African Splendor 2008

Monkeys Playing on the Patio

This is my first attempt at adding a video to a blog! I took it on my Nikon while watching this family of monkeys playing on our patio: the long-suffering mother, the teen-ager and the two rambunctious kids, all wishing to be invited in to play. A fitting way to end our African adventure. Merry Christmas everyone!

Our Last Night at the Royal Livingstone

Our driver—unfortunately it wasn’t Ren so I didn’t get to report to him about Venus and Jupiter—took us to the little airport at Kasane which services the Chobe Park area, where we flew back to Zambia, repeating en route the ferry crossing and re-visiting the trucks still parked waiting to be transported over the river. We sat in yet another van on the other side while the driver paid graft or whatever to the authorities for permission to re-enter Zambia. Then we drove toward Livingstone Town dropping Gwenna and Don off at the Livingstone Airport for their trip to Switzerland. Finally, we arrived at the Zambezi Sun, the other hotel on the Royal Livingstone grounds. Or, as I might call it, the “cheap seats.”

Our time at Elephant Valley had turned out so well that I was having a few misgivings about having so precipitously agreed to cut it short, but after we arrived at the Zambezi Sun, I realized it would be a nice chance to just relax and get ready for the trip home. Maybe sit by the pool for the first time, or work on the blog, or just cool it with no pressure.

The room was small but adequate. We unpacked the bare minimum to get us through the day and onto the plane the next day, and then the phone rang. No one knows we’re here, we thought. It was Reception informing us that we were being “upgraded to the Royal on orders from the General Manager.” At first, Tom was inclined to say no that’s ok, we’re fine, but I said, no let’s do it. NEVER kick a gift horse in the teeth is my motto.

So we re-packed, no big deal, went up to Reception and when the luggage arrived we accompanied it on the three tiered golf cart type conveyance that they use to carry people and bags from one point to the other. After a couple of minutes drive, the driver stopped in front of a room that looked very much like the one we had originally stayed in some days before, but when he unlocked the door…. Omigod! It was a suite! Do they have us confused with someone else? Movie stars? VIPs? Barack and Michelle?

There was a wet bar in the large entryway outfitted with crystal glasses and ice bucket, every imaginable spirit and wine, a huge living room with curved couch and marble coffee table, a mirrored screen in the corner, game table, large desk, TV, a gorgeous bedroom with a dressing area separate from the bath and shower, and sliding glass doors in both rooms looking out over the expansive lawn and the Zambezi with a view of the Smoke that Thunders—the spume from Victoria Falls-- in the distance.

Are we in heaven yet? Or is this just a tease? Is someone going to knock on the door and say excuse me, we made a mistake, your room is actually over there in the back…behind the physical plant.

But no one came except our personal butler to inquire as to whether we were comfortable and to bring fresh roses and a plate of fruit, nuts and biltong. And so we spent the rest of the afternoon simply relaxing, unwinding and contemplating all that we had seen. I spent almost an hour watching and photographing a family of vervet monkeys romping on our patio and hoping to be invited in. We skipped lunch but had a great dinner at the outdoor patio restaurant where I had the most delicious Zambian chicken stew, another recipe I need to track down. It has peanut butter in it.

Oh, how did we happen to end up in this glorious suite? We knew it had Gwenna written all over it, but didn’t quite know how she had pulled it off. The receptionist told us that Guilio, the General Manager had ordered the upgrade, and seeing him in the lobby before dinner we went over to thank him, having met him the first time around. He seemed to remember us—and graciously said that he had heard we were coming back and figured since the suite was empty it wouldn’t hurt to give it to us. But then the next morning when checking email in the hotel I had a message from Gwenna that said that at the airport she and Don had run into Joanne, another one of the big bosses at the Royal whose title I’m not sure of. We had had a drink with Joanne during our first stay and had spent an hour or so talking with her. At the airport, Gwenna told her we were going to the Zambezi for the night and how much we had LOOOOVED the Royal. Joanne took the bait and made the call which resulted in the upgrade! So old Guilio took credit where none was due and I have to hand it to him for not missing a beat. And many thanks to Joanne. And Gwenna.

As I lay in my luxurious bed that night, I felt like we were the luckiest people on the planet to have had the opportunity to visit this wonderful place, to experience the animals in all their wild glory, to talk at length with a few people who know what they are talking about when it comes to Africa and its culture, and to see a varied cross-section of such a vast and diverse land. Although we barely touched the surface of all there is to see, never again will we feel that it is a strange and forbidding place. What we did see has merely whetted our appetites to see more. Maybe some day we will.

We flew home coach on a packed Delta plane, not a single empty seat, thirty hours in the air, 36 door to door, but that discomfort was a small price to pay for so many memories. Thank you, Gwenna and Don, for allowing Tom and I to accompany you on this fabulous African adventure.

Our Last Night Together

We got back to the Lodge around eight and although I think the staff was pushing for us to have dinner right away, we announced we would like a drink and to get cleaned up first, which they graciously acknowledged. After a wine and a shower—by now the tent had cooled and truly was rather charming in its rusticity—we returned to the main lodge where tables had been set up on the lawn overlooking their own private watering hole where animals come and go all night. There were only a few other occupied tables so it was like having the place to ourselves.

We were in very good moods by then, in stark contrast to our earlier dark ones, and sitting down to a formally decked out table under the stars on the grass while an elephant sipped at the watering hole next door was really quite a magical moment. Never mind the bugs as big as birds which persisted in slapping us upside the head periodically, not to mention landing in our soup, where, with a flick of a spoon, they were easily ejected. We were now true bushmen and women. Worry about bugs? Nah! They don’t eat much. We got a case of the sillies and giggled our way through a delicious four course meal and plenty of wine.

We had figured out early on that extinguishing the candles, while making it difficult to see, did at least reduce the insect population somewhat, and so we were able to enjoy most of our meal relatively unscathed. We had a lovely time, many laughs, a few post mortems, and when it came time to retire we said good night knowing tomorrow was the end of our time together.

And sleeping in the tent really was a nice experience. It was so cool we didn’t even need the fan, and the jungle noises had a tranquillizing effect that put us right to sleep. In the morning, we awoke to some unusual but not unfriendly sounds, dressed, packed up, and had a wonderful cooked breakfast before leaving for Livingstone.

Night in Botswana

A less-than-stellar view of the beautiful sunset on the Chobe

The sun setting on water lilies

This is the best picture of the moon phenomenon I could get with my inferior camera. Ignore the bottom part and just look at the crescent and the two planets and that's what it looked like.