Victoria Falls

The last week of our trip in Africa, we traveled to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  We stayed at The Kingdom Hotel four nights and went on six excursions.  It was relaxing to end the trip in a nice hotel without any long, dusty roadtrips.  Upon arriving the first night, we went on a river cruise.  We watched the sunset while enjoying snacks and drinks, and looking out for hippos.  The next day, we took a walking tour of Victoria Falls. The falls are not the widest or tallest falls in the world, but it claims to be the largest waterfalls.  Because the falls are SO large, it was difficult to see the falls from the walking tour.  You also get very wet from the mist.  The following day, we took a helicopter ride to see the falls and we were amazed by it's beauty!

Victoria Falls from the helicopter




Victoria Falls




Victoria Falls




Helicopter ride over the falls

The  gorge is a popular area for bungee jumping, swinging, and ziplining.  We were not stupid brave enough for any of these activities!

Victoria Falls Bridge where we watched bungee jumping...just watching made me sick!

  



Victoria Falls Bridge and Gorge, here people (not me!) swing over the gorge



We went on one last safari before leaving Africa.  The highlight was seeing this momma elephant and her baby.  This baby was the smallest we saw throughout the entire trip. 

Momma elephant




Baby elephant...so cute!




I tried to get a picture of the baby elephant, but it ran really fast while the momma stood guard.

  Early one morning, we went waking with lions!  They were cubs (one male and one female), but you can see they were still large!  They were one and a half years old.  When they were born, they were taken into captivity and are being raised to return to the wild.  The lion population has been decreasing in Africa, so this program was created to make sure more cubs survive through the first few years.


Petting the lioness



Walking with the lions

  



Walking with the lions



Our last evening in Africa, we enjoyed a traditional dinner and dance.  Actually, we didn't enjoy the food that much, but the overall experience was great!  You can see they gave us a wrap to wear, painted our face, and passed out drums.   







Face painting





Worms to eat! Yuck!  Don't worry, we didn't try them.



I will have to make another post about our fun, but SCARY whitewater rafting trip!



Gameday Dress

Some of you won't believe it, but I spent the afternoon making a gameday dress with a RED RAIDER!  My friend, Ashton, invited me over to make these dresses that she found on Pinterest.  They were fairly easy to make, but there are a few things I would like to change about mine.  Ashton's turned out really cute!  

Check out this blog for the tutorials.  Thanks Ashton for the invite!  Can't wait for our next project!

Hadza People in Africa

For the last few weeks, my life has been consumed with the beginning of a new school year. Therefore, my Africa trip blogging has been put on hold. I hope to make a few more post about our adventure in Africa. So back to Africa...While in Tanzania, we traveled well off the beaten path to visit the Hadza people. They hunt and gather all their food just like their ancestors did thousands of years ago. They are called bushmen because they truly live in the bush. The tribe we visited traveled quiet often and did not have a shelter except for branches that they bundled together to help block the wind. We joined their tribe early in the morning and it was cold. After greeting the tribe, Dave and I set out with three men and our guide to find food for the day. Remember, it was Africa's winter. We didn't see any animals except for a few birds. After a few hours of walking around trying to kill an animal with their bow and arrow, the men decided to head back. Since they didn't return with food, the women had to go gather fruit and berries. Imagine gathering fruit and berries in the winter. We did try a few berries while we were hunting. It amazed me to see people living so primitive.

Dave realized it is very difficult to start a fire with sticks.

He also shot the bow and arrow a few times.

Before we left, the tribe sang and danced for us. They grabbed my hand, danced me around the circle, and made me feel like I was apart of the family.

We had a great time visiting the tribe.  Our international trips constantly remind me how fortunate I am to live in America.