We woke up around 5:30am and threw on some clothes for our morning walk. It wasn’t very cold in the evening, but it sure was cold in the morning. I woke up with 2 mosquito bites on my hands and arms. I don’t know if I got them during the evening safari or overnight but I better not get Malaria.
As we walked down to meet in the lobby for the morning walk everyone was watching an elephant eat some trees right next to the dining area. VERY CLOSE! Those animals eat the tops of the trees but they basically uproot the entire tree. One of the guides clapped his hands to scare off the elephant but the elephant was all too familiar with that prank so he played along and pretended to charge back. We all flinched and then everyone laughed and the elephant went on about its business.
For a walking safari, the park requires a guide and a man with a rifle to come along with us since we will be on foot. Before we left they explained to listen to all directions and do not make noise or run. Danger guided us through the park and he pointed out all the different poop we were seeing. Elephant dung is lighter than hippo dung because elephants usually eat dry trees while hippos only eat greens, so theirs is darker. Did you know if you burn elephant dung it’s supposed to help your headache? We also saw the dung of an elephant who was enjoying some Amarula because we saw the seeds.
On the evening safari everyone on the jeep noticed a very flowerily fragrance and we thought someone sprayed perfume. Turns out it was a flower called Jasmine that we walked by in the morning. I would love to look in the grocery store and see if they sell this type of fragrance- here it would be a great souvenir.
We saw lots of moneys and even an entire monkey family. We also saw warthogs and walked right past them. For a split second we thought they might charge us but thankfully they didn’t. We were just paranoid.
The walk was a little less than an hour and then we got back and had breakfast. Fruit salad (all safe), omelets, Canadian bacon, and muffins. We went to our chalet to change and pack up our stuff before the river safari. A group of girls weren’t feeling very well. Their stomachs were bothering them. Everyone had eaten the same food so we weren’t sure where the problem came from. People react differently. They were troopers and made it through the day and haven’t had any issues since.
I was really excited to sit in the front of the boat and just take the scenery in. We saw hundreds of hippos. We saw a herd of them on land and came up very close to them and watched them all jump into the water. It was very cool and I felt like we were watching National Geographic because it was wildlife in action!
We were driving by a tree and Lauren pointed out a snake in the trees. We don’t know how she spotted that but we went back and sure enough it was all coiled up and it was greenish. Danger didn’t know what type of snake it was, but he knew it was very poisonous.
Next we saw lots and lots of elephants. They were in the marsh area so our boat was able to pull up very close to them. We thought for a moment how cool it would be if they sprayed water on us, but then thought it would be inconvenient for our cameras and clothing. They were walking through the marsh minding their own business eating. Danger told us that elephants spent 18 hours out of the day eating. We commented that some of the elephants looked wrinkled and older and he told us elephants can live up to 65 years. The tame elephants you see in circuses are Indian elephants and no African elephants have been tamed. That makes these animals we are almost standing right in front of so much more unique. Apparently, the park is overcrowded with elephants and they can’t keep enough plants and trees growing to feed them all so they have started exporting the elephants. Two years ago they removed about 70 and last year they removed about 60 and there are still around 1,000 elephants in the park today.
I loved the river safaris best. I love being on the water even if we have to share it with some crocs and hippos. My dream safari was over and we were heading back to Annie’s Lodge. Charles is not a fan of the river safaris and Vandy didn’t want to participate either, so she stayed back with Charles. When we got on the bus, Charles turned to Dr. Kelly and said he was glad this year he wasn’t the only one scared of the water. He’s so cute! We were going to do some shopping at the venders in Liwonde and stop at the chief chair carvings on the side of the road so we planned to be back by around 4ish.
There is a lot of down time on this trip at night and we also spend a lot of time on the bus. So it’s not a bad idea to bring car games to play with a group! Mandy knew of some riddles and she had the whole bus playing along! It helped time go by.
We stopped at Liwonde and we had about 25 minutes before the advisers would start to gather us to get on the bus. Once we are on the bus, it’s about a 20 minutes process to bargain some more. It really is an art to buy from these vendors and be able to get a good deal. I don’t like to be rushed so I looked at everything. I got a wood carving of each animal we saw on the safari. And a couple little gifts for my family. Everything is overpriced and there’s a lot of masks and other type of things I don’t see any use for. Plus I only want animals that we’ve seen and a lot of things have giraffes and rhinos on them. I’ve learned the best thing to do is to make a friend with one vendor and buy from him. He will usually come down in price a lot and after you make a friendship with him it makes the souvenir more memorable. I thought it would be too stressful to go in there with a list of things I needed, so I only got something if it was a good deal and I liked it and didn’t have my heart set on anything. I got on the bus and then continued to shop out of the windows. That’s the most fun! One man had a drum and I thought it would be fun to get if I could get a good deal. I offered him 1,000 kwacha from the beginning and he kept refusing. Started off at 3,000 kwacha and I stood firm at my 1,000 kwacha. Charles started the engine and that set off more excitement. The vendors know this is their last chance and prices do go down significantly as we start to leave. My drum guy was being stubborn and wouldn’t go down. Since I didn’t need it, I wasn’t willing to go up. Charles moved forward a little to “fake leave” and then vendors ran forward trying to close deals. The drum guy wanted my backpack and/or something in it but the only thing I was willing to give away was my 2 mini permanent markers. He didn’t want those and was asking 1,500 kwacha now. Charles drove off a little bit further to the corner and finally my guy gave in and gave me the drum for 1,000 kwacha and two markers. I threw the markers out the window as we drove off. That’s how quick the exchange was! Exchanges were going on like that at each window and it was a blast! Charles went about a ½ mile and then pulled over so we could get settled after the adrenaline rush. What a good driver! Everyone was sitting on and around bags of goodies and half of us didn’t even know what we ended up with because everything was happening so quickly.
Our next stop was on the side of the road where they carve chief chairs. You can buy chief chairs anywhere but this is the actual location where they are carved and they are usually cheaper here. I had measured my suitcase but I knew I wanted a big one that wouldn’t fit so I didn’t let the measurements stop me. I found a couple that I liked but Krista helped me pick one out. I didn’t want one with giraffes since we didn’t see them. We sat in the chairs and they are actually pretty sturdy. We thought a handmade chair for 2,000 kwacha was a pretty good deal.
We made it back to Annie's Lodge and since we didn’t have lunch, Krista and I were ready for dinner early. We ordered chicken curry with mashed potatoes so it took a long time to boil the potatoes. You never know at Annie's how long your meal will take- so always be flexible.
As we were waiting Joe came over to visit with us. We told him all about our safari and he told us how sad he is that we are leaving soon. Joe brought over an envelope and said “ this is the whole Joe” and we were very confused but we opened the envelope to find Joe’s resume. It was very impressive. He is a manager and has a lot of experience working at hotels. He’s been at Annie’s lodge since 2000 and has moved up quite a bit.
After dinner we went to our room for a shower and to check if the Internet was working since Obottie was suppose to reset our account. Yay it worked!!! I haven’t had the Internet in a week, so I was ecstatic!!
Well, I had gotten the drum without really having a purpose for it since I don’t play, but as I started playing with it tonight, it turns out to be a lot of fun and I’m super excited!!
I had brought glycerin, and dish soap to make my own bubble juice for the kids and I was planning on doing that with the kids on Friday, so I wanted to make the juice tonight and try it out. I tried for hours and it’s making bubbles but not like it should and I have no idea what to add/change. Maybe letting it set overnight will work better.
Sarah and Lauren came to our room and we shared our watermelon from Macdonald outside on the porch. It was delicious!!!
Well, the Internet was short lived. I had bought my card 14 days ago so it expired tonight. I’m going to see if they can extend the expiration date since we weren’t able to use it the majority of the time.
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