Guess What?

Two lines is positive.

One line is negative.

I'm  ....

But, first

...

do you even know what you are looking at?

That little gadget is every woman, man, and child's friend.  The rapid malaria test.  Just placing a droplet of blood on the device can determine if you have malaria within minutes.  Any guesses as to what my results were?

I'm still malaria free. 

Yeah!

Just a little malaria FYI for you.  Even if that test comes up negative, the lab still checks your blood for the parasite and as of late even your platelet and white blood cell count.  When it comes to malaria (and other diseases) we don't mess around here.  If you have a fever, it's best to go to a medical facility for a malaria test.  If caught early, malaria is very treatable.  People half act as if they have the flu when they have malaria and for the most part, it's no biggie. The government even provides treatment medication free of charge.  In fact, it is even advised to carry treatment meds when you leave a malaria containing country.  Just about every non-malaria country will practically let you die before they acknowledge that you have the disease and then they often don't have the meds readily available to treat malaria, including the good old USA. 

It is also important to remember that malaria is somewhat preventable.  Take the preventative malaria meds if you can, sleep under a net, and wear mosquito repellent when you're exposed.  I've also found that running fans helps keep mosquitos away, too. 

With all of that said, Africa is still an amazing place and I highly recommend you visit it if you can.  Don't let my ramblings scare you.  Malaria is preventable and treatable.  :)

Victoria Falls: River Boarding The Zambezi River

At this point I am starting to sound like a bragger with the craziness I've been up to, but... consider these posts as exposing you to things that you never thought were possible.

With that said,  my second most highly recommended adventure to do while in Victoria Falls is to river board and white water raft the Zambezi River.

Catch that?  River boarding. I'll pause to suggest you watch the video below before I continue.

Talk about an amazing rush. I am not the best swimmer so I stuck with the class 2 and 3 rapids. Most of the time, I wasn't quite riding the rapids but holding a boogie board at my side while being tossed around the Zambezi, but it was still awesome. Along the way you could hop back in the river raft whenever you wanted and when we encountered a small still patch of crocodile infested water, it was required.  The whole thing was a bit scary, but far less dangerous than surfing in the ocean.

This was the best rafting trip I have ever been on by far. Rafting, river boarding, cliff diving, and riding rapids sans raft or board - Amazing! Have I used amazing enough in my posts lately?

We didn't head out to Jungle Junction as the video recommends, but I've decided I should ride in a dug out canoe at some point.  If I ever make it out to Lake Malawi again, I think I can actually pull that off.

Click here to read more about my Victoria Falls trip.

Victoria Falls: Jumping Into a Waterfall

How does one get to jump into a waterfall - at the top AND not fall over the edge? 

Visit the beautiful Victoria Falls in Africa between September and December.  Personally, I recommend the Zambian side.

During the dry season the Zambezi River waters are relatively low.

So low that you can actually walk across most of the 1 km wide Upper Zambezi River.



This is where it gets interesting.  At the top of the falls an eddy current forms at Devil's pool.  The current flows upstream due to the geology of the river and actually appears to lack any current whatsoever. Translation:  if you jump into the river at this one spot, you won't be swept over the edge.  

So without further a due footage of the craziness that is Devil's Pool.

 

You may have noticed that I am not in the video.  Well, our group opted to have our pictures taken instead, which you can view in this post.  But, the above video captures the awesomeness of what we did.  We were all a bit surprised the eddy current wasn't more obvious.  Which makes you wonder how anyone ever figured it out in the first place.  Really, all that is between you and and a 100+ m drop is a couple of feet of rock.  Amazing! 

Victoria Falls: The Best Facebook Profile Pic Tutorial

Curious as to how one achieves a Facebook profile pic like this?

Step 1:  Travel to Livingstone, Zambia or Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe from September to December.  Personally, I recommend the Zambian side.  I know, this step is probably going to be your greatest obstacle, but Zambia not only has Victoria Falls but also has the best safari park in all of Africa.  Really, Zambia NEEDS to make it onto your bucket list.

Step 2:  Head out to Livingstone Island through the Royal Livingstone Hotel. Why?  Cuz hanging off the edge of Victoria Falls is an organized excursion that you pay for (and can be booked through any lodging).

Step 3:  Hop on a boat that ferries you out to Livingstone Island on the upper Zambezi River.  Note the spray from the falls and pray your boat engine works and has an anchor.  Just kidding (sorta, not really).

Step 4:  Enjoy the view.

Step 5:  Strike a pose.

The "giddy with excitement" pose.

 The "watch Felix, your guide, show you how to gently wade into Devil's Pool" pose.

The "watch your guide NOT jump over the edge" pose.

The "hey - the guide survived and I am soooo doing that" pose.

The "I would NEVER get to do this in the United States" pose.

The "I am not wasting another minute, I am jumping" pose.



The "this is the most awesome thing I've ever done" pose.

The "don't cha wish this was you, sucka" pose.



Step 6:  Shimmy to edge of Devil's Pool.

Take a peak.

Get a little closer.

Take a few deep breaths.

Over smile for the camera, cuz now there is even a rainbow.  Really!!!

Add in a dramatic pose.

Or, two.

This is living for all it's worth!



What?!  How?!  - That post is here.  Enjoy!

Click here to read more about my Victoria Falls trip.

If You Encounter An Elephant While Sleeping You Should ...

A.  rush to the screen of your tented cabin and exclaim how you wish you could post this on Facebook.
B.  repeatedly shoosh your well-meaning friend while cowering in your bed.
C.  turn on the lights to your tented cabin so you can get a better view of this rare event.
D.  probably none of the above.

Yeah - probably D.

My "seizing the excitement of the moment" friend chose option A.

I chose option B as it was clearly the only logical choice.  I didn't share the same confidence that the mesh tent walls or the genuine wood branches holding up our tented cabin were really a mighty force field. 

Our chalet neighbors, the questionably bravest of them all, responded by turning on their lights and noisily chatting about all the action.

According to the ancient African wisdom (a.k.a. common sense) of our guide, the most appropriate response is to be quiet, stay inside, and keep the lights out.  Luckily, our friends who were sleeping in an actual tent followed these simple rules.  Since elephants have a big schnauz, they know you are there, but you probably don't want to scare a mama and her calf so mumm's the word. 

However, if an elephant(s) had decided to knock down our mighty tented cabin we could have used our special, in suite, elephant whistle (it was really just a plain old whistle).  Well, other people had a whistle in their luxury accommodation; we would have had to utilize our vocal stylings.  After having listened to shrieking junior high girls for years, I know the perfect pitch to stop anything in its tracks.

Having experienced elephants running around outside our chalet and living to tell the tale, I would have to say that it was pretty amazing.  The elephants were so close we could hear them breathing.  One of them smacked a tree a couple of times and knocked down a coconut.  Both managed to shimmy their way through a narrow-ish opening, for an elephant, to even get their all access pass to the campers.  Impressive!

The only creatures that didn't make their way through that opening were the hippos.  Didn't see a one near our chalet.  Would have been pretty amazing if we had and probably would have involved a lot less shushing. 

So next time you're in Africa and encounter an elephant while sleeping, you know what to do. 

The Boat Safari

Breakfast with the baboons.

Believe it or not seeing the baboons and warthogs around the camp and listening to the singing of the hippos all night long wasn't even officially part of our safari adventures.  Needless to say I was awake at 5 am (in true form from my 10 year old going to Disney World self) as I was too excited to keep sleeping.  Had a little breakfast and enjoyed a nice leisurely cup of coffee and then it was finally time for the boat safari at 7:45 a.m. 

Swallow buidling its nest in our boat. -- Okay, I'll stop teasing.   Onto unique African wildlife. 

Our first elephant sighting of the day.

Fish eagle.

Look carefully at the log - sunbathing crocodile.

more crocodiles

hippos

More hippos.  Easily saw over 100 hippos in small family groups like these.

Hippos enjoy laying in shallow water and rest their heads on the rumps family members.

water buck - has an oily taste, so crocs aren't a fan

baboon

more wart hogs

impala

I might just be a bit giddy at this point.

Upper left - local village fishing poachers using their free mosquito nets as fishing nets.  Currently, fishing from a boat is illegal in this part of the Shire, so the poachers were attempting to hide somewhat near the reeds.  Local villagers can fish from the banks legally.

Boats formerly used by poachers.  Not exactly sure what happened to these boats, but crocodiles do hunt humans.  Large crocodiles will knock over small boats.  Poaching is dangerous on a variety of levels.

Lots of elephants.

From the boat, most of the pictures I have look similar to this.

Tomorrow I'll post about the evening game drive.  Lots of amazing pictures and a couple videos of the wildlife, especially the elephants.

But I'll leave you with one last preview.

My First Safari

Yes - I took this picture!

I had last week off and embraced the opportunity to go on my first African safari.  The day before I left I felt like I was ten again heading to Disney World for the first time. Last Wednesday my roommate and I headed to Camp Mvuu (hippo) in Liwonde National Park south of Lilongwe.  After five hours of dirt roads and dodging potholes, goats, and villagers, we arrived at the banks of the Shire River for our ferry to Camp Mvuu for some one of a kind and once in a lifetime fun for the next two days.

The boat dock.



Angel, our gracious and knowledgeable guide, shuttling us to our luxury accommodation.

 

Our "everything you could imagine an African safari luxury accommodation could be" - chalet (a.k.a  tented cabin)





  

Our chalet really added to the ambiance of being on an African safari in the middle of a national park but with the perks of hot water and electricity.

Unfortunately, the skeleton key hole you see above is not a novelty but still common to Malawi.

It still amazes me that these are used every time I see one.

 

My first wildlife sighting - a warthog.

After we got settled we watched the sun set and hundreds of bats flying around. 

Serene!  African sunsets are so amazing with all the pink hues.

Clear sky's!  We were lucky gals.

Dinner was a traditional African braai (BBQ).  Basically, a meat fest that included my indulgence in wild boar, not so much because of my highly adventurous spirit but because I haven't eaten much meat lately.   I didn't think twice about downing it, either.   Once again, making my outdoor sportsman dad proud.

A little live music.

A little dancing.

A little more dancing.

A little preview of tomorrow's boat safari post...stay tuned. 

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