Birthday Roadtrip!! To Livingstone I presume.

So, Monday I celebrated my 36^th birthday. And on top of getting a really cool hat I was blessed with a weekend to travel with my family to one of the most amazing places on the planet.

Livingstone, Zambia is about a 7 hour drive south of Lusaka where the Zambezi River creates the natural border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was named after the famed Scottish missionary/explorer David Livingstone who was the first non-African to set eyes on what is today Victoria Falls. About 10 years later he went inland again, from Zanzibar along established slave trade routes with the purpose of sharing the Gospel with people who had never heard of Jesus, finding the source of the Nile and working to end the slave trade,. Today he is one of the few European explorers who is still respected by modern-day Africans.

Victoria Falls in a word was stunning. We had brought light rain jackets to ward off any spray but it was like standing in a full on shower so you really have no hope of staying dry. Super fun! Makes it hard to take pictures though. As you walk along the viewing area you come to a deep gorge and “Knife Edge Bridge” which is what it sounds like but probably safer. When you’re close to the falls there’s just tons of mist and spray and 70% of the time you don’t see anything and then everything clears and, wow! “Majestic” can be a pretty cheesy word but this is a place where I would use it unreservedly. Majestic, stunning, yeah. “Wow” might be the best word.

There was also a nearby game park. It was pretty small but perfect for us to do an early morning and late afternoon game drive. Some of the gamekeepers with their AK’s even took us on foot to see the rhinos. What a great birthday! Enjoy the pics

Redbilled Hornbill

Warthog (Pumba?)

Heather and the kids eating lunch in the car because of........

The nearby hippo wanting to join us. Cowards!

An impala marking it's territory. One of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

Buffalo herd.

You lookin at me?

Wildebeast

This is a mama rhino with a 2 year old baby.

Baboon.

Victoria Falls. Seventh natural wonder of the world. Beautiful.

You can just make out the bridge through the mist that connects Zambia to Zimbabwe.

A leguan. I almost hit him with the car. Oops!

More impala. I had impala stew the first night in Livingstone. Yum!

If you're familiar with Go Diego Go you may know about symbiotic friends.

A bit of light afternoon grooming.

This scene was great. It was like grandpa baboon got stuck babysitting again.

 So while putting this all together we left Abigail and Josiah playing in the nearby dirt pile. After a while Abigail had a plastic cup and I could hear her making frequent trips to the water tap behind the house. I knew what was coming. Sure enough...

Good times. But I think I'll invest in a deworming treatment before leaving the continent.