SAFARI – DAY 9 (Livingstone, Zambia; Thorntree Lodge)

TRIVIA ANSWER:  The fifth leg of an elephant is an exposed penis that hangs down rather prominently.  On average, it weighs 50 kilograms (approximately 110 pounds).  No further comment is required, I think.

So far no mosquito bites but we're heading into major mosquito country today.  My sister and I are dying for a whole day of down time but are unwilling to miss out on anything.  The pace is a bit hectic for most in our group.  
I must be drinking eight bottles of water a day and it almost doesn’t seem like enough.  I’ve started to put extra salt on my food to try to counteract all the water.

The running joke in our tour group began with the following statement that Lisa, our guide, said the other day: “You can have lunch whenever you want today.  The dining room opens at 12:30 and we meet at the truck at 1:00.”  We now frequently say variations of this, such as “You have free time to do anything you want.  We meet at the boat in 30 minutes.”

This afternoon we took a boat across the Chobe and Zambezi rivers into Zambia, then rode a van to Livingstone (yes, that Stanley Livingstone and the site of Victoria Falls) and the Thorntree Lodge (http://www.thorntreelodge.net/.)  Once again, we were greeted by lovely glasses of juice.  The border crossing could have been less than fun – it was possible that we would have to stand in line for a long time to get our papers processed.  But Lisa, who seems to know everybody and everybody knows her, was able to gather up all our passports and get the papers processed en masse while we all sat in an air conditioned van.  I mentally sent her many blessings.

Oh, just remembered that as we drove to the boat this morning, we saw warthogs trotting thru town and also a nice golf course that has a barbwire fence with huge reflectors to keep the elephants out. It's a different world for sure.

The lodge is spectacular, a real jewel.  Naughty vervet monkeys everywhere so we have to keep every door securely latched because they can use the doorknobs and they steal everything and poo everywhere.  (Did you know that vervet monkeys have very blue balls?.  Not just vaguely blue, but definitely blue, blue.)  We have individual chalets that overlook the Zambezi river.  Once again, the bed comes with a comforter.  And we not only have a lovely huge tub, but a gorgeous , private outdoor shower with a view of the river.  It is hotter than hell (have I mentioned the heat before?).

While settling into our room my sister went out to our verandah to have a look, then remembered something she wanted to fetch.  So she left a couple of things on the verandah table, and walked back into the room and spent a minute looking for it -- with the screen door left open.  Luckily, I was standing there and when I looked at the door, there was a monkey, checking out the door and trying to decide whether to make a move.  So I dashed over and shut the screen door, and that’s when my sister remembered that she left some things outside.  Her things were safe, but I watched those monkeys patrolling every few minutes just in case we forgot to close the door again.  Very clever indeed!

When we go to dinner, we have to stand at our doorway and flash our flashlight and then two security guards come to escort us past the hippos who manicure the lawn every night.  The guards walk on either side of us.  They are very serious about this because hippos are so dangerous.

Felt deathly tired today so I skipped the sunset river booze cruise and ended up sleeping almost four hours.  Feel much better.  Oh, they have staff that stand at our dining tables to shoo the monkeys away.  

Tomorrow we see the falls and go to a craft market.  The mosquitos are not too bad but I think my skin is starting to react to the insect repellent.  

TRIVIA:  A group of elephants is a herd (well, you already knew that).  A group of hippos is a raft.  A group of giraffes is a tower (I swear I’m not making this up).  And a group of mongooses is a busyness (how totally fitting).