Africa Day Nine - Ra Ikane River Cruise

When last we left off in Africa, we'd just barely made it across the Zimbabwe border and to our helicopter tour of the Victoria Falls. Our next stop was the Ra Ikane riverboat, which would take us for a cruise on the Zambezi above the falls. To be honest, I think ALL of us would have preferred to skip this little exercise. We were all exhausted, we hadn't eaten lunch, and we'd spent the day scurrying from one appointment to the next because of the van breakdown earlier. It had thrown our whole timetable off. If we had known that we wouldn't see anything on the Ra Ikane that we hadn't already seen with Gavin on the many boat tours we'd taken at Chobe Chilwero, we probably would have begged off the boat tour. At least I would have. *laughing* I'd have killed for a solid meal and a nap, at that point.

But, to the boat we went. I was feeling very dehydrated a bit heat-strokey, my head was killing me. We pulled into the parking lot and the first thing we saw was a small group of young men dressed in fake leopard skins, with drums.

They were singing, dancing, and hawking their CD, (visible on basket to left of photo.) Naturally, Sandy purchased one. He is 100% on board with supporting local entrepreneurial attempts. But first, the young men dragged most of us up there with them to dance. First they nabbed Nora.

Nora is a fantastic person, an amazing artist, and she freaks out about germs and uncleanliness more than anyone else I know. Anywhere. This is the same chick who used up every can of bug spray provided at each of the camps, basically bug-bombing every shelter she stayed in. The insect life of Africa probably still tell stories on dark, stormy nights, about The Great Death. And when they do, they are talking about Nora. So when these guys snagged her and put one of their headdresses on her head, I think we all expected her to be a little upset. But she was a good sport.

Yep, they got Nancy up there too...

And I'm sure it won't shock any of you that they also got Dakota, Harley, Wyatt, and yours truly to dance as well. Sandy, on the other hand, refused. Pansy.

Well. Once they had sold their CD to Sandy...(I wonder where that CD went)...we got onto the Ra Ikane. It felt like we were on that boat for an eternity. Indeed, my notes on the subject are quite intense. Thank all the little gods on Mount Olympus, however, they FED us! Granted, it was only finger food, (crocodile fingers, potatoes, itsy bitsy curried chicken pot pies, and small pieces of bread with a mushroom cream sauce on top), but it was still food, which we hadn't seen since breakfast. And breakfast felt like it had been a very, very long time ago. There was also a high tea with tiny scones and cream. That food was utterly, utterly necessary. My notebook reads: "Food. Most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me."

This is the face of a woman who is considering killing and eating everyone on the boat.

At that point, they all looked like walking roast chickens.

And there was wildlife!

Crocodile. You were DELICIOUS.

Mmm. A darter, or Anhinga.

We saw a lot of hippos. And I finally got a photograph of something I'd wanted to catch the entire trip - very often the hippo calves will stand on their mother's back while she feeds. So when the mother hippo kicks off the bottom and rises to the surface again, first the baby's head breaks, and then hers follows.

Here the baby's head breaks the surface of the water first...above

And then the mother's appears.

Some of the wildlife was wilder than others: Sandy, me, Gavin

I confess to a totally unhealthy obsession with the darters. They're awesome looking. I took an unhealthy number of photos of them. So believe me when I tell you that the following photos are the tip of a vast darter-photography iceberg.

The behavior common to the African Darter, as displayed above, is due to the fact that the feathers of the darter contain no oil. They aren't waterproof. This makes it less buoyant, which makes it a better diver and improves its hunting abilities, but it also makes it possible for the bird to become waterlogged. So after diving it must dry out its feathers for insulation and flight purposes.

Some of the sights we saw along the riverbank reminded us that we were in a country that had been torn by war not so very long ago.

"---- No Entry

Danger

Unexploded Mines"

At one point, the air around the boat was FULL of dragonflies!

Victoria Falls Spume

"I see, a bad moon rising..."

As the full moon began to rise above the horizon, and the sun to set, we remembered that we had a date this evening with Victoria Falls - our first feet-on-the-ground look at the falls themselves, and hopefully...the elusive Lunar Rainbow.

So we had to hurry back to the hotel, change our clothing, and pile BACK into the van for yet another excursion - and before dinner! But first - another African sunset.