You can find my “short and sweet” trip updates by clicking the purple “Listen Now” button above, accompanied by a few recent photos and captions of my trip below 😊
In case you missed any previous posts, you can find them here:
https://noahbelkin.substack.com/archive
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement, endless support, and for following me along this journey. It means the world to me to be able to share my adventures with all of you!
Big Hugs from Africa! ❤️ Noah
Victoria Falls is neither the widest nor highest waterfall in the world, but it’s the world’s largest sheet of falling water. It is twice the height of North America’s Niagara Falls, and is only rivaled by Iguazu Falls in South America, and is listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the world
We were excited to have our new travel companion, my roommate in Berkely and good friend from high school, Ben, join us for part of our African journey
Known locally in the Tozi language as “Mosi-oa-Tunya”, “The Smoke That Thunders”
We had to pay, but monkeys ride for free! 🐒
The Victoria Falls Bridge - built in 1905
We were lucky enough to spot a beautiful rainbow 🤞🌈
There are a few designated areas of the park where it is safe to exit the vehicle for a quick stretch break and some tea
One of the watering holes in Chobi National Park - frequently visited by many herds of elephants throughout the day
A herd of Impalas - which are medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa.
A MASSIVE Alpha male lion we came very very close to
Shortly after receiving news of a possible leopard, everyone was on the lookout 👀
After almost giving up hope, the leopard very casually strolled out right in front of us, and let us follow it for a few hundred meters. It was quite spectacular!
Our sunset boat ride in Chobi gave us access to all the incredible animals that live in or graze nearby the water front
A Buffalo enjoying his lunch break
We were front and center to witness an elephant crossing at duskin Chobe
The elephant went at a slow and leisurely pace as he crossed through the river, and was able to do it all without getting his hair wet 😉
Giraffes are the tallest mammal, and spend most of their lives standing up; they even sleep and give birth standing up. Their spots are much like human fingerprints. No two individual giraffes have exactly the same pattern
We spotted a herd of ostriches which are the faster bird in the world - capable of running over 40mph!
While not nearly as frequent as elephants in this part of Africa, we were fortunate to spot these Zebras outside of the park while driving along the main road near town
Ben - spotted here, enjoying a nice swim alongside the herds of elephants that come at all hours of the day to the watering hole located at the center of The Elephant Sands Lodge
Elephants circle in and out all day and night coming from near and far to drink from the watering hole, play in the mud and make funny noises! Spotted behind them are the lodges where we stayed and where the infamous toilet incident occurred in my accompanying audio guide
During our tour through the Okavango Delta, we came across a number of skulls and skeletons. Luckily it was pretty quiet when we were there
Cruising down the Okavango Delta in our Mokoro, a traditional Botswana canoe, that is steered with a wooden stick that touches the bottom of the water
No shoes, no service does not apply here
One of the many wonderful dinners we had with our tour guides for the week- Sheila and Blessing. They were both very nice and knowledgeable and Blessing (bottom right) LOVED chocolate ice cream and would order it at every meal. I told him if he ever made it to the US, I would introduce him to Ben & Jerry’s (as well as to Saadi and Adar’s Hometown Creamery of course!) 😊
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