Lilayi Elephant Orphanage

Last weekend, I went to to watch baby elephants have their lunch of milk bottles and play in the mud! There were four elephants under three years old at Lilayi Elephant Nursery, a rehabilitation center just outside of Lusaka for orphaned elephants. The viewing deck we stood on to watch also had stories of each of the elephants. One of the elephants calves had been attacked by someone with an axe. Her right hind foot is paralyzed, because she was hit on the spine. She came trotting in with the other elephants with a cast on her foot, which the trainers took off, so she could play in the mud bath.

Some other elephants have gone through the rehabilitation stage and have moved on to Kafue Release Facility, where they begin to get reintroduced to life in the wild.

Chaminuka Cheetahs

Last weekend I went out to Chaminuka Lodge outside of Lusaka for their "cheetah experience." Most websites say the lodge is near the airport in Lusaka, but with nearly 20 km of terrible, dusty dirt roads, it took over an hour to get there from my apartment. I'd read that taxi rides from town could cost up to $150. As we were driving, I thought no wonder!

The lodge has two male cheetahs, Chipo (which means "gift" in one of the Zambian local languages) and Chaminuka (place on a hill). They are 14 months old and grew up around humans, so they are relatively tame. The cheetahs are "educational ambassadors" of a program that works to reduce poaching in Southern Africa. Schools can schedule free field trips so that students learn to love and protect the animals.

As a tourist, I paid for my visit but it was well worth spending an hour petting and walking and hanging out with cheetahs. The trainers told us to approach them from the back; if we approached them from the front, the cheetahs might think we wanted to play - but cheetahs play rough and use their teeth and claws. We could put the back of our hands up to the cheetah's mouth while we were petting them, and they would lick our hands as a way of saying, "Thanks for petting me!"

[Updated with photos - thanks, Rahul! All except the first two photos were taken by Rahul Mitra.)

Chipo

Chaminuka (left); Chipo (right) yawning

"Thanks for petting me!" (Translation from trainers)

Walking Chipo

Malawi

We had a five-day weekend for Fourth of July and two Zambian holidays. I went to Malawi - about a 12-hour bus ride to the capital, Lilongwe, and then several more to get to Senga Bay. It was a trip filled with lots of mishaps, and I can't say I ever intend to go back - more because of my personal experience, as opposed to the country itself.

The trip did not turn out any way I would have imagined. We ran into some issues at the border, and I was able to continue on, but on my own. I set out for Monkey Bay, a popular destination. When it took over 3 hours to get to Salima, a town near a stretch of Lake Malawi closest to Lilongwe (and less than halfway to Monkey Bay), I thought if I wanted any daylight by the time I arrived, I should get off at Salima, and I managed to squeeze in half a day on the beach at Senga Bay.

All the places I went to were not very touristy, which made for an interesting experience. I only had to bargain for anything twice; most of the time, they quoted me local prices, and I saw everyone else around me was paying the same amount. Almost all the people I met were very nice and would personally make sure I got to where I needed to go, but I got cheated a good deal of money by the money changers at the border, and on my last day, the taxi driver insisted that I had agreed to pay 20 times what any local would pay for transportation. It wasn't even that much, but I just felt that if I gave in, he would think he could take advantage of other travelers too. It didn't help that he just looked like a pompous jerk, with his popped collar and aviator sunglasses that no one else I've seen in Malawi wears. We argued for two hours until I finally just gave him the money.

It's too bad because Lonely Planet rated Malawi among the top 10 places to go for 2014, and I'm sure other parts of the country might have been worth it. For a while, I kept thinking, next time I come to Malawi, I'll make it to Monkey Bay and Cape Maclear... Next time, I'll try some of the national parks... But with each subsequent misadventure, there won't be a next time anytime soon.

I'm looking forward to a short work week and a quiet, relaxing weekend without any travel plans.

It's been a while since I had some food photos. This is chomba (a type of fish from Lake Malawi) and chips.

I woke up early to see the sunrise. I thought I missed it at first.

Then this popped up as I was watching the fishermen go out in their boats.

Surfing?