Day 19: July 12, Victoria Falls

Aaah, a much better day today! It started early - a 5:15am wake up call to head to a private reserve to do a "walk with lions." I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up for this little activity - I figured it would be kind of like a petting zoo - lion tethered, pet it, take photos, and go away.

I was wrong.

We arrive and our guide - Simon - began by giving us the rules:
- No running (lion instinct says anything that runs needs to be chased);
- No screaming (screaming sounds like a dying animal, and a dying animal means a meal);
- Stay together (any single animal separate from the herd is weak, and is a target for a meal);
- No crouching (this means "playtime," which could also mean getting swiped with a claw or being gnawed on);
- Don't turn your back on them or break eye contact if they look at you (these are signs of weakness, which are also signs of lion snack food);
- Don't wear any backpacks or fanny packs (they associate packs with the source of their beef snacks, and... well... they'll eat your backpack even if there's nothing in it);
- Don't wear any dangling items (being cats, they like to play with dangling items... and if they play with you, you die.)

Then, Simon told us what order to walk in:
1st: Handler #1
2nd: Lions
3rd: Simon
4th. Tourists
5th. Handler #2

And the final rule: Never, ever get between Simon and the lions.

With these guidelines (and a serious sense of doubt as to whether or not this was a good idea), the group of us huddled together, stuck to Simon's backside... at which point we met our walking mates: Yep, that's right... we were going on a walking safari with the lions... exactly the same animals that you don't want to run into on a walking safari.

These three were far from tame. While they have been raised by humans in the reserve, they are wild animals and always will be. The three that we were walking with were named Easy (a 14 month-old female, named for her easy-going personality), Peace (a 16 month-old male) and another male (whose name I've forgotten.) We walked for about 45 minutes, out in the open of the reserve. At one point they started playing with one of the handlers, jumping after a piece of beef skewered on a stick, like cats with a toy:
But what kitty doesn't like a good neck scratch?
Such regal animals... at one point, one of them was staring off into the distance, watching something intently from the top of a tree: Yes, you heard me... from the top of a tree:
And after she got down, she wandered off into the brush. One of the handlers followed her, trying to "herd" her back towards us. But the handler came back alone, and shrugged when Simon asked where the lion went. (Apparently a few weeks prior to our visit, one of the lions had killed a waterbuck while on a walk...)

I'll admit it was a little disconcerting walking and knowing that there was a lion nearby that we couldn't see. After all, how were we supposed to keep our eye contact and not turn our back on a lion when we had no idea where it was? Eeek.

At one point, Easy lay down, and we had a quick opportunity to pet the nice kitty:
(Notice that I'm carrying a stick in my hand. This is called the "no" stick, and they told us that if the lions started misbehaving towards us, we should hold the stick out and say "NO!" firmly and loudly. Of course, I cannot express to you how glad I am that I didn't have to test out the ridiculous theory that my one little stick would stop one of Africa's greatest predators.)

And to answer a few questions:
- No they are not de-clawed
- No they are not de-fanged
- No, they are not sedated or medicated in any way
- No, they are never hit or beaten

This was an absolutely amazing experience that blew my mind. The animals were gorgeous, and so intimidating, knowing that they could just decide, on a whim, to eat you. Gack. Nothing like an in-your-face reminder that you are at the bottom of the food chain...

Eventually, the missing lion wandered back to us, after a few moments of dancing around, trying to re-establish our walking order... and before I knew it, the walk was over.

Then, the reserve gave us a lovely breakfast (notice they didn't feed us before we met the lions), and then we were off for a much more relaxed activity: An elephant ride... With two of us (and a "driver") on each elephant, we took a 45 minute walk through the reserve. The elephant that I was riding - Lundi - was the matriarch of the group, and the biggest elephant. She was 27 years old, and was rescued as an orphan (her parents were poached) when she was 5 years old.

The elephants come and go freely on the reserve - they are not kept in cages or pens or anything. Usually they wander off in the evening, and return to their "drivers" in the morning hours after wandering about and eating all night. Along our ride, Lundi grabbed snacks of grass, branches and twigs, at one point stepping - and then kneeling - on a thick bush in order to snap off a branch. Wild stuff!

The "drivers" gave them "elephant chocolates" as treats (made with grasses, oats, and molasses). It was a lovely, serene and amazing ride on these beautiful, graceful animals. We of course did the cheesy "photo op" with them afterwards - here I am, feeding her some chocolates:Lunch was a walk through a local marketplace, which featured not only local crafts, but also foods and other goods. Here's my favorite "vendor":
The kids, as always, were excited to see a camera... and as we walked, we eventually had quite a little parade of them following us, excited about seeing their pictures:
One gentleman was selling goat heads to make stew. (Here's the recipe: Stick your goat head on a stick, and place it over an open fire. This will burn off the fur and any ticks or animals on the head. Then, place the head in a pot with garlic, onion and whatever spices you like, and then boil until you have a nice stew. Yum.)
With the financial strife in the country, though, inflation has gone through the roof, and a single tomato was priced at 2,000 Zimbabwean dollars. This morning, there was a run at the local grocery store for bread, which is apparently quite hard to come by these days. There were literally hundreds of people at the market trying to buy their rationed 2 loaves.
And of course, seeing the people try to make a living under these circumstances was heartbreaking.
Still, everyone (adults and kids) were happy to see us, and incredibly welcoming... it was overwhelming when the kids would just run full-speed to get close to you and say hello:
We had dinner at a local home, and it was a modest meal, though from what I understand, this was a very special amount of food and we were given what would usually be served on holidays or special occasions. (And yes, I ate the fish, and no they weren't that bad.)
This afternoon was a quick helicopter ride over Victoria Falls... absolutely stunning:
Tomorrow is our last day in Zimbabwe, and we say goodbye to our main guide, Priscilla. A really amazing woman, she and I call each other "sister" and I am really going to miss her greatly.

For now, though, to sleep... the 5:15am wake up call is catching up with me.

P.S. Today was the first access to email since June 28th. So weird to be so out of touch for so long! Dang I miss my nephews!!! (And another boy, too... but that's for another time.)