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Sept 4-19 2019 Botswana, South Africa & Zambia Tour

cathyandsteve

We booked this trip through CruiseOne in October 2017. We booked our air in October 2018 for premium economy on American and British air .

Because we are a Tauck repeat customer, we were given a free night pre tour at the royal Livingstone in Zambia.

We began our journey at 10 am Wednesday September 4. We drove to the airport and checked in. Our bags weighed 46 pounds each...we packed the tauck duffle bags in them as well as a very small lightweight back pack for me to use on the safari portion of the trip. Steve's back pack weighed 10 pounds and Steve's camera bag weighed 13 pounds and my camera bag weighed 4 pounds. We were able to check the bags all the way through and we went to the admiral’s club. We were able to watch the last flight of an MD80 take off for retirement.

We boarded the flight for Chicago. The flight leaving Chicago was our first time on a 787. It left two hours late. We arrived in London and sat in the admiral’s club for the next 10 hours. We took a shower to freshen up a bit. The showers were very nice. We boarded the flight for Johannesburg south Africa on British Airways. To date…this 11-hour flight was our longest and by the time we got to Africa we were exhausted. We arrived in Johannesburg and walked around looking at different shops. We decide to use our priority pass card and went to a quaint little lounge… Mashonzha lounge upstairs. I had water and steve had coffee. It was very nice. We were leaving out of gate B19. We were taken to the plane by a bus. We boarded the next flight for Livingstone. The flight took 1 hour 25 minutes. We got off the plane and went into immigration. There were 3 different lines and of course the line for the KAZA visa was HUGE. We waited well over an hour…we finally got our visa, paid $100 cash and went outside to find the TAUCK representative. He was there but informed us the other TAUCK customers had already left and he would call another van to come and get us. We waited about 15 minutes. The van arrived loaded our things and we started the drive to the royal Livingstone. We were terribly disappointed that we were not transported to the resort by boat. It was one of the things we had looked so forward too. We did get to see the city of Livingstone and we passed a herd of elephants standing beneath shade trees.

We arrived at the resort, were given fresh cool towels and a lovely drink. We checked in and were taken to room 5058. The room is nice…we have a king bed, a lovely bathroom with a tub and shower and a balcony. The view is pretty good... the river is a bit obstructed but nice none the less. I unpacked and separated the items that go into the duffel bags. We got cleaned up and were going to walk around taking photos… and as we came down the stairs, we were greeted by a small herd of zebras…one was a baby. That certainly brought a smile to our tired faces.

We then went to the Kubu bar overlooking the Zambezi river. We had some wonderful South African wine, watched the hippos’ surface, had a gorgeous sunset, ate crocodile spring rolls, and watched the mist of Victoria falls. We took a few photos, came back to the room and crashed…. tired but happy.

Saturday sept 7, We had booked an animal encounter online prior to our trip. At 6:30 we were picked up and taken to the Mukuni big 5. We checked in and paid…. $540 for the three encounters and $65 for the video. We first went to visit the Cheetahs. There were two…Lily and Magaisa. They had on harnesses and were very well behaved. We pet them and then got to walk with them. the cheetah team included, Haggai, Melvin, Peter and Lee. Next, we went to ride the elephants. We rode Boniface then afterwards we fed the elephants, Tata, Temba, Mouse, Sondela and Boniface. Elephant handlers on duty that day were, Brighton, Guessman and Fanfred.

Then we went to visit the lions…there were 4 of them 3 girls, Lorretta, Anna, and Zdenka and a boy named Eric. We pet them and then we walked with them. Lion walk team comprised of Goodson, Nicholas, Christian and Lunda. We bought the video and the trainers were very good to take our photos with our camera.

We came back to the royal Livingstone and then walked to Zimbabwe. A young man named John, offered his services as a guide and we took him up on it. Somehow, we felt safer with him in charge. We went through immigration then crossed the bridge. We saw all kinds of baboons. We paid John $5. We came back to the royal Livingstone shared a cheeseburger for lunch. At 3:00, we met our fellow Tauck travelers. Chris Mancini, our guide gave us instructions. Then we rode a bus to the 1920’s train and rode the train back to Zimbabwe and to Victoria falls. Unfortunately, it has been a very dry year and the falls were almost dry. We got back on board the train and had a 5-course dinner. We got back to the hotel about 9:30. We had a very full but fun day.

Sunday September 8, we had breakfast at 6:30 then we boarded a bus to go on a tour of Victoria Falls. Along the way we saw mongoose, baboons, monkeys, zebra and giraffes. The Falls were very disappointing. The lack of rain and the use of the falls for electricity left them a trickle. We boarded the bus to go on a walking safari in the rhino sanctuary in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. We saw 10 Rhino including a baby. Then we went on a driving safari. We saw impalas, kudu, waterbucks, wildebeest, giraffes, zebra, and warthogs. We drove to the David Livingston resort where we boarded the lady Livingston boat and we had a lunch cruise on the Zambezi river. We went through the Moremi game reserve. We saw elephants, hippos, warthogs and crocodiles. We came back to the Livingstone resort and had dinner at 6:30. It was another busy yet wonderful day. Every trip we take…I have a cry day…days of complete and utter astonishment and joy that I am here. Today was that day…but I have a feeling there will be more days like today.

Monday sept 9, we got up this morning and had breakfast then boarded the bus for the border to Botswana. We took a ferry across the Zambezi river, then got onto buses that took us to a motorboat on the Chobe river in the Okavango delta. They also served lunch. This cruise was even better than the one the day before. Then we took the bus to the Kasane airport. We were greeted by Giraffes as we drove into the Belmond Khwai River lodge. We checked in and were assigned room 14. Our room is magnificent…the view is incredible. Our driver Mr. T took us on a game drive, and we saw hyenas, elephants, giraffes, zebra…so many! and then we had dinner back at the lodge.

Tuesday sept 10, We got up this morning at 5:30 to go on a safari at 6:30. Today we saw wild dogs and lions and a leopard. There are so many amazing animals! We stopped for a coffee break in the bush next to hippos! We went back to the lodge for lunch and went on an afternoon safari. We stopped for sundowners, then we had dinner at a BOMA.

Wednesday September 11, we got up at 5:30 and went on a 6:30 safari. We saw 5 hyenas with babies and 2 leopards. We then had lunch. We flew to our next camp…Belmond eagle island lodge. We were assigned room 4. The room is simply amazing. As we were sitting on the deck looking at the view, an elephant decided to eat the palm tree next to the deck. I could have touched him!!! We went on a mokoro ride on the little pond. We had sundowners then dinner and retired to our rooms…. another day of amazing sights.

Comments

AlanS

cathyandsteve, 8:49PM, The elephant came to eat the palm tree next to our tent. I literally could have reached out and touched him. He was aware of us but completely uninterested.

If its ears were out and not flapping (ear flapping is a cooling technique) it was not "completely uninterested"!!!

When an elephant puts its ears out like "your friend" there, it means they are wary or even annoyed. According to our guide and one internet source, "The time to be wary is when an elephant turns and faces you head on, with its ears extended and held out at its sides (normally with its head held high and trunk and tusks raised). The elephant is trying to make itself look bigger and intimidate you." We saw that a couple of times when our vehicles got too close. Ears out is sometimes combined with trumpeting- we saw that too!. Another source said, "A young elephant in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique threatens Poole’s vehicle, from which she is observing him. He spreads his ears in an exaggerated way to intimidate her. Typically in such an aggressive stance, an elephant will hold its head well above its shoulders and, with tusks lifted, direct its gaze at its adversary."

Since your elephant hadn't raised its head, it may have only been mildly annoyed and wasn't being too aggressive.

For example, here is a photo I took when an elephant wandered into the Khwai River Camp and noticed me:

AlanS

I'm just saying- while they often appear docile and friendly, unlike the elephants at Mikuni, this one was wild so should have been treated with respect and caution, especially since it was so close and already exhibiting typical annoyed and aggressive body language (I'm not making this stuff up. Google "elephant body language") Obviously it wanted to eat the palm leaves more than it was concerned about your presence. But make no mistake, it WAS NOT happy that you were there! It can be dangerous to try to read its mind, instead read its body language!

Fantastic photo though!

British

My comment was also one of concern. At the same camp there was an elephant right by our tent when we were returning after dinner one night. We walked back to the main area and a couple of the guides had us wait while they tried to get him away. At Camp Kalahari, a huge male elephant was foraging right at the bottom of the steps of a single female member of our group. There was nothing anyone could do until he decided to move away which took several hours. She was marooned in the tent all that time. We have been in several dodgy encounters with elephants on game drives. One was by a Marula tree, elephants love marula fruit, they were eating the fallen ones. So they were somewhat fermented. The elephant was clearly drunk and objected strongly to our presence and we had to hightail out of there.
We spend probably hundreds of hours watching wildlife documentaries and are familiar with the behaviors of many animals now and Alan is correct. I’ve also read ‘The Elephant Whisperer’ this year and it’s made me really wary of them. I am sure the camp people warned us to keep away from them. At The Royal Livingstone, the same year we stayed there, a Tauck guest was very badly injured by a giraffe that they got too near to. These are wild animals.

British

As usual, I have something to say
Luggage. Tauck asks that your bag weigh no more than 44lbs, not least because it’s in consideration of the people they employ who have to lug our bags around. I have never ever even needed to take a bag weighing more than that anywhere I have been, dressy or not and I do take tons of clothes with me.
I can’t remember specifically about the Botswana tour because now you are confusing me, but certainly on the K and T even the one we are about to take, the duffels MUST weigh no more than 33 lbs, this if for safety on the small planes
I can only give you my experience on five tours to Africa, hardly anybody dressed up on the tours we were on.

Hats are up to you. They are not mandatory or a fashion statement, they are suggested to protect your skin from the harsh equatorial sun. Every morning winter or summer but especially summer, I wear a wide brimmed hat to protect myself when I take my walk, my husband always wears a hat too. . I guess that’s why we stay looking so young. 😀😀😀I’ve known people literally keel over with shock when my husband in particular tells people how old his children are.
Liquids on the flights... I don’t remember saying anything about liquid restrictions. I have travelled to several countries where there are still no restrictions on liquids, not just in African small plane situations. The only bigger liquids we tend to take are unsurprisingly sunscreen at times, rather than several smaller containers, and I now prefer a certain hair conditioner and take a bottle a little bigger than 100 mls and anyway some places don’t provide conditioner.
I’m sorry if I was one of the people who misled you, it was not my intention.

AlanS

Do you want to organize my photos- still not done from May! Actually, I did have about 15 printed on canvas, but haven't hung them yet.

It sounds like it was a wonderful trip and learning experience.

I'd just like to add a few comments about clothes. It is hard to predict what others in your group will wear, but the best guidance is to know the environment and climate and choose clothes that you will be comfortable wearing and that includes social comfort. We are very casual dressers- not the country club set, so wear what we wear and others be damned. Unless yo plan future trips together, you'll likely never see your fellow travelers again. We chose a mix of earth toned safari clothes because of the dust and dirt and cooling properties of the fabric, not to look like Bwana and Jane. I was a Naval Officer for close to 30 years and often had to wear a(n uncomfortable) hat- I hate to wear hats, even ball caps- never, ever wore or will wear one of those (don't ask me how I feel about people wearing ball caps in restaurants!). But, since the grass on my roof is getting very thin and the African sun is intense, especially at the higher altitudes in the Serengeti and Mara where the air is thin and clear, I took and wore a hat. (I did so at Disney the past July too) I have fair skin, so went with the typical Tilley with wide brim because I also wanted to protect my face and neck. As you discovered, it is all about what you are comfortable wearing. Oh, and I almost NEVER wear shoes with open toes- you really don't want to see my toes! One more comment about safari clothes- you will likely take multiple Africa trips and maybe a Peru & Galapagos tour where safari clothes also work well,so they are not a one-time deal. We don't have real winters in NC and don't ski, so are carefully considering what clothes we will need to buy for our upcoming Yellowstone in Winter trip. We might even check out what winter clothes are available at the various thrift shops!

So where to next?

TauckTim

Hey cathyandsteve - I was just checking our spam filter, and it looks like a couple of your posts had accidentally gotten flagged as spam by the system. This was the computer doing it, not anyone in the forums. I unflagged them, which is why more photos just appeared up above. If you don't want them in the thread now, please feel free to delete.

-Tim

BSP51

Cathysteve Nice photos. Thanks for posting.

taxare

Great pictures Cathy and thanks for your review. It's always terrific when Tauck travelers share their experiences to help others prepare for their adventures. I believe we will be getting off the Voyager in Auckland when you get on, Bon Voyage!

Virginia_Travelers

Awesome pictures! Africa is so incredible. Thanks for sharing.

BKMD

Great pics!

Derek

cathyandsteve Your recap of Eagle Island and the One & Only in Cape Town brought back a flood of memories. I remember all the places your mentioned including the Cape Wheel. Yes the Botswana, Zambia and South Africa Safari was memorable and an over the top experience.

You mentioned having lunch on the One and Only patio…. fish and chips and wine. It reminded me of the best wine tasting I have ever experienced which was at the One and Only on our last afternoon prior to the farewell reception and dinner. What was very unusual is that I was the only person at the wine tasting. When I arrived at the restaurant the maitre d greeted me by name as I walked in and escorted me to a private table for one preset for a formal wine tasting with multiple wine glasses and a place setting for assorted appetizers and introduced me to the sommelier. I questioned the maitre d why the table of one and he indicated that their scheduled wine tastings are set based on the number of hotel guests who request reservations. The sommelier proceeded with his welcome comments and explained that I would be testing 4 wines and paired appetizers. He then set 4 bottles of wine on the table and a waiter served 4 appetizers, he spoke about each wine and the suggested appetizer. For one hour I enjoyed sampling 4 South Africa wines. When the tasting was done the maitre d thanked me for coming and noted that our Tauck dinner reservations were at 7:00 PM that evening. When I returned for dinner the sommelier came over to the table with the 4 remaining open bottles to share with those seated at the table. The One and Only was a terrific hotel, the best rooms and with classic service for all of its guests.

BKMD

cahtyandsteve - Wonder what kind of camera/lens you used? Also, how far were you from that hyena closeup pic in the 2:42 post and the leopard closeup in the 2:21 post? Again, great pics!

AlanS

Fantastic shots! How much post processing do you typically do?

Did you know what this is and how you can tell?

British

Wonderful photos Cathy. On our most recent trip to Africa, Gorilla trekking, our cameras were the most sophisticating in the group and they are just simple SLR ones. Most had cell phones. On our most recent wildlife tour, Borneo, again we were the only ones with what I call real cameras. A couple had cell phones and the others took no photos. They were all Experienced world Travelers. We love to document that kind of travel though obviously not as seriously as you. When we go to Europe, we don’t often make photo books from those trips, to us it is just Europe. We did take photos in Iceland and made a book. We generally buy colorful guidebooks to document the trips otherwise and keep the Tauck booklets for future reference. Tauck did not always send those booklets, it was just a lot of loose paperwork. I know some people make notes in the booklets, time spent at destinations and food they ate, I’m not that disciplined but grateful to those that are here on the forum if I want to learn more info for a tour.

mil

Lovely pictures! I cannot wait!

AlanS

cathyandsteve
7:02PM edited 7:22PM

No I do not recognize your photo.

Well, as you can see it is an African elephant but there is something special about this fellow.

travel maven

I am an avid Amateur Photographer and have always used a DSLR camera and I enjoy the entire process of using such a camera including which settings to use and all aspects that would affect the outcome of the finished image including post processing. In addition, I always shoot in RAW format because I want to capture all the image data recorded by the camera sensor versus using a JPG compressed file that automatically applies a number of tweaks to the image to save space. It is a hobby for me and I enjoy it very much. I do have to say that I attended a local exhibition a couple of years ago where a professional photographer had taken several images which were displayed with a minimum size of 16 x 20 and some even larger. Some images were taken with an DSLR and others with an I-Phone. I couldn't tell the difference from afar. Cell phones have become so advanced in recent years that it makes for a good case to ditch your heavy SLR and multitude of lenses for an easy to use, light weight alternative. I understand why it is so popular these days. On a Photographic Trip to Cuba in 2016, we had many tour members who strictly used their cell phones and I was amazed at the quality of the images. I have used both my DSLR and Cell Phone to take images during my travels, but I mostly use my cell phone to take videos which are exceptional. In come cases, my cell phones images contained some of my favorite shots, especially inside buildings where I would have to fiddle too much with the DSLR settings in order to admit enough light for a well exposed shot. A cell phone is a much better choice for a quick grab shot. Regardless, I think the most important point is that it is not the type of equipment you use to capture an image, it is the skill of the photographer to utilize the basic skills of photography including composition and light.

JohnS

cathyandsteve
12:51PM
Can someone tell me the name of this animal....I have forgotten.

Looks like a Gazelle.

Smiling Sam

More specifically, perhaps an Orix Gazelle.

British

It looks like an Oryx but the wrong color. I think there is another one that looks very like it but I just can’t remember the name. Where did you take the picture, that might help with identification

TravelGuy

Maybe a Defassa Waterbuck?

TravelGuy

Thomson’s Gazelle?

TravelGuy

A Grant’s Gazelle is the largest of the gazelles.

British

The facial marking is different, so I don’t think it is a color variation of an Oryx. I really do remembered seeing a nature show with something that looked very similarly to an oryx but can’t even think of how to google it. It’s not any of the other suggestions And it’s not a Bongo either. I’ll keep looking for a bit longer, I’ve only had one glass of wine.

British

It’s definitely a Sable Antelope. I, trying to cut and paste a photograph

Sable Antelope
Male Sable Antelope or Matsetsi (Hippotragus niger niger)
Male Sable Antelope or Matsetsi (Hippotragus niger niger)
Female Sable Antelopes or Matsetsi (Hippotragus niger niger)
Female Sable Antelopes or Matsetsi (Hippotragus niger niger)
The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger) inhabits wooded savannah in East Africa south of Kenya, and in Southern Africa. Bulls are black and cows are mainly brown but occasionally black. They have vertical white lines on the face, white stomach, white inner thighs and buttocks. Both sexes have horns. These large antelope have a shoulder height of (135 cm) and an average weight of 510 lb (230 kg). Hippotragus niger niger, the southern sable or black sable (also known as the Matsetsi, south-Zambian and common sable) is regarded as the “typical” sable, as it was the first to be described and named in 1838. Often referred to as the black sable because it tends to have the darkest coat, this subspecies occurs south of the Zambezi River, particularly in northern Botswana and in large numbers in the Matsetsi valley of Zimbabwe, but is also found in South Africa. In South Africa, most of the commercial sable farmers crossed their Matsetsi sables (indigenous to South Africa) with western Zambian sables in the hope to move nearer to the nearly extinct giant sable (that was larger with bigger horns). Currently, only about 15% pure Matsetsi sables are thought to exist in South Africa. The Matsetsi sable population in Zimbabwe is only 450 (down from 24,000 in 1994). The sable population in South Africa is about 7,000 (commercial and in reserves). Therefore, the Matsetsi sable population apparently is less than 1,500 and declining. Fortunately, most of the sables in the reserves are pure Matsetsi sables. I saw these in South Africa on a private reserve which makes a profit selling Sable antelope for $8000 per animal.

British

I think the angle of your photo makes the horns look straighter than they actually are. You know, I may have seen some in the wild now I think about it. Unlike you, I find it hard trolling through all my photos the way you have to do it here. I find them on my iPad and then lose them on tje thumbnail you have to do to add photos

Sealord

That looks like a retirement flight with the AA and the water cannon ... been there, done that, on my last flight to LAX. Ours was on a centerfield taxiway shortly after landing. I warned the people about it so they would not think we were on fire and try to evacuate. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of it. It was really quite touching ... each controller we had going into LA had a few words and a nice ‘goodbye’. I don’t know how they set that up. It just occurred to me, that since it looks like the airplane is outbound, that might have been a retirement ‘washdown’ for the MD-80 aircraft.