Another post that comes with an apology! WITH PHOTOS!

 Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Oh my goodness what an action-packed incredible day! We left "home" at 6:30 a.m. so that we could get to the Elephant Encounter right after sunrise! There was tea and coffee and a fascinating introduction to the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust. Then we mount up inn two open-air safari vehicles and go looking for elephants.  You can tell where they are because you can see the trees shaking and hear the branches being torn off! We can finally see them through the trees.  Two of the park employees are with them to ensure that we have a positive experience.  We go in turn petting them and having our pictures taken until they grow bored and continue on their morning forage.  They do know, though, that if they come to the treats station we fill feed them and mixture of molasses and other things that are good for them.  Some like too have their trunks up so you can throw the large pellets directly into their mouths.  Some like trunk down so you can present the treats by making a basket of your hands and letting them hoover up the treats.  And there's one who turns his trunk over so you can place your handful directly on it!  What a treat for all!

Our first impala running away!  We called that marking a toilet seat;  but most people think
it looks like the Golden Arches and call them the McDonald's of the bush

Baboon

Setting off in our first safari vehicle

He's coming through tghe bush!

Everyone gets a chance to touch and to pose.

Breakfast - there are two ways that elephants kill trees. One is by knocking them over to get to the top branches for food;  and the other is by ringing the trunk with their tusks to get to the. inner layers.

Feel the leg

fFeel the ear, it's soft underneath!

Feel the trunk

Time for treats

Lessons on how to feed them!

Our first elephant wallow.  This one is dried out.

Warthogs are ugly!!

Next we go back to the headquarters to learn about their efforts to work with the community to protect the animals from the people and vice versa, and to inspect their laboratory where they do extensive microbiology to further those efforts.

We meet their ambassador vulture, who plays with her human friend like a two year old, dumping her toy on the ground so he will retrieve it!

They are raising this orphan to be returned to the wild.

Tracking collars

Breakfast is served al fresco and it's a full English!  Again, too much food!!

Those are sugar

Sisa demonstrates all-purpose soap.

We bought a lot of stuff.  Road Scholar gives back a lot to the communities it visits.
Part of the cost of a tour goes toward these charities.

Off to the little local market in Victoria Falls to shop for staples to deliver to the Rose of Charity orphanage and school.  We worked in pairs and each pair was told what item to get.  We got ten kgs of sugar. We got to the place quite quickly and met the founder, Sima, who told us that they have 71 children ranging in age up to 17, and she only has seven staff members to help her.  We visited a kindergarten class and the little guys all smothered us with hugs galore!! It was like a vertical puppy pile! They sang the alphabet song for us and we performed the hokey pokey for them!! Best thing ever!!

On to lunch at the Lookout Cafe, right on the gorge of the falls! I got the croc kabob, because, why not! And we watched crazy people ziplining and swinging over the river!

Bushbuck

He's a sable antelope, one of the largest antelope species in Africa.

Back to the hotel, briefly, before the driver from the helicopter company came to pick us up in his open-air jeep! So much for the hair!! There are five people taking the 15 minute ride but Marilyn, Alan, and I are doing the longer ride so we might see some animals! ( spoiler alert!  elephants, giraffes, warthogs, and buffalo!)

So much wind riding in the safari 4x4s!!  No point in combing. or styling!

Elephant herd at a wallow!

So many elephants!

Our first giraffe!

A herd of cape buffalo

The iconic baobob tree

We get a ride back to the helicopter office where Sisa meets us and drives us around the corner where he drops off the shoppers at the local craft market and takes the rest home. It's mandatory that you bargain and I really hate that;  but I made two purchases.  I got one item down from $15 to $8, and the other from $30 to $15!

Sisa takes us home so we can freshen up before his lecture on Zimbabwe at 6:00. We're a couple of minutes late because I couldn't pass up this warthog photo.  He was in the grass outside our door!

When we get there our custom tee-shirts are ready for us to collect!! Then we learn all about Zimbabwe's history all the way up to the present day!  Sisa is so accomplished!  He studied in the United States on a diversity scholarship for which 900 competed and only 4 were chosen!

We go straight to dinner at a brand new hotel right next door to ours called The Palm River Hotel.  Talk about opulent! And Sisa's brother is the m'aitre d'!!  Everything is delicious, including the free shiraz (or beverage of your choice) and there is way too much!!

Home and to bed!