"Never smile at a crocodile, never tip your hat and stop to talk a while..." ~Peter Pan
Nicki:
You have to stay about 5 yards away from them at all times, because they do kick, but we were pretty much standing right in the middle of their herd. They seemed to be pretty used to humans, since they live on the hotel grounds. We also saw the giraffe scratching each others' necks, but it looked like they were kissing each other. It was pretty cute.
Once we got our fill of the giraffes and zebras, we checked into the hotel, which is something straight out if my dreams. It's the ultimate African resort, and it want to stay here forever. We didn't get a chance to wander around and take pictures, but I'm sure we will get a chance to today.
We were checked in and escorted to our rooms, and then we went back to the main area for a small lunch, then headed out to our Sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River. We were on the top level, so that we could have a good vantage point for seeing wildlife. It paid off. First, we saw a crocodile, then some hippos, then another crocodile, then a whole bunch more hippos, then some elephants from a distance, and some beautiful birds in between.
This photo reminded me of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. Please remember to keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the boat at all times. And remember, if they're wiggling their ears, they're just being friendly! Or does that mean they're about to attack? Oh, well.
I also took a lot of pictures of the sunset. It was so beautiful, I couldn't take my eyes off of it! So pardon all the pictures, but I'm going to show you anyway.
This one reminded me of the opening credits of the Lion King, so therefore I started singing The a Circle of Life. Naturally.
On our way back from the sunset portion if the cruise, we had a look at the spray coming up from Victoria Falls.
You can actually see a little bit of a rainbow in the mist in this photo.
As we were on our way back from the cocktail cruise, Mel requested a special picture that I'm going to send to her, but I thought I would share with you all as well.
According to Mel, these were "very Africa."
We got back to the hotel, freshened up a bit, and had a fabulous dinner out on the patio of the restaurant, where we had some special visitors, but my mom will talk about that.
Today, we are going to take a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls, then we are going to walk over them. After that, we are going to ride elephants! I was not expecting to be able to do that on this trip. Then we are going to come back to the hotel for high tea, which is just so fancy. This afternoon, we will get to relax and explore the hotel grounds before another lovely dinner.
Cindy:
Left Cape Town at 7:30 this morning. It just started to rain so we got the best of the weather. We flew to Johannesburg and connected through to Livingston where we will be staying for a couple of days and visiting Victoria Falls. Later on this afternoon we take a river cruise down the Zambezi - after we are settled into the Royal Livingston Hotel. I'm glad that we've had the Micato guide group getting us through the three airports - I think Nicki and I could have been lost at several stages during this part of the journey.
This was a pretty long process as we had a layover in Johannesburg of a couple of hours. We finally landed in Livingston at about 1:30pm got through immigration and on our way to the hotel about 2:00pm. We thought the day was pretty much shot - NO WAY! As we are pulling into the Royal Livingston, our new guide Mel spots giraffe off to the side of the road - Charles, our driver stops the car and we follow the giraffe into the trees - we got some great pictures. Zebra joined in on the party and it was very fun - we were so close - incredable. We raced to the hotel - grabbed a bit to eat, checked in, and were off to the evening river cruise by 3:30pm.
We made up for half the day flying in on the river cruise. Our Guide, Mel, was an absolute delight. She spotted crocodile and a pod of hippos cavorting in a secluded pool on the side of the Zambezi river. We saw a fabulous sunset and returned to the hotel. On the way back, we saw 3 very large elephants, but it was to dark to get any good pictures of them.
This was a pretty long process as we had a layover in Johannesburg of a couple of hours. We finally landed in Livingston at about 1:30pm got through immigration and on our way to the hotel about 2:00pm. We thought the day was pretty much shot - NO WAY! As we are pulling into the Royal Livingston, our new guide Mel spots giraffe off to the side of the road - Charles, our driver stops the car and we follow the giraffe into the trees - we got some great pictures. Zebra joined in on the party and it was very fun - we were so close - incredable. We raced to the hotel - grabbed a bit to eat, checked in, and were off to the evening river cruise by 3:30pm.
We made up for half the day flying in on the river cruise. Our Guide, Mel, was an absolute delight. She spotted crocodile and a pod of hippos cavorting in a secluded pool on the side of the Zambezi river. We saw a fabulous sunset and returned to the hotel. On the way back, we saw 3 very large elephants, but it was to dark to get any good pictures of them.
We got back to the hotel about 6:30 and headed to dinner at 7:30. To our delight and surprise we were joined by 3 zebra grazing next to the dinning area.
We think this one's preggers!
What a great day. Sorry that we didn't post last night, we were so exhausted that we fell asleep right after dinner. More to come tonight!!!!!
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