Livingstone again...

The day we went to Zimbabwe was the last official day with the people of this truck. In tradition we headed out for a group dinner at Funky Monkey (a pizza place recommended by Lonely Planet). Sadly a couple of people missed the dinner as they were caught in an 'elephant jam' just outside the campsite gates. As well as the girls getting stuck on the wrong side of the gates, it meant that our taxi's couldn't get in to pick us up. The only option for us was to head through the electric fence into the fancy lodge style hotel that was next door and meet the taxi there.

The road leading to the camp gates.

The last full day at this campsite was an easy one for us. Lazing by the pool and sifting through some of the photos as well as starting to plan activites for our time in Cape Town. That afternoon we had our elephant safari! Our elephant encounter started a little earlier then we had expected. Just after we drove out of the camp gates, a femal elephant lumbered straight past us heading for the gate. The attendants quickly closed them and all the traffic on the way in, settled in for a wait. We got the impression this happens pretty frequently!

The safari was great. All the elephants used by this company have been rescued from Zimbabwe. Our elephant was called Mushimba and she was 25 years old. Her 5yr old baby was also there but was still in training for passengers. The smaller one kept coming up to Claire and touching her leg with its trunk. Each elephant has a guide that sits on the neck and then we sit behind the guide on the elephants back. Surprisingly the skin of the elephant was quite soft but the hairs are very wiry and scratchy. During the ride we were taken alongside the river about 10kms from the drop of the falls, crossing some of the shallower sections to the nearby islands. The elephants obviously don't like getting their tails wet as they were all raised to just above the water level. We were hoping to see some wildlife during the ride and 4 crocodiles were the highlight. Impala and mating chimpanzees rounded out the safari. After the ride we had the opportunity to feed our elephant, and she was definitely hungry. Unlike the others who waited patiently for you to place the pellets into the trunks, Mushimba would use her trunk to search you for the food. She had quite a light touch but was very insistent.

A section of the river that we crossed.

One of the crocodiles, quite alot bigger then the one we saw when rafting!

The feeding frenzy starts

What a way to end our time with Fiona, Blessed and everyone else on 'Limpopo'. Tomorrow we board our next truck....