Motel 2 (not even Motel 6!)

What I usually say about hotel rooms is "All I want is a clean room, good bed and clean bathroom". Well, that's what we got this trip. We exited the interstate to find a hotel for the night. Realized we had stopped in this town before. (I really need to get a notebook to keep track of hotels, gas stops and restaurants between here and Nashville) We had been here in June stopped at one hotel but when I saw a posted note about mosquitos I quickly left and we went to the hotel next door. Road construction was underway in June and as far as I could tell, there had been NO headway made since then! Because of the construction, we missed the entrance to the hotel we previously stayed in so decided to go over the overpass to get dinner at McDonalds. Missed the entrance to McD's because of construction. Turned in to make a U-turn and saw a motel right there. Looked passable so we gave it a try. My first clue should have been the several posted signs in the lobby "NO REFUNDS. NO EXCEPTIONS" but we got a room anyway. Well! The paint scheme was, uh, "interesting" to say the least. I'm not sure how it was done but it looked like the walls were painted with a roller that "textured" the paint to give them a camoflague look. The sink area was beige/lilac. Bedroom was beige/lilac/black (really cheery!) Bathroom walls were "tomato soup".

Of course, the painters didn't remove the wall outlets or light switch covers so they were very well hidden!! TV set worked well enough - probably about a 23". No coffee maker. Shampoo was little individual packets. The lights over the sink area were about as bright as a night light. In fact we left them on AS a night light! Every time I walked to the sink, I reached to turn on the light only to realize the light WAS on! We had two double beds and the bedspreads didn't match. The phone was labled in marker Room #242 which was OK, except for the fact we were in Room 125. Also the "information" on the phone was handwritten and had gotten wet and the ink ran so it was unreadable!

However, the beds were firm, and we did have hot water! And the cost was $42 (which explains a lot)

About 5 miles before the exit to the town we passed a brand new Super 8 Motel. Hopefully I'll remember that if we need to stop in that vicinity again!

We just had a good laugh. Ben thinks we have stayed in worse before. I can't remember that far back!

I will have to say that on the way to Nashville, we stayed at a new Comfort Suites and it was a huge room, VERY nice, and the bedspreads did match. However, it was not $42! LOL

"You have not because you asked not"

One of my life verses now! Of course, I had prayed about our trip - for God's favor on travel and all we would see - that He would show us his most amazing creations. The first camp we saw lion paw prints but no lions. The second camp was more of a "nature camp" so no lions. Chamu, our trip leader, had told us of all the poaching in Africa - rhinos are practically extinct. Male lions are being killed (the lion population is low because when a male is killed, the new male who takes over has to kill all the cubs to insure the female's loyalty to him. Females produce 4-6 cubs every two years, so if would take a long time to recover) Anyway, everyone was talking about lions, especially us, so one day in the second camp, Chamu asked me "If you don't see any lions, will it still be a great trip?" I said "No. It will be a good trip but not a great trip." We had already seen several animals who are endangered and seldom seen, specifically wild dogs that are extremely rare to see but I told Chamu that, right or wrong, Americans equate Africa with lions and if I went home and said I had not seen lions, everyone would be shocked. Well, obviously later we saw lions and a good many of them.

However, the point of all this is that after two camps without lions, I began really praying that God would show us His lions. I then added leopards (which are also very rare to see as they travel alone and are hard to spot). THEN, praying "you have not because you ask not", I asked to see a Rhino!!

In our last camp, we started the morning drive out spotting a female lion under a tree. She walked into the bush and the guide said there was a male there too but all we could see were ears and a tail now and then. You have to have your eyes closed on safari if you don't want to see elephants and cape buffalo - they are everywhere!!! Leopards and Rhinos complete the Big Five (leopard, rhino, lion, buffalo and elephant) Some travelers see all five, some don't. So, on our afternoon game drive, our guide gets a transmission that a leopard has been spotted in a tree but he is very far away (several kilometers) so we are told to "hold on tight" (realize we are in an open land rover on rough, sandy roads). Off we fly - sometimes at 40K on roads meant for 10-20K. We found the leopard sitting on a large branch, out in the open, just posing for us. He was beautiful!!!



After about 20 minutes, he climbed down. We then drove off for our "Sundowner" where we "say goodbye" to the sun. On the way, another transmission came in saying a rhino was in our camp!!! So we u-turned and sped off again over the same tracks racing back to camp. By the time we got there it was dark. The guides followed the rhino's tracks and using night spotlights found the rhino. Using the lights and binoculars everyone was able to see the rhino!! No pictures of course :-(

When we got back to camp for dinner, it hit us that we had seen the Big Five - all in one day!!!! Our guide said that had happened to him only three times in eight years!!!

We indeed serve a Mighty God!!!

Lions

See the next post for a description of these "action shots"

Here she comes

She coming my way?

Flirting



Aftermath


Here she comes again.

Uh oh! Elephants. Think I'll just go over here.

Back to the bush

Whoa!!!

Getting out of Dodge

Here We are Again

Well, who would think that a town as big as Victoria Falls would have interent problems for three days? But then again, we are in Africa. Apparently the town also had electrical outages. At least the hotel had generators. Since my last post we have had three days of great experiences. Will post about one of them in another post but on one day we discovered a female with a male lying nearby. They were in the mating season and apparently mate every 15 minutes for several days. Seriously! Anyway as we sat there the female got up and went and "flirted"" with the male. Finally the male got up and mated with her. We were right there - probably 30 feet away. Obviously got great pictures. But of course, I forgot I had video on my camera. *Sigh* Anyway the funniest thing was their reactions after the 20 second mating. Pictures will follow.17 minutes later they were starting again but elephants came along and chased (yes, chased) the male lion off. Amazing!!! Well, the next post will have to wait because apparently we are boarding our plane very early. Not sure what's up with that. It's 8:25 and the flight is to leave at 9:20 so they are loading us. Guess I should say we are in Johannesburg headed for London and then on to DFW tomorrow.

9 days in bush gone - 3 more to go

I am on Internet earlier than expected because we have a layover in Victoria Falls waiting for the next flight to our last lodge. I wanted to take the last shuttle to the next camp just so I could use the Internet and let you all know we are safe and sound. Having a great time. This post will be just a jumble of thoughts. The BEST thing that has happened so far is that we got stuck in mud in the Delta at night time!! Last night actually. But first let me tell you that the first day at Wilderness Camp, we started out at 6:00 for an early game drive and at 6:30 we had a broken fan belt - they came and fixed that and we were off again only to have the gears off and the fan belt broke again. This time they brought another vehicle. Only 2 hours lost but that was OK because we finally got to see lions!! Seven in all. Two groups of 3 females and 1 male! Woo! Hoo! Lions are scarce in this part of Africa. Anyway, later on we had to stop and have the guide change a tire. Exciting times! Then last evening, we went for our Sundowner drive where we drive a while then stop and see the sundown. In the Delta you drive on sand and cross various strips of water - some shallow, some deep. Crossing one of those, we got stuck!! Water was about waist deep - up to the highest step getting into the Land Rover. It was just beginning to get dark. The guide called for a rescue vehicle who started out for us and THEY had a flat tire!! By the time it was totally dark they arrived - tried to pull us out with a rope but that didn't work so they backed another vehicle to us and we transferred over and drove back to camp. What an experience! We all loved it!! Highlight of the trip!! We have seen elephants, giraffes, millions of Impala, hippos, all kinds of birds, zebras, other antelope, some endangered species and wild dogs which are very scarce and few get to see. We have stayed in various lodges, some luxurious down to the tented cabin we just came from in Wilderness. Nine days with generator electricity which works most of the time but is not on all of the time, no newspapers, internet, phones, TV (except African TV which is a campfire) ....Has been great but we have NO idea what is going on in the world. This morning we rose at 5:30 and left camp at 6:30 - drove an hour in the Land Rover in light rain to the landing strip (NOT an airport), Ben and I were on the 5 seater Cessna (flown by a woman) to the Kasane Airport (real airport). From there we borded a bus to the Botswana border - got off the bus and did the passport thing - back on the bus for ONE minute to Zimbabwe - off the bus for the visa thing. Then we walked across the border to get on another bus (new rules - busses can't cross border) Then an hour ride to Victoria Falls. We will then take an hour flight in a small plane possibly a 3-seater (!) to a landing strip and another hour ride in land rover to our camp. THIS camp has rooms so remote they will DRIVE us to our rooms at night. Before now, we have been walked to our rooms by a guide because of the danger of wild animals. The other morning, we got up to find hippo tracks RIGHT outside our door. One night the guide heard an elephant right near our room. Fun times!! Oh yeah, I forgot, not only will we be driven to our room but the guards will all be armed while escorting us to our lodging - maybe tents, maybe cabins. If we rise before dawn, we have to wait for a guard to come escort us to the lodge. This is the WILD!! We are having a great time. Everyone on the tour has been very nice and we all get along. Of course, there are your odd balls but nothing we can't live with :-) And to some WE may be the odd balls! We have been hot in the daytime - one day suffocatingly so - sometimes at night we have to use a blanket because everything is open air. We do have fans in the room if the electricity is working and on! :-) I think that will hold you for now. We will be back in Victoria Falls in three days and will post again.

We Have Arrived in Africa

We are visiting with friends of friends this afternoon who are showing us Johannesburg and have graciously allowed me to use their Internet connecton. All we have done so far is fly. Planes have been on time. We got a few hours of sleep in London on the day room. Long flight last night - 10 hours. Ben didn't get any sleep - I got about 3 hours. These friends are keeping us talking and awake this afternoon. Then we can sleep tonight and maybe get on a regular schedule by tomorrow. Unless there is internet in the "bush" you will next hear from us when we reach Victoria Falls.

Family Reunion