Zambia!

 My mom is here for 4 months on a 90 day tourist visa. So at some point we knew that she would have to leave the country and then come back in to re-start her 90 day window.  We decided to take a quick 4 night trip to Zambia as it's really close and we have always wanted to see Victoria Falls. It turned out to be an AMAZING trip! There are 2 hotels that are inside the park itself and this is great because you can walk to the falls whenever you want, as often as you want, and not have to re-pay park fees. There is a path to the falls, it takes about 10 minutes to get there, and there are all kinds of wild animals that you may encounter on the way. We checked in, got settled and took our first trip to the falls and on our way we saw this super-cute baby zebra!

 We stopped for a while to watch him and for a little bit he was actually blocking the path! You have to give the zebras some good space as they will kick you but man were they fun to watch!

 Then we got our first glimpse of the falls. I thought they would be beautiful but I was blown away by how absolutely spectacular they are!

 And for the first time since Asia, we were accosted by locals that wanted their picture taken with us! My new friends....

 The spray creates amazing rainbows anytime the sun is out!

 We thought we were looking at all of it, but then we went around the corner and saw how big the falls really are! It's like a HUGE crack in the ground that goes on forever! The main part is way off in the distance in this picture, where you can see all the spray.

 We were totally blow away!

 There was so much wildlife around too... these baboons were casing the area trying to steal food.

 On the way back to the resort we saw our little friend again!

 We had some really nice traditional African food at dinner. Big stews full of kudu, crocodile, beef and chicken. Awesome African spices...Yum!

 The next day we got up early to check out the falls in morning light. The rainbows were all on the other side of the falls!

 We had a really mellow pool day. Later on Jeff and I took a walk and found these guys. We were a little nervous as giraffes can KILL LIONS by kicking them in the head. So we walked veeeery slowly past chanting "good giraffe... nice giraffe... " under our breath.

 At the sister resort to ours monkeys were everywhere!

 They have blue nuts!

 The sprinklers were on and this crew was having a blast playing in the spray.

 Later back at the pool we had a bunch of zebra that came up REALLY close to us!

 Before dinner Jeff and I took a walk and saw these amazing birds all weaving their nests:

Heading to another wonderful African meal:

 Totally stuffed and happy:

 On our middle day I got in a training run. These suckers were so involved with their mutual grooming session that they refused to get off the path!

Then we had a river safari. The guide made us the best G&T's EVER! Nothing like mixing fast watercraft, wild animals and alcohol... what could possibly go wrong?

We were about to find out. We spotted 2 bull elephants having a massive throw-down on the riverbank:

 Our guide went flying in toward them in the boat and just got closer and closer! There was no killing the engine and floating in slowly to just observe and not disturb, oh no! He went barreling towards those elephants. And then the biggest one charged us!

 My heart was pounding! It was a bluff charge and he stopped half way but we had no way of knowing that he was going to do that. He could have flipped our boat over easily if he had wanted to! Jeff and I were like "Wow... that just happened." Ted thought it was cool, Grammy saw the whole thing through the lens of her very potent G&T but poor Sasha was hysterical and cried whenever we saw animals for the rest of the safari. Next we saw a large group of Hippo:

 Grammy's first hippo encounter!

 We did NOT mess with these guys... most dangerous animals in Africa...

 Sasha enjoying her river safari:

 We saw some hippo on land during the day which is pretty rare:

 Then we pulled up onto an island, our guides set up this table and put out an AMAZING picnic for us! We had beef and chicken, a huge fruit plate, veggies wine and soda. The food was great but the location was what made it such a special meal that I will always remember.

 "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale..."

 We got some good footage in Zambia but the river footage is by far the best. CLICK HERE to watch.
They dropped us off at our sister resort and we took a path back to our resort (no small feat after a few of those G&T's). We saw a bunch of animals. I am always amazed at how casually they approach humans and wild animals in Africa. Oh... keep an eye out eh? We'll do that....

That night we had another wonderful dinner. With these 2 at the table it's always going to be special. They keep us grounded...

 On the morning of our last full day Jeff and I did an "Under the Spray" tour. You hike down into the canyon, raft up to the falls, rowing like mad against the current, and then get to go UNDER the falls! Jeff was clearly ready to go:

 Paddled up some fast water and made it to the base of the falls:

We actually swam across these pools and went under that section of the falls. It was like a physical assault. We were under there and all of a sudden the water hitting us increased and it was hard to stay on your feet! Jeff turned to me and yelled "THIS IS UNSAFE!!!" With a huge grin on his face. Yeah, if a tree branch came over the falls and you were underneath them you would pretty much be toast...

 How we got past the steepest parts of the gorge:

 Later that day we saw the cutest group of Monkeys right outside our room. There were several babies and one albino. Great footage of them in the video...

 Can you ever have TOO many pictures of blue Monkey nuts?!? I think not...

 On our very last night Mom and I did the Royal Livingston Express Dinner train. This old Steam train from the 1920's has been totally restored and takes you to the falls and back and then you get to eat a wonderful 5 course meal in the dining car. It was very Downton Abbey... First we got a history talk:

 Then I explored the train a bit:

 Shot of the train in motion:

 On the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe we got to get out and walk around a bit. Then the sun set and we all headed back into the train for dinner. Magical...

 On our very last morning, Jeff and I signed up for the "Over the Spray" tour. We took a boat to the edge of the falls:

 And then jumped into the "Devil's Pool" and swam to the edge! In the video you can really see how terrifying it is... the water was going past, trying to pull you with it and then it just plunged over the side!

 Best pic of the trip I think:

 It was crazy and amazing and it was cool to see the falls from the other side.

 Afterward we headed into a safari tent and had a nice little mini- breakfast and coffee. It was the perfect capper on a short but INCREDIBLE trip to Zambia!