| Dumlang (hello
in Setswana dialect)
2009 is here and hopefully it has begun well for everyone!
Swimming on the edge of Victoria Falls with its well-earned title
as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was one of the most exhilarating
highlights of my life!
This was only part of an amazing trip with my father to Zambia and
Botswana, which included a trip to the Selinda Reserve in the Linyati
region of Botswana. After a seven year hiatus … it was time
to surprise my dear friend Steve Kgwatalala, resident guide at Zarafa,
Selinda’s spectacular new lodge. And from the
Gorilla news: I am currently in Uganda for my
first trip of 2009. Hopefully I will get to see one of the four
new babies who were born towards the end of 2008. Twins for the
Nkuringo Family, while Mubare and Rushegura both welcomed one infant
each.
Gosiame (goodbye)
 |
moment
we stepped off that plane, it was just like the old days in the company
of Steve the bush genius, Ishmael & Julia and all the wonderful
people who make the Selinda such a special place to visit.
Six leopards in two days, wild dogs hunting, exceptional tracking,
a wildebeest giving birth, herds of elephant, spectacular birdlife
- who says December is a dull month in the bush?
VICTORIA FALLS FACT FILE:
| • |
David Livingstone viewed the
Mosi-Oa Tunia
(the Smoke that thunders) from Livingstone Island on the
16th November 1855. |
| • |
It was the Toka Leya Tribe who
paddled David Livingstone some 800 km down the mighty Zambezi
to reach the Falls, but the Kololo under Chief Sekeletu showed
him the
actual Falls. |
| • |
The Falls are at their peak
during the months of April & May when around ½ a
million cubic liters of water flow per second compared to
20,000 cubic liters per second which flow during the dry
peak. (Sept - Dec) |
| • |
The total length of the Zambezi
River, from its source in the north west of Zambia to the
Indian Ocean in the east (Mwinelunga) is 2,700 km. |
| • |
To find out what a “dish
bona” means, you will have to visit Steve at Zarafa… |
* All pictures copyright Lisa Marsden |
