark, and by the time I turn off the flash the lion is 20 ft away. Very exciting end of the day!

Botswana, Africa June 16

June 16

At 6:30 am we go by motor boat to an Island for a walking safari, in single file with a guide in the front and a guide in the rear. We see many beautiful birds (one blue bird with red beak and feet),several crocodiles, baboons, warthogs, elephants, antelopes, buffalo skull, fresh feathers left from a recent kill, and the guide hears lion calls on the next island. When we stop near a hippo pool, 5 of the hippos start to come toward us with their heads out of the water, but stop when we back up. They don't move and continue to watch us. Hippos are very dangerous if you get between them and their babies or between them and the water, and kill more people then any other animal. Leopards and hyenas can also be found in this area.

After a jog around the camp, a hot shower and a lunch of butternut squash soup and sauted vegetables (my usual), it was time for the afternoon motor boat ride at 3:30pm. Our guide gave us a taste of the white inside of a papyrus plant and showed us how the locals use the outside of the stem to make mats. He used the stem and flower of the water lilly to make a necklace.

At 5pm he brought us to place on the bank where all of the camp guides were waitng to take us for a sunset cruise on small traditonal canoes using poles in very shallow water. I enjoyed this quiet and peaceful way to explore the area.

The Delta is comprised of 80,000 small islands. The ecosystem, including the water, plant and animal life, the humans and the weather are extemely dependent on each other. Conservation is a major concern of the lodges, their guides, and the government.

Bruce, a bachelor hippo, comes into the camp every night.

Okavango Delta, Botswana, Africa June 15,2008

June 15
Wake up call at 5:30am to catch flight to Windhoek, Namibia. As the only passanger in this 15 year old 6 seater Cessna (picture 2) I am again able to sit in the co-pilot seat. My pilot is a young white Namibian who was educated in S Africa and recieved a degree in Economics and accounting.

From the plane I see fingers of the mostly dried up rivers zig-zagging everywhere on this dry, harsh landscape of sand and rock. A natural Dam holds the only water I have seen during my 1 hour flight. Another 1 hr and 45 minute flight on a 20 seater plane takes me to Maun, Botswana, where I am met by an Australian female pilot for a 35 min flight in an even older Cessna and I sit in the co-pilot seat (picture ). Due to the middle of the day heat, this flight is a little bumpy and I feel nausious. We drop off the other 4 passangers and continue another 5 minutes to another field where a guide with a boat is waiting for me and takes me 10 minutes to Camp Xugana in the Okavango Delta.

I am allowed to jog around the camp in a small circle where I can be seen by the staff since dangerous animals may attack me. At 3:30pm our guide, Lets, takes us on a small open boat with a tarp on top (picture 3) to the Hippo pools, through shallow fresh water surrounded by golden papyrus plants (picture 5), water fig bush, reeds, and white, pink and blue water lilly's growing along side (picture 1). We are served drinks and appetizers on the boat as we watch a beautiful sunset (picture 6). We return at 6:30, shower, and served dinner at 7:30pm. This is the typical schedule at all the camps.

Bruce, a hippo that comes into the camp everynight, wakes us up during the night.

Namibia, Africa June 14

June 14
The rest of the guests who had been assigned to my guide and gone on the activities with me, left today, so I was able to choose my activity for the day. My guide, Richard, is a friendly, knowledgeable, hard working guide. He is the product of a Colored father from S Africa, Namibian mother, and a German great grandfather. He is the youngest of 3 sisters and 3 brothers. As the youngest child, it is customary (in his tribe) that he inherited the family house after both of his parents died. His 3 sisters are not married and each have 2 children, all of whom he invited to live in his home. He explained that he does as his mother taught him and pays for the electricity, water and food for his sisters, even though he is rarely there. He works at the camp 7 days a week, from 4:30am to night time, for 6 weeks, then has 2 weeks off, (all staff are on this schedule) during which he works as a freelance guide for other companies.

Today we left at 8am to drive 1 hr to hike in another area of sand dunes. This simple and stark geographical environment offers me the opportunity to notice the details of the sounds and colors, and the plant and animal life. As we start hiking Richard points out the path left in the sand of from a venomous snake (picture 1), which move just under the surface. They also bury their body under the sand with only their face on the surface of the sand. You don’t want to step on them by accident!! The sand collects moisture and is surprisingly able to sustain green plant life, and shelter and food for insects and animals. Richard shows me that several inches under the sand it is cool. As I sit on top of a sand dune,(picture 2) I feel a wonderful breeze and view the surrounding landscape (picture 3).

Richard points out the foot prints of spring box (looks similar to a deer), birds, jackels, and many black beetles. He explains that the wind in this area comes from all 4 directions, forming star shaped sand dunes that don’t move even though they change shape daily. Sussusvlei red sand in a plastic water bottle is my souvenir of this harsh, dry, peaceful place. Prior to this area being turned into Namib Naukluft National Park, there was sheep and ostrich farming, and the Bushmen used to live here until the black African tribes (1600’s) and the European farmers (1900’s) hunted them. Today there are approximately 20,000 Bushmen surviving in northern Kalahari in the northern part of Namibia.

As the sun goes down I listened to the gentle clicking sounds of barking ghecko’s (lizards) as I look at the mountains, grassland, trees, and sandgrass birds, and watch another beautiful sunset. I spoke to Jennifer, the other Camp manager, about my thoughts of becoming a camp manager (after training) at a place like this. The service, the accommodations, and the food has been outstanding.

Namibia, Africa June 13

June 13

We are woken up at 5am to drive the rough roads to the red sand dunes for sunrise (picture 1). The river beds dried up when the sand dunes were formed 2-4 million years ago, forming a circle around the river, and cutting it off from the Atlantic Ocean.I hiked up a steep sand dune, walked across the point on top, and stepped (slid) into deep sand down to a dried river bed

(pictures 4, 5). I was very proud of myself since I don’t like heights. The hard cracked white ground of the river bed, with many dead trees still standing, and the back drop of the red sand dunes was extra-ordinary. The deep root systems of the Acacia trees keep them standing for 100’s of years after they are dead! (picture 6)
Brunch was set up under the shade of a tree with tables, chairs and a colorful and healthy spread of food. As we looked up into the tree we saw a spotted eagle owl. Thus far I have seen ostrich, sparrows, Onyk antelopes, bat eared fox, blackback jackel, springbok, black beetles, large crickets (picture ), and red headed finch.

Returning to the Lodge around 2pm, we rested before setting out again at 3:30pm to walk through a canyon and watch the sunset (picture 7). After dinner, the entire staff performed local songs for the guests, and then we all got up and danced in a circle. Johann helped me choose pictures for my blog. We spent hours in interesting conversation until I realized it was midnight.