Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge

During a trip to Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe, on the Mozambique-South Africa border, I visited Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge.

This is the stunning view from my room.

and voila!  My room.

I loved, loved, loved the lodge's stairs.

The pool.

Another guest relaxing.

Chilo Gorge was so incredibly relaxing.

And the lodge was beautiful.

Aren't the wall baskets lovely?

The view of the Save River.

For more information on the Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge.

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Playing Around (an ode to the Elephants)

While visiting Mana Pools National Park in northern Zimbabwe, I met this fellow.

And boy was he hilarious!  He was rolling around in the mud, cooling off and just so endearing.

It's almost like he's showing a little attitude!

While readers of the blog know I have a love of elephants, it's impossible not to heart them when they just face plant in the mud and roll around oblivious to the world.

Here's a bit of cooling off at the Kanga Camp in Mana Pools:

A lot of elephants in Zimbabwe, while drinking, rock their front leg back and forth.

Kanga's beautiful elephants (listen to those birds!!)

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Snapshots from the Zimbabwe roads...

While visiting Antelope Park near Gweru, Zimbabwe, this dog kept watch.

Leaving Antelope Park we managed to get stuck in this rainy season puddle.

See the paved road ahead?  Oh it was a tease..and quite embarrassing to fail so close to the road.

Kwekwe's welcome sign.  You may recognize Kwekwe if you are a watcher of The Colbert Report.

Stephen Colbert did a segment on Zimbabwe (Watch the spot here.)

The Air Zimbabwe museum...or if it's not a museum, it should be.  The airline's gone under way too many times. 

A mosque in Zimbabwe.  You don't see them remotely as much as you did in Senegal.

For some reason whenever I see the lights not working signs (and naturally they aren't working ever), 

I usually find it to be the funniest thing ever.

A street side market somewhere in Zimbabwe during the rainy season.

A storm's a coming!

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Snapshots from Botswana

Chobe National Park, Botswana, may be one of the loveliest places I've been on safari.

After taking a river safari on the Chobe River, you can take land safaris and see surreal images like this one of a giraffe.

A Chobe baboon.

The first time I've sighted a sable!

Unfortunately sables are becoming more and more rare in southern Africa.

An elephant leads her baby elephant toward the Chobe River.

Beautiful.

This elephant charged us.  It was the first time I've experienced a charge (but not the last time I have!)

and let me tell you, your heart can drop straight through your feet in no time flat!

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Oops....how did I forget this?

While working on this post on the elephants of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, 

I accidentally forgot to include this video.  I thought it was too lovely not to share:

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I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar.

While on safari in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe,

we came across these adorable lion cubs.

Just like [human] siblings, they were playing with each other...

although a bit more feisty than most [human] parents would like!

I am obsessed.  SO cute.

A male lion and one of the cubs.

A lioness.

The pride.

I love, love, love this cub's expression.

He was playing with the male and just looks like he's having fun.

A cub playing with a tree.

Easy to forget they will grow up to be deadly killers!

What is with the blog's title?  It's from Winston Churchill.

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A swimming parade of elephants...in Botswana!

While in the beautiful Chobe National Park in Botswana,

a Chobe River safari brought me to this wonderful moment:

A small herd of elephants crossing the Chobe River.

It was so amazing to watch the elephants cross the river.

Here's a peek:

The most breath taking part?  The way they help each other cross.

Part two of the crossing:

The elephants linked their trunks to tails and at times rested on the other elephants.

How beautiful are they?

Here they are coming out of the river:

Living in southern Africa has reaffirmed my love of elephants.  There really is no animal like them.

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