zebras and monkeys in zambia

Hello from Zambia! I can not tell you how amazingly different this place is than home on Whidbey Island. There are no similarities whatsoever, although yesterday on our shuttle bus from the Livingstone Airport there was a man with a WAZZU/Washington State University baseball cap on, so that's a familiar name with many of you.

I will skip the 17-hour plane ride. It was actually OK and the Frauses did just fine. It was a long, long long trip, and we had to refuel in Senegal. Sue had three meals and saw three movies (Friends With Money, Aquilla and the Bee and Down in the Valley). The food was quite good and they served complimentary wine from South Africa. Sue went to sleep right after dinner, as did I. We were on South African Airways and everybody was very nice. I was again in the overhead bin but that was fine as it was very dark and quiet and I had plenty of yummy food in my little backpack.

We finally landed in Johannesburg, South Africa which the locals call Joburg, even in the newspapers. We stayed at the Metcourt Laurel at the Emperors Palace. This is the biggest complex I have ever seen with a huge casino, and indoor shops and a big food court and even roller coaster rides! They had a huge statue of David just like the one Sue and Bob saw in Florence, Italy some years ago and inside the ceiling is painted like a blue sky with white, puffy clouds. It was a bit strange and very Disney/Vegas in feel but the rooms were perfect.I think they are getting ready for the World Soccer Cup that South Africa is hosting in 2010.

We were all very tired and went right to bed after dinner.

Monday morning we had a complimentary breaky at the hotel and then took a shuttle to the airport. A few hours later we landed in Livingstone, I presume! Bob is driving Sue and Max bananas saying that all the time. In fact they are laughing a lot, especially this morning when they overslept and missed the tour of Victoria Falls (I told them to set their alarm clock!).

But it's not a problem as they can go tomorrow. Nothing is a problem in Zambia, it will work out. The city of Livingstone was a big shock to Sue as it is very remote and "uber rustic" according to her. Bob reminded Sue that Zambia is in fact a third-world country.

On the way to the Zambezi Sun Hotel the driver pointed out an impala. And when we got to our hotel there were zebras in our front yard (that's one of them in the photo above) and monkeys and baboons. Sue and I both laughed at that, as we have only seen them in zoos, not at hotels. Sue said, "Teddy, we're not in Langley anymore!"

Last night we went on a very fun sundown cruise on the Zambezi River aboard the African Queen. I have never seen a sunset quite so big and beautiful and they had nice drinks and appetizers for everybody. The Frauses got a lot of great photos. Plus we saw hippos, lots of hippos!

One thing I know for sure. It's hot, very hot. It's in the 90's, so Sue and I are going to walk over to the Livingstone Hotel and sit on their beautiful veranda overlooking the Zambezi and have a cool drink. You can even see the spray from Victoria Falls. The Frause boys went on a kayak trip on the Zambezi (they saw crocodiles!) after lunch and tomorrow morning they are going white water rafting. Sue is going to have a massage in a really neat white tent by the banks of the river. Hopefully the monkeys won't pester her!

Oh, today at breakfast a big monkey jumped up on one of the restaurant's outdoor tables and tried to grab a woman's food. It was a big to-do and everybody was chasing after the monkey. We have to make sure our doors are closed as otherwise they will come in our room. There are also lots of mosquitoes so we are putting on plenty of Deet every day. We have all had our shots (Hepatitis A&B, Oral Typhoid and Polio) and are taking our malaria pills every day. So far, the mosoquitoes don't seem too bad (and so far, nobody has had to take their anti-diarrhea pills!).

OK, off to have a cool drink and then maybe later take a dip in the pool. The people here are oh so very nice. And I'm a very lucky bear...

Copyright 2006 Sue Frause. All rights reserved.