Let me just say before we begin, that I legitimately had the “Circle of Life” stuck in my head the entirety of this trip. Like think:

On loop. For eight. straight. days.

(Note: Inaccurate lyrics)

Man, where to begin? A quick forewarning: This post will have so… many… animal… photos. And trust me, I filtered like a madwoman.

This trip to Africa was nothing less than extraordinary. I visited Southern Africa – the countries of Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. I must say, I was a little hesitant going this one alone, despite my love of solo travel. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, and calls to the travel nurse before the trip always give me terrible premonitions of what’s to come. I guess it is their job to air on the side of caution. But please, woman, don’t tell me I’m going to get Dengue fever, malaria, rabies, chikungunya, AND foot & mouth disease if a mosquito so much as lands on me. The report I received from the nurse also warned about civil unrest and violent protests in Zimbabwe, leading to lots and lots of crime.

Wonderful. Welp, Africa, here I come! (and with lots and lots of DEET and Picaridin spray.)

So I get there after 34 hours of transit (looking like death upon my arrival), and LO AND BEHOLD, AFRICA IS FREAKING AMAZEBALLS AND I HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. Their people, their landscapes, their culture, their hospitality. All incredible.

And can I just say, I didn’t enter a SINGLE bathroom that smelled bad on my trip. Which is always a plus ;). Definitely cannot say the same about my trips to Asia……..

Okay – sorry – getting sidetracked here. Going to organize this post into sections, not necessarily in chronological order! Starting with…

Housing/Accommodations

I stayed in two “lodges” (you’ll see why they’re not called hotels in juuuust a bit), while in Africa. Maramba River Lodge was my home-base for Zambia and Botswana, Miombo Safari Camp was my home-base for Zimbabwe. Both magnifique in their own ways :).

First, Maramba River Lodge in Zambia. MY CHALET WAS THE CUTEST LITTLE HUT! *swooon*

Aaaaand the best part of it was the lodge was right along the river, which serves as an “Elephant Highway” – so you can see/hear elephants breaking trees all throughout the night and coming down to the river for a drink. There are hippos that frequent the waters, as well.

It was so mind-boggling that both lodges I stayed at in Africa were IN SUCH CLOSE PROXIMITY with wild animals. There wasn’t a single boundary between us and nature. The thought alone was so exciting and something you definitely don’t experience in most places of the world.

The only con of this place was that there were HORDES of mosquitos that swarmed at dawn and dusk. When I checked in, the manager said they had just sprayed the room, so it should be free of mosquitos. I read between the lines… I walked into my room, looked around, and yes, as expected, it was a legit mosquito graveyard throughout the entire room. On the bed, on the floors, on the toilet, EVERYWHERE. Well, looking on the bright side, at least they were dead. (I’m sparing you the photos. But yes, there were photos.)

Needless to say, I lathered on lots and lots of Picaridin during my stay. And luckily, I found the mosquitos in Africa to be slightly bigger and clumsier than, say, Asian mosquitos. They were so tactless and slow; I’m not exaggerating when I said my mosquito-kill-count reached at least 30 by the end of my 3-night stay at Maramba River Lodge.

Second lodge was the Miombo Safari Camp in Zimbabwe. CAN YOU BELIEVE MY LUCK – HOW CUTE IS THIS STILTED (ELEVATED) TENT STRUCTURE THINGAMABOB? (Wow, fail, I realized I never got a photo of entire outside…)

My favorite part was that the toilet faced……….

….. THE WATERING HOLE WHERE I COULD WATCH ELEPHANTS, MONKEYS, AND BUFFALO DRINK WATER AT NIGHT. (not photographed because… I couldn’t get a photo in the dark). THE LOO WITH A VIEW. HEHEHEHE

I also very much appreciated the lack of mosquitos in this place. After that last place, it was a very welcomed treat not to have to bathe in carcinogenic bug spray all the time.

Funny story though on the first day I arrived at this lodge. The manager told me that animals very often trek through the area so to be careful walking to the tent, especially at night. Little did I know, my biggest threat would be these little buggers.

After lunch the first day, I started walking back to my tent and noticed a bunch of monkeys running around. “Cute, heh.” I thought.

NO. NOT CUTE.

(Side note: Locals think of monkeys as pests, as they often steal food on tables if a person isn’t looking, or steals bags/purses with food inside. I remember at first “awwww”-ing at them, and then one woman was like “noOOooo they’re very naughty. Do not get tricked.”)

So I approached my tent, and I shit you not, THERE WERE LIKE 20 MONKEYS ON, AROUND, UNDER MY TENT. It was a monkey infestation damnit!!! Monkeypocalypse!!!

I walked super close, hoping to scare them away by making sudden lunges towards them… but they wouldn’t budge!!! I SWEAR THEY EVEN HISSED AT ME! Like some satan monkeys! I got so frightened given their army; they could’ve all just jumped on me at once and mauled me to death. So, I did something I’m not particularly proud of………..  I bolted.

BUT THEN, ALL THE DAMN MONKEYS STARTED CHASING ME. ALL TWENTY. IT WAS A MONKEY STAMPEDE. I was like WTF THIS IS HOW I’M GONNA GO. THIS IS THE END. I’M GOING TO BE SLAUGHTERED BY A GROUP OF RABID MONKEYS.

Then I stopped and turned around. And surprisingly they also stopped. So I decided to just back away sloooowly, facing them (so they didn’t chase me), until I found a hotel worker sweeping the area.

Me (panting): ” HI HI HI CAN YOU HELP ME CHASE AWAY MONKEYS FROM MY ROOM?! THEY’RE GOING TO ATTACK ME! DO THEY BITE?!”

Him: “HAHAHAHA, no they don’t bite, they just want food. You can just walk up to them and they’ll run away.”

Me: “…………… *blank stare, 5 seconds later* oh.”

So, there we were, walking back to my tent, and in one fell swoop he disperses the monkey army.

……………………… Not my finest moment, you see. (damn monkeys i hate you)

Alcohol

When I travel places, I like to get a sense of their local alcohol spread.

*cough* not an alcoholic or anything, no.

First, the beer. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like outside of Western culture, dark or heavier beers aren’t really a thing. Everything is usually crisp and light. Kinda like Bud Light but with a tad more umph/flavor to it. Most likely because in heat, you’re after something refreshing, not heavy.

I had the Mosi (Zambian beer), St. Louis (not pictured – Botswanan beer), and the Zambezi (Zimbabwean beer). Like I said, all very light.

I discovered on the safari the Savanna which is THE BEST hard apple cider. I had it a lot on the drives, yummm~~~

Oh yeah, I also tried their wine. It was complimentary with my room, so *shrug* why not?

Well….. bad idea. I had like half a glass of wine after lunch, sitting outside overlooking the waterhole at Miombo, and 3 minutes later……..

“THE GREAT BLOODY NOSE OF 2016”, I call it.

Not sure if it was the heat, the dust-dryness of being on safari roads all day, or the wine, but it was a 20-minute nonstop blood-river gushing out of my right nostril.

God bless the person who had to discover the massacre of tissues in my trashcan the next day…..

Activity #1: Devil’s Pool at Victoria Falls

For those who are close to me, you would know that I had one particular item SUPER HIGH up on my bucket list. And that was the Devil’s Pool.

The Devil’s Pool is a rock enclosure that sits at the very edge of the Victoria Falls in Zambia, where people can peak down the massive waterfall. There are people who have died swimming there, due to the rushing waters. Visitors must be very strategic when planning their trips to the Devil’s Pool, aiming for “dry season”, during which the water won’t rush too fast over the edge, risking danger.

I first learned about it about a year and a half ago from a YouTube video. There’s a YouTuber named Casey Neistat (he’s freaking awesome if you don’t know him already), who made a trip to Devil’s Pool in one of his videos . And actually, I just rewatched the video after a year and a half: THE SAME GUY IN MY PHOTOS WAS IN CASEY’S VIDEO LOL.

After I watched that YouTube video, I was dead set on making my own pilgrimage to the Devil’s Pool. One day.

….. And finally, that day came. 1.5 years in the making – THE ONE TRUE REASON I decided to come to Southern Africa. I specifically chose the dry season. That day was today.

Me waiting at 9AM sharp for the boat to take us to Livingstone Island, where the swim out to the Devil’s Pool would begin.

 

The boat ride was only about 5 minutes. Then we would walk to the opposite end of the (tiny) island, where the guide would talk about David Livingstone’s discovery of the Victoria Falls.

Well this sign makes me feel great about my life-decisions.

I didn’t realize until after the fact that the rainbow we saw at the waterfall ONLY occurs at the very time of day that we visited, based on how the sunlight hit the water. The guide told us afterwards. So absolutely stunning and lucky that we were able to experience it!

This is me starting my swim…….. so nervous… (you’ll see it in my facial expressions)

 

“Oh god we’re going THERE?!”

The many Mendi-faces of “OMFG THE WATER IS SO DAMN COLD”

Then you get onto a small rock cluster from where you actually jump INTO the Devil’s pool and swim out to the edge.

 

This is me jumpin’ into the Devil’s Pool!

“Shit shit ima die”

Once I got to the edge…. COMMENCE OBLIGATORY PHOTO SHOOT (no shame).

Nature’s infinity pool 😉

…. Had to do it.

Me right after surviving the swim!!!! Big fat CHECK off the bucket list – truly a dream come true.

To deal with all the adrenaline of the swim, we had a wonderful Eggs Benedict brunch right afterwards on Livingstone Island.

Activity #2: Bungee Jumping at the Vic Falls Bridge

As if the Devil’s Pool activity wasn’t enough for the day (we finished around 10:30AM), I decided I would ride the high and do another adrenaline-surging activity.

Adrenaline not because I hadn’t done it before, but because of the history behind this activity in this particular location.

I bungee jumped for the first time in New Zealand earlier this year (see post here), and it was the most amazing experience on the Kawarau Bridge. I told myself I would definitely do it again.

That said, the Victoria Falls Bridge Bungee Jump has somewhat of a harrowing history. Back in 2012, an Australian woman jumped and her cord snapped. She did, however, land in the river, and actually survived (though suffered critical injuries).  I did extensive research, obviously, about follow-up regulations after the incident, and they did become more stringent on their policies. But still, scary stuff.

This is the Vic Falls bridge from which I would jump.

Funny thing is, I was WAY more afraid this time around than my first time. I think it might’ve been because in New Zealand, there was such a rigid process around registration and queuing for the entire operation, and here, there wasn’t anything. I registered, I walked over to the bungee platform, they strapped me in, that was it. No line, just jump.

Welp, if anything happened, at least I’d hit this water below?

Straight cheesin’ before my jump. I was nervous as f*ck, if you couldn’t tell in the way I couldn’t control my facial muscles…

LOL AT BOY IN THE BACK: “that girl’s such a tool…”

Them strapping me in…. oh boy.

I didn’t even realize there were spectators until I saw photos. But the Bungee guys were yelling this chant that I didn’t understand for like 30 seconds before I jumped. It riled everyone up but made me extra extra nervous (too much build up). I ALMOST hesitated. And for those who have done bungee, you know that even a single hesitation can be your downfall. Luckily, I was able to fight off this hesitation.

UH I DIDN’T SEE THIS UNTIL NOW (WRITING THIS POST) BUT THE BUNGEE CORD IS FRAYED WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!!

Well, spoiler alert: I’m alive. But I must say, this jump was 1238520375x scarier, especially because they had me bounce up and down about 5 times. That’s the worst part of jumping – the springing motion.

Activity #3: Safaris (Chobe National Park and Hwange National Park)

I decided for simplicity’s sake to group both my safaris together because… animals are animals.

I actually REALLY enjoyed the safaris. I was told by the guides that safaris are exciting because they’re like gambling. What animals will you stumble upon today? It’s completely random, and a split seconds means you might miss seeing a rare animal! I’m normally a Type A control freak, but surprisingly, me not being able to control the outcome our sightings was actually quite refreshing (though I guess sometimes a bit frustrating, haha. But more on that later.)

First safari was a one-day trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. Truth be told, I actually FORGOT I was going to Botswana on this trip (this is my ignorance: I thought Chobe was in Zambia, heh); good thing I didn’t need a visa… or Yellow Fever immunization proof…

I’m not making this up: THIS WAS THE ACTUAL SIGN TO THE LADIES ROOM OUTSIDE OF CHOBE.

Safari guide Walter’s Coffee Shop: open for business!

Okay now the slew of animal photos. FIRST UP: ONE OF MY FAVORITE ANIMALS ON THE SAFARI (cuz they’re so hilarious-looking): the warthog!!!! (aka Pumba) LOOK AT THEM KNEELING TO EAT GRASS BECAUSE THEIR NECKS ARE TOO SHORT LMFAO.

Safari guides joke that Warthogs are “the most religious animals in all the land. Catholic. They’re kneeling to pray”. lololol I love my little warthogs. Too bad there are not Timons (meerkats) to keep them company…

Elephants! Baby elephants are my weakness ughhhh…

This particular safari drive was just me and one other girl Kara from Seattle.

The elephants surround the baby to allow it to sleep (while offering protection from potential predators).

Giraffe (I don’t know why I’m giving you a 2nd grade lesson on animals right now)

Group of sables.

Elephant crossing our road for like 5 minutes. So cute!

Hippos!! Apparently they are very dangerous when provoked. They can run up to 40km/hr and have ridiculous chompers…. Humans do not stand a chance.

Case in point: We got SO close when we were on our safari cruise (boat) to this sleeping hippo. I wanted to take a photo so I slid over closer to him….

He noticed and apparently  saw it as a sign of threat and GROWLED SO LOUDLY, my life flashed before my eyes – thought I was gonna die.

But then promptly went back to sleep – lazy bastard.

Story around this croc is similar (bonus: elephants in the back). We got SUPER close. Like 3 meters away, not making a peep, so as not to provoke him and become his lunch. Suddenly, this HUGE cruise boat comes in with like 30 people standing up trying to take photos, yelling at it. Kara and I were like “SHIEEEETTT GUYS CAN WE NOT DISTURB HIM, OUR BOAT IS 3 METERS AWAY YOURS IS NOT WE GON DIE BECAUSE OF YOU.” Kara told our guide to drive away ASAP.

This guy got really close to the edge to intimidate us.

Chobe was awesome! So many elephants, but unfortunately no cats…

On African safaris, people strive to see “The Big Five”: Lions, panthers, cheetah, elephants, and buffalo. After Chobe, having not seen ANY of the three cats, I was slightly disappointed.

But I told myself: “That’s okay, Mendi, that was only one day and your FIRST safari. You’ll get one next time.”

Next up: Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe for a 3-dayer!

People might remember the controversial killing of Cecil the Lion by the American dentist Walter Palmer that caused a HUGE uproar regarding the ethics of trophy killing. Well…. Hwange National Park was where he did it. He and his guide (who he paid $50K) lured Cecil out of the Park (where it’s illegal to kill animals), and shot it. I’m absolutely appalled/disgusted by this story… literally sickens me to even recount it.

Well, I thought if there’s any time to see a cat, it’d be here!

We had to be out of the park by 6:30PM SHARP, or else the guide would have to pay a fine and have an infraction against his record. Standby: This detail will become important later on.

Zazu from the Lion King!!! (you can tell I didn’t actually learn what the bird is actually called. Priorities.)

Baby monkeys EEEEEE!!!

Baby monkey holding onto mommy DOUBLE EEEEE!!!!

Elephants washing up/playing at the waterhole. Some of my happiest moments during the safaris had to be when I was watching the elephants play at the waterholes. Their carefree nature is mesmerizing and so uplifting/feel-good :).

Baby!!

Kudus

MORE PUMBAS.

This single jackal was the cutest thing ever, just walking alone to the waterhole. I was in love.

The little guy drinking water.

Pretty bird? (that the extent of what I know of it oops)

LOOK HOW FUNNY GIRAFFES ARE WHEN THEY DRINK WATER LMFAO

Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about a rogue bee (? I still can’t confirm what it was) sting after my Chobe trip. It hurt like a bitch when I got stung. I didn’t get a good glimpse of the bug because I swatted it away as fast as I could. But I was worried it would be something poisonous, so I monitored its swelling with those pen marks, lol… Luckily, it’s healing up quite nicely as we speak – so I think I’m in the clear.

Elephant skull and my favorite safari guide Mako!

Elephant booty booty booty booty rockin’ everywhere.

This was probably the closest we got to an elephant, about 2 meters away… O_O We were very careful with sudden movements.

We stumbled across this HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE 600+ HERD OF BUFFALO. It was crazy.

Elephants and Buffalo all mixed up.

I would say one of the most magical moments of the safari was when the sun was setting and we saw this herd of elephants at a waterhole. It almost moved me to tears.

The opening scene of Lion King is true… the sky really does glow red in the African desert. Absolutely gorgeous.

HUGE elephant road-crossing the next morning.

This story in particular really touched me. During the safaris, we saw quite a few animals with injuries. The ones that pained me the most were the handicapped/limping elephants. I asked Mako, our guide, if once they’re injured, they’re usually going to starve/die because they can’t go back and forth between waterholes and food areas. Survival of the fittest, right? He said, “you know, usually that is the case. But I do know one elephant who I saw have a limp 11 years ago… and to this day, I still see her alive and well.” This made my heart swell.

AND GUESS WHAT? WE SAW HER!!! (and her baby!!!) Here she is below crossing the road. Mako was beaming with joy when he realized it was her. So incredible how safari guides personally connect with some of these animals.

This optical illusion: 2 giraffes or 1?

This cutie, I think it’s a gemsbok?

So after 3 whole days of straight safari-ing, I had seen so many animals across the spectrum.

….But still no cats (lions, leopards, or cheetahs). My trip to Africa was coming to a close. And I was a bit dismayed I didn’t see a single one.

Well technically on Day 1 at Hwange, my guide Dennis said there was 1 male lion and 4 lionesses off in the distance. I was using my binoculars to find what he was looking at, and I THINK I saw them? But honestly they were so far and so blurry I couldn’t even be sure. So that doesn’t count! It could’ve been a peacock, for all I knew.

So on my last drive, I was particularly resigned.

I went out with a family of 4 from Australia, the biggest group I’d ever driven with. We were hitting all the usual suspects with respect to animals. But still no cats. Halfway through our drive, the dad from the family goes “LOOK A CHEETAH!!!”

My heart almost pounded out of my chest – COULD I GET TO FINALLY SEE A CAT?

It took the rest of us about 30 seconds before we spotted in our binoculars what he saw.

OH. MY. GOD. THAT IS INDEED A CHEETAH! (see if you can find him in these photos)

After about 20 minutes, we lost sight of him (he was too far and in too thick of the bush)… But I was content. I was SOOOOO incredibly elated I had finally caught ACTUAL glimpse of a feline in the African wilderness. I was going to leave the continent a very content girl. So I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of my last drive in Africa.

Me with my Savannah cider with some elephants. Mako had insisted I take the photo. He had heard many many times about how I yearned to see a cat, and saw how happy I finally was after the cheetah sighting. I think he wanted to make sure I captured that sheer joy :).

6:10PM: We were DEEP in the park. We needed to head back. As we started to drive we came across two jeeps, one who had actually (uh, probably illegally) driven offroad. Mako drove up to those guys and asked in their native tongue what was going on. The guy responded.

Immediately after, without a word, Mako swerved (also probably illegally) offroad towards where that jeep came from. He drove 50 meters and stopped.

Oh. My. God. This is what we saw. Five meters away from our vehicle.

You can imagine my heartbeat at this very moment. IN CLEAR DAYLIGHT, I HAVE SEEN A CHEETAH. I couldn’t believe it. The moment I snapped out of my daze, Mako said “guys, c’mon we’re going to be late and I’m going to get in trouble.”

It was 6:15PM. We were probably 20 minutes away from the entrance. We were going to be late.

We all instantly agreed to leave. He whizzed that jeep SO QUICK through the bumpy roads, Grand Theft Auto-style. I can’t imagine the speed limit is 70km/hr in a National Park… but uh…. we were going that fast.

But the entire drive, I couldn’t stop smiling. This was the best thing that could’ve wrapped up my trip. A cheetah sighting in plain view.

Luckily, we made it in the nick of time. Just minutes before 6:30PM.

The bits of disappointment scattered throughout my trip all suddenly seemed worth it. I almost think it was all meant to happen. In this order. Would my experience seeing the cheetah at the tail end of my trip be so rich if I had saw it at the beginning? Probably not.

Even at this very moment, as I sit typing at London’s Heathrow Airport for a 9-hour layover, I am still so elated.

This entire Africa experience has brought me many rich memories that I will absolutely cherish for the rest of my life. Maybe Timon and Pumba were right…Hakuna Matata – it means ‘no worries for the rest of your days.’

Things that are meant to happen… will indeed happen. Just you wait. 🙂

08 Sep This entry was published on September 8, 2016 at 5:27 am. It’s filed under Africa and tagged Africa, botswana, bungy jumping, chobe, devil's pool, hwange, safari, solotravel, zambia, zimbabwe. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.