Animals

One of our favorite things about living in Zambia is seeing the animals in the wild.  They blend in so well with the nature around them that they are sometimes hard to find.  It is so exciting to be the one to spot the animals.  We went on a game drive to see these animals. 

 Impala

 

 

 Hippos

 

 Cape Buffalo

 

 Warthog

 

Baboon

 

 Zebra

 

 Monitor Lizard

 

Wildebeest

 

 Giraffe

 Look how close it got to our car.

 

We were only about 20 feet away from this Giraffe.

 

 Can you see the giraffe behind us?

 Can you tell I love Giraffe??!

 

It was right in front of our vehicle.

 

 

 a termite hill

 There are only 8 rhino in this area so we were hoping to see them but knew it may be difficult to find them.  We asked one of the game guards and he said he could take us to them.  We drove for a little ways and then had to get out and walk.  Hannah and Zach only brought one pair of shoes and they had gotten soaking wet at the Falls so they were going barefoot.  This area we were walking through was tough on the feet because of thorns so this game guard offered to carry Zach on his back. The Rhino are guarded 24 hours a day because they are protected.  The guard gave us some instructions to walk single file and slowly as we approached the rhino.  We got within about 25 feet of a mother rhino and her 4 month old baby.  It was incredible!  He also told us that if the rhino approached us to stand perfectly still but if the guard started to run then we must run also! 

 Dad talking to the game guard.

 

 mom and baby

 

 

the guard carrying Zach back out

 

 We did not see any elephants on our game drive but as we were driving towards the Falls we were talking about seeing elephant in that area before.  As soon as Kevin said those words my dad spotted an elephant over to the side through the bush maybe 100 feet away.  We just got out and watched the elephant and waited.  Then about 15 min. later they walked in our direction and crossed the road.  There were about 45 elephants.  God was certainly trying to thrill us on this day!

 

 As you can see, cars had to stop on both sides as this herd of elephants passed by!