HEY!!!
Just left Antelope Park, and am in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. If you ever touch African soil you must make your way to Antelope Park! I blew the bank a little there with a lioness package but it was well worth it. I did 2 lion walks (where the lions are honing their hunting skills and getting exposed to real African bush). They are such beautiful creatures and to walk with them and see them stalk other wildlife was amazing. Then I did the lion feeding as mentioned in my previous post - just incredible speed and ferocity in the big cats! Then I did the cub viewing, where I saw 9 week old cubs. At that age they are exactly like kittens. So playful and fluffy and CUTE!! Then I did the night encounter where you go on a night stalk with big cats again (but in a truck with spotters), we saw a crazy antelope chase, which they didn't end up catching, and then we saw them a bit later with an antelope kill. It was too fast to see the take down but we saw the gory, gruesome death and devouring of the antelope. At one point one of the trucks got stuck in a ditch so all of us had to pile into one truck while the staff pushed the truck out, while the 4 lions (2 female, 2 male) stalked around us, and the number 1 rule of the night encounter is never get out of the vehicle because these lions only have one agenda, to kill, and that point they hadn't made one yet. Luckily they just watched from behind a tree but it was still quite nerve-wrecking in the pitch black. It was also an exciting time to be at the park because they were releasing a pride back into the wild. The rehabilitation and release program there is really well done and I would love to go back as a volunteer. I also went to see the elephant training the morning we left and did a horseback game ride through the park. On a horse you can get up to 5-10 meters away from the wildlife!
Thus my top 3 animal sightings have changed:
1. Lion cubs, Antelope Park, Zimbabwe
2. Mother and baby elephant at the waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia
3. The Lion Feeding (the big boys), Antelope park
Surprisingly, despite getting closer to the equator, it has gotten colder again, especially at night and the power is often cut off. It was nice to get out of Vic Falls and see a bit more of the real Zimbabwe and interact with more locals. We had a group perform traditional song and dance again last night. Also we had a very interesting talk with our guide for the Great Zimbabwe Ruins (which we also did yesterday) who had a hard life story, having lost both his parents due to the political struggle in the country. Nevertheless he was a very positive and welcoming man!
The group has gelled really well together and I already know its going to be hard to part from them in 1 month for a few and 3 months for all.
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