Our AWESOME day in Livingstone

So, we got up super early on Saturday to make it to the inner city bus terminal which is a crazy place. We were told we could get there early and get our bus ticket, no problem. Well, we were told wrong. So instead of taking a 6 hour ride at 6:30 am, we had to come back at 9:30 am for an almost 8 hour bus ride (cause it stopped more to let people on and off). The kids handled the ride pretty well, even though it included: a 30 minute sermon followed by an offering, an R rated movie on the big screen, only 2 other foreign tourists besides ourselves, and people standing in the aisle. Oh yeah, and don’t complain about road detours in America. When you take the only 2 lane highway that connects city to city in Zambia, road construction means an alternative route on a dirt road.
However, when our taxi dropped us off at the Zambezi Waterfront Lodge and the first thing we saw were 4 monkeys jumping from tree to tree, we knew the ride was worth it. It has not stopped being great. The lodge is a short throw from the river, and it is situated beautifully. We are staying in the upstairs room of an A-frame chalet. It has 4 single beds, each with its own mosquito net. Jamie sleeps on a mattress on the floor and sprays his head with bug spray before sleeping. The furniture is rustic cool. The beds have clean white comforters with warm wool blankets (no heaters and it gets into the upper 40s at night). We had a great and reasonable priced dinner overlooking the Zambezi River at sunset.
This morning, although we needed to wake up early (unlike our early morning court date and Saturday morning bus ride), Jamie overslept giving us 15 minutes to throw on all the clothes we had and rush downstairs for our game drive. We loaded onto a safari truck (pick-up truck with benches on a raised platform). Paul, our Zambian guide, drove us on a private tour of the park after offering us wool blankets. We saw at least 15 different animals. Some of the highlights were the zebras (whose stripes get blacker in the dry season), blue helmeted guinea fowl (who can fly but seem to prefer to run fast), 2 giraffes (they looked much more gray than orange), a huge herd of caped buffalo (Papa would have loved how close we were able to get), and lots of baboon families digging in the dirt for breakfast. The main highlight occurred about 5 minutes before we left the park gate. We turned a corner and to even Paul’s surprise saw a large bull elephant. You can see how close we were in the picture. But we weren’t worried because Paul said “he is acting cool”.
The afternoon was our chance to see Victoria Falls. Paul was our guide again, and he took us on a 2+ hour walk around what we now are certain is a “wonder of the world”. Words are simply useless to describe this testimony to God’s creation. Every picture you take is a great picture. Every place you stop to look is an unbelievable view. You are constantly being sprayed with water that bounces back up from a fall (twice the length of Niagra). One of the more breathtaking moments was when we walked across a bridge and could see a vivid rainbow that encircled us (not just an arch but a circle around the bridge). It was surprising to see how close we were to the chasm of the Falls. When you looked over the edge to see the bottom, it was pretty far down there. We had high hopes for a Christmas card photo here (Wayne where were you?), but six just makes it hard. All in all, it was a wonderful and beautiful day with our family.