Victoria Falls

We had one last game drive at the MalaMala reserve yesterday morning. Our guide was able to lead us to 3 lion brothers who were relaxing on the road. The night before they had been just a few yards from our Land Rover and we actually followed them right into the camp. Fortuantely they kept going. It was pretty exciting. Yesterday morning we were able to see a leopard mother and cub- they were in a tree right above us. We were sad to leave this wonderful place. It was a great experience. From there we took a very long drive on the way to the airport. We took a panoramic tour which included a beautiful waterfall and a very impressive canyon - South Africa's answer to the Grand Canyon. A short flight later we were in Johannesberg for the night. This morning we flew to Victoria Falls. The Hotel Livingstone is a gorgeous hotel - everything that the English did right. The grounds are beautiful and the lobby and bar are a throwback to the old English Africa. We walked to view the falls which are incredible. Got soaking wet but it was worth it. When we returned to our rooms the maids had turned down the beds, lit a candle, turned on the TV, laid out our robes and slippers and spread leaves on the bed. I could get used to this. We were warned however that the monkeys here are quite naughty and know how to open the sliding glass doors and get into the rooms looking for food. They walk all over the place and the bartender had to shoo them out of the bar. Zebras walk all around near the pool and giraffes, which are shy, hang out on the other side of the hotel. Steve had his picture taken with both of course. The president of Zambia arrived this evening and is staying a few doors down from us. The hotel is crawling with millitary and official looking people. Tomorrow the presidents of several other African countries will be arriving for a conference. The staff is pretty excited. The president was eating dinner while we were and our waiter told us that he brings his own chefs. Tomorrow we leave early to go to Chobe which is in Botswana. We will be on safari in a jeep and on the river. We should see a lot of animals. We are trying to plan a 15 minute helicopter trip over the falls on Thursday before we leave. This might be the last posting since we will be gone all day tomorrow and will be flying home on Thursday. We leave here and fly to Johannesberg and then on to Dakar for a quick stop and on to NY. We will be back Friday morning and I'm sure exhausted. It has truly been the trip of a lifetime.