Game Drives in Hwange

While in Hwange we went on two game drives during the day we were there. It was great! Although we saw no cats (lions, leopards or cheetahs) we did see lots of other animals that we were excited to see.

Our first drive we got up and left by 5:30am. It was early but we knew the most animals would be waking up by the time we got there and then we'd get to see them all.

Right when we drove into the Park we saw a Kudu and some Zebra.

As for these next few pictures you will realize that Zebras are my most favorite animal here.

So pretty.

LOVE this picture.

We got really close to the Zebra, it was awesome.

This was the first time we had seen so many giraffes!!!

The two giraffes on the right were hitting their necks against each other. They were play fighting, but the sound that it made was crazy! It was like two pieces of wood being hit together.

A bird/hawk we saw, and of course I've forgotten the name of the bird already. sorry. And the wing-span on this bird was incredible!!! At least five feet or more.

While at the watering hole we had the luck of seeing a mama white rhinoceros and her little one. They are not seen quite often in the park, when we told others that we saw them they were quite jealous.

The majestic sable. Tyler's favorite.

The car we were driving in and the view we had.

Kudu!!!

Love this photo too of the close up of the Kudu. The insides of their ears were pink pink, almost red.

A crazy looking bird.

That mound is a termite mound, they are everywhere here!

Another peek at a Zebra.

More giraffe during the afternoon drive.

All the elephants at the watering hole in the afternoon. This group was leaving when we got there, and then another family came in while we were sitting there.

Another story about this watering hole is that when we drove up and after these elephants left, a giraffe came to drink. But he kept looking over at the far brush. We asked our driver/guide why the giraffe kept looking over there and not bending over to drink, he said that it could be because a lion was over there. The giraffe wouldn't turn it's back on the brush, and would take quick drinks. Because the giraffe is so tall it can see most things other animals cannot. In the end, we never saw a lion, and left with the giraffe still there.

Cute little baby elephant.

These birds are crazy looking, and we have them at our house, but this one was getting really close to the car so I got a better picture of it.

A jackal. It amazes me how much these animals really blend into their environment, it's awesome to see it.

The next few pictures are of the sunset that night. I love taking these pictures.

On our way back to the camp it was getting dark, but our guide had a spotlight, and we spotted a hyena!!!! It was limping and we knew that most likely he wouldn't last the night, sad but true.

Well that's it about our week trip to Victoria Falls and Hwange!! Hope you enjoyed the pictures! It was an awesome trip and we will be making it again this January with Tyler's parents. It'll be interesting to see what the difference is from the dry to rainy season, and to see what animals there will be.

Ivory Lodge in Hwange

On our way back home from Victoria Falls, we decided to spend two nights in Hwange (pronounced "wang-gee", or close to that), right by Hwange National Park.

We stayed at the Ivory Lodge which was really great, despite how rustic I thought it was at first. It turned out to be a favorite place of mine, and I can't wait to go back. The max. amount of guests they have room for is 20, and when we were there, there were only two other groups, a family of four and a group of three girls. One thing I really liked about the set up was that they had a communal dinner table, so everyone came together at night for dinner and you could talk however late you wanted. Your room was really just for sleeping and showering, not sitting in. The food there was AMAZING!! And they have a watering hole for animals to come to, which A LOT did.

This was our treehouse we stayed in. :)

It is all enclosed besides the front that looked out to the watering hole. It had shades that you could lower at night, but usually you wanted things up to keep it breezy and cool. There were some bugs, but not a lot.

The other corner, the wall on the right is right opposite of the front door.

Spencer's bed was right by the front door.

Then our bed was opposite Spencer's bed.

This was looking back into the treehouse from the opened side. Behind those shades is the bathroom.

The bathroom.

We were waiting one morning for our game drive, and so while we waited Spencer entertained us with his hat and faces.

"Hey mom, how do you like my hat backwards?"

"Hey mom, do you like it on the left?"

"What about the right?"

"How about gangsta?"

Here are some elephants at the watering hole, and us looking out from our room. One time there was around 30 elephants (big and small) at the watering hole. We also saw baboons, antelope and water buffalo in herds of 300!!!

Funny story about the animals at the watering hole. There is an electric fence that goes all around Ivory Lodge so then no animals try to get in, although they have had some animals force their way, but none while we were there. Anyway, one night at dinner we were all enjoying each others company, and in the family of four that was there (who was another family from the embassy so we knew them pretty well), there was a boy at the age of 7. He didn't like getting too close to animals or anything of that sort, and got scared a few times his parents told us. So we are all eating dinner and the lights go out (which they often do anywhere in Zim) but we had our candles at the table so it was fine. Until Tyler brought up the fact that now the electric fences were down and that the elephants that were out there could come into camp. The boy looked at his mom kinda asking with his eyes, is that true?? Then Tyler continued to go on, which he likes to do and Spencer has learned to know it is Daddy teasing, and Tyler started to say that it would be just like Jurassic Park with the all the dinosaurs getting out and coming at the people. I quickly told him not to say more, and me and the other mom reassured the boy that everything was fine and nothing like that would happen. But it was kinda unnerving to think that the animals could do that, even though I'm sure they wouldn't.

There is a hide right by the watering hole that we went down and sat by, it was so cool to see the elephants up close. And these were no tame elephants, they are the real wild ones.

Daddy telling Spencer a story one night while we were there.

Let's Go Fly...

(how many of you finished that title line with "...a kite!"??)

Our next adventure after riding the elephants was flying in a Helicopter over Victoria Falls!!!!! It was scary, because none of us had ever ridden in a helicopter before, and you can feel everything up there. I was in the front with pilot, and there was nothing for me to grab onto. I didn't want to grab the controls, or the door (for fear of it flying open), and the floor below me was mostly window so I didn't want to push my feet down too much either!!! But it was still FANTASTIC!!! Enjoy the pictures.

Tyler was really excited about this ride.

Can you see the mist right in the middle?? That's the Falls.

Getting closer.

Look down at my feet and I saw a big train on the train tracks!

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls and Zambezi River.

Okay so that rock ledge, is where Spencer and all of us were sitting when I did my last post about the Falls. A long way down, huh?

Rainbows!

Dry season, I show you all of these dry season pictures, because when we go back in January I'll put those rainy season pictures up and you will be VERY surprised!

All done with our ride.