ARRIVAL AT TOKA LEYA CAMP

We were met by a private air-conditioned 22-passenger bus at Livingstone Airport for our transfer to Toka Leya - just for us! We were driven to a spot where the bus dropped us off for a boat ride to the camp. It was quite the ride as we went through a section of rapids and managed to get a little wet. That was all right as it was very hot, 37 degrees Celsius, with humidity for the first time on this trip. We were met by the camp staff and offered a refreshing drink and cool facecloth. We had a brief orientation to the camp before being shown to our tent. The first thing we noticed is that it was Air Conditioned! What a relief. The second thing we noticed is that we had separate bedrooms. The tent is very spacious and even has an outdoor tub.

We took our time unpacking before lunch. We ordered what we thought was a small pizza with different options for toppings. When it came it was huge. They have a pizza oven here but there was no way I could eat it all. Then I remembered that I had ordered dessert! Fortunately, Glen and Norma helped me eat it. We retired to our rooms for a siesta and blog updating before our boat ride.

We left at 4:30 on our private boat and met Aman, our private guide and driver. We cruised down the mighty Zambezi River towards Victoria Falls and added a number of new birds to our lists. One special bird was the Finfoot, a highly secretive type of duck-like water bird. We actually managed to see three of them. We also saw a large colony of White-fronted Bee-eaters. We enjoyed our Sundowners on the river before returning to camp. We got caught up on our lists before having another delicious dinner and bed. We were not allowed to go back to our tent right away as there were a few elephants busy tearing down the vegetation right next to our tent. Finally a guide came to escort us. We also saw a hippo out of the water feeding right next to the dining area.

This area is very touristy and an introduction back into 'civilization'. There are many large tourist boats on the river, the camp is full, people are noisy. We miss the silence of the wilderness.

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