Our three week trip to Africa started in Frankfurt, Germany, where we paused for two days to straighten out our body clocks.  Most Americans think of Frankfort as a place to change planes or to go to a business conference, but we discovered it was a delightful destination in itself.  Frankfurters had created a river walk along the Main long before San Antonio ever thought of it.  From our elegant hotel, the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, we could walk to the Römberg, the historical heart of the city, cross the Iron Bridge, visit the museums and stroll along the river or stop to eat at an outdoor restaurant. 

Our next stop was Johannesburg, South Africa, where we were pampered at the Westcliff Hotel, built on a site so steep that vans come by your door every ten minutes to take you to the dining room, office or other parts of the property.  We visited the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage museum and archeological site comprised of a dozen dolomite limestone caves containing the fossilized remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, hominids, then journeyed on to Soweto Township.  Nelson Mandela’s original house, where he lived before he was sent to prison, is now a museum.  We were able to drive by the homes of Winnie Mandela and Bishop Tutu, before our visit to the Hector Peterson Memorial, a museum dedicated to the first person to die in the Soweto Uprising.

Then it was back in the air to travel to Botswana, our real destination.  We chose Botswana because it is a stable country with an enlightened safari program that protects the wildlife and environment by placing limits on the number of tourists in a camp.  Our travel agency, Expert Africa, scheduled us for three days at each of three safari camps operated by Wilderness Safaris, finishing with two days at Livingston, Zambia, to see Victoria Falls. 

Chitabe Camp.  The first things you notice when climbing out of the small commuter plane in the Okavango Delta are the flat sandy terrain, interspersed with termite mounds and low vegetation.  The termite mounds are huge and are important to the ecology of area, serving as lookout posts for animals searching for prey or predators, the starting point for island formation in the wet areas, as well as homes for their builders and other animals who burrow in after the termites leave.  Our August visit was in the winter dry season, but in summer, the rains and the rivers flowing in from the north flood the delta, bringing new life, but making the trails hard to traverse. 

True, this was tent camping, but with electricity, flush toilets, indoor and outdoor showers, housekeeping, good food and excellent service.  But, we were in the bush.  One night we woke up to the sound of an elephant pulling branches off the trees right outside our tent window.  The next morning the walkway was full of screeching baboons and a vervet monkey kept peering down from the roof, checking to see if we forgot to latch the door to our tent.  We weren’t allowed to go to or from our tent in the dark without an escort. 

The routine was the same at all the Wilderness Safari camps.  Wake up at 6:00 a.m., a breakfast snack at 6:30 and into the Landrovers at 7:00 a.m.  We were back at the camp in time for an 11:00 a.m. brunch, then relaxed on our own until teatime at 3:30 before our next excursion at 4:00.  It got dark around 6:30, so we had time to see nocturnal animals before getting back for an 8:00 p.m. dinner. Our guide at Chitabe, Lazarus, was a native Botswanan who grew up in the bush, spoke excellent English and had been trained to be a guide, so he was a fountain of knowledge about the animals, the terrain and the geology of the area. 

While several charged us repeatedly, trumpeting in warning, their ears flared and feet kicking dust in anger, the others surrounded the babies, some of whom were only two months old.  Their cries attracted other elephants who came running from a distance to help out.  According to Lazarus, elephants can communicate over great distances at a low decibel level that we, for the most part, can’t hear. 

The first night, just as we stopped for sundowners (drinks and snacks while we watched the sunset), we were startled by a lion’s roar just a few yards away.  We hurriedly packed up and quickly found two male lions lying in the grass.  The dominant one would roar every few minutes just to let any prowling males know that this was his territory.  At Chitabe, we saw a large variety of animals…zebra, giraffe, impala, tsessabe, wildebeest, leopard, jackels and many more, including a pack of wild dogs, one of the most endangered animal species in Africa.  At every camp there were birds everywhere, from giant ostriches to tiny bee-eaters, reminding us of how few birds we have left at home.

Little Vumbura.  This is a water camp, on an island, accessible only by boat.  The first night we had a sundown boat cruise, following the channels through the beautiful papyrus plants where hippos and elephants are often sighted.  By day, we boated to the Landrovers for our wildlife search.  Our guide, Matt, a South African, showed us how to track lions, explained how islands form around the termite mounds and introduced us to a mother/daughter pair of female lions, who were just waking up to go hunting.  We saw sable antelope and a cheetah and watched a saddle-billed stork open snail shells with its specialized beak.  We watched two young bull elephants scuffle to determine who would be dominant and once, a baby elephant, around a year old who had been feeding with its mother and sister, turned and charged at us, trumpeting in warning.  Just practicing, I guess.  His mother didn’t even look up.  Our last morning, we took a mokoro ride through the shallow reeds.  A mokoro is a very shallow canoe poled through the water by a man standing in the rear.  We found tiny frogs clinging to the reeds who live on mosquitoes and other insects.  The water was clear enough to see tilapia fish digging holes in the mud for their eggs.  Both males and females guard the nest and stay with the babies, teaching them to swim and eat before going out on their own.  Another species of fish holds its babies in its mouth to keep them safe.

Savuti.  Savuti Camp seemed very dry after Little Vumbura.  The river changed course this year, so we had to drive to the other side of the concession to see hippos, crocodiles and buffalo.  A pack of hyenas had a kill in the thicket and we watched as two of them, who had stolen a big piece of meat, searched frantically for a good place to hide their prize for later, unable to decide whether to dig a hole or put it in the water.  The river here forms the boundary with Zambia and, once, off in the distance we saw an enormous herd of elephants splashing across the border.  Our guide, July, said they know that they are safe in Botswana.  One night on our way back to camp we spotted a mother porcupine followed by her baby, both with their quills standing out in alarm.  At night, when the guide would flash a spotlight around the bush surrounding the trail, the number of eyes that reflected back was amazing.  African wild cats and other small predators were busy catching rodents and other prey.

There was a big watering hole in front of our tent that attracted animals, sometimes in herds and sometimes alone, to drink then go on their way.  Sitting there on our deck, we could see how individual the animals were.  Some elephants were cautious in their approach, others splashed right in.  Some swirled the water with their trunk before drinking.  Others blew bubbles or sprayed themselves to cool off.

Livingston, Zambia. Our Tongabezi Lodge cottage on the banks of the Zambezi River came with a pod of hippos a few yards from our front door.  Fourteen or fifteen in number, they faced each other, partially submerged, all day, calling out loudly every so often in what sounded like a guffawing laugh.  Every cottage comes with a personal valet who wakes you in the morning with hot coffee, tends your room, does your laundry, helps set up your excursions, and escorts you back at night after dinner.  When you arrive hot and sweaty from viewing the falls in the late afternoon, he has your candlelit bubble bath ready and waiting. A person could get used to this. 

We visited Mosi-O-Tunya National Park and were lucky enough to see the last two white rhinos in Zambia.  There used to be more, but poachers brought them down to two animals, who now have their own human bodyguards following them around. 

The highlight of Livingston, of course, is Victoria Falls, named by explorer David Livingstone for Queen Victoria.  We went to Livingstone Island and climbed over the rocks to the very edge of the main falls and took a walking tour of the Eastern Cataract, where we watched bungee jumpers fall from the Victoria Falls Bridge, but the falls are so vast that they are difficult to comprehend from any vantage point on the ground.  The only solution was to take a microlight ride over the falls, a fitting finish to our African venture before starting our 30+ hour trip home.