tame safaris & generally Zimbabwean

Hey folks - here are some fun stories from my Zim trip-- we've been working pretty hard, but also playing a little bit too-

(pictures are interspersed for fun - there are no rhinos outside my office door)




1. outside my office they are cutting down a tree - one of our power lines rests on the tree branches, so I am watching as we are about to lose power for a few days. amazing that you can talk to people about it - beg and plead, and they will listen to you, but they won't do a thing - maddening, really.

2. the air zim flight a couple of days after mine hit a herd of wild warthogs on the runway. all the people got out ok - the pigs, not so much.

3. the power went out at my hotel the other night. My colleagues & I had just sat down to dinner - and asked if we could possibly order some drinks, as we waited for the generators to get started. We were told absolutely, positively nothing will be ordered without power.


4. this past weekend, I went on a very tame safari at Imire Ranch & Conservation Park. Many animals in Zim have been so decimated by poachers that this conservancy was set up to protect the animals. Because of that - the elephants & rhinos have armed guards 24 hours a day. How sad - but also how wonderful that people would do something drastic to save these animals.






The animals are somewhat tame - although you should never trust that completely. We got to feed the baby rhino's by hand - they are so cute. Their mouths are like some alien Star Wars character - and somewhat slobbery too!

5. of course my favorite was the baby elephant - he put on quite a little show for us - rolling all around in the mud. I'll post the video as soon as I can get it - pretty much the cutest thing in the whole world.

















6. But the funniest story was of this elephant who was raised by buffalo, and thinks - wait for it - that she is a buffalo. She's one of the pack - the guards have brought her around other elephants, and she's afraid of them!

7. have you ever seen a giraffe eat off the ground? for a graceful animal, it looks entirely out-of-character awkward








8. also the closest I've ever gotten to lions - you can see Ruby looks nervous!