We endure the seemingly hours spent beaten . . .

This past Monday was the beginning of the end for us in Africa as we started flying out of the bush and heading home. Similar to our flights into Africa where we sat behind the pilot, albeit in far more plush and comfortable seats, the trend continues as we leave. Well, I got to sit behind the pilot; Mary was sitting next to him.

Not quite the Qsuite we arrived in

Taking off from a dirt runway, we flew out of the bush in a

well used, hot, and loud 6-seater Cessna.

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Breakfast in the lodges typically begins with something light and what is referred to as a starter meal. As you sip your coffee, tea, or juice while having toast, a croissant, or some fruit, one of the staff will ask how you want your eggs cooked or tell us what the chef has prepared for the morning meal.

One morning vegetable lasagna was in the buffet-style starter line for what I assume is the full breakfast meal - my mother would be smiling. The chef approaches our table just as I put the last bite of lasagna in my mouth and asks how the food was. He then wants to know how we’d like our eggs prepared and whether we want bacon or sausage. Not wanting to appear rude, and because I like to eat, I ask for them to be scrambled with a side of bacon. I’ll diet when we return!

A view of Africa as we bounce along the rutted roads.

Breakfast dishes cleared and water bottles filled, we grab our stuff and head out for another day on safari. Despite wanting to squeeze the most we possibly can out of every day, we endure the seemingly long hours spent beaten and bruised from driving down rutted dirt roads. All is quickly forgotten, though, when a herd of elephants or a tower of giraffes are spotted. With the moment captured in our minds and on the camera’s memory cards, we move on.

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A vast nighttime emptiness surrounds us as we make our way through dinner when the roar of a lion pierces the air. “Let’s go find it,” our guide suggests. Leaving our half-eaten meal behind, we head to our room, grab our camera bags, and climb into the Land Rover.

In under fifteen minutes from salad to sighting, a big male lion comes into view as it pads down the middle of the road, unaffected by our presence. We learn that this particular lion is unwelcome by the lionesses in the area. Even though he’s making his presence known through roars, rumbles, and the marking of his scent, no female lions have taken him up on his offer of romance. Even the other male lion whose territory he’s passing through refuses his challenge. We follow him for a while as he forlornly continues wandering down the road, looking for love.

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Each of the three camps/lodges we’ve been to operates on a similar schedule. An early morning game drive, returning to camp around 11:00 am. With a 4- to 5-hour break during the heat of the day, followed by another game drive around 4:00 pm, returning back by 7:00 pm.

During one morning’s game drive, we tracked a lion and found it lazing in the shade of a tree; the back of our camp’s kitchen was just yards away.

This female was a few yards from our lodge's kitchen.

Some camps rake the common-area walkways daily so you can see animal tracks and determine what had wandered through. One morning, we found monkey tracks circling our room. At another lodge, our guide told us that the Big 5 - lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo, had all made an appearance in camp at some point in the past.

It's not surprising the variety of animals that might come through camp since they all have a watering hole within the camp. At the second lodge we stayed at, there was a pool for the guests to swim in, but it was far more popular with elephants than guests. Every evening, up to a dozen elephants would be waiting their turn to get a drink of water.

Pachyderms joining us . . .

Dinner with a few of our pachyderm friends joining us.

Two of the three camps we stayed at had drilled deep wells and combined them with a pumping system to supply some watering holes with a constant, year-round water source. Many of the natural watering holes we passed had dried up, and the rainy season was still a few months away. With a reliable water source, the animals stay in the area, stay healthy, and are in easy view to the guests.

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Although we didn’t purposefully book it, at all three lodges we stayed at, Mary and I were the only guests in the Land Rover on fourteen of the fifteen game drives we went on. With seating for up to nine guests, depending on how the vehicle was outfitted, Mary and I could spread out our camera gear and not be in anyone’s way. We were also two of the very few guests in any of the lodges we stayed at, having picked a particularly slow time within the off-season to travel.

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Hwange (pronounced wang-ghee) National Park, where we spent most of our time, is the largest natural reserve in Zimbabwe and has an impressive number of elephants, but to their detriment.

It’s estimated that the park has close to 100,000 elephants but can sustain only half that amount. With little money to support the elephant overpopulation and the ability to deal with poachers, many citizens are asking for the vast stockpile of ivory -130 tons. to be sold to fund the programs. Others insist the ban needs to continue to discourage the international sale of ivory. Every guide we spoke to had very strong feelings one way or another.

Adding to the issues with an overpopulation of elephants, in July 2015, the area became mired in controversy and mourning. Cecil, a large, majestic, and protected male lion was shot and killed by an American dentist whose guide deliberately lured the lion outside the park's confines to get around the regulations. Two years after Cecil’s killing, his son, Xanda, suffered a similar fate. All for the sake so that some neanderthal could prove his (lack of) masculinity by having killed an animal for no other reason than wanting a ‘trophy.’

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I mentioned at the beginning of my series of travel notes that Mary and I were traveling to Africa for our 40^th wedding anniversary. I also said this to the tour operator when we first looked into booking a safari back in March 2021. Mary and I were both pleased and surprised at what transpired from that single mention of an anniversary trip.

The first lodge we stayed at set up a private dinner for us in their wine cellar. Our appetizer was a bowl of cooked mopane worms (a caterpillar), which we requested, as they are a traditional South African snack. I'll let you do a Google search for them.

As Mary and I ate dinner, the staff decorated our room with

candles, flower petals, and a bottle of champagne.

Our room after the staff decorated it with candles and flower petals.

The staff set up a private table away from the main dining area at the last lodge we were at. Our table was complete with candles and a bottle of champagne.

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The past two weeks of a poor diet consisting of too many carbs/starches and too little protein or fruits and vegetables (yes, and mopane worms), as well as the harshness of dealing with the bumpy roads, has taken its toll on our bladders, kidneys, and bodies. Although we’re sad to be leaving, we’re happy to be heading home.

Looking up at any airport's Arrival and Departure board is always a study in geography with all the cities covered by so many airlines. From the mixture of cultures, languages, clothing, and customs to noticing directions for a Muslim Prayer Room, spending time in international airports, I find, can be as enriching an experience as the destination itself.

Thank you for virtually traveling with us and participating in that most intimate human act, the joining of minds through communication.

Uende salama.