Another busy week gone, and this next post will probably be just as long as any other!

Victoria Falls from the Bridge

Started off my week with a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon on the Victoria Falls Bridge. The Bridge is officially No-Man's-Land which means that there are no visa costs, so I met up with the Zambian researcher there. We spent almost 4 hours there just chatting and catching up - a really nice afternoon. 

Back to work on Monday morning, and we started out with Bird Survey as usual. We counted 18 species, and had particularly good fun this week - for whatever reason we were in rather odd moods and we just laughed most of the way around! The quelea were incredible that morning - literally thousands of tiny birds flocking together, their wings flashing in the sunlight. After we were done with birds, we did our usual couple of hours of Elephant and Giraffe Research on which, as usual, we saw no elephants within the park, but then found 6 on the road by Big Tree. In the afternoon we had game count and it was an awesome one! It took us a long time to find anything, and we were wondering where all the impala and warthogs were... That was answered when we found lions! There were 2 - an adult female and a sub-adult male. The total Game Count came up with waterbucks, wildebeest, impala, and giraffes, but surprisingly, no warthogs!

Lioness in the Park

Sunrise over the Falls Spray

Tuesday started off with Elephant and Giraffe Research, on which we saw a few elephants though again they were around the Big Tree. I spent the afternoon doing Elephant IDs, which went well but the sighting I started with on Monday was the same one that I'll be continuing (and probably not finishing!) tomorrow! I spent most of Wednesday doing that same sighting too. By Wednesday afternoon I couldn't bear the thought of continuing the terrible sighting, and spent that starting the next one, but I'll have to go back to the previous one tomorrow...! As well as the IDs, I also did a sunrise photography shoot and the evening night drive. Sunrise shoot was fun, but unfortunately due to some of the volunteers going on the lion project at 7:15, we actually had to leave early and we missed the sun appearing over the horizon! Can't complain though - the time before sunrise can often be better than the sunrise itself! The night drive was as eventful as the last 3 weeks in terms of seeing hyena... Not one! We did however see a buffalo which was cool, and even better, an eland! I've only ever seen them in the distance, so although it was very dark and still difficult to see, it was awesome to see one closer up.

The Zambezi Gorge

Hyenas in the Vlei

Thursday started out with our second Game Count of the week, after the ranger that we booked for hyena tracking had to back out. It was almost as exciting as the last one! We went through Chamabondo Vlei this time, where we didn't see a huge number of animals, but when we did see them they were awesome! Elephants, zebras, warthogs, impalas, and giraffes are quite common sightings, but a steenbok and 3 spotted hyenas?! Not something you see often! The hyenas included 2 juveniles which were adorable - how can they be classed as a part of the ugly 5?! I have the same opinion for the warthogs, baboons and wildebeest, though I'll admit that the marabou storks are thoroughly deserving of their "Ugly 5" status...! Getting home from Game Count, I finally got what I've been asking for since August... I've jumped out of the car (about 4 feet) several times a day for the past 9 months, and have always managed to remain upright, but this time I landed awkwardly and ended up rather hard on my hands and knees! All anyone could comment on though, was the fact that my camera seemed to be more important than my face - automatically grabbed the camera and pulled it out of harms way, rather than catching myself! The afternoon was back to Elephants and Giraffe Research and we made our way back to Chamabondo, hoping to get another glimpse of the hyenas, but no luck. We found 2 groups of giraffes, and 3 groups of elephants right at the end, but they were in particularly awkward mood today - as soon as they heard us coming they were running off into the bushes, and all I ever saw was glimpses of backsides disappearing into the brush. We did get a great view of a Black-backed Jackal however. The sunset was fantastic, and the full moon even better!

Black-Backed Jackal

Watching the Hyenas in the grass

Friday was a day that we'd been looking forward to a lot but was slightly unfortunate... We had planned a full day game drive through the park, exploring some of the loops off of Zambezi Drive that we haven't been able to explore on shorter drives. However, even when on the normal sections of the road we barely saw anything, and on the loops themselves we saw even less. We had lunch by the river where we saw a hippo, and that day produced more kudu than I've ever seen in a day, but other than that there was a waterbuck, some giraffes, impala, warthogs, and nothing else. We ended up getting back much sooner than expected because we hadn't spent any time in one place to watch anything! We got back and I spent the afternoon moving into my new room - the new photography manager is arriving today and she's taking my old room, so at last after nearly 10 months, I'm finally going to have to move into a room that will require sharing! I've had a good run... The evening was also disappointing - we had planned to go to the Falls in the evening to see the full moon, which causes a lunar rainbow in the spray. Unfortunately, we were given the wrong information, and we arrived too late. We're going to try again tonight, but it's supposed to be cloudy... Never mind - maybe next month! 

Giraffe on our Game Drive

Our lunchtime view

The Full Moon over Chamabondo

And now finally for Saturday. We spent the morning first watering the seedlings that we planted back in late February when I first arrived in Zimbabwe. They don't seem to be doing brilliantly - they are so small still that people don't realise what they are, and they just get trampled as people walk along the side of the road. They are however still alive, and hopefully they will grow. We finished quickly, and from there we went along to the Rose of Charity Orphanage for the next couple of hours. We played with the kids for ages, and I've finally been able to play some volleyball again! The children were so cute, and loved playing with the volleyballs and as always, my camera! I have many photos of random objects now...!