Our day started with a blood red sunrise and an introduction to the camps Cheetah named Sylvester over breakfast (I will say more about Sylvester in tomorrows entry). Then it was off on our days activities. Not surprisingly the first event of the day was a visit to the famous Victoria Falls, US$30 entry for foreigners. The falls themselves were hard to photograph as the falling water creates a large mist cloud that partially obscures the entire area. That same mist creates an entirely different micro climate within 20 meters of the falls. Close to the falls the vegetation is almost tropical yet outside that zone the place is very dry, talcum power dust, yellow dry grass and bare soil.

Another aspect of the falls I found interesting was the land form. I expected the falls to be the result of the river flowing off a plateau to a lower leveled region. But that is not the case. The waters of the Zambezi River that form the falls flow across the top of a plateau above the falls and then fall into a very steep narrow canyon at the falls but the land all around is still at the same level. After the falls the Zambezi continues to flow in the narrow canyon.

After the falls visit we walked to a place the locals call the Lookout as I was scheduled to experience one of the local "adventures", a thing called the gorge swing. The concept is pretty simple. A rope is suspended from the middle of a wire cable that stretches all the way across the Zambezi Gorge. One stands on the edge of the gorge and is connected to that rope via a complicated set of harnesses. Then one simply jumps into the gorge. After a period of free fall the rope tightens and swings the victim out into the middle of the gorge. Thereafter a powerful winch lifts the victim back to the launch site. What a rush, I would love to find an opportunity to do something like it again.

Why did I do this; because my son did it a few years back and I am still trying to prove I am not getting old.

Back at camp we polished off a quick lunch and then took a short walk to the local wallowing hole to meet the camps elephant family up close. As you can see from the photos we got some personal attention from them. Feeding them by hand allowed us to see their amazing trunks in operation. The tip of the trunk is like a pair of lips and they have the same level of dexterity in those "lips" that humans have with their thumb and forefinger. In addition between the lips they have the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner. So they are very capable at grasping things.

Next on the agenda was an attempt to see a Rhinoceros. There are a few of these creatures at the Stanley and Livingstone Private Reserve which is quite close to Elephant Camp and arrangements had been made for us to make a quick visit between lunch-elephants and our long scheduled afternoon appointment with some lions. As it turned out, lack of time, wrong time of the day (the hot part when the Rhinos hide in the scrub) and some unfortunate delays meant that we only got a glimpse of a Rhinos bum as it disappeared into the bush.

Which brings us to our Lion Walk. This is a tourist activity put on by a non profit organization called ALERT as a means of raising money for their Lion breading and "release into the wild program". The program starts by breeding lion cubs from an existing group of adult lions. These cubs are introduced to humans and are used for the early period of their lives as part of the Walk with the lions tourist attraction. Once the cubs become too old for the "walk" they are placed in a human-free environment and allowed to breed. The cubs from that second breeding are not introduced to humans but are raised in a close to natural environment. The plan is that this second round of cubs will as adults be suitable for releasing into the wild.

During the walk our small group of 8 got to be close to firstly a pair of 7 month old cubs and then a pair of 17 month old adolescent lionesses. As you can see from the photos it really was an "up close and personal" experience.