An Adventure through Botswana and Zimbabwe, September 2014 - by Safaridude and Game Warden - Part 2, Zimbabwe

[Morkel Erasmus]

@@pault Mana Pools was already covered? Think you missed a few pages

[Soukous]

@@Safaridude post #137 inspired

if only taking Malarone gave me such dreams and could make me write that well.

[pault]

@Morket Erasmus... Yes, I didn't catch up yet!

[graceland]

Oh Matt, I know how you feel. The tug of war between wanting to stay forever amongst the dust, the scents of the bush, the warmth on your skin, the sun in your eyes and then the longing to be surrounded by the family back amongst the familiar which can easily become the prison from which we long to escape.

 

And then those of us less fortunate have to wait and wait, never knowing if luck will fall our way and favour us with the means to go again. That's right where I'm stuck right now.

@@twaffle, I know what you mean as well...After reading this report of where I had been the week BEFORE I ached to return.

If I could just return again to Africa soon, my cravings would be satisfied.

 

Now I totally understand addictions; at least The Africa one is good for the heart, mind, spirit and body

 

Not happening for me at least for awhile; however, we have these incredible reports to keep us somehow sated.

[Kitsafari]

@@Safaridude - what a hilarious dream. I thought I am the only one in the world to have such crazy dreams, and you've gone one better.

 

@@Game Warden, you've said perfectly what we all feel at the end of a safari.

 

Thanks both for taking us on an incredible adventure. I wish it could just go on though ! When is the next one for you both?

[Game Warden]

@@Kitsafari You dream about me?

[ld1]

@@Safaridude after this report I am a teeny bit jealous that Malarone has no effect on me awake or during slumber. I shall just have to rely on a generous G&T. Although as the nights lengthen I may have to leave the office at 2pm in order to make it home in time for a sundowner.

 

@@Game Warden your last entry above really resonated. That feeling of being away from my world was never more acute than when we flew out to Nairobi on Sept 10th 2001. We didn't learn of the tragedy that unfolded an hour after we landed until two days later. We weren't cut off in some mobile camp deep in the bush, we were just en-route, between lodges, on game drives, never thinking to look at a TV. No-one said anything, no passing comments and I really began to understand after that moment that the world is still a big place and how access to mass communications is a huge influence in the lives of those of us with ready access to it. You say the bomb could drop and you wouldn't find out till later. Thats exactly it and what is a little unsettling is I feel I will never have the insight or depth of feeling my nearest and dearest have on that big moment, because at the time I didn't live it.

[Pennyanne]

"Days have no meaning on safari; hours less so. I never wear a watch anyway but the rut of one’s life keeps time whether you wish it to or not. Alone, in the wilderness one can disconnected: no contact home, no internet or 24 hour a day news channels, thus the weeks blend together seamlessly, there are no weekdays nor weekends. Just safari days."

 

@@Game Warden You have captured the feeling here. A wonderful trip report from you and @@Safaridude. Thanks to both of you and I want to go back to Zimbabwe right now! Alas that will have to wait until 2016.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Pennyanne

[Kitsafari]

@@Kitsafari You dream about me?

 

LOL! of Captain Rehab, not Matt nor Mitt....

thank goodness he wasn't in his green loin cloth.

[Double Dare]

You two must have a lot of fun traveling together!

[cheetah80]

Lovely lovely report and photos!! Great sightings and awesome experiences to match - a very enjoyable read. Nice to see Humphrey's smiling face It's a pity we just missed you by a day! Humphrey's team was setting up your camp the day before we left - I did not know it was for you at the time though

 

I liked the story of the buffalo at the wild dog sighting, reminds me of a hairy moment in Mana that we had. Those dagga boys are a menace sometimes ... they just appear out of nowhere.

[Marks]

Simply great storytelling...love the Melville parody. There's a lot of poignancy amongst the humor, too. Will definitely be returning to this one to read again in the future.

[xcrunch]

Reflection

 

I come home to an Ebola scare in the U.S. Friends, colleagues and neighbors jokingly suggest my being in quarantine for three weeks. Some are truly curious as to why I do what I do. I explain that on this trip, among other things, I walked right up to a bull elephant to observe him close-up and spent three hours sitting with a pack of wild dogs. “What were they doing?” “Oh, they were mostly asleep for the three hours.” “Watched them sleeping for three hours?”

 

Most of them don’t get it… they think I am nuts to travel to the “Ebola continent” just to sit and watch some animals sleeping. A spiritual imbibement to one is a pointless trifle to another, I suppose. They wonder why I am so interested in the conservation issues of a continent so far away. I reply that it’s our obligation. I am not sure if any of that really registers. But it’s not that I am superior, you see… what I am is lucky… privileged, in fact, to be able to find something spiritual in every aspect of our ancestral continent. You the reader know exactly what I am talking about.

 

I began this missive (in the Botswana section: http://safaritalk.net/topic/13350-an-adventure-through-botswana-and-zimbabwe-september-2014-by-safaridude-and-game-warden-part-1-botswana/) with the words, misery, misery, misery. Misery, really? No way. Gratitude.

I find your reflection so true and an inspiration for all of us to do better. The Ebola issue is tragic, and has been largely ignored in North America because people don't take the time to understand it, and it is ok as long as it is not in my back yard. But this disease is transmitted the same way as Aids is, by the transfer of bodily fluids. We must do more to stop all such epidemics!

We will be going to most of the same spots you have in May/June of 2015 and your reports have provided for great reading and a source of information. Thank you!

[Safaridude]

See "camp news" toward the bottom of the page. Congrats Honest!

 

http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/blog/posts/ruckomechi-camp-october-2014

[hguy47]

Best . . . trip report . . . (and photos) . . . ever. How can I wait until February for our Kruger/VicFalls/Bots trip?

[Atravelynn]

How many encores can Hwange deliver? Not to mention the wors for lunch to get things started.

 

I know what you mean about the sadness when leaving a camp, even if there's another exciting destination up next.

 

“Clad in their black attire like the chief mourner at a funeral… with all the pomposity and self-importance of village billy goats… so brilliant an addition to the catalogue of game quadrupeds, so bright a jewel amid the riches of zoology” great description of the sable and you found a handsome one.

 

Wonderful ele shots. Apparently the camera and lens suffered no ill effects.

 

I'll be joining you in your adventure at Little Makalolo next.

[Game Warden]

I've just re read this entire report and felt to have been back in Zim. Now reaching for a G&T and will in a moment close the screen on the old laptop. I have such great safari memories from 2014 and travelling with @@Safaridude...

 

Mat

[ZaminOz]

@Safaridude @Game Warden great trip report guys!

[Atravelynn]

Interestingly though, Hwange NP was always spared from the worst of the trouble, ie the land invasions: perhaps someone with a better working knowledge of Zim can help me out - were the National Parks seen as off limits to land grabs and invasions?

Perhaps without the help of the boreholes for water, the land is too arid for much production?

[Atravelynn]

Two things stand out for me from Mana Pools even now I'm back home and compiling this report from snatched sentences scribbled in a note pad at the time - the first is that wonderful light both in the morning and evening filtering through the tree canopies, sun beams creating the Magic of Mana - the sense that one could be driving/walking through an English country park in the autumn with its chesnut trees and oaks and silver birch. Wildlife filled vistas framed between glowing tree trunks. The other, perhaps more strongly so, the strong fragrance of something like Jasmine - it was stronger mornings and evenings. Perfumed game drives is how I can describe my time in Mana Pools. I could list the wildlife, every encounter, the conversations, the lions, the dogs but it was the lighting, it was the smell from the forest which transports me back.

 

The 'dudes mission: antelope, to record some of the great steroid eland on his memory card - I didn't want to limit his opportunities and thus chose an afternoon to be alone in camp and reflect upon the trip so far. Zimbabwe is the most spectacular destination to go on safari and with what I had seen so far, everything is on track for a tourism recovery. Already visitor numbers are growing exponentially: Zim was once the hot ticket, it's on track to becoming so again. At least I hope. I waved the 'dude off with one proviso: I didn't want to hear about his sightings. My afternoon was spent in the warm glow of gin and tonics: wildlife came to me - I watched it all from the dining table where my note pad was open but a constant interuption resulted in a distinct lack of words flowing. Mucheni 4 had its resident kudu bulls and eland which stayed in sight across the four days we were there. This afternoon was no different. Sometimes I watched them through the binos, sometimes I had no need so close they approached. Zebra, baboons - elephants approached so close: I stood watching them all. I scuffed the dust with my foot and observed in which direction it blew. I was concious at all time of my own safety. A leopard had been heard with its sawing cough in the morning, lions: none were seen in camp during the day and thus I felt secure to move around within its boundaries. I took a chair out to the promontory, a big glass of sundowner juice, despite sundown still being a while off. Camp staff came out to the dining table, looked across, waved. I waved back, I'm fine I said, always conscious, always visually checking in a circle around me: it was a minute's walk from my tent. To my right side, the Zambezi, islands, water, Zambia and the mountains, the great river winding its way past me. Hippos ever present. Ahead, flood plains, I saw a walking group upon them, another team setting out in canoes. The current a constant movement. The sun, slowly setting up above the mountains ahead. The most amazing colours becoming more vivid as the afternoon drifted by. It was another day in Africa, but for me it was one of the best and most calming moments of my life. Fish eagles cried out - I only lacked my wife to share this time with to make it super special. I thought of her and my children, finished the drink and through my binos saw the fiery ball of sun slip behind the horizon: I could make out each individual tree backlit on the mountain top. It wouldn't be long till the 'dude would be back...

I hope your wife and children may someday join you for the Magic of Mana, which you describe so beautifully.

[Mosquito]

 

 

Off topic: just to say I'll be adding more updates as soon as possible. Then the 'dude can carry on with his part and the great photos. I know I'm holding things up

You sound like my Grandad. "I'll just be in the way." he used to say when invited to any family event he didn't fancy. You are not holding things up; you are priming things nicely, and I think you inspire @@Safaridude a little.

 

And for both of you.... I am guessing you did not know that Benson came direct from me to you? Well, sort of .... his stay at Kigelia Camp in Ruaha overlapped with mine. If I had known Matt would have had another postcard! Please mention his impressions of Ruaha if you discussed it - would love to know how things were after we left.

 

 

Small world… always… @@pault

 

Benson loved his Tanzania trip. This was his second trip to TZ, and even before this recent one, he ranked Ruaha as one of his favorite places in all of Africa.

 

hmmmm, Ruaha one of his favorites..jotted that down

[Mosquito]

Well, Well, Well...how awesome is this report? great story telling, wisdom sharing and images.....I am addicted...can't wait to get back although this will make the days go by slower until that day comes...

[Hads]

Matt i am in awe of your Writing skills. The log Pille Heide Looks fantastic

[Hads]

Matt i am in awe of your Writing skills. The log Pile Hide Looks fantastic. I really enjoyed your Last post.

[Game Warden]

@@Hads Thank you. My writing skills comprise of a large glass of red wine and stream of conciousness. Which would be improved by taking a little voice recorder along with me to get down thoughts there and then instead of trying to recall later on. My writing can't match the quality of @@Safaridude's photography alas.