Day Two - Victoria Falls & Lion Encounter

With a full day to explore and a proper night's rest, I went for breakfast and grabbed some literature on some activities to consider. First, would be Victoria Falls, located in the Zambezi river and dividing Zambia and Zimbabwe. David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer, named the falls after Queen Victoria back in 1855 when he viewed them from what is now Livingstone Island. The indigenous name is Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates to "the cloud that thunders," and is also where the beer gets its name. While neither the highest nor widest falls in the world, it is considered the largest, based on the combined height and width which forms the largest sheet of falling water anywhere.

The native name is appropriate, as the falls do indeed thunder down; creating a huge mist that is often like walking through the rainstorm. While it causes one to become quite drenched, it also creates many rainbows on a sunny day, making for some nice photos. The falls are truly and impressive and unique sight. The closest thing I had experienced prior was Niagara Falls in the US and Canada, which is roughly half the size of Victoria.

Victoria Falls (Click to Enlarge)	Victoria Falls (Click to Enlarge)	Victoria Falls (Click to Enlarge)

For the afternoon, I would visit a lion rehabilitation project, which turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the trip. The extensive project is an attempt to reverse the declining population of Lions in Africa. For the first two years of their life, the Lions are raised in a protective environment, with humans replacing the dominant members of their pride, as they safely learn to eventually hunt the prey they encounter on daily walks.

Petting a Young Female Lion (Click to Enlarge)	Walking with the Lions (Click to Enlarge)	Young Lions Play Fighting (Click to Enlarge)

In the nest stage, all human contact is removed, yet the lions are monitored closely as they develop a natural social pride and hone their hunting skills with natural wildlife prey. I the third stage, the competing species such as hyena are added to the mix and their environment expanded to at least 10,000 acres. In this stage the lions will also reproduce. The final stage is a release of the pride into the wild.

Back at the lodge I had dinner and drinks, chatting with some locals and travelers alike. A group of Zambians were fresh off the aptly named booze cruise and loudly chanting Zambian football songs in anticipation of the defense of the African Cup of Nations title from 2012. We had a few more drinks before eventually calling it a night.

 

Day Three