ZIMBABWE: SHOPPING, A WALKING SAFARI, AND OUR LAST SUNDOWNER

One of the things this camp had that we hadn't seen in other camps was a small gift shop. Most of the items for sale were made by local women as part of the "Womans Craft Initiative." Since wwe were a day away from heading home, we decided to splurge just a little bit.

The first thing that caught my eye were these beaded placemats.  Our dinner table the previous night had been set with similar ones, and I had said to Bob, "Now, if they sold THESE in the gift shop, I would buy them!"  I bought eight!

The water pitchers on our table had also been covered with these clever nets edged with beads to give them enough weight to keep the bugs out. I bought four.

In addition to Nelson Mandela, I had become obsessed with guinea fowl on this trip. Lucky for me, there were guinea fowl salad servers for sale! (These were obviously not made by the "womans" cooperative, but I think everything else was.)

Bob's obsession was painted dogs, and lucky for him, they had these small beaded painted dogs, perfect for the bookshelf in his home office.

On a trip to Ghana several years ago, I bought some beads that were made from recycled glass bottles and look like the long green and blue ones on this poster:

The gift shop in Hwange had some beads quite different than those but still made by local women from melted bottles:

We took our haul back to our tent where I was ready to nap, but Bob decided if he was going to take an outdoor shower, the warmest part of the day was the best time to do it.

We spent an hour or so after that resting in our room before heading back to the lodge for 3:30 tea, which, besides tea, included coffee, soft drinks, an open bar (of course), and a full range of hors d'oeuvres. As usual, so much revolved around a glass of wine or a gin and tonic.

At about 4:00 we embarked on a "walking safari" with our guide Theo, who carried a loaded, very heavy game rifle. He had an additional eight bullets in a holder on the butt of the gun. It was an impressive weapon!

Like our other safari camps, there was a watering hole, most likely man-made, right next to camp. It's the way they draw animals near so that guests can enjoy them with minimal effort.  Apparently 4:00 is the baboons' time to use the facility:

There must have been four or five dozen baboons at the watering hole:

The following photos may look like the ones I took from a safari vehicle, but it was quite a different experience to be on ground level with the animals, and it was very refreshing to be out walking rather than sitting in a vehicle.

We learned about the different grasses and a few methods of seed dispersal, such as the baboons sifting through elephant dung, which is dry and odorless (which is good considering how much there is of it) for seeds to eat, or animals brushing against plants and carrying seeds on their skin, or birds or the wind carrying seeds, etc.

Theo pointed out many different kinds of animal footprints, challenging us to guess which animal they belonged to. (We couldn't.)  I think this is a giraffe print:

. . . and these are elephant prints:

These are aardvark holes. Aardvarks are some of the best diggers in the animal kingdom:

We enjoyed a stroll through a strangely silent acacia forest. Not even birds were chirping.

Theo pointed out a mongoose nest made in a vacated termite mount. He saw a skittish mongoose on it, so we walked up to it and looked at its many entrance holes, but the mongoose had disappeared. Theo and I walked noisily away, trying to trick the mongooses (mongeese?) into thinking we had all gone, but leaving Bob frozen at the site. After two or three minutes, one mongoose popped its head out just far enough to see Bob standing around the corner, and then pulled his head quickly back in, a lot like the internet game of "Whack-a-Mole." Bob, who had been camera-ready, missed it:

We saw a couple of cute vervet monkeys, a species we had seen in two other places: East Africa and the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean: 

Years ago we were traveling with our children in Olympic National Park in the state of Washington. It was evening and we saw some elk out in a field.  We got quietly out of our car and sat in some tall grass at the edge of the woods, watching the majestic animals. Gradually, more elk began to walk out of the trees, one by one, until there were several in the field. Then they began bugling to each other. It was magical.

We had the African version of that experience on this walk.  Our guide pointed out a giraffe on the far side of the field we were walking next to. It is always fun to see these amazing animals, and we watched him for a while and he stared back at us. Giraffes have very strong vision, and I think he must have seen us.

But then, suddenly, another giraffe walked out of the acacia forest:

He walked over to join his buddy.

. . . and we saw another giraffe behind him:

Giraffe after giraffe walked out of the bushes . . .

There were other animals hanging out with the giraffes, including zebras . . .

. . . and wildebeests:

They were fairly spread out, so I don't have a photo with all of them in it, but there were about thirty. It was incredible!

The sun was sinking lower on the horizon, and so we had to move on. We watched a large secretary bird land on the slender branches of an acacia tree:

. . . pause . . .

. . . and then take off again. They are such huge birds; it's fun to see them fly:

Another tree was full of weaver bird nests:

I climbed up on one of the taller termite mounds, and then Bob climbed up behind me and scared me. I thought he was a giant termite.

We met up with the folks who had been on a vehicle safari while we were out walking. The staff members were preparing a sundowner. A dozen chairs were set up in an arc facing the sunset. There was ample alcohol, as usual, as well as a bountiful spread of chicken drumsticks and four or five other appetizers.

The sunset, like all African sunsets we have seen, was definitely a WOW! moment:

As an added bonus, two black-footed cats were walking around our party just outside the light. We could see them, but it was too dark for a photo. They look just like large house cats and are very rare.