Natural Beauty of Victoria Falls

After buffet breakfast on the open-air deck with view of the Zam-bezi River， our tour guide picked us up and off we headed to view the world famous falls. We first stopped at the biggest Baobab tree Ive seen. If we think that our 400 year old redwood cedars are， special， they are nothing compared to this giant with over 1000 years to its credit.

Our guide parked near the falls entrance and I immediately noticed the beautiful carved handrail on the steps. It reminded me of the herd we had seen at the waterhole， in Hwange. Although the park sign said domestic animals not allowed， I wonder if they count the fellow grazing on the fenced lawn. I took a number of photos of their signs showing the history of the indigenous peoples， the history of the falls before proceeding along the paved footpath towards the Livingstone statue：

The falls were created by a fault line and as such are very long. In the Zimbabwe winter the entire rock face is totally covered with water. At the time we visited one could see the face between the falls， however it was still impressive. So hard did the water pound that the heavy mist feltlike rain as we proceeded along the path.

Devils Canyon： We were high enough up that we could see the water before it cascaded down the precipice.

They had an interesting display of skulls of different animals. With the elephant skull outside the case one could stand behind it to get an idea of how truly large it was. We proceeded along the path taking photos at every opportunity. Park attendants kept the paths clean by using twigs bound to branch with duct tape.

I found the trees very interesting including this limb that remind-ed me of a rhino hom. The falls photo is not blurry or out of focus. Its just the mist！

A friend at table tennis told me about a pool at the top of the falls. One needs an entry and exit visa to cross a bndge to Zambia where one can be escorted into the pool. People photograph swimmers on the other side. We werent that daring and didnt want to bother to get a visa. Here the falls peter out and we headed back to the exit. African" Arts and Crafts

Although we or rather I， did most of the purchasing， I restrained myseif although there were some beautiful chairs but they just wouldnt fit in my carry-on and we have no room for them at home. Did the next best thing and took a photo！ I did however buy a bracelet of the big five for granddaughter Victoria in the Victoria Falls gift shop. It seemed the appropriate place to do that. We were taken to another market with a wide variety of things “African”. I bought two small wooden bowls. Next stop Victoria Falls Hotel for a view of the bridge， the only way in and out of Zambia. My table-tennis playing friend has actually bungee jumped from it！ Not me： Remember we didnt want to bother getting a visa. Ha Ha.

The vintage hotel was one Dr. Livingston and Stanley frequent-ed. Here I am relaxing with guide John， in front of Stanleys Room. The curved stairways were beautiful.

We went to Mama Africa for lunch. John ordered kudu. I tried a piece. It tasted like beef， was tender and not at all gamey

After lunch John took us to an interesting market with all manner of crafts from Big Five4 carvings， single giraffes， wooden bowls， jew- ellery and clothing. I bought two small bowls and couldnt resist takinga photo of the huge rhino made entirely of flattened beer cans！

Close Contact with Lions

John asked if there was anything else we would like to do for the aftemoon. We mentioned that we had wanted to go on the Lion Walk but the hotel had told us that there were no spots left for either the aftemoon or even the next day. He made a phone call and to our delight managed to get us the tour.

Lion Encounter is an active conservation program that is passionate about ensuring a secure future for the African Lion， Pan-ther Leo. In partnership with ALERT， Lion Encounter operates the African Lion Rehabilitation & Release into the Wild Program. If you want to know more just google： www.lionencounter.com. It is a very important program as in the last 30 years the African Lion population has declined a shocking 80% ～ 90%. Their facility only takes twenty-four visitors at one time， dividing them into two groups. They have 4 cubs which they have rescued， one pair going with each group.

Our female twins were 18 months old and were considerably larger than the 6-month-old male twins that we patted in New Zea-land last March. Soon they would be released into a controlled area with other lions who would teach them how to hunt. Without the human impnnt， their offspring would then be released into the wild， a National Park for instance where they are free to roam and hunt thus building up the lion population again. It is similar to the World Wildlife Federation. It was such an amazing privilege to be able to participate in this program. We are so indebted to John for finding space for us. limagine that he may have asked another couple if they were staying in the Victoria Falls area longer than we were to give up their seats and go another day. Had we known about this amazing opportunity before leaving Canada we certainly would have asked Safari Partners to prebook it for us！

Just like the four rangers， everyone was required to have a walking stick which they supplied. I imagine that the cubs associate it with an Alpha trainer. There is a photo at Miombo with Brad relaxing on the sofa where a black and white cat lies beside him. Now he is patting a real cat！

We have so many beautiful keepsake photos， because the guides have everyones camera and one guide takes the photo while another takes video. When the group returns from the walk， they have already made it up including a lot about their wonderful program. The $30 DVD and the $120 per person are used to support it. When I patted Giant Pandas at The Panda Research Station in Chengdu， China， the funds were used to support the World Wildlife program. Similarly participating in and supporting the African Program was so much more meaningful than simply writing a donation cheque！

維多利亞瀑布的自然美景

在露天甲板上，我們一邊觀看贊比西河的風(fēng)景，一邊享用自助早餐，之后，導(dǎo)游接上我們，直奔世界著名的瀑布。我們先駐足在一棵猴面包樹(shù)下，這是我見(jiàn)過(guò)的最大的猴面包樹(shù)。如果有著400年樹(shù)齡的紅木雪松已經(jīng)夠特別的話，那比起這個(gè)據(jù)載有著1000年樹(shù)齡的“巨人”簡(jiǎn)直不值一提。

導(dǎo)游把車子停在瀑布入口附近，我立刻注意到臺(tái)階兩旁漂亮的雕花扶手。它讓我想起在萬(wàn)基國(guó)家公園的某處水潭看到的牛群。公園標(biāo)示著家畜不得入內(nèi)，我不知道。他們能否指望這“家伙”在有圍欄的草地上放牧。我給講述土著人和瀑布?xì)v史的展牌拍了許多照片，然后繼續(xù)沿著鋪設(shè)的小徑，朝利文斯通石像走去。

瀑布由一條斷層裂痕形成，因此很長(zhǎng)。在津巴布韋的冬天，整個(gè)巖石表面都會(huì)完全被水覆蓋。而我們參觀的時(shí)候，水量沒(méi)有那么充足，因此瀑布下的部分石面裸露了出來(lái);盡管如此，它仍讓人嘆為觀止。我們踏著小徑繼續(xù)前行，身旁的急流傾瀉而下，騰起陣陣水霧，竟有煙雨朦朧的感覺(jué)。

魔鬼峽谷：我們站到高處，可以看到水飛瀉懸崖前的情況。

當(dāng)?shù)厝藢?duì)不同動(dòng)物的頭骨的展示方式很有趣。他們把大象的頭骨放在屋外，這樣人們就能站在它后面，真切地了解它究竟有多大。我們繼續(xù)沿著小徑走，不放過(guò)每個(gè)拍照的機(jī)會(huì)。公園管理員們用強(qiáng)力防水膠帶把樹(shù)枝綁成掃把，用來(lái)打掃小徑。

我發(fā)現(xiàn)這里的樹(shù)很有意思，這個(gè)枝杈讓我想起犀牛角。瀑布的照片不是照得模糊或焦距沒(méi)對(duì)好，這是因?yàn)殪F氣！

一位乒乓球球友告訴我，瀑布頂部有個(gè)游泳池。人們需要辦理出入簽證，才能過(guò)橋進(jìn)入贊比亞，在贊方護(hù)送下進(jìn)入泳池。人們都忙著拍攝橋那邊游泳的人。我們對(duì)此則沒(méi)什么興趣，不想再費(fèi)周折辦個(gè)簽證。到這里，瀑布逐漸消失，我們就返回出口了?！胺侵蕖惫に嚻肺覀?，確切地說(shuō)是我，買(mǎi)了不少東西，但我已經(jīng)盡量克制了。我都沒(méi)買(mǎi)那些漂亮的椅子，因?yàn)樗鼈円徊环奖銛y帶，二是我們家里也沒(méi)有地方放。我能做的，就是拍張照片！不過(guò)，我還是在維多利亞大瀑布的禮品店給我孫女維多利亞買(mǎi)了個(gè)“非洲五霸”的手鐲，在維多利亞大瀑布給維多利亞買(mǎi)禮物，似乎很合適嘛。我們又被帶到另一個(gè)市場(chǎng)，那里有各種各樣的“非洲”物件。我買(mǎi)了兩個(gè)小木碗。下一站，到維多利亞瀑布酒店去看看那座通往贊比亞的橋，它也是通往贊比亞唯一的途徑。我那位乒乓球球友在那里玩過(guò)蹦極！可不是我！記得吧，我們不想費(fèi)事辦什么簽證。哈哈。

復(fù)古酒店是利文斯通博士和斯坦利經(jīng)常光顧的一家酒店。在這兒，斯坦利住過(guò)的屋前，我跟導(dǎo)游約翰感覺(jué)很愜意?；⌒螛翘莺芷?。

我們?nèi)ァ胺侵迡寢尅辈蛷d吃了午飯。約翰點(diǎn)了條紋羚羊肉。我嘗了一塊。它的味道像牛肉，不過(guò)很嫩，一點(diǎn)也不“重口味”。

午飯后，約翰把我們帶到一個(gè)有趣的市場(chǎng)，從“非洲五霸”雕刻、長(zhǎng)頸鹿、木碗、珠寶到服裝，各類工藝品應(yīng)有盡有。我買(mǎi)了兩個(gè)小碗，并禁不住跟一個(gè)龐大的犀牛合了影，這頭犀牛是用壓扁的啤酒罐制成的！

與獅子的親密接觸

約翰問(wèn)我們下午要做什么。我告訴他我們?cè)鞠肴オ{子園走走，但酒店告知當(dāng)天下午和第二天都沒(méi)有游覽空額了。讓我們驚喜的是，他打了一個(gè)電話就把行程安排妥了！

“走近獅子”是一項(xiàng)積極的保護(hù)計(jì)劃，目的是確保非洲獅、豹獅有個(gè)安全的未來(lái)?！白呓{子”計(jì)劃的合作伙伴是ALERT，這使該計(jì)劃能按“非洲獅重歸野生世界”項(xiàng)目實(shí)施。如果您想了解更多信息可以搜索：www.lionencounter.com。這是一個(gè)意義非常重要的項(xiàng)目，因?yàn)樵谶^(guò)去30年中，非洲獅的總數(shù)已經(jīng)驟降了80%一90%，著實(shí)讓人震驚。他們的接待能力每次只有24名游客，并將游客分成兩組。他們有四只幼崽，都是他們救助的，每組游客觀看一對(duì)幼崽。

我們這組分到的是一對(duì)雙胞胎姐妹，18個(gè)月大，它們要比我們?nèi)ツ?月在新西蘭撫摸過(guò)的6個(gè)月大的雄性雙胞胎個(gè)頭大許多。這對(duì)小獅子很快將被放養(yǎng)到保護(hù)區(qū)，與其它獅子一起生活，學(xué)習(xí)如何狩獵。沒(méi)有了人類的印記，它們的后代將回歸野外，比如國(guó)家公園，在那里它們可以自由漫步，狩獵，從而再建獅子種群。這有點(diǎn)像世界野生動(dòng)物協(xié)會(huì)。能夠參與此計(jì)劃真是極大的榮幸。我們非常感謝約翰，為我們找到這樣的機(jī)會(huì)。我估計(jì)，他可能問(wèn)過(guò)另一對(duì)夫婦，是否愿意在維多利亞瀑布區(qū)多逗留一下，這樣就可以把今天的機(jī)會(huì)讓給我們，他們隔天再去。如果離開(kāi)加拿大前我們知道有這樣難得的機(jī)會(huì)，我們肯定會(huì)要求“狩獵伙伴”提前為我們預(yù)訂！

園區(qū)要求每人都像四個(gè)護(hù)林員一樣拿著一根園區(qū)提供的拐杖。我想可能幼崽們把這拐杖跟阿爾法馴獸員聯(lián)系起來(lái)。有張照片是我們?cè)贛iombo時(shí)，和Brad一起拍的。照片上我們輕松自在地坐在沙發(fā)上，他旁邊有只黑白相間的貓。而現(xiàn)在他撫摸的可是一只真正的大貓！

我們有這么多有紀(jì)念意義的漂亮照片，要?dú)w功于導(dǎo)游。他們拿著大伙的攝影器材，一個(gè)導(dǎo)游拍照，另一個(gè)攝像。當(dāng)一行人從園區(qū)返回，他們已經(jīng)將照片合成好了，里面還加入了很多關(guān)于他們了不起的計(jì)劃的內(nèi)容。每位游客支付30美元的DVD費(fèi)用和120美元的參觀費(fèi)，這筆錢(qián)用來(lái)支持他們的項(xiàng)目。我曾在中國(guó)成都大熊貓研究基地摸過(guò)大熊貓，那里的資金是用于支持世界野生動(dòng)物項(xiàng)目的。以類似的方式參與并支持非洲計(jì)劃也是如此有意義，這比簡(jiǎn)單地寫(xiě)張捐贈(zèng)支票有意義得多！