On the first day of our safari, we drove from Zambia across the border to Botswana! This is where we drove around in jeep-style safari vehicles on main roads, and throughout the national park. The very first animal we saw when arriving was a large male lion, sleeping under a tree (not pictured, that's a different lion). Then we saw a herd of beautiful antelope, called impala. As we ventured down the river, we saw our very first herd of elephants, but they were too far away to get good pictures of. At first we were so disappointed, until we saw all the elephants that awaited us later in the day. Toward the end of the day, we had the experience of a lifetime, and saw male and female lions stalk and chase a giraffe. Spoiler: the giraffe survived and the female lions were very upset with the male lions who messed it up. This was an absolutely incredible experience I would pay all the money in the world to see again.
After 3 long weeks, too many hours in a bus, and one more night at our original hotel in Lusaka, Zambia, we headed home. This time, we returned after one 4.5 hour flight, 17 hour red-eye, and 2 hour bus ride back to campus. Thankfully, we were able to spend our last night eating at the same fast-food place that we adored so much from the first night, and shopping in the mall, stocking up on Zambian snacks and candy. On our first flight, the plane was relatively empty so some of us (including myself) got to sit with friends, and a buffer seat in between us for extra room. The final flight felt like it took forever, but thankfully some of us were able to sleep and pass the time through conversation. Overall, this was certainly a once in a lifetime trip that I will never forget. I learned so much about myself and my world in a very unique setting that will help me greatly as I move forward into my first career. Thank you everyone for following along :)
After a long, 9-ish hour bus ride on bumpy roads, and multiple thunderstorms, we arrived at Victoria Falls! They provided polka-dot rain ponchos for us, and slightly rushed us through the tour as it was thundering almost the entire time. We thought we were 30 seconds from being down poured on at all times. We started by going around the back side of the falls, and then walked around the front by following a downhill path. We walked across a wooden bridge, where we got completely soaked from the spray resulting from the falls' aggressive rush of water. We saw baboons swinging from trees down below also! Overall, we all simply stared as much as possible, trying to mentally burn the image and sound of the falls in our brains forever.
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