MOSI OA TUNYA GAME DRIVE
The Game Drive in Mosi Tunya is a professional package that you indulge in according to your choice from various available options. You could come along with your car, have a guide in your car, join the Park's vehicle inside or on the open back, etc. Just choose and do you.
As usual, there are ideal times for such visits; morning or evening hours. There are no big cats in this wild as they want to prevent the cats from either getting killed by humans or they killing and reducing the animal population in the park. So, whenever any big cat is sighted, it is tracked, tranquilised and sent off to the main zoo or other distant, isolated reserves. So yeah, with no big cat to fear, we moved. Also remember, this park borders the Zambezi River we had earlier explored. The buffaloes and crocodiles switch habitats between these two. You don't want to be out here at night, big cats or not.
Watching Nat Geo Wild is the easiest part. Visiting the field helps you appreciate that it could take as long as 3 years to capture that one-hour documentary you just watched. The chills and unchills you get from seeing the animals up close are something to be experienced. As always, you must listen to your Ranger/Guide and follow the instructions closely.
From warthogs to zebras to giraffes to wildebeest to impalas to bushbuck to waterbuck to monkeys and baboons on the mainland to crocodiles and buffaloes along the river banks, it was mixed feelings on the drive. The top moments were running into a herd of elephants and the herd of wild rhinos.
An example of dependence hierarchy is with the lone elephant in the image. It shakes a marula tree and feeds off its fruit. A baboon is by the corner waiting, not for the fruit from the tree, but for the excretion the elephant makes of it. It feeds on the marula now softened/cooked by the elephant’s innards. Did I hear “inyama” somewhere? This nut leftover is dumped elsewhere and germination kicks off.
Well, with back-to-back activities in Livingstone, it was now time to go see what treasure Lusaka held. Off to the Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport for a return "Proflight". With the benefit of hindsight, an arrival flight on Kenya Airways is a better option as it flies directly to Livingstone. This would have saved one some money from first landing in Lusaka and taking a local return flight to Livingstone. Get a pen and paper and jot this down.
Fun Fact: Giraffes in the wild hardly sleep. They take short naps while standing.
Extra: The 38th Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) was kicking off in Livingstone. A week-long event. They aim to have a unified exam body for Africa. Met some of the Nigerian delegates. Tourism sure has its extras. Business is booming over here.
Comments