So it begins

Mischievous monkey

Published Date : January 18, 2005

I was up ridiculously early this morning.  I thought it was 8am, but it was really only 5am! With the boat to myself, I had a simple breakfast of cornflakes and tea out on deck.  A storm had rolled through last night leaving the air clear and fresh.  Grabbing a chair, I watched the lake come to life.  Particularly entertaining was a small monkey that kept playing with the boat’s tie line.  It spent almost an hour trying to figure out what the line was, occasionally climbing up towards the boat before turning and darting back to where it was anchored in the ground.

As others began to stir and the heat began to build, I enjoyed a splash around in the small pool.  The rest of the day was easy and relaxed.  I spent some time fishing with a couple of the guys, read and soaked up the sun.  I went on another game walk in the afternoon, but it was eerily still, nothing stirring in the heat and humidity.

I wasn’t surprised when a fantastic electrical storm rolled through after dark.  There was little rain, but Thor sure was angry at someone.  I missed out on a bed tonight, so I took up residence in a lounge chair on deck and watched the thunder and lightning show well into the night.

Everyone needs a pet elephant

Published Date : January 20, 2005

Yesterday was pretty low key.  After breakfast on board the houseboat, we made our way back to Warthog’s.  From there we continued on to Harare, arriving back at the hostel in time for dinner.  I took advantage of the free upgrade to a dorm room last night.  I just didn’t have the energy to set up my tent.

Today it was a 6-hour drive to Antelope Park near Gweru.  I have absolutely no energy at all today.  I’m very listless and slightly depressed.   At this point I just don’t know if it’s side effects from the Lariam or if it’s circumstance.  Probably both.

To make matters worse, I got a scathing email from Greg.  He was heavily guilt tripping me about being away and not calling for almost three weeks.  I understand he’s upset, but what does he expect?  Email access is difficult to come by, phone calls are ridiculously expensive at US$5 per minute, and with a dead mobile phone I can’t text.  The distance is hard on both of us, but there’s really nothing I can do about it right now.

It wasn’t all bad today though.  Antelope Park has a couple of resident elephants.  When I was sitting out on the dock feeling sorry for myself after dinner, one came over and stood next to me for a while.  Have I mentioned yet that I love elephants?  Hmmm, I wonder if I could sneak one home in my suitcase…

Lions everywhere

Published Date : January 22, 2005

The last two days have been all about lions.  Antelope Park is home of the African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT) lion rehabilitation programme.  They have been slowly reintroducing captive bred lions into the wild in a multi-phase process.  With populations of purely wild lions on the decline, they are hoping these measures will help.

Yesterday we spent the day visiting several enclosures and seeing lions of various ages.  We had the opportunity to interact with cats that were infants all the way up to about 15 months old.  The infants were absolutely adorable.  It was great fun watching them interact with their human mothers during the bottle feeding.  After they had finished eating we were able to go in and play with them.  It was quite interesting to see the similarities in behavior that they shared with domestic cats.  So much fun!

From there we moved on to the older cats that were sorted into 6 different enclosures by age.  Once again we had the opportunity to go into the enclosures with the cats.  Very cool!  At the final enclosure with the 15month old cats there was an interesting moment.  These cats were almost full grown.  Among the group of tourists was a couple with a young daughter who was maybe 2 or 3 years old.  Obviously they were not allowed to take her into the enclosure, but that didn’t stop one of the cats from homing in on her and stalking her through the fence.  As soon as it saw her, it instantly thought “food” and didn’t back down until it was distracted by the handlers with a large slab of meat!

Today was an absolute highlight of this trip for me.  Walking with lions!!  Accompanied by two guides, we had four 18-month old “cubs” in tow:  Elsa, a larger Kenyan subspecies, and Amber, Amy and Arthur who were all from the same litter.

None of these lions will be released into the wild, but their offspring very likely will be.  They had been born in captivity, but they were by no means tame.  It was an absolutely brilliant day walking through the tall savannah grasses with these incredible animals beside us!!

Chipangali

Published Date : January 23, 2005

Leaving Gweru behind, our destination today was Backpacker’s Paradise in Bulawayo.  Along the way we stopped at the Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us to see some of the local wildlife close up.

There were several more lions along with cheetah, leopard, reptiles, and birds of prey.  Interesting observational note – a lion’s coat is a bit like a dog (a lab in particular), leopard’s on the other hand are silky like a domestic cat, while cheetah’s feel like a toilet brush ��

At the hostel, I finally managed to connect with Greg and clear the air.  We were able to talk on the phone for about half an hour.

One issue sorted, my main concerns now are money and my health.  A couple of days ago I felt terrible.  I was foggy, lethargic and achy all over.  I was sure I was coming down with something, but the next day I felt 100% better.  Today I feel physically okay, but mentally I’m just out of it.  I feel like my brain is running in slow motion.

I’m quite certain now that it’s a reaction to the Lariam.  I always seem to feel worst in the two or three days after I take it, then I slowly improve for the rest of the week.  I only have a few more weeks of taking the antimalarial, so I think I’m just going to tough it out.  If I start to feel really horrible I’ll have to see about switching to a different type of medication though.