Zambezi Queen-Day 2

by | Jul 14, 2025 | Uncategorized

This is our guide Sam. That’s his jeep we rode around in all day.

Just so you know, this post details our third day on Queen, but we barely got on before dinner on day one, so I am counting yesterday as Day 1 and today as Day 2.

Day two is all about Chobe National Park in Botswana, where we would spend the day in the back of a jeep (on decent seats) being bounced all over the place while seeing some amazing animals, then stopping for a nice picnic lunch before heading back to the Zambezi Queen for dinner.

Our day started like any other day leaving the Queen to go someplace. Even though we could see the park in Botswana from the Zambezi Queen, we had to go up river, get out of the boats, walk up the half mile to the border crossing, check out of Namibia, then get back in the boats, head back down river, pass the Queen to the Botswana border crossing where we waited in line again to check in to Botswana. From there, we were picked up by our guides. Kathleen had decided to stay aboard today, so I was on my own with just my camera. And five of us got really lucky and got Sam as our driver. That’s him in the photo—a truly great guy.

He picked us up at the border crossing, and we headed about three miles down the highway to the entrance to Chobe National Park. We stopped to use the facilities (which were easily the most disgusting of the trip—go before you leave the Queen or there is a fairly clean restroom behind the border station coming into Botswana. Just ask for directions.) and then it was on into the park.

Chobe is renowned for having the highest concentration of elephants in Africa, and we quickly discovered this when we found ourselves in the middle of a herd, with one of the elephants coming right up to our jeep. That got a bit scary, but he backed off and went around us. I think that was as close as I got to a wild animal on the entire trip (so far). Maybe six feet away. He did not have a happy look on his face. But I think you should judge for yourself. So here’s the first batch of pictures (all the way up to lunch) from the park. Enjoy. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Lunchtime

AmaWaterways has been great with arrangements on this entire trip. The biggest reason for this is the amazing Delia. For today, she had completely organized a picnic lunch in the middle of a national park where thousands of wild animals surrounded us. And there was even a restroom…with about the same level of disgusting as the one at the entrance to the park, but not quite as bad. I finished my lunch while others were still eating, and my yearbook mode kicked in, so I started taking candid photos of my fellow travelers. I have some fans of my people shots (hi Kay), so here they are if you are interested. Otherwis,e scroll on down for more animals.

After lunch, more jeep riding

Once lunch was over, it was back in the jeep with Sam and off to see more animals. I will let you follow along with the photos.

That was about it for animals. Just some final notes to let you know where we are now and what’s coming in posts.

Today is Monday, July 14. It is our full day in Johannesburg. The photos on this page were taken on Wednesday the 9th. In the interim we had one more day on the Zambezi Queen and then we transitioned to Victoria Falls for two nights. I have a lot more videos, but uploading them takes a while and uses up a lot of bandwidth.

Stop the presses! We are just back from our visit to the Soweto Township. What a kick in the teeth. In the USA, I always feel guilty for being a white male, now I feel bad for being a white, male, financially successful, American. More about that in a few days. Suffice it to say, today’s trip was beyond eye-opening.

Of course, no post from Africa should be without either a sunrise or a sunset. Enjoy!

I was a child among the lions. Now I want to be one of those lions.  —Charles Oliveira

 

Zambezi Queen–Day One

by | Jul 13, 2025 | Uncategorized

We spent four incredible days and five wonderful nights on the Zambezi Queen. It was so far beyond what I expected that I can’t even begin to tell you. Our first day offered three possible game cruises. When I say “game cruises,” it means we got into a smaller boat that held 7-10 people plus the driver and set out to explore the river and its tributaries close up. Unlike the rest of the time, when the Zambezi Queen herself would float up and down the Chobe River. You will be amazed at what we could see just looking out the window of our stateroom.

Early Morning Bird Watching…and MORE!

The first game cruise offered on the first day was a 6:30 AM bird watching cruise with my (now) good buddy, Gibson, at the helm. About six of the 28-person group showed up, and off we went. I am not much of a bird watcher. But this turned into so much more. Not everyone was willing to get up and go that early, but I had resolved to take every single small boat trip they would offer me in the four days we were there. And was I ever glad we did. I am going to shut up now and let you see the photos from this early-morning bird watching expedition. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

10:00 AM Game Cruise

After breakfast, pretty much everyone piled into one of the three small tour boats and took off up or down the Chobe River alongside Chobe National Park in Botswana and the shores of Namibia. We were not allowed to get too close to the park itself, but we could stop the boats just off the park for photos. And I took a BUNCH! And here we go again.

Afternoon Game Cruise

The 10:00 game cruise took about three hours, so we were back on board at 1:00, had lunch and rested or just watched the river go by. Because it was the dry season, a whole bunch of animals had come down to the river. But that didn’t stop me from joining Gibson on the 3:00 PM game cruise. Kathleen decided to stay on board and watch out the window of our stateroom (she saw hippos, elephants and Cape Buffalo). I just got closer to them than she did. Here’s my pics from the afternoon game cruise. By now you know the drill.

God bless Africa, Guard her people, Guide her leaders, And give her peace. —Trevor Huddleston

 

Transition Day…or the Day from Hell

by | Jul 12, 2025 | Uncategorized

The next morning, we woke up in the Cape Grace hotel, grabbed a very early breakfast and headed to the airport for our flight to Victoria Falls airport in Zimbabwe. The flights went pretty well, except that Kathleen and I couldn’t sit together. Our wonderful tour organizer, Delia, had seen how tall I was and got me an exit row. That was fine, but when the gate agents saw Kathleen roll up in a wheelchair, they moved her back in the plane instead and didn’t move me as well.

Our flight in an Embraer 190 (one of our favorite planes) was a good one. It takes about 2.5 hours to get from Cape Town to Victoria Falls Airport. We had to go through passport control to check out of South Africa. Then, when we arrived in Zimbabwe (where the Victoria Falls airport is), we had to clear customs there. We then boarded a bus and drove for about 90 minutes to the Botswana border, where we had to check out of Zimbabwe and then drive a short distance to check into Botswana (by a short distance, I mean about 100 feet). Then we drove another 45 minutes and arrived at the dock where we would catch the smaller boat that would take us to the Zambezi Queen. But first, we had to pass the Queen (on the river) and go to the Namibian border. We had to then get off the small boats and walk inland about half a mile in order to check into Namibia (because legally, the Zambezi Queen is in Namibia). After walking about a mile in the very hot sun, we got back on the boat and went back to the Zambezi Queen. Whew! From the time we landed in Zimbabwe, this whole process took us about 3 hours. Just crazy.

And the really crazy thing is that we had to do it all over again anytime we left the ship. I have now done that hike from the shoreline to the Namibian border station at least six times. Might be eight. Luckily, they did not make Kathleen do the walk. I could sign in for both of us. It is also expensive, and there are a LOT of forms to fill out. We had done our Namibian e-visas before we left, so that helped a little. Thank goodness we had Delia to tell us what to do to satisfy all the legal requirements.

Now the good stuff. Once we got on the small boat to head for the Namibian border, we realized that we were definitely in Africa. Our driver, a wonderful man named Gibson, would stop if it looked like there was something to see. Usually, there was A LOT to see. So, here are some pics. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

I wish I could have taken a photo of the border crossings (especially the one we had to walk to in Namibia), but there are huge signs everywhere prohibiting photography. But I was able to get a Google Maps overhead shot of the shore-to-office route we had to take. It was pretty much soft sand all the way.

They all had something interesting about them. The Zimbabwe border had baboons everywhere, and to enter Botswana, you had to walk across mats soaked in insecticide to keep their cattle herds safe. We also had to turn over any other shoes we had with it to two people from AMA, and they had to dip them in the disinfectant and then get them back to us. And Namibia was just nuts. You walked all that way through domesticated animals (I had a nice talk with a dog while waiting for some fellow travelers to walk back with me) plus roosters that would not shut up.

I think that about covers our transition day. It was probably the only thing I didn’t love about our time on the Zambezi Queen. That and all the other times we had to do the border crossings.  Everything else was just about perfect. More about that later.

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.     —W. C. Fields

 

Wine, Mountain and Gone

by | Jul 10, 2025 | Uncategorized

Here’s the Cape Town group. We would meet up with eight others when we boarded the Zambezi Queen in Namibia. You can see Kathleen and I on the right. And yes, I can pretty much tell you who everyone is. Well, everyone I like ?.

As I write this, I am sitting in our stateroom on the Zambezi Queen riverboat. Today has been exhausting. We have been in four countries, and I can see a fifth one outside our window. But more about that later. Today is about yesterday, or actually four days ago. Does that make sense? (Editor’s note: It has now been four days since I wrote this, and the internet has been so slow that I have not been able to finish it. I have so much more to show you, so please stand by.)

On Sunday, the plan was to tour the South African Winelands, and if the clouds finally cleared, we would take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. Visiting the Winelands is, of course, all about the wine. So, today, Delia passed the baton to Gen, who is a true wine expert, having worked in both the travel and wine industries for several years.

Gen entertained and educated us as we drove from Cape Town to Stellenbosch. I wish I could remember all I heard, but I know I had a great time listening. She (as well as Delia) were very open about life in South Africa and about their own lives. We truly appreciated their frankness about a country they clearly loved, but not a racist system that is still in effect here.

We arrived in Stellenbosch and got out to both do a little shopping and to walk around the downtown. As you can see, I took a few photos as well. Then it was back in the “luxury motor coach” to head to our first winery, Longridge. We tasted six wines (at 10:00 am) from a Chenin Blanc (this is South Africa’s premier white) to a Pinotage (South Africa’s premier red) as well as a sweet dessert wine. All were excellent, although we have grown to love Pinotage.

We spent about 90 minutes at that winery before heading to another one, Lievland. There, we not only tasted their wines but also enjoyed a full lunch in their amazing restaurant. We stayed for at least two hours, having a great feast and another opportunity for all of us to learn a little more about each other.

So, here are my photos of our wine tours. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

After lunch, we were back on our “luxury motor coach” for the return trip to Cape Town. Throughout the day, we could see Table Mountain in the distance. The only major thing we hadn’t done since arriving was to take the cable car to the top. We kept watching it, but we were often disappointed because it was covered in clouds. Delia and Gen told us it wasn’t worth going up if the whole mountain was shrouded in fog, since the main attraction is taking photos of the city from above.

All day long, our hopes sank as it looked like the weather wouldn’t clear up. It hadn’t cleared since we arrived in the city. Delia said they would take us to the lower cable car station, as the view there was pretty good. But, surprisingly, as we drove through the city, the clouds disappeared, and we were able to go up! I’m sure you can see what an incredible experience this was from my photos, so I’ll let you look at them. They do have captions but you have to click on them and run the slide show to see them. Some are just views from the top. 

Come back tomorrow… or maybe later today. Our transition to the Zambezi Queen in Namibia was a journey I wouldn’t want to take again. Nothing bad, just too many border crossings.

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy. —Benjamin Franklin

 

Don’t Worry—We Have Not Been Eaten By Lions

by | Jul 8, 2025 | Uncategorized

Just a quick note to let you know we haven’t been eaten by a lion. We’re currently on the Zambezi Queen riverboat on the Chobe River between Botswana and Namibia. The WiFi onboard is equivalent to cell phone service, with all 40 people trying to use the same connection. This means uploading photos isn’t possible. I hope to be back on Friday with updates on what we’ve been up to in the meantime. Not all at once, but day by day. Stay tuned.

I am off for my third animal viewing boat ride of the day. On the first two, I took more than 500 photos…on each ride. Hard to cull them down, but I will do it. About to leave for my third, and the boat itself is headed down the river. I can look out our windows and see elephants, cape buffalo and hippos. OMG!

More soon as I can upload photos.