Life with MK: The Final Day (8/6/2013)

This morning began my last full day in Africa for my summer of 2013 adventure. We woke up incredibly early, just before 5am, and packed up our camp in Botswana, ate some quick breakfast, and headed out. We left so early so we could easily get across the border into Zambia. We got checked out of Botswana pretty easily and then headed to the ferry across the the Zambia side of the river. The spot we ferry across is where Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe all meet at the joining of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. It was pretty cool to see all four countries and both rivers at one spot. Our driver was stealthy and got on the ferry ahead of all the trucks waiting there, which was great because the ferry only fits two trucks at a time and could have taken ages. We got across the river without issue and then literally ran to the passport control on the Zambian side in order to miss the queue.

We got all the passports and visas sorted out without much issue other than the fact that they had run out of visa stickers so they were writing receipt numbers on people's stamps since only one receipt was given when Justin brought all the passports in together. Luckily I already had my visa so I don't have to worry about anything, since I got mine back in May and I had gone with Justin to ensure they didn't stamp the blank page I saved to get back into South Africa so I can get home tomorrow. After passport control we got back on the truck and headed into Livingstone.

We stopped briefly in Livingstone to get some money and then headed to see Victoria Falls. It is the dry season so the water coming over the falls is 50 times less than in the wet season, but it was still quite beautiful and impressive. If only I had more passport pages I would have gone to the Zimbabwe side to see the main part of the falls that is more impressive than the Zambian side right now. We were at the falls for about an hour and then went to our campsite at The Waterfront on the Zambezi River.

The campsite is quite nice, and there are a lot of people here from many tours as well as other travelers. The only problem here is that everything is so expensive, and I do not have enough time here. There are so many activities to do here from white water rafting that looks amazing to bungee jumping to elephant rides to microlites. Everything looked like so much fun, but since I didn't have much time all of the options went open to me. I couldn't decide what to do straight away, so I went and had lunch with everyone at the campsite's restaurant while I thought about it. After lunch I decided to go on the lion encounter so I went to the activities center and signed up.

The lion encounter was pretty cool, though kind of expensive. We got picked up at the campsite and en drove to a few other hotels and lodges to pick up more people for the encounter. The facilities were quite pretty and right on a different part of the river. We learned a few safety precautions and then headed out towards the area we would walk with the lions. We also learned about about ALERT, the conservation project the encounter is with. The project basically has four stages and aims to eventually introduce more lions into the various parks and game reserves in Africa since their populations have diminished. Stage one of the program is what we could take part in, where cubs breed in captivity whoare under eighteen months old are walked in the bush to get used to it and develop some of their wild tendencies. We split up into two groups of nine, and after waiting for some wild elephants to go away, went to meet the lions.

The lions with my group were brother and sister and were seven months old. They were so cute! I forgot their names but they were great. The male was much more lazy and camp than the female, but both were pretty laid back. The female stepped on my foot once, it was really funny. I got to pet both of the lion cubs both while they were laying down and while we were walking around in the bush. We walked and watched them and learned about them and it was really cool! There was a DVD that was made, but it was $40 so I didn't buy it. Maybe some other time when I have more money for things like that, but right now I'd rather spend my money on fun things since I got so many pictures of the lions anyways along with a video or two. Anyways, we walk around for a bit and also saw a few giraffes along the way and a couple of elephants (luckily in the distance because lions and elephants can create charging elephants and a not so predictable situation). We s the other groups lions pass briefly, and they were much bigger, about 16 months. Ours were definitely cuter I would say. When we got back I also s a hippo with a baby hippo across the river. It was pretty adorable.

Once back from the lion encounter our group all met up for dinner and hanging out together since its our last night as one group before a few of us leave and the rest continue on other Acacia trips in a few days. I had a yummy pizza and a delicious banana split, but I wish I could have found anything a little more African for my last dinner. This place doesn't have African food though, so I will live. We hung out for a while before I got really tired and left to get ready for bed. I am now in my sleeping bag listening to the monkeys in the trees above us. Can't believe this is my last night in this beautiful continent! My time on this tour had been too short, but I'm excited to see everyone at home soon!