Hippo Tracking - I call this adventure hippo tracking, but it was technically a bush hike. After two days of doing long morning and evening game drives, I remembered that our guide mentioned "bush hikes," which were basically safaris on foot. I expressed interest in this activity on behalf of the group (admittedly, without group consent). In hindsight, I don't know what I was thinking. We had just spent two days looking for (and finding) a number of deadly animals. These animals were intimidating from the comfort of an open air Land Rover. Why in the world would we want to see them on foot? Our "bush hike" started when our guide, CJ, stopped our Land Rover in the middle of no where and instructed us to get out and start walking. We laughed because we assumed he was joking. He was not joking.
CJ brought a gun with him, but this actually was a joke. We were on a game preserve. There would be no shooting any animals. In fact, two days earlier, another guide was chased up a tree by 9 lions and he had to wait it out until he was rescued by a Land Rover. The gun looked like a Civil War reenactment gun, and it had 3 bullets. That brings me to my second point. Even if the gun functioned, the bullet to creature ratio was not in our favor (see 9 lions referenced above).
Anyhow, we started walking through the dense bush. We probably walked for a little over an hour. It was hard to keep track of time with my heart beating out of my chest. Interestingly, a large portion of the walk involved scrutinizing animal shit. I can now distinguish between elephant, rhino, and hippo feces. I am not sure how to weave that skill into my LinkedIn profile, but I can address that isse at a later date.
We noticed hippo footprints and poop, which appeared fresh. Suddenly, we heard something down near the water (that I thought sounded like a lion roar because I apparently missed the lesson on animal sounds as a toddler). Off we went. As we quietly approached the water, our guide began to tell us that hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal. Super comforting. My husband spotted some air bubbles, and shortly after that, we spotted a large school of hippos! After spotting the hippos, we quickly left. The hippos were all giving us the stink eye, and after the whole "deadliest animal" speech, lingering seemed like a poor choice. On our way back to the Land Rover, the guide told us a story about how when he was a child he used to harass hippos using a red cape (I'm picturing a matador) in order to get the hippos to chase him. Then he would run and jump over a log because a hippo cannot jump over a log due to their small legs. The game ended with him laughing and taunting a very pissed off hippo on the other side of a log. Some 40 years later, the guide still got a solid laugh from his own antics. I came to two conclusions after hearing his story. One, I hope there is no kind of bad karma that comes from messing with hippos, or CJ is screwed. Second, I wish CJ had shared the whole log trick prior to finding the hippos. That may have quelled some fears as we approached a school of the deadliest animals in Africa.
I am not sure if it was the walking through the terrain or the fear, but this activity definitely raised my heart rate.
On a side note, I included the rhino pic because there is a terrible rhino poaching problem in Africa. I know everyone has a cause, but in case you lack one and want to do some type of good (other than probably dumping ice on your head), you can check out this website. http://www.savetherhino.org/
Gorge hiking Victoria Falls - Victoria Falls, which is located in Zimbabwe, offered a number of great activities. One that was of particular interest to myself was a gorge hike down Victoria Falls. I mentioned this activity to our group, and my husband and my mother were both very interested. We were told that you should be pretty fit to partake in the hike, but we were all assured by the guide that we would have no problem completing the hike.
After taking a boat to a bus, and then a bus to the gorge, we were at the top of Victoria Falls. Of note, the first thing I did was fall off of the bus. That did not leave me brimming with confidence.
That picture to the left is what we hiked. Once we got to the bottom, we had to row through the water, climb over the rocks towards the pool that sat beneath the falls. Once we reached the pool, we were free to swim (you know, with all that spare energy). I think telling us we needed to be somewhat fit was an understatement.
In addition to being a tough workout, it was also a scary workout. The safety standards in Zimbabwe are different from the United States. Part of our hike was literally climbing a ladder down the side of the gorge...but there were no hand rails. On the way down, we had to do this climb while carrying a paddle (for the row below). At other times, we were walking on a ledge that was about 12 inches wide...again, no railing. After reaching the bottom and rowing to the falls, we had to climb over that very large pile of rocks, which were slippery from being wet.
Our guide explained that there was no trail because the water levels change every day, making it impossible to take the same path twice. He called us pioneers. By the time we reached the pool, I had fallen a lot, so I didn't want to pioneer anything; however, it was totally worth it when we reached the bottom of the falls. We were able to swim, but I use the term swim loosely. My husband swam, but by that point, I had fallen into the pool, and I just opted to float around in my life jacket because I knew we were going to have to row back and then climb back up the gorge.
I must note that my mother was a rock star. I was quite worried about her when I realized the physical intensity of our little gorge adventure. It is funny how when you hit your late 20s/early 30s, the parent/child relationship reverses. You start to worry about your parents doing dangerous things, and as long as you remain gainfully employed, your parents aren't nearly as concerned about what you do.
Horse back riding along the Zambezi River - I grew up on a horse farm, but ironically, there is a huge misconception that I dislike horses. I believe this is largely because I do not ride them. I have nothing against riding or horses. I just have very particular criteria that no horse can actually meet. I only want a horse that never goes too fast, never jumps in the air, is self cleaning, and has a side job to pay for its own room and board. I think that is reasonable.Anyhow, my mom loves riding, and I like horseback riding on vacation because vacation horses tend to meet all of my horse criteria. The horses are usually slow, don't jump, and I am free of any responsibility to the horse as soon as I get off at the end of the ride. My mother and I decided to ride along the Zambezi river, which separates Zimbabwe and Zambia. See the picture of the sunset - gorgeous.
The ride began with a safety lecture from the guide regarding what to do in the event of an elephant stampede. Apparently, there was a new baby in the local herd, and the elephants were rather protective. In the event of a stampede, we were instructed to grab our horse's neck and hold, and the horse would run away, knowing how to get back to the farm. I'm sure the guide gave this lecture everyday and no one ever said anything, but I felt the whole death by stampede conversation required some follow-up questions. Isn't this putting a lot of faith in my horse? I just met my horse! How often were these alleged elephant attacks? An elephant is still much larger than a horse. Has this strategy ever actually produced a good result?
The safety instructor also showed us the symbol for turn around and run (again, not encouraging). My pony had awfully stumpy legs, which was my original preference wanting a slow, non-jumping creature; however, slow, non-jumping creatures probably can't outrun attack elephants Do I decide to upgrade to a real horse? A real horse might go faster, and if I fell off, I would be falling a lot farther, but again, you know, the elephant issue. Decisions, decisions.
I decided to stick with my little bush pony; however, I let her stop to eat whenever she wanted. In the event of an elephant attack, I wanted her to both have sufficient energy and to remember how much she liked the person on her back for allowing her to eat constantly.
The ride was a great way to get a different perspective of the animals. While you're on horseback, the animals let you get much closer because they see you as another animal. For example, we got right in the mix of a herd of roughly 100 Cape Buffalo. It was both frightening and amazing (much like many of the trip activities). We could not cover as much ground to see as many animals because we could not go as fast as a Land Rover - especially when you opt for a walk-only pony who you allow to treat the land as her personal buffet,
Luckily, we did not run across any elephants, so I did not have to see how fast my pony could move her little stumps. Here is a link with some stats on the calories burned working with horses. http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/info/caloriesburned.html I always feel like riding is a great abdominal workout. It also works your legs and arms...assuming you're instructing your horse to do something and not just allowing her to do whatever it wants in order to avoid death by elephant.
