Part two finally

Happy Monday readers, it is a fresh month and I am in the mood to say something super corny like, 'it is yours to make just as awesome as you want.' Done now but, I do pray this post finds you well. I am going to try and jump back into the hair-raising adventures of yours truly on the mighty Chobe River! Not such a great start… but, I am going for it anyway.

Shortly after arriving at the truly fabulous lodge there on the Chobe waterfront we hopped a little boat with our guide, Charles. He was a younger however, knowledgeable fella who had been working as a navigator on this little river for three years or so. Before he ever steeped toward the captain’s position at the rear (stern, avast matey) on the little craft he pulled out a small trunk of sorts and declared it tea time. He prepared a cup of coffee for me. The instant ‘Ricoffy’ that they have here is not for the faint of heart or for those that are more accustomed to that beautiful fresh French Press b, who’s camp I would have previously identified with but, I am making it just fine, I’m not really a complainer. A mug of hot coffee and a muffin/biscuit/scone-esque thing staved off any hunger. After providing the four of us our beverage of choice (tea or coffee) Charlie took the helm and we were off to see what was to be seen.

You have already seen a bit of the elephants. This happen to be our very first encounter on the river. These great beasts were so neat to watch. We cruised on and came upon a pod of hippos around which the driver gave liberal space as they are quite defensive and not shy about starting, or rather ending, a fight. The island that I had discussed before supported the Cape Buffalo, a number of elephants, water monitors, crocs, and a huge variety of birds.

We saw all there was there to be seen on the river and flew back to the lodge for lunch. The food there was delicious. They had these little deep fried balls of vegetables with a little soy on them that were so tasty but, it did not hold a candle to the grilled impala. That is one most thoroughly palatable critter. It was amazingly tender and was made up of perfectly lean scrumptiousness (makes me miss the whitetail venison back home, I am glad that you bagged one pop). Top that off with my skittish but, deliberate scoop of chocolate avocado ice cream and it was a delightfully well rounded day of ‘firsts’ for me.

Our driver whom had taken care of us earlier returned and we hung on for a look at the more inland animals. We had our fingers crossed for a lion but, I am afraid that will have to wait for next time. I did get to see zebra, a few little black-faced gibbon, giraffe, sable, kudu, impala (so close you could touch), more elephants, a set of fisher eagles (word is that they mate for life, pretty neat) and a bunch of baboons.

In a way, I wish that I could space out all of these really neat sightings. Of course, I am very glad that I got to see them all and I know that there are many more to be seen but, it feels as if I was too spread out to fully appreciate each fantastic creature for all that it was worth. It was a tremendously concentrated reserve of animals and there was rarely a time when I did not have some uniquely African wildlife to watch.

The dusk crept closer and it was time to go back to the ferry before it quit running for the day. Not that it would have been the worst thing to get trapped in Botswana for a few days but, this was not the plan and Teresa likes plans, a lot (sounds like some other people I know, haha). I found myself secretly hoping that an elephant would take a run at the land cruiser or that a hippo would just give us a little bump but, I reluctantly report that it was an extremely safe adventure in every way, I mean other than that ice cream.

This past week back was a busy one. I say that as if the others are not however, this week was that week when you dread opening Outlook because you are one hundred percent confident that there will be at least three bombs in there awaiting diffusion. I am happy to have no major disasters to report. There is a bit a work to be done this weekend yet but, not now, not now.

Getting a bit of studying done for the GRE, the analytical portion can surprise you without the right tactics to tackle it. I am not saying that as one who has learned the tactics but, as one who is now more aware of another arena that will require some preparation.

I spent this afternoon at Kilimanjaro Cafe studying for the GRE and writing the majority of this blog post. I met a couple of Belgian chicks that were on their way to Livingstone. It was fun to be able to explain a bit about the falls to them and talk to someone that knows less about this place than I do now.

Sincerely hopeful that you are all off to a fantastic week and that you all have a travel agent website bookmarked for planning that trip to Vic Falls. I miss you all and am doing my best to live the day here and now and look forward to walking off that plane at George Bush Intercontinental.