Travels With Maria

Zambia 2022

Safari Vehicles

Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the rainy season mud, treacherous in sandy soil. The typical safari vehicle starts out as a Toyota Land Cruiser which is a rough, tough pickup truck, rear wheel drive that can convert to 4 wheel drive. On older versions you have to get out of the truck and manually lock the front hubs when you shift to 4wd.  There is an African industry that converts this workhorse into a…
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Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

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To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

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Safari Vehicles

Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the rainy season mud, treacherous in sandy soil. The typical safari vehicle starts out as a Toyota Land Cruiser which is a rough, tough pickup truck, rear wheel drive that can convert to 4 wheel drive. On older versions you have to get out of the truck and manually lock the front hubs when you shift to 4wd.  There is an African industry that converts this workhorse into a…
More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Safari Vehicles

Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the rainy season mud, treacherous in sandy soil. The typical safari vehicle starts out as a Toyota Land Cruiser which is a rough, tough pickup truck, rear wheel drive that can convert to 4 wheel drive. On older versions you have to get out of the truck and manually lock the front hubs when you shift to 4wd.  There is an African industry that converts this workhorse into a…
More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More