Botswana (aka Zambia day 3)

Botswana was not originally on the itinerary or the grand conception of the trip, but yesterday we found ourselves running after a mini-bus leaving the Jolly Boys hostel in downtown Livingstone because we were seven minutes late (African time, quoi?). An hour later we were driving through dry, dusty savanna on our way to Chobe National Park for a one day safari (apparently the best one day trek on the great continent).

For the first three hours we trailed an elephant forty feet from the truck; stopped ten feet from the closed eyes of a hippo lying under the baking sun in dried mud; spotted several giraffes feeding from a nearby tree; waited for fifty baboons to cross a poorly maintained dirt road; listened to baboon calls from the middle of myriad kudu and impala; photographed an African fish eagle perched stoically in a dead tree; admired a family of elephants (and two babies) bathing in the river. The next few hours we proceeded by boat that amounted to nothing less than a hippo and elephant safari. Wine and beers in hand, we chatted with our new traveling companions about the absurdity of this 125 USD price tag.

We have concentrated a lot of adventure and many countries into a few days: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa (and tomorrow Tanzania). We traversed the rapids of the Zambezi to stare over the thundering rush of water from Vic Falls at sunset. We day trekked in Botswana. We walked with lions in Zimbabwe. I cannot articulately describe how comfortable it feels to be embraced by the warmth of Africa and the adventures she offers. Cape Town and the East Cape felt like a four star hotel in Italy and not much like anything I experienced in West Africa. Although beautiful -- and a gold standard of economic development for the rest of the region -- it lacked the challenges that motivated this trip. The proof could easily be found in the faces of Rachel and Andrew as we finally drove through Livingstone: the dirt, the colors, the sun. We finally found the adventure we originally sought.

-JTD