Monkeys, spiders, and elephants oh my!!!And no, not spider monkeys.I am enjoying everything about Imbabala except the spiders.Most of you know that I hate spiders and if you didn't now you do.I swear these spiders fly.In the past 3 hours, it's currently 3 pm here and I wanted to write before I forgot everything that I wanted to talk about, I have had AT LEAST 10 spiders on me.Not around me…on me.Some of them crawl up my legs, but I think the majority of them fly.I guess the more accurate explanation would be that they are swinging from their web and happen to land on me in the breeze, but I still think it's unnatural for this many spiders to be landing on me.It's giving me the heeby jeebies.

Last night you could here the animals through our screened windows and thin walls.It was pretty cool.About 7 am this morning, 5 minutes before I willed myself out of bed, a few elephants passed through our grounds within feet from our huts.I was not conscious enough to notice, but apparently one of them stepped on the water pipe.At 7:30 we had breakfast and then headed out around 8:15 because Maria and Ester needed to be taken to the Botswana border for some activity they were doing in Botswana and we were going on a game drive.

As we waited for Maria and Ester, I watched the monkeys.The ones at the border were smaller than baboons and a sandy gray.It was hysterical watching them; they are so mischievous.One of the larger ones led a group of rebellious monkeys onto an area where one of the customs officers had his stuff sitting on a makeshift desk.He quickly stole a thermos of something and ran off with the other monkeys protecting him before the guy noticed and came running after them.You could see the thermos fly through the air when the monkeys realized they were being chased.The guy put it back and tried to scare them off again through intimidation.It didn't work.They just sat there staring at him until his back was turned then followed him back up the stairs and sat on the truck behind him until he left again.It was pretty funny.I learned later that they are called Velvrites.I don't think that is the actual spelling, but I have no internet to check.

We then left and took the border path for our game drive.There was a road about 25 feet to our right the whole way…somewhere in the middle of the two roads was the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe.At first we were only bird watching.Some of the birds are just gorgeous here!; with bright blues and greens and iridescent coloring.Some are so small and others a huge!!The sand birds were very small with a blue iridescent color.We also saw some red-billed horn bills which are very pretty in flight; you can see their black and white stripes a lot more clearly.We also saw 2 types of bee eaters, another species of bird.The first was a white breasted bee eater.They eat bees, moths, insects, and butterflies and because of their eating habits, they have really cool flight patterns.It's like watching an acrobatic twist and turn and flip around before they pull up again.Later we saw bright yellow and green iridescent bee eaters that were gorgeous.I had trouble taking pictures of birds; they just fly away before you get close enough.But they were gorgeous.We also saw the largest bird in Zim called the Marabou Stork.It was easily 3.5 feet tall with red, blue and white coloring.Very cool.Their wingspans are about 5 feet long.Even though the birds were very pretty, I quickly got tired of watching them and having to sit and wait for them to move before we could move on.

We also saw a lot of vultures.The ones we've seen aren't nearly as ugly as the ones you see on TV.They're actually quite a pretty brown with giant wing spans.Damesh explained that in the morning vultures usually stay put on trees waiting for it to warm up.They then fly around finding pockets of warm air to coast upward on.When they are all circling together, it's not necessarily because they've found something to eat, but because they've found a warm pocket of air so that they can get higher to search.

Soon we found the antelope.I'm having a hard time keeping them all straight, but I will try my best to explain them to you.We found Kudu first.I now realize that what we thought was kudu at Daan Voltjoen was actually Oryx.Kudu males are dark gray with thin white stripes on their sides.They're huge!And their horns are curled like a pipe cleaner around a pencil.They start at the same point on their skull and separate into a large V.It's really cool.Oryx have the same V shape, but they are completely straight.We didn't see any Oryx today.We also saw Waterbuck which are a darker color than the kudu and have horns that go back and then curl forward again.We saw a few in the fields, but a full herd closer to the Zambezi on our way back.Waterbuck spend a lot of their time in water so their skin secretes oil that makes them waterproof essentially.Because of this oil, many people do not like the taste of Waterbuck if it is not skinner properly.Therefore, it really thrives and the herds are pretty large.Another type of antelope we saw was the Impala.Impala are two toned with a dark brown on their backs and then a goldish brown starting halfway down their sides.I keep getting the Impala females confused with the Kudu females and the Bushbuck females because from a distance they almost similar (kinda) and they don't have the different shaped horns to distinguish them.Impala look a lot like deer except of course for their color.Their hooves look a little like they are walking in black point shoes to me.It's kinda funny.There are a lot of Impala.We kept seeing Impala and I was getting very bored of my mom having to point it out every time so we had to stop every time.LolAdditionally, we saw Bushbuck when we were on our way to the border the first time.They are much redder in color and prefer to be in the bush, hence the name.But since they are in the bush, and all of the bushes in Africa have thorns, their necks are all a grayish color from the hair rubbing off.Since they are redder, they also blend in very well with the sand in Zim.In Namibia the sand is more yellow, in Zim it's red.Lastly, we saw one Segal which is black in color.The argument is always which is prettier, the Kudu or the Segal.We also saw a tree full of monkeys.Damesh told us that frequently, impala and baboons stick together.Since baboons are in the trees, they can alert other animals of predators way before an antelope would notice.Also baboons are messy eaters and they drop a lot of good berries that impala can't normally get to.

After seeing all the antelope, we came across two bull elephants.A bull is usually very independent or stays in bachelor herds until breeding season.A male is usually kicked out of the breeding herd (the one that the matriarch is in charge of) when he is about 15 or 16 years old.The younger of the two bulls was probably only about 12 Damesh said because he was pretty small.Some bulls get tired of staying with the matriarch and leave early.However, they usually find an older bull to follow for awhile so that they can learn to be independent.For example, without the older bull, the younger one would not have been able to get to a lot of the food in the trees they were eating.When we first saw them, the older/larger one was eating pods he had just shaken from a tree.When the youngest came around, he was chased off, not privy to the new find.We moved on after awhile, but on our way back they were closer to the road.We watched as the older one stood on his hind legs and reached all the way up with his trunk to grab a branch.No wonder none of the trees in Africa have low branches…if they do they get snapped off by elephants.It was cool watching the older elephant pull the branch down and into his mouth...it was just hanging there almost completely snapped off.Eventually he felt bad for the younger one, that couldn't reach the branches, so he reached up with his trunk into the crook of the tree and shook it for all of the pods to fall off.Additionally, I just remembered, we saw a lot of deeper areas in the sand.Damesh explained that elephants and buffalo eat sand as well to balance their diets.The sand has valuable minerals such as calcium and iron that they need.These holes will eventually become elephant made watering holes in the rain season.It was so cool to watch these elephants.Both of them had both tusks in tact too.Apparently, it's pretty common for tusks to get broken off or damaged as they get older.They were gorgeous.Damesh also explained to us about the elephant ear waving that they do.I always just assumed it was to cool them off because they are pushing air down their bodies, but really the tissue at the back of their ears is very thin and they have a lot of blood vessels there.By waving their ears, the blood cools and then circulates to the heart cooling the entire elephant.Elephants usually live to be around 60 and go through 13 sets of teeth.By 35, they are growing their last set.Once they wear down their last set, they have to eat more grasses than tree leaves and bark so they move closer to water when they are older and do not make the trip back and forth twice a day like the other elephants.However, in the flood plains of a river, the mud can get a bit sticky.Older elephants cannot always get out of the mud, hence the myth about elephant graveyards.In a natural habit, elephants usually die of starvation because they don't have the teeth or get stuck in the mud.We stayed with the elephants for quite awhile, I would've stayed all day if they would let me, and then drove over to the river near Imbabala.

There we saw some of the same animals.A lot of pumba as well.If you didn't get it by now, I have been referring to warthogs as pumba out of respect for the Lion King.LolThey're pretty funny looking when they run because their tails are straight up and they have little legs that move pretty quickly.While we were there, we could see all the hippos again.Two of them got out of the water onto the island where we had spotted elephants yesterday.It used to be believed that hippos bled when they were out of water.After some research, scientists discovered that they actually secrete a pink fluid.The pink fluid has two main uses: to keep themselves wet of course, but also to heal any wounds they have.I think that's pretty neat.They should see what human wounds that stuff can heal.

While we were watching the hippo lay out, we noticed a group of vultures on the ground.We drove around for awhile, in a lot of bumpy areas, to see what they were eating.We discovered they were eating a dead buffalo calf that had gotten stuck in the mud.Damesh actually got out and went to check it out, pulling on the buffalo for a minute.The vultures stood waiting while we inspected their dinner.

On the last leg of our trip back on the trail that let to Imbabala, we spotted a lot of baboons in a tree.They were eating a fruit that I do not recognize, but is nicknamed the "monkey orange" here.They are about the size of a softball and have a green rind.Inside the fruit is orange.Which reminds me, I had fresh papaya this morning and it was delicious!!!We also saw hyena tracks on our way back.Hyena usually only come out at night though.

At 3:30, we had afternoon tea and then we went out for an evening cruise.We didn't see much of anything tonight, but it was still very relaxing.We had a different guide tonight and he took us down the river to a usual watering area for elephants and then around the center island past some villages in Zambia.We saw a few crocodiles lying on the banks waiting for birds and such.We also saw a baboon eating the water lilies.Our guide eventually pulled up to a patch of them to show us what they like about it.Water lilies have hollow stems so baboons and Bushmen suck the water out of them or use them as straws.Our guide used the lily and stem to make a necklace for Liam…it was actually pretty cool.He broke the stem and peeled in alternating directions every inch or so.He also used the pad to make a hat for Liam.This is what the Bushmen do to keep the sun off their face in the summer.We eventually ended up about where the elephants were last night and where currently there were a ton of hippos.Our guide told us that hippos claim more human lives than any other African animal.Humans swim or get out of the water and hippos just snap them in half with their jaws, out of defense because they don't eat meat.I captured them on video, but I was always just a little too late or too early for their laughing snorts.It was a very nice ride.

Tonight we will go on a shining after dinner.Basically this means we will go on a drive with a powerful flashlight to see what we can find.Hopefully we will find some hyena and leopard!!!JI know the elephants are just a little down river too so maybe they will cross grounds again.

Tomorrow morning is our elephant safari.We will leave Imbabala at 5:30am!! :/It only takes about 45 minutes to get to Victoria Falls, but since it is so early there will be a lot of animals out so we will be stopping.We have to be there around 6:45 or 7 for a debriefing.After that, we have a guided tour of the falls on foot.I'm excited!

<3 Shannon