Victoria Falls is very wide and it's not possible to see it all in one view. On the Zambian side we saw bathers just upstream of the falls - never saw them get out again!. The view of the bridge and Zambezi downstream shows Zimbabwe on the left and Zambia on the right. Stanley Livinstone's statue is in the park on the Zimbabwean side.

Ilala lodge looks over to the falls but all that can be seen is the spray from the Falls above the trees. A nice hotel with a good restaurant. Zimbabwe desperately needs tourists and has a lot to offer but the country's rapid decline cannot be masked.

Zimbabwe, Botsawna, Zambia and Nambibia all meet at one point and there is a ferry. No bridge as it would appear to be to complex to sort out ownership. The lorry queue is at least 1Km and if your paperwork is not right, drivers can spend 2 weeks waiting here. The ferry takes just one lorry or 2 or 3 other vehicles on every trip. Our foot passenger being collected from Zambia is waiting for us.

Kasane airport was almost deserted when we arrived - it only gets busy when lots of tourists need to be transported. It does have a single luggage scanning machine. Spotted the Botswana air defence plane as we were taking off. It's the rainy season and we flew over a lot of water in the delta. That is an elephant near the trees.

The first pair are mother and son moving rapidly away as the son is not fathered by one of the resident seven. The second male is very attentive to his partner to ensure his brother (main image) does not usurp his position with the female.

Three young male cheetahs, always alert to the surroundings.

Most of the female elephants are further north in the wet season.
The giraffe are the short tailed or saffron variety. Very neat eaters.

There were about 40 hippos in the shallow lake next to the camp, mostly female. They walked out at night to feed in the forelst and returned just before daybreak.

Warthogs are a member of the Ugly Five, with reason.
These Burchell's zebra have an additional brown stripe in the whit section and can sometimes look as if they need to wash!

From the top left: impala, wildebeast (gnu), black backed jackall (2), tsessebe, black faced impala.
Black faced impala are not common here, but can interbreed with the standard impala.

Lots of baboons in the park and camp, and vervot monkeys in in the camp. Baboons are often found eating termites on and around the many mounds.

The blue bird is in fact a Blackbird with irridescent feathers.

Our cabin was quite spacious with a deck and outside shower. The view from the cabin was accross to the lake. Aanimals wandered by to the water.
Note the departure lounge at the airstrip.

The top lions were those making the noise we heard from the camp dning area, older and younger males, both well fed.
Lower left lion is digesting his oryx and lower right is just resting in the shade.

The cheetahs were resting in the shade of the tree when an oryx started to confront them. The mother had 2 cubs of different ages, one almost certainly "stolen" from another cheetah.

Giraffes flock to the Kalahari in the wet season and herds of 30 or more can be seen.
Quite a lot of ostrich were also present.

There are oryx everywhere in the Kalahari. Herds of springbox are also common. Hartebeast and steenbox are fewer in number.

Three oryx with a bat eared fox in front. An oryx stands its ground against a cheetah, protecting smaller animals that the cheetah could catch.
There were many birds in the area - all quite difficult to photograph well.

Kori Bustard in flight - it otherwise struts around on the ground.

The state campsites in the Kalahari need to be booked in advance and comprise flat ground, some shelter and a toilet and shower - but no water. There is an occupied sign on the entrance to the facility blocks that can be linked accross. Amazingly these sites are popular for overnight stays. We used them for shady meal breaks. This vehicle was the most luxurious we had.

Our knowledgeable guide BK Boikaego Setlabosha was from the delta and has spent the last year learning bushman skills from Custom. Bushmen enjoy meat and vegetables from the land. Some roots provide more water than others. We watched fire being made by twirling one piece of wood in another and catching the flame with dried grass.

Tau Pan Camp was newly built and very good to stay in. Like the other camps, electricity is solar generated and all water takene from bore holes is recycled, finally ending up in the man made animal watering hole. This water hole is becoming more popular with animals.

The 40 mins spent tracking and watching the leopard was a definite highlight. Leopards are rather camera shy and blend into the grassland very easily. Even when we knew where he was, if he sat down he was completely invisible.

The top elephant was drinking from the water hole where the leopard was resting. He decided to start bellowing which caused the leopard to move on. He then decided to try to charge us - so we moved on at speed!
The hippo was enjoying the evening light at a different water hole.

Large mamals were generally around. Warthogs tend to run off but this mother and baby were unconcerned about us.

The sight of the red lechwe herd running so fast accross the water was amazing. The herd collects on one side and then suddenly they run accross, some leaping very high.
Reedbuck are the only antelope that go into water. They have long hid legs to ease running in marshy soil, plus their lower legs are covered in a water repllent. Lechwe eat water plants and use the water as a deterrant to predators.

Lilac-brested rollers are quite common and spectacular in flight. They show their best colours in the sun. We caught two rollers on a branch, one with a moth in its mouth. The second roller made an attempt to steal the moth with the result that the moth was able to escape.

The African fish eagle was drying its feathers after fishing when we first saw him. They fly fast so catching shot in focus is not easy!

The top row shows a saddle billed stork with a great white pelican and a black heron. The black heron dispaly canopy feeding. It opens and folds its wings to make a dark canopy in which to feed. The heron caught and ate many fish as we watched.
The lower row shows a hammerkop, yellow billed stork and African spoonbills. These are just a selection of the many water birds to be seen.

Troups of baboons on the move have a spotter high up checking for danger. They relocate as the troup moves.
Lebala Lodge is situated near water where hippos can be heard and seen at dawn and dusk.
The last photo shows our spotter with part of the drive shaft of our vehicle - he took it out rather easily....