Ehem, Still in Vic Falls, surprise surprise

Yep, I can see why people get ‘stuck’ here. There’s so much to do, the people are lovely, the scenery is beautiful and the climate is manageable. Even Zimbabweans come here and end up staying.

Yesterday was all about the animals. I’ve been lucky enough to see lions and elephants in the wild, but I kinda wanted a closer look.

In the morning, I went for a “lion encounter”. I know, I know, cheese factor right? I wanted to see for myself. Here’s the program: get picked up and taken out to a reserve, learn some basic safety stuff, then head out with a few guides who bring out 2-4 lion “cubs” (mine were 16 months…pretty big freakin lions if you ask me) – they aren’t leashed or muzzled. You go for a little stroll with them through the bush, and those willing can come up and pet their rears while walking. After a while, we stop and the lions lay down on some rocks. One by one the guests come up behind them and give em a scratch and of course get photos taken. We walk back, have some breakfast, watch the video and head. Sounds manufactured and touristy yes? Well, frankly, it kind of is, however, there’s a cause, and a pretty serious one. Before this I had no idea that lions were becoming endangered. They’ve seen a huge drop in the population in recent years (70-80%!!) and on the whole, no one is really doing anything about it. So these guys are a part of www.LionAlert.org and there is a pretty plausible plan in place to help boost the wild population. I’m paraphrasing here, but from what I recall: Stage 1 is captive lions who are used to humans hang out and do these ‘encounter’ thingys, but they are also getting more used to being in the bush. Stage 2 sees them released into an enclosure with game they can hunt and human contact is limited. In Stage 3, competitive species are introduced (i.e. they have to start fending for themselves), and if there were only females, males are added to the mix (dating). There is zero human interaction at this point. In Stage 4, any cubs that are born are fully released into the wild after weening and all that. The thinking is, captive lions just can’t be turned loose; it doesn’t work except in the movie Born Free. But cubs born seemingly in the wild should do fine. Why do Stage 1 at all? It’s to raise awareness and funds to support the later stages. Acquiring the land and building the enclosures is super expensive. The whole program is just getting started, and they’ve had the idea to contact companies and organizations with lions in their logos (MGM, Detroit Lions, etc.) for support in a campaign called “Where is your pride?”. Clever, no? Anyway, worthy cause, alarming situation. Two thumbs up. Check out the website – www.lionalert.org

In the afternoon I did an elephant back safari. There’s less of a cause to talk about here so I won’t bore you with the details. I’ll just put up some pictures when I get home. I did get to scratch my elephants tongue…nobody else did…my elephant, Emily, just opened up her mouth and stuck out her tongue, I saw one of the guides doing it so I gave it a go. Weird!!

Today I'm heading out to an island at the falls with a photographer from the BBC. It's a full moon - he's been hired to get all kinds of footage of the falls! This is a private deal, no tourists. Once again I have Cesare to thank! (Ladies, he's free...)

Friday I’m going white water rafting on the Zambezi! Then Saturday morning I’m off to Bulawayo.