Old Drift Lodge

We left Kanga Camp and Mana Pools to fly to Victoria Falls.

Bit of a milk run really, with a stop to refuel after a 10 minute flight on another 6-seater Cessna. Then we dropped a couple of passengers off at their camp at a place called Bumi Hills.  It looked very inviting indeed. 

Here are a couple of pics I took out of the window as we left them behind.






Then we flew to Kariba for a change of plane - upgrading to a 12 seater.

Here we are at the transit lounge:



We eventually arrived at our accommodation, The Old Drift Lodge.

Joining us for lunch was a family of mongooses.



The Old Drift Lodge is about 7km down the road from the actual Victoria Falls lookout - a clever selection by our travel agent, Belinda Gallenti of Travel Insights, because we were far away enough from the falls not to be disturbed by the constant flow of scenic helicopter flights.

And apart from that, this place was very,very nice to stay at.  I can see that Belinda has chosen places that she is absolutely sure we'll enjoy - it feels like each one is in the top tier of options.

Which explains why the overall price of the holiday felt like a top tier price.

But when I look back at what we got for our dollar, and given that I don't intend to come back, it has made sense to take advantage of the best of what Zimbabwe offers.

The Old Drift Lodge is located within the Victoria Falls National Park.  Our "tent" is on the banks of the Zambezi river itself.  And so it was very convenient to be taken on game drives and cruises, right from within the property.

An animal we didn't get to see up North was giraffe... Tick that box now:



The graceful way they move is like the way a model traverses the runway in a fashion show.  They move both legs from each side of the body for each step they take.

Here's a giraffe grazing on the upper branches of a tree.



I don't want to bore you with more elephant photos, but here come some more.

We took the sunset cruise, and along the way, we sat at a particular spot waiting for them to come down for a drink.

And, while we waited, out came the cruise ship's bar.

After a couple of G&T's, the elephants decided to come down and have a drink with us.



They must have enjoyed our company, coz, in a flash, there were maybe 20 of them within a few metres of us.

After the drinking, they would give themsel;ves a shower by sucking up water from the river, and then spraying themselves.

And then they dusted themselves down by digging up dirt, and flinging it over their backs.  This is to retain the moisture they just sprayed themselves down with.  I captured the dust cloud one elephant created as it came down on his back.



It was interesting behaviour.  And quite enjoyable the more G&T's I imbibed.

You'll note this elephant has a collar - you can see the box sitting just behind his head.



The collar is an electronic monitor that the park management people use to track the movements of selected elephants.  Poachers also know that these ones are definitely not ones to harm - the authorities would be able to track you down.

Eventually the elephants got sick of our company and they went off to destroy the landscape.

We, on the other hand, continued to enjoy our host's service as we sailed on down the Zambezi.

Ruth was quite excited about seeing more bee eaters - this time we could see holes in the banks of the river which is where they sleep.  Here's 3 White crested bee eaters outside their 5-storey apartment.



Moving on, we see Egyption Geese



And what about this Goliath Heron



Apparently, these are the biggest Heron in the world.

Then I took a photo of a bird in the distance with my super 400mm zoom lens, and on review, its standing on a croc!



I'm beginning to enjoy this photography caper.  I even took a photo of a water lily:



I should have said earlier that the cruise consisted of two staff members and four passengers.  So maybe you'll be interested in our fellow passengers.  See if you can guess his occupation:



No, he's not just a stand-in for a cushion after his partner has had too many G&T's.

Look how he's covered himself.

He's a skin specialist - practicing what he preaches, minimising the possibility of sun rays accessing any part of his body.

The people you meet!



These two look pretty relaxed, don't you think. 

Tomorrow, I'll find out if all that G&T helped me get over the Doxycycline poisoning.